God's will
Today we will talk about the will of God.
Speaking of this, I mean two main questions:
1. What does God want from a person?
What is the will of God regarding people, you and, most importantly, regarding myself. Is this the will of God, is it the same for everyone or is it different for you and me?
Maybe I or you are special, so God wants us something special?
2. How should a person act and live in order to make this life pleasing to Christ our Lord?
Here are two very important questions that we will try to analyze today.
Speaking about faith, undoubtedly, faith is the most important question of what God wants from a person, but the question of faith is not so simple, because there are a lot of misconceptions about faith. We see how many varieties of faith there are in this world – hundreds, maybe thousands. Is that what God wants, or does God have only one way?
God from the creation of the world has plans for man, and man is not abandoned by the Lord, and God desires that each person seek and find the Lord and live in harmony with him.
(Acts 17:27)
27 so that they may seek God, whether they feel him or find him, though he is not far from each of us:
In order to make it possible for a person to know who God is and what is the will of God in relation to a person, God manifested himself, declared Himself through His prophets and left us in Holy Scripture all the necessary instructions and laws, sufficient for a person to know who God is and what He wants from a person.
(Deut. 30:15-20)
15 Behold, today I have set before you life and good, death and evil.
16 [I] commandments which I command you today, love the Lord your God, walk in his ways, and keep his commandments and his ordinances and his laws you will live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land where you are going to take possession of it;
17 But if your heart is turned away, and you will not listen, and you will go astray, and you will worship other gods and serve them,
18 then I declare to you today that you will perish and will not stay long in the land, for the possession of which you cross the Jordan.
19 Today I call heaven and earth to witness before you: I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose life, that you and your offspring may live,
20 loved the Lord your God, listened to his voice and clung to him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may dwell on the land which the Lord promised with an oath to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to give them.
We reading:
Firstly, God for a person is not some kind of application in his life, as if saying: "if you want to live as God wants, but if you want, live on your own." The Lord immediately warned us people that the matter concerns not some insignificant issues, but it concerns life and death, good and evil.
God said that I will give you, man, My commandments, laws and instructions. If you, a man, will fulfill these commandments, then God will bless you and your offspring. Here we are talking not only about the promised land, for us it is a matter of eternity.
If a person does not follow the instructions of God, then the Lord says: "you will perish and not stay long on earth" Thus, the question of obedience to God is not a matter of little importance or secondary, but it is a matter of life and death, good and evil, blessings and curses. This Man's decision to do or not to do the will of God has eternal consequences.
Second questionWhat are God's requirements for man? What should a person do?
What did the Lord say to this?
16 ... to love the Lord thy God,
20 ... listened to his voice and cleaved to him – believe, trust
Third question Is it possible to fulfill the will of God if you only know the law and try to fulfill it?
We see that this is only one of the requirements of God - walk in His ways and keep His commandments, but there are two more points - love and believe.
Why were the Pharisees the first enemies of Christ? After all, they knew the law perfectly and tried to fulfill it. Then why could they not understand and do the will of God? Because they could not fulfill two more conditions that the Lord established - love and believe they could not, left these instructions, did not seek and did not ask for it. Therefore, answering the question, is it possible to fulfill the will of God - knowing and fulfilling the law? Christ answered.
(Mat. 23:23-26)
23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you give tithes of mint, anise, and cumin, and left the most important thing in the law: judgment, mercy and faith; this was to be done, and that not to be abandoned.
24 Blind leaders, who strain out a gnat, but swallow a camel!
25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, while inside they are full of theft and unrighteousness.
26 Blind Pharisee! cleanse first the inside of the cup and dish, so that their outside may also be clean.
You and I must understand that God desires to see His creation as similar to Jesus Christ, having soul, spirit, and body perfect, not defiled. In the matter of doing the will of God, we must be sincere. We cannot please God if we follow any part of His instructions. It doesn't work with God, because God cannot be deceived.
When Christ began His ministry, He immediately declared the main Will of God:
(Mark 1:15)
15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent and believe in the gospel.
Brother has said in previous sermons that faith itself is a part of a person's personality. God created man in His image and likeness - a personality, and put faith into the basis of a human personality. The entire worldview and mind of a person, his principles, morals, way of thinking, and other components of personality are built on the faith of a person. If faith is taken away from a person, then there will be no personality, it will be a person with a disorder of consciousness and psyche, he will be lost. Therefore, it becomes clear when in a conversation with a person about faith, as a rule, in 90% we will hear: "I believe." And these people do not deceive, they really have faith.
Then the second question should be asked: “If you are a believer, what is the will of God regarding your life? How should you act to please God? Those. is your faith the faith of God? Will there be an understandable and clear answer from such a believer? - usually not.
Because if a person does not know God, then he does not know the will of God, and he begins to believe in anything: rituals, divination, rituals, traditions, signs, miracles, luck, success, a healthy lifestyle, vegetarianism, UFOs, aliens, humanoids , rebirth, reincarnation and other nonsense. A person fills his inner emptiness with anything and begins to sincerely believe in it. Thus, such a mixture of all kinds of human delusions is obtained that Christ was indignant about it.
(John 5:43,44)
43 I have come in the name of my Father, and you do not receive me; but if another comes in his name, you will receive him.
44 How can you believe when you receive glory from one another, but do not seek the glory that is from the One God?
The way of salvation is one for all people through repentance and faith in the Gospel. If a person wants to find another way, or he considers himself special, that God should do something special for him, then this is not the faith of God. This is not the path that Christ pointed out. And the path of such a person is not the path of fulfilling the will of God, it is not the path of the Gospel, such a person does not fulfill the will of God, but fulfills some other will. As a rule, their own, human, selfish will, in other words, their own lusts, and this has nothing to do with Christ.
(1 John 2:17)
17 And the world is passing away, and its lust, but he who does the will of God abides forever.
The question of salvation is the same for everyone, and the way is the same for everyone, through the knowledge of the truth, which is Christ.
(1 Tim. 2:4)
4 Who wants all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.
There is a way of salvation indicated to us in the Gospel, indicated to us by Christ. This is the way of fulfilling the Will of God regarding each person.
There are situations in our Christian life when we have a choice to do this or that, and we do not know how to do it right. Living in this world without God, how did we act? According to our understanding, we made a decision quickly so that the problem was solved as soon as possible, and it seemed that we were moving forward. But it turned out that they were going nowhere, because they did not consider God, His will.
But in Christ we no longer act like that, we do not make hasty decisions, but turn to Christ, and He shows us the way.
(Jer. 29:11-13)
11 For [only] I know the intentions that I have for you, says the Lord, intentions for good, and not for evil, to give you a future and hope.
12 And call to me, and go and pray to me, and I will hear you;
13 And you will seek me and find me, if you seek me with all your heart.
(Ps.24:12)
12 Who is the man who fears the Lord? He will show him the path to take.
In this case, a temptation may arise for those who are looking for other ways, special ways, who do not want to part with their “wealth”: sins, views, opinions, selfishness. A person who has not gone through the path of repentance and faith does not have the forgiveness of sins, he is a sinner:
(John 9:31)
31 But we know that God does not listen to sinners; but who honors God and does His will, that listens.
For a person who does not have peace with God, whose conscience condemns, there is one the only way the corresponding will of God - the path of repentance and faith in Christ: repent and believe in the gospel.
It often happens that a person thinks to himself that he has received some special revelations - this, as a rule, is a seduction, self-conceit, a manifestation of pride, and a person falls into delusions and networks.
For you and me, the example of doing the will of God is Christ. Let's look at the Scriptures, how Jesus acted to do the will of God. Christ came precisely in order to indicate this way of fulfilling the will of God, the way of salvation. And here we come to the second question of our sermon today:
What must a person do to fulfill the will of God?
(Mat. 6:9,10)
9 Pray thus: Our Father who art in heaven! hallowed be thy name;
10 Thy kingdom come; may Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven;
Brothers, is the will of God – is it good, is it good, for good? In heaven, the will of God is fulfilled, there is His kingdom, and He is the king, and everyone listens to Him and fulfills His will - the will of God. Christ wants that here on earth, and I, and you, and all people do the will of God. Christ wants this to be in our heart all the time, for His will to be in our lives here on earth.
(Mat. 7:21)
21 Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord!” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but doing the will of my Father in heaven.
The Lord clearly says that it is not enough just to know and be able to speak and reason about God. What you have learned about God must be realized in your life, otherwise this knowledge will be a source of additional condemnation, greater severity and punishment by God in relation to those who knew and did not fulfill.
(John 4:31-34)
31 Meanwhile the disciples asked Him, saying: Rabbi! eat.
32 But He said to them, I have food that you do not know.
33 Wherefore the disciples said to one another, Who brought him food?
34 Jesus says to them: My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.
(John 6:38)
38 for I Christ came down from heaven, not to do my will, but the will of the Father who sent me.
Christ came to earth with one purpose - to fulfill the will of the Father. And this is an example for us, how we should live on this earth doing the will of God.
(John 7:16-18)
16 Jesus answering them said, My teaching is not mine, but that of him who sent me;
17 who wants to do His will, he will know about this teaching, whether it is from God, or whether I speak from Myself.
18 He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of Him who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
Whoever wants to do the will of God will know that the Gospel that Christ proclaimed is from God. Let's remember when we came to Christ, how the Lord convinced us - By my truth.
Christ pointed out that our Life is going not right, we ourselves understood this, but we ourselves could not change our lives and make it right. But when they turned to God, Christ illuminated all our darkness and showed us the way. And we made a decision not to live according to our personal human will, which destroyed our lives, but to accept and do the will of God, because we realized that His will is for our good. And when we accepted the will of God, our whole life changed, everything fell into place: relationships with God, relationships with others, attitude towards ourselves.
How to distinguish human will from God's will? The Lord said: 18 He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory. The human will always, I emphasize always, seeks glory for itself. Selfishness is nothing but the human will, my will which egoism will never yield to anyone, and will not give honor to anyone but itself.
And whoever seeks glory for Him who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. And whoever seeks the glory of God will do the will of God. How is it possible to give glory to God? Only on one condition - if you transgress through your Self, your desires and interests, if you do not give glory to yourself and observe your own will, but accept the will of God for yourself.
(Luke 22:41-42)
41 And he himself departed from them to throw a stone (some distance), and knelt down and prayed,
42 saying: Father! Oh, that You would deign to carry this cup past Me! however not my will, but yours be done.
An example of Christ, when he understood that suffering, humiliation and death awaited Him ahead. As a man He experienced fear, His flesh was afraid and did not want to suffer, and His human will resisted what awaited him. And the worst thing is that Christ knew that the wrath of God would be poured out on Him for all the sins of people, including mine and yours. On the Righteous One, who was without sin, and He bore the punishment for all the sins of the world - this was the most painful thing in the sufferings of Christ.
Therefore, knowing about his suffering, Jesus said: Father! Oh, that You would deign to carry this cup past Me!
But Christ knew that He had to go through this, otherwise the will of God would not be done, otherwise your and my salvation would not be possible, and in the end God would not be glorified. And knowing this, Christ directed all his will to accept and go to fulfill the will of God. And so he said: however, not my will, but yours be done.” Christ, in spite of the coming suffering, directed His will to do the will of God.
Where a person directs his will, that will will be fulfilled by him, because a person always, I repeat always, has a choice:
Man has the choice to say no to sin, it is in the will of man;
Man has the choice to turn to God and kneel before Him;
A person has a choice and an opportunity to humble himself, not to desire glory for himself, but to desire the glory of God.
The choice of a person determines whose will a person will fulfill: their human will and their desires or the will of God.
These decisions of a person determine whose will he will fulfill. Therefore, such statements of a person as:
- "I'm waiting for something to happen in my life"
- "maybe God will give me some revelations and finally I can believe"
No, that's not the point. The fact is that you still have not made a decision to give up your own will, and have not accepted the will of God. Christ has already said everything for you: repent and believe in the Gospel. There is nothing more to say - either you accept it, or go and do your will.
(John 6:39,40)
39 And this is the will of the Father who sent me, that of what he has given me, nothing should be destroyed, but all that should be raised up on the last day.
40 This is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
From these verses we see: what is God's care for us, what is the responsibility and care of Christ for us. To don't ruin anything but to bring us all to the end, to eternity.
Accordingly, how important and responsible is our appeal to Jesus, how we should be grateful to Jesus, love Him, do His will, keep ourselves in holiness. I repeat, this is not a secondary issue, we see what Christ cares about us, because this is a matter of eternal life and death.
(1 Thess. 4:3-7)
3 For the will of God is your sanctification that you refrain from fornication;
4 so that each of you knows how to keep his vessel in holiness and honor,
5 and not in the passion of lust, like the Gentiles, who do not know God;
6 so that you do nothing against your brother that is unlawful and covetous: for the Lord is the avenger of all these things, just as we told you and testified before.
7 For God has not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness.
God has freed us from the power of sin. God's will is that we, having received the forgiveness of sins at the beginning of our journey, keep holiness. Holiness is an undeserved gift to us from Christ, which became possible when Jesus overcame fear and rejected human will, turned His will to fulfill the will of God.
(Heb. 10:36-39)
36 You need patience so that doing the will of God, receive the promised;
37 For a little more, a very little while, and the One who comes will come and will not tarry.
38 The righteous will live by faith; but if [anyone] stumbles, my soul does not favor him.
39 But we are not of those who hesitate to perish, but [stand] in faith to the salvation of the soul.
RESULTS. Today we have considered two questions:
1. What is the will of God concerning man.
We are convinced that the will of God is the same for all people: through repentance and faith in Christ, we get the opportunity to fulfill the will of God. In order to fulfill the will of God, we must know it in its entirety, be sincere towards ourselves, so as not to leave something behind. Not to have a religious approach, which is hypocrisy, which shares the will of God, and allows not to fulfill some part of the will of God, which Christ condemned by the example of the Pharisees.
It doesn't work that way with Christ - we have to do the will of God completely.
2. How a person should act.
This is to direct your will to the path of fulfilling the will of God, i.e. properly dispose of their free human will. Do not do your will, selfish, sinful, but do the will of God, choose the Gospel path of salvation, which Christ showed us:
Man must seek God, turn to the Word of God;
Man must believe in Christ;
Through the Word of God, the Holy Spirit convicts a person, and repentance becomes possible;
A person repents before Christ of his sins, and God forgives a person, gives the opportunity to live a new holy life in communion with the living God;
Hello, Father. Who do I need to pray to meet my soul mate? I am already 33 and the thought that I am still unmarried leads me to terrible despair. And I really want a family, children. Tell me what to do and pray for me. Divine Victoria.
Hello Victoria! We must always remember that all life's problems are sent to a person not by chance. The reason is sin. This, I'm not afraid of this word, national tragedy is the disastrous spiritual and moral state of our society - mass unbelief. This process is deepening. Father Seraphim (Rose) wrote more than a quarter of a century ago: “But not only children, but all of us are facing a world that is trying to make us anti-Christians through school, television, cinema, popular music and all other ways that fall upon us, especially in big cities. We must understand that what is hammered into us comes from one source - it has a certain rhythm, a certain ideological content for us: this idea of self-worship, relaxation, spitting, enjoyment, refusing the slightest thought of another world - various forms there is one particular thing that is being forced upon us. In fact, this is teaching godlessness.
However, a person is not fatally dependent on the vices of his society. The image of God in him and his conscience, like a heavenly voice in his soul, give him enough moral freedom to live piously. To a person who pleases with God and humbly accepts His holy will, the Lord gives not only a guarantee of salvation, but also joy in earthly life. The desire to have a family is natural, God forbid that this happens. At the very beginning of the life of mankind, God's blessing was given to the family union: And the Lord God said: It is not good for a man to be alone; Let us make him a helper fit for him (Gen. 2:18). From deep and hoary biblical antiquity, people, reaching a certain age, wanted to have a family, children. You need to start a spiritual life: go to church more often, remember all your sins and confess them before a priest, and then partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. The Lord bless your good intention. It is good and correct. And the word of the Gospel is not false about what the Lord sends to the one who asks. Keep yourself in the purity of your path, in keeping the commandments of God. Then the Lord will not leave you alone in your prayer. As for how to pray, there are some examples of prayers in different prayer books about sending down a spouse. But the point is probably not to reproduce one of these prayers. You can pray about this in your own words, the main thing is to pray with faith!, relentlessly and understanding the importance of this petition. Then the Lord will arrange everything according to His good will.First of all, you need to pray to the Lord and the Most Holy Theotokos that they will satisfy what is requested. Pray and trust that the Lord will help!
I also recommend praying for the creation of a family, to Saints Peter and Fevronia, Murom, whose memory is celebrated on July 8. They, the Lord in Heaven, are responsible for the connection of hearts! So that! So, beg them for your soul mate! The Lord will not leave you and will manage everything as it should be. God help you!
God's interest in carrying out His will!
The Bible teaches that God is not a cosmic entity, philosophical idea, not the world soul, not the silent "Something", but the Personal Spirit, possessing the mind, feelings and will. In our world, nothing is left to chance, but everything is the revelation of God's plan. The king of Babylon, who once boasted of his mind and efficiency, and punished for this pride by the Lord, confessed the omnipotence of God: “And all who live on earth mean nothing; according to His will, He acts both in the heavenly host and among those who live on earth; and there is no one who can resist his hand and say to him, “What have you done?” (Dan. 4:32).
What are we asking for when we say, “Thy will be done?”
Surely without our petition God will not do anything in this world - send rains or clear weather? Feed and clothe people? Punish the evil and bless the good? To give birth and terminate life? Will the heavens rise if a person does not turn to them in prayer?
Cyprian, the teacher of the ancient church, answers this: "When we pray 'Thy will be done,' we are not praying for God to do what He wants, but for us to be able to do what God wants."
Pray for cognition will of the Lord!
This is a fateful request! The indicator of the salvation of our faith is not prayer, not the verbal recognition of Jesus as Lord, but the fulfillment of His will. Christ warned people: “Not everyone who says to Me: “Lord! Lord!” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Mat. 7:21).
Unfortunately, the world is more and more rebelling against the will of God, refusing to know and accept it.
If Israel's problem was to establish its own righteousness instead of the righteousness of Christ, the problem modern world is the statement sin as the norm of human existence.
If the punishment for Israel for neglecting the righteousness of Christ was their centuries of bitterness, then the punishment for our contemporaries for rejecting the will of God will be the lake of fire.
The dividing line between saints and sinners has now become very clear, and a person does not need to guess which side he is on. An example of this is the Manhattan Declaration published on November 29, 2009.
« A coalition of 150 Catholic, Orthodox and Evangelical priests, in its new manifesto, calls on Christians to refuse recognition of secular authority and even to civil disobedience if the law forces them to accept abortion, same-sex marriage and other ideas that betray their religious creed. The manifesto says that after the election of Obama, a supporter of the right to abortion, social evils have increased, there has been an erosion of the "culture of marriage", an increase in the number of divorces, an easier attitude towards adultery and the separation of marriage from childbearing and raising children.
“We honor justice and the common good, so we will not accept any edict that compels our institutions to be complicit in abortion, embryo-destroying research, suicide or euthanasia, or other acts against life; we will not bow to any law that compels us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriage or its equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth as we know it about morality or immorality, and family and marriage.”
Southern Baptist Convention leader Dr. Richard Land, in an interview with Newsmax, called President Obama "very a dangerous person” and reminded Christians that God is non-partisan, “and on many important social issues, God has a position. God is neither a Democrat nor a Republican. God for life."
Thus, the line of the Obama administration and all those who support him (and there are quite a lot of them!) is an expression of the principle "... my will be done." However, if you take a closer look at the problem, it turns out that there is not so much human will in this principle.
The apostle Paul reminded the believing Ephesians that before their conversion they lived: “according to [the will] of the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2).
It turns out that all talk about free human will is an empty phrase. Man only seems that he lives according to his own will, in fact he does the will of Satan. A person has a will, but this will is deftly controlled by the devil.
The Apostle Paul writes: “...with meekness to instruct the opponents, if God will not give them repentance to the knowledge of the truth, so that they will be freed from the snares of the devil, who has entrapped them into his will” (2 Tim. 2:25,26).
If, by the will of God, a very complex and beautiful world, then nothing smart and beautiful was created by the will of the devil. According to his will, debauchery, deceit, and murder are committed. He who seeks to do the will of God, thereby refuses to do the will of the devil.
The letter to the Ephesians says: “…do not be foolish, but know what is the will of God” (Eph.5:17). But how can we know the will of the Lord? How does He reveal it to us?
In the sphere of morality, the will of the Lord is fully revealed in the Holy Scriptures. Do you want to know the will of the Lord? - Read the Bible! It says everything you need to know!
Don't ask if God wants to save you, for His word has declared: “(God) wants all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4).
Do not ask the Lord if you should go to worship, for the Word of God clearly says: “Let us not leave our assembly, as is the custom of some” (Heb. 10:25).
Do not seek the answer: "How many times shall I forgive my brother?" The answer is given long ago in His Word: up to seventy times seven!
Do not tempt Christ - is it possible to sin a little, for Scripture clearly commands: “but, following the example of the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all your actions. For it is written, Be holy, for I am holy” (1 Pet. 1:15-16).
Do not rack your brains, is it possible to get a divorce without biblical grounds? The Bible says: God hates divorce.
Do not ask whether it is worth doing good if a person does not understand it? Scripture commands : "... for this is the will of God, that we, by doing good, stop the mouth of the ignorance of foolish people" (1 Peter 2:15).
Do not say: "I will not reach eternity, because maybe I am not chosen." The Bible declares: “Even so, it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones perish” (Mat. 18:14).
Christ has not revised a single point in His manifesto - the Sermon on the Mount, and by rereading it, you can definitely know what His will is in the moral sphere.
The situation is different with questions to which there is no specific answer in Scripture: what job to get, whom to marry, where to move, should you complain to your boss?
Sometimes the questions are very dramatic. One brother once asked: “I have three children, my wife became pregnant, and her cancer worsened. The doctors suggest an emergency abortion. I asked some brothers - they said abortion was out of the question, others - what is possible in such a critical case. What to do?"
It happens that some believers, wishing to determine the will of the Lord, cast lots or randomly open the Scriptures so that it gives a direct command as to what to do. Such divination on the Bible can lead to trouble.
One minister—let's call him Arkady—told me how, in his youth, he fell in love with a girl and asked the Lord when to propose to her. He opened the prophet Isaiah at random and read: "Do not sow in the first or second year." He understood that the Lord wanted the offer to be made in two years.
He agreed to wait two years. Once a friend approached him and asked: "Pray for me, I want to propose to such and such a girl." Arkady was stunned: he is stealing my bride! A couple of days later, another brother came up and asked to be held in prayer, for he was about to propose to ... all the same girl! Arkady grieved and turned to the prophet Isaiah for support. Opening the Bible at random, he read: "Do not be afraid of two smoking firebrands!" His heart rejoiced: God will not allow the bride to be taken away! And so it happened - the girl refused those two suitors. However, six months later, she still got married, and Arkady was left with nothing.
Arkady concluded for himself: God does not favor him to use Scripture as a book of divination. He began to wait for God's time. For when the Lord desires something, He will reveal His will in such a way that there will be no doubt about it. And God quite naturally arranged his acquaintance with a girl who later became his wife.
To act according to the will of the Lord means to save yourself from many troubles!
Once David asked the Lord: “... Lord God of Israel! Your servant has heard that Saul wants to come to Keilah and destroy the city for my sake. Will the people of Keil betray me into his hands? And will Saul come here, as your servant heard? Lord God of Israel! open to your servant. And the Lord said, He will come. And David said, Will the inhabitants of Keilah deliver me and my people into the hand of Saul? And the Lord said: They will betray. Then David arose and his men, about six hundred men, and went out of Keilah and walked where they could. Saul was informed that David had fled from Keilah, and then he canceled the campaign ”(1 Sam. 23: 10-13).
David had every reason to rely on the inhabitants of Keilah, for they owed him their salvation from the Philistines. He risked his life and, quite possibly, his squad suffered losses in the battle with the enemies. In addition, he enriched the city with many cattle captured from the enemy (1 Sam. 23:5).
Undoubtedly, the inhabitants of the city thanked David for his help and swore eternal loyalty to him. And what would have happened if David had relied on their “decency” and had not asked the Lord, who knows the heart? The Keilites would cover themselves with the shame of betrayal, the best soldiers of Israel would perish.
To determine the will of the Lord in cases where it is not specifically expressed in the Bible, analyze the situation by asking the following questions:
Is it time to make this decision?
Are my motives pure?
Is my conscience at peace?
Will my decision serve the glory of the Lord?
Will it benefit people?
Have I prayed earnestly for God's guidance?
Does God open closed doors or do I break them down?
Does my opinion agree with that of God-fearing friends or ministers?
If you get an affirmative answer to these questions, then act according to your mind!
Pray for love to the will of the Lord!
One must not only know the will of God, but also love it, because in this case it is easier to fulfill it.
Without love, the will of God will be hard and repugnant.
Satan perfectly knows the whole will of the Lord, but he hates it and opposes it.
Herod knew the will of the Lord about the inadmissibility of marriage with a married woman, however, he violated it.
The Pharisees knew the will of God about John's baptism, but they rejected it.
Unfortunately, even today many believers lack love for the will of the Lord - hence the reason for neglecting it. We love that will of God that coincides with ours and does not infringe on us. On the contrary, we reject a will that we find uncomfortable.
One pastor wrote:
“Recently, I was on the phone with a believing woman who left her minister husband. I asked her, “Is your action pleasing to God?” She answered "No!". "Why don't you go back to your husband?" I asked. "I'm tired of our disunity," she replied. Then I replied: “Your problem is not so much between you and your husband, but between you and God. You are disobedient to God!”
Petition "Thy will be done" gives depth and warmth to the relationship with Christ: “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Mat. 12:50).
Only a doer of His will can enjoy family fellowship with Christ. For others, Christianity becomes a boring ritual religion or a religion of God manipulation.
This petition "Thy will be done" reveals whether the prayer is an obedient child of God or a religious formalist. The Son of the heavenly Father longs to humble himself before His will and do it. The religious formalist does not want to fulfill it. If outwardly he executes, then he chooses the easiest commands.
The Word of God teaches that true prayer is primarily driven not by one's own need, but by the interests of God. So it should be - in the beginning God, and everything else later! A person who, with the help of prayer, tries to achieve the fulfillment of his desires, does not know how to pray!
Do we love the will of the Lord when He allows us material difficulties, illnesses, loneliness, failures, losses? Or do we grumble at Him? When Peter confessed three times that he loved Jesus Christ, He not only ordered him to feed the sheep, which in itself was a difficult assignment, but also predicted martyrdom. Peter was not upset by such a strange and heavy will. He did not raise his eyes to the Lord and say with reproach and bewilderment: “Death for my love for You? Did I misheard?!” Whoever loves God's will will do it, whatever it may be!
What could motivate us to pray fervently to love the will of the Lord?
An example of Jesus Christ.
For Jesus Christ, doing the will of the Father was a delight: “Jesus says to them: My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work” (John 4:34). This example encourages us to pray, “Dear Lord! May the fulfillment of Your will become for me also a pleasant spiritual food, from which I would enjoy and be refreshed. Deliver me from self-will, which steals my joy and love for You!
The Command of the Word of God
The Apostle Paul writes to believers that they should work: "... not with only visible servility, like people-pleasers, but like servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart" (Eph. 6:6). A similar wish is expressed by the psalmist: “... I desire to do Thy will, my God, and Thy law is in my heart” (Ps. 39:9). These commands will also strengthen our prayer: “Lord, I have so little enthusiasm for doing Your will at work. I'm lazy and work hard. Help me in my everyday duties to discern Your will and fulfill it from the heart!
Knowledge of the miraculous properties of the will of the Lord
In Romans 12:2, the Apostle Paul names three characteristics of the Lord's will: good, acceptable, and perfect. And if we think about them, it will inspire us to do the will of the Lord.
The will of God serves our good in the broadest sense of the word: “Moreover, we know that to those who love God, who are called according to [His] purpose, everything works together for good” (Rom. 8:28). If you begin to put into practice the commands of the Lord, you will receive many blessings!
Will of the Lord pleasing or, in other words, acceptable. It can be performed!
God does not command us the impossible and does not offer us the impossible. He is ready to help us in carrying out His will!
Will of the Lord perfect, which is the best. She is the only acceptable option for our life. It has no flaws or shortcomings. However, the best does not mean easy.
It took great effort for Jesus to accept the will of the Father regarding the cup in the Garden of Gethsemane. He prayed with a strong cry and with tears for the acceptance of this will and won! Through His obedience to the will of the Father, we are saved!
Love for the will of God is impossible without submissive humility before it. V.P. Stepanov, a well-known minister of the gospel in the 1920s and 1930s, wrote in a serious illness:
If it is not Your will that I
Got what I wanted to have
Subdue my will forever
Calm down and send grace!
Pray for strength to do the will of the Lord!
The psalmist David prayed: Teach me to do Thy will, for Thou art my God” (Ps. 143:10). A man after God's own heart felt like an inept doer of the Lord's will and needed God's help.
Indeed, God expects the fulfillment of His will to be complete and timely. This is how the will of the Lord is done in heaven.
I can’t imagine that the Archangel Gabriel, who was sent by God to announce the birth of Jesus Christ to the Virgin Mary, said: “Lord, I’m busy right now, but I give my word of honor that as soon as I’m free, I will definitely fly to Nazareth.” I can't imagine Gabriel saying to the Lord, “Why is it always me and me? I was already on a business trip to the sinful earth. There is such a stinking and oppressive atmosphere of evil that I could hardly stand it. In addition, I was tormented by the unbelief of Zechariah. Let me rest, don't you have anyone to send?"
I can't imagine angels with such moods. But on the other hand, it’s easy for me to imagine people who are in no hurry to fulfill the will of the Lord or fulfill it in part.
So Lot's wife obeyed the Lord in part. She obeyed the Lord and left Sodom, however, the other part of the command - "do not look back!" - she did not comply and turned into a pillar of salt.
Moses obeyed the Lord in part when, instead of commanding the mountain to give water to the people, he struck it with a rod.
Saul obeyed the Lord in part when, instead of putting everything under the curse, he left a good herd of enemies for himself and the people.
King Herod obeyed the Lord in part, fulfilling many of the instructions of John the Baptist, but did not stop his adulterous relationship with Herodias.
Untimely and incomplete obedience to the Lord is a bewildering sin of the church of Christ. That is why we need to pray that God will give us the zeal and strength to do the will of the Lord immediately and fully.
God has promised to give power to do His will in this way. Read these texts and turn them into an occasion for prayer:
“…but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
“Who will separate us from the love of God: tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or the sword? as it is written: For your sake they kill us every day, they consider us to be sheep [destined] to be slaughtered. But we overcome all these things by the power of Him who loved us” (Rom. 8:35-37).
“No other temptation has come upon you than that of a man; and God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted beyond your strength, but when tempted will give you relief, so that you can endure” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
“But to Him Who, by His power working in us, can do incomparably more than all that we ask or think about…” (Eph. 3:20).
“I give thanks to Christ Jesus our Lord who gave me strength, that he recognized me as faithful, appointing me to the ministry ...” (1 Tim. 1:12).
Clive Lewis said: "God will say to some, 'Your will be done,' and to others, 'Your will be done to you'." Some will rejoice, others will mourn. Will you be among the first?
“Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh for us, arm yourself with the same thought; for he who suffers in the flesh ceases to sin, so that the rest of the time in the flesh he lives no longer according to human lusts, but according to the will of God. For it is enough that you in the past time of life acted according to the will of the pagans, indulging in uncleanness, lusts ... drunkenness, excess in food and drink, and absurd idolatry ”(1 Peter 4: 1-4).
( …) May 4th, 2012 at 03:02
I am very happy and grateful to the Lord that I received a revelation about the need to obey God's will at the very beginning of my Christian formation and since then I have taken this command of God very seriously! ... The will of God serves our good in the broadest sense of the word: “Besides, we know that to those who love God, who are called according to [His] will, everything works together for good” (Rom. 8:28). If you begin to put into practice the commands of the Lord, you will receive many blessings! - it is this quote from your article that should be made your motto, and someone should write on the tablets of your heart !!! I want to tell you about my very first and most touching experience of knowing God's will. At that time, my unloved, low-paid and exhausting work did not give me any satisfaction. Besides, I just hated my immediate boss. I had a rather warm relationship with the director of our institution, but I was ashamed to complain, so he did not know that there was a silent enmity between me and my boss. My husband did not work at that time and was associated with a bad company where he began to abuse alcohol. I was at work all day, my husband drank and could not be relied upon, and our children were left to their own devices. I did not like all this and in the hope of taking full control of my husband, I began to think about the ways of my actions, having come to one single opinion that I needed to quit! The more I thought about this decision, the more doubts I had! On the one hand, not a favorite job and a hated boss from which I would like to get rid of as soon as possible, on the other hand, a non-working spouse and two children! After much deliberation and uncertainty, all the same, I decided to pray to God and ask his opinion - to quit or not to quit! For the first time in my life, I heard the voice of my God right in my heart - quit! At first, after this Word, relief came, but then after a while, for two months, I just struggled in nervous convulsions, tormented myself and tormented all my relatives, because this Word is not from God, but from Satan - How can the Lord think of leaving my family completely no livelihood! The situation in the family worsened, I was completely exhausted and torn! At that moment, I already began to go to church, not confidently from hopelessness, since only there I could immerse myself in an atmosphere of peace and security. My husband was categorically against my church and even tried to beat me, but with each visit to church, my Faith seemed to grow and strengthen independently of my mind. After some time, without saying anything to anyone, I went with a letter of resignation in my hands to the director, with feelings and worries about Abraham, and how he led his son to the burnt offering. The director asked me for a long time what was the reason for my decision, what could I have said with tears and pleas to sign my application, but he categorically refused! I called my boss and urged her to come up with a way so that I could solve my problems. family problems and at the same time save your work! I was not ready for this turn of events! As a result, I was offered 4 months of vacation without pay! I decided to apply for 2 months. In order not to be left without a livelihood, I was offered to go on sick leave and be treated at a clinic for the treatment of nervous disorders. The director even wrote me financial aid for treatment! At that time, my attachment to the Lord and to the church began to grow. During these 2 months, I managed to combine the treatment I needed, communication with my husband and children, which we have been missing for so long, and most importantly, I truly repented of my sins, attended sermons, seminars, prayer services, took the Alpha course in our church, acquired brothers and sisters, and completely and irrevocably decided to embark on the path of consecrating yourself and your life to My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! After 2 months, I went to work a completely different person, I could not believe myself where all the negativity with which I had lived in recent years had gone! Everything looked completely different, kind people, the boss is a normal person, even a professional! Over time, I got a big raise wages, my husband got a job very Good work! And I always ask myself one question - what if I had not listened to the voice of the Lord, what would it be with me now! Glory to our God! Thank you very much for your sermons, which I re-read several times with pleasure, as well as the opportunity to testify on your favorite site! I thank our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for you and for your work!
(11 votes : 4.5 out of 5 )Archpriest Andrei Ovchinnikov
Part one. The Will of God and the Will of Man
What is life according to the will of God?
Let's talk about what life is according to the will of God. Is this possible in our time? The Holy Gospel reveals to us the laws of spiritual life, on the fulfillment of which the inner perfection of man depends. The life of the Savior serves as an ideal example of the life of a Man according to the will of God. The Saint teaches that our Lord Jesus Christ in His earthly incarnation was not only the True God, but also the True Man. As a Man He had a human will, but as a God He was endowed with the will of God. At the same time, two wills were united in Him - the Divine and the human, but the human will never came into conflict with the Divine will.
According to the teaching of the Church, our Lord Jesus Christ is sinless. This means that He did not have any sin on Himself, neither original nor personal, which means that His will was also sinless. The human will of Christ was in everything subordinated to the holy Divine will, which is aimed exclusively at the creation of goodness, truth and love. But we know that as a Man the Lord had "immaculate passions." He needed sleep, food. He, like everyone else, needed rest. The Gospel also says that the Lord wept. And like every man, the Savior was afraid of death. He prayed in Gethsemane to strengthen Himself, and His prayer was answered; through her He drew the strength necessary for the Feat, which was accomplished on Golgotha.
In Christ, the unattainable ideal of the absolute subordination of the human will to the Divine will is revealed to us. And when we talk about the necessity of human life according to the will of God, then we must say that such was the life of the Savior. Before the suffering on the Cross, knowing about the impending crucifixion, He did not try to reject the Divine will about Himself. His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane is a request that there be enough strength to fulfill the will of the Father, aimed at making the Great Sacrifice in order to save the human race from sin, damnation and death.
Indeed, the Christ-Man is the True and Most Obedient Executor of the Divine will. But let us now turn to ordinary people, to those who are clothed with infirmities and live in a state of struggle with sin. In other words, let's turn to ourselves. Why is it so difficult for us to live according to God's will? Yes, Christ was a Man, but a sinless Man, not only by grace, but also by His own nature. We are others, our state is infinitely far from the state of Christ. Our will is corrupted by sin. She seems to be in the stage of a serious illness, for the treatment of which sometimes a whole life is not enough. However, let us say right away that the Holy Church gives us all the necessary medicines for healing. Correcting one's will and subordinating it to the Divine will is not an easy task, but this is the very feat to which every Orthodox Christian is called.
Can modern man know the Divine will?
Speaking of modern man, we must also remember all his infirmities, that many people today are cut off from spiritual tradition, from church life. What can be said about a generation whose parents and grandparents did not know the Church! Our contemporary is almost defenseless against the powerful pressure of spiritually harmful information from the outside. As difficult as it is to hear a human voice under the roar of music, it is just as difficult for a person to hear the voice of God in his soul, the voice of his conscience. We have forgotten how to listen to ourselves. The lack of silence, both internal and external, has made it difficult for people to talk about God.
Before the revolution, there were frequent cases when even members of the royal family left their duties for a while and left for monasteries in order to break away from the hustle and bustle, to be in silence, to pray and hear the voice of their conscience, the voice of God. But these were churched people who loved their Fatherland and wished to be useful to it.
A serious problem of our time is the information overload of a person. Solving various problems, we do not have the opportunity to understand own life, the pace of which is too high to stop and think. Understanding all the intricacies of the modern way of life, a person sometimes cannot answer the question of what faith he professes, whether he loves his country, whether he cares about parents, how he would like to raise children.
Work also does not create favorable conditions for modern man to see God in his life. After a busy week of work, people are so devastated spiritually and physically that it is not easy to plant even a small seed of a blessed word in their souls. In addition, the environment, as a rule, does not encourage a person to think about something high, spiritual and holy.
Most of our flock are young people. And it is to her that I want to turn my word. Mature people have lived their lives, their system of values has long been formed. It is already difficult for them to change something in themselves. But from young people who have recently converted to faith, it is still possible to grow a fruitful tree. This process is not easy, not fast, and without the help of God it is impossible. The Apostle Paul taught that both the planter and the waterer are nothing, but God who grows everything ().
If, with God's help and the efforts of pastors, spiritual growth, although slow, has begun, it always turns out that it is directly related to the fulfillment of God's will by a person. The more we exercise in the fulfillment of the Divine will, the faster this growth will be. But even for successful Christians, it is important to remember the words of the Savior: So you too, when you fulfill everything commanded to you, say: we are worthless slaves, because we did what we had to do (). That is why we must completely shift the care of the result to God. Our business is to work, strive, struggle with sin, exercise in doing good deeds, be faithful children of the Church, serve God and our neighbors, and the state spiritual growth depends on the Lord.
Not to an inquisitive mind, but to a loving and humble heart
Often people of intellectual labor, accustomed to analyzing everything that happens, try to analyze the Providence of God. Such attempts are doomed to failure, because no one scientific research the will of God does not work. The will of God is revealed not to an inquisitive mind, but to a loving and humble heart. In affirming this, we certainly do not reject the mind as a kind of tool - say, a compass - that allows us to determine the right direction of life. With its help, from external circumstances, a person with a Christian worldview can understand what God's will for him is.
Here is a simple example. Children grow up in the family. Parents begin to look for a good school for them, teachers who would help develop their God-given abilities. It is clear that there is the will of God for children to receive education and upbringing. After leaving school, a person faces the choice of a future profession. Obviously, the Lord wants us to work for the good of our neighbors, for the good of the Fatherland, and the worker who has received the appropriate education is always in demand. Then there comes a moment when a person understands that it is necessary to create a family. The Lord blessed marriage by performing His first miracle at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, blessed childbearing, saying that the wife<…>will be saved through childbearing (), which means there is the will of God for the continuation of the human race. Each of us has parents to take care of in old age, to pray for their salvation. Caring for parents is the very duty of ours, to which there is a direct indication of the Divine will. Thus, in certain cases, a person who has a correct worldview can really know the will of God. But this is hardly possible for people who are rationalistic, who do not have faith in their hearts, who are indifferent to the Church. Although for a simple Christian, the safest state is not the study of the ways of the Divine, but filial obedience to the will of the Father.
But how to know God's will in any particular case? For example, to understand how to act in a difficult situation? Let's say right away that we most often find ourselves in such situations because we violate the laws of spiritual life. I must say that we are rarely called upon to make a responsible decision without hesitation. However, for some reason, we are always in a hurry to do it faster. But the will of God is revealed in patience: he prayed, thoroughly weighed everything, and only after that did he decide. The state of slowness also limits the number of possible errors.
Why doesn't God hear me?
The parishioners often ask the priest about this. To answer this question, we turn to a simple example. The young man met the girl he fell in love with and asks the confessor to pray for her to become his wife, he himself prays earnestly for his beloved, asks for prayerful help from his parents ... Well, is there God's will for this? Does he ask himself this question? A person often insists on his own and thinks that the Lord does not hear him, does not give what he asks, does not participate in his life ... But it also happens that we ask God for something not for the good, but to the detriment of our soul,
And why does the Lord not immediately fulfill our requests? Maybe because it tests our patience? They say that a person does not appreciate what he gets without effort. This is true, and this is our natural state. Let's say the one who found the money will never treat it the same way as the one who earned it by honest work. So it is in our case. For the Lord to send good wife, you need to pray for more than one year, and even ask your parents for help and listen to good advice. Only then will you find a person with whom you can live your whole life. Often, to solve many problems, we lack obedience, whether it be obedience to a confessor, parents, or boss at work. Modern people do not know how to live by advice, they cannot give up their will. The state, which the holy fathers call self-will, is the root cause of many mistakes and sorrows. Disobedience is often based on disobedience to the Lord and violation of His holy will.
But let's not give up and lose heart, it's better to believe that the Lord only tests our patience in prayers and will surely fulfill the request. He does not immediately fulfill, because he waits and looks at our zeal, at our devotion. He does not fulfill only when we ask for something that is not useful for ourselves.
It also happens that the Lord does not fulfill the request for a person to think about why God does not hear him. Maybe he will remember something that he forgot to say in confession: there is an unpaid debt, an offense on the conscience unforgiven or non-reconciliation with someone ... But you never know sins! External well-being often depends on the internal state.
The search for the will of God is the most important work of our life, since, falling on its path, a person is included in the eternal divine life.
Reverend
Part two. How to know the will of God?
"Honor your father and your mother..." ()
Parents are those people thanks to whom the birth of a person into the world takes place. The commandment to honor parents is very ancient. We know that in Old Testament and the prophet of God Moses and other prophets called on the people of Israel, who kept the true knowledge of God, to honor their father and mother: Honor your father and your mother [so that you feel good and] so that your days on earth are long (). For disrespecting parents, a terrible punishment was imposed - the death penalty by stoning: Whoever slanders his father or his mother, let him be put to death (). The commandment to love and honor parents is revealed even deeper and more meaningfully in the New Testament. Christ Himself showed us an example of caring for His Mother and imaginary father, Elder Joseph.
Each of us has parents. Whether a person has created his own family or lives in his father's house, relationships with parents may change, but they are not interrupted throughout life. Parents are the people to whom we should direct most of our attention, care and love. When our own family appears, we, according to the commandment, leave our father and mother and cling to our wife or husband (see:). From this moment, the parents cease to be our family, but they are not forgotten, the form of serving them is simply changing. Orthodox young families have a tradition of establishing special parent days”- say, on Wednesday to visit the parents of the husband, and on Friday the parents of the wife in order to communicate and provide them with the necessary assistance. Each family has its own charter, but we repeat that the commandment to honor parents does not stop even when we leave our parental home.
How does knowledge of the Divine will come about through parents? Are they always her guides? What if the parents are unbelievers? I think we can say that parents still have their own special grace of “parenthood” (the grace of motherhood or the grace of fatherhood). And just as in the Sacrament of the Priesthood, an ordinary person, being born as a spiritual person, receives grace-filled strength and help to perform his ministry, so during childbirth, the father and mother receive the necessary help from the Lord in order to raise and educate their child. Through our parents, the Lord leads us into earthly life. There is a wise saying that the birth of a person into the world is an act of Divine mercy, since each of us, being born, gets the opportunity to inherit eternal life. Together with the priceless gift of life, we receive from the father and mother their love, without which, as without sunlight, nothing living can grow. This is the natural state of motherhood and fatherhood. To love a child more than parents, only the Lord can. That is why obedience to father and mother is essentially obedience to Love, and hence obedience to the Lord.
This is the ideal relationship between children and parents. But life is not easy, and the development of the child takes place under the influence of various circumstances in which the father and mother nevertheless take a direct and most active part. We see how pious parents who conscientiously fulfill their duty have children, having matured, become moral, righteous and even holy people. We also see how the children of negligent and irresponsible parents grow up. "Where were you when the child needed your care!" - I want to say to a mother who does not know how to correct her adult son.
The participation of parents in the lives of children is very important and significant. Not so long ago, without the blessing of a father and mother, not a single thing was done in Russia, whether it was choosing a profession, getting married, moving to a new place of residence. Through parental approval, the Lord Himself sends His blessing on all the good deeds that a person does. And parents, in blessing their children, in turn are called to understand that their advice should protect children from danger.
The bitter truth of our time is that many parents are cut off from the Church. Their advice often does not correspond to the gospel commandments. In this case, it is appropriate to recall the apostolic word that God should be listened to more than man. And, of course, if parental advice contradicts the Divine commandments, then, without embittering, without irritation, we must explain to the father and mother that the choice will be made as the Holy Gospel teaches. Such parents need our prayerful help so that they accept the truth in the form in which it is given by the Orthodox Church.
To whom the Church is not a mother, God is not the Father
When we talk about the will of God, we must also make the following remark: only a church person can fulfill it. Non-church people, non-believers do not know Divine revelation. Although many of them live, probably checking their actions with the voice of conscience, they do not feel the action of grace, which meets with a strong rebuff from the sinful way of their unrepentant nature. But as soon as a person begins to struggle with sin, as soon as he makes an attempt to destroy this wall that separates him from God, he immediately begins to feel and experience God in his life. Such a person discovers the depth of the gospel truths, a real Meeting takes place, and now he sincerely wants to arrange his whole life according to the will of God.
Doing the will of God is the goal of the Christian life. This is the very height to which we must rise at all costs. By the grace of Baptism, each person is able to turn to God and begin to fulfill the Divine will, albeit in a small way, but sincerely and with diligence.
When asked whether representatives of other Christian denominations fulfill the Divine will, it can be said with confidence that this is a section of a complex theological topic. It hardly makes sense to disclose it in detail in our book. We will only say that these people, unfortunately, do not know the fullness of the Truth that is in the womb Orthodox Church.
People who are not baptized, but who live according to the law of conscience, can realize that only in the Church are all human talents most fully revealed. Churching makes it possible to know the will of God and receive the necessary strength in order to fulfill it. We have already said that to fulfill the will of God is a feat, and feat requires strength. These forces are given to a person in the bosom of the Orthodox Church.
Churching begins with the sacrament of baptism and the associated sacrament of chrismation. Dogmatically, the Church says that a baptized person who washed away all sins in the font and received the grace of Baptism, and then the grace of Chrismation, becomes a full-fledged and full-fledged worker in the field of Christ. In these Sacraments, the Lord endows us with those grace-filled powers that we did not have before. Now we can legally struggle, in other words, stand on a par with the saints, who also once began their journey with the Sacrament of Baptism and completed it in the Kingdom of Heaven.
"Obey your leaders" ()
One of the signs of the truth of the Church is the presence of a legitimate hierarchy in it. Not everyone can introduce people to spiritual life, teach them to always act according to the will of God. In the Orthodox Church, there are priests appointed by the Law for this - bishops, priests and deacons. Where there is no true hierarchy, there is no truth. The Grace of the Priesthood, received in the Sacrament of the Priesthood, originates from the Savior and the holy Apostles. We believe that in the Orthodox Church, by a chain of ordinations, a bishop is united with one of the Apostles, the Apostles are united with Christ Himself, and the inviolability, the indissolubility of this spiritual connection is obvious. When the Mystery of the Priesthood is celebrated, the bishop who lays hands on adds one more link to this chain. He himself, being in turn the bearer of the fullness of church authority (where there is no bishop, there is no Church), transfers the grace of the Priesthood to one of his brothers. And the grace of the Priesthood makes the shepherd ready for the work for which he has been placed.
Another sign of truth is the presence in the Church of the Sacraments. Through the Sacraments, the Lord pours grace on faithful followers and thus helps us all to recognize His will. At the heart of the Sacrament lies a certain mystery (mystery) - a way of communion with God that is incomprehensible to our human understanding. The most striking example of this is the Sacrament of the Eucharist, when a person is united with the Lord through Holy Communion.
Each Sacrament carries a deep spiritual meaning. Through them, a person receives the necessary grace-filled help. And our task is to join them, not to neglect what God gives to each of us. This is especially important for novice people who should not limit their church life to just going to church to light a candle. In prayers before Communion, we ask the Lord for the enlightenment of the mind and other grace-filled gifts. For example, in the rite of Communion of the sick at home, the priest reads a prayer in which there are such words: “May the Lord make you wise,” “May the Lord save you,” “May the Lord have mercy on you.” So he addresses before Communion to the sick or dying, instilling in the heart of a weakened person the hope that he will not be abandoned by God's mercy either in this life or in the next.
Without participating in church life, it is impossible to know the will of God. The church is often compared to a hospital. Imagine a patient who comes to the doctor, but after walking along the corridors, talking with other patients, looking into the office, leaves. Does his condition improve after such a visit? Likewise in the church. A person will write a note, light a candle - and that's it ... And so on until the next time. But we are all spiritually ill, and participation in the Sacraments is for us the very same necessary operation through which positive changes occur in our souls. Moreover, we must try as often as possible to resort to these saving means so as not to waste the grace that is communicated to us in the Sacraments. We all need to constantly feel the Lord in our hearts and thus know His holy will for ourselves. The question of how often you need to take communion and confession should be agreed with the confessor.
Happy is the man who has spiritual father. People should thank God, pray for their confessor, because the institution of confessorship exists in the Church also so that through our pastors we learn the Divine will about ourselves. Probably, those who have been nourished by one priest for many years (especially if this is an elder, adorned not only with years of shepherding, but also with prayerful wisdom, ascetic life), know well that the Lord Himself speaks to us through the mouth of a confessor.
The elders are vessels of the grace of God, but often people cannot contain the advice or blessing they receive. Once, a young man went to an experienced old man to ask for advice in resolving an important issue. This question was related to the choice of life path. At the meeting, the father asked:
- Are you married?
“No,” the young man replied. Hearing the answer, the confessor advised him to become a monk.
The young man bowed, kissed his hand, and drove home. And when he arrived, he realized that he could not fulfill the blessing. It turned out that his spiritual condition did not allow him to become a monk. With tears in his eyes, he returned back, begging the elder to remove this blessing from him. Is the confessor guilty of trying to reveal to man the will of God? No. The one who started untimely to find out is to blame.
How should one proceed in such a case? Now almost every locality there are parish churches around which church life glimmers. The parish is called so because people who live nearby come to the temple. This is the legally established tradition of the Church. Just as people living in the same area are attached to the passport office or clinic, they are just as attached to the nearest church. The parish priest is the spiritual center with which the flock resolves all their vital issues. Of course, you need to pray that the priest would be a worthy person, a kind and loving shepherd, but also try to be an exemplary parishioner yourself. This is a very important spiritual rule. Dangerous and unreasonable is the one who "travels" to different parishes and different confessors.
Our time, according to one Christian theologian, is called the time of "Christian tourism." People now generally travel a lot: they go to the Holy Land, to the holy relics in different countries and in Russia… They also travel to Moscow churches. Of course, this is a very necessary and important matter, and God grant that the pilgrimage service of our Church develops. Pilgrimage to shrines is a necessary component of the spiritual life, but now we are talking about the inner discipline that should be present in every person. When we come to new temple, this is accompanied by many vivid impressions: new people, new clergy ... We need to approach the shrine, receive a blessing, buy something for memory, and instead of calmly praying, we fuss, and the holiday becomes a hectic pastime.
The head of the spiritual life should be the parish priest. This is the God-appointed shepherd who feeds his parishioners, blesses them for every good deed, including trips to shrines. It has become a good tradition for experienced pilgrims to take a blessing on the road, because from their own experience they know about the temptations that happen on such trips. The parish pastors could describe a lot interesting stories about the power and grace-filled help of the priestly blessing. Here is just one example from personal practice. The young couple gathered to St. Sergius. The trip was scheduled for Sunday, and the day before, on Saturday evening, these people approached me and asked me to tell me how best to get to the monastery. I advised them to make the pilgrimage by bus, which leaves regularly from the VDNKh metro station and delivers passengers fairly quickly to Sergiev Posad. Taking into account my recommendations, the young people, leaving the temple, for some reason decided to go to the Lavra by train. They told me about the result of such “innocent disobedience” immediately after the trip. Taking a ticket to Sergiev Posad, they boarded the train and, satisfied, set off. What was their surprise when, instead of the domes of the Assumption Cathedral, they saw dilapidated buildings of some local factory at the final station! It turned out that instead of taking the train to Sergiev Posad, they took the train going to the city of Fryazevo, where they ended up. I had to return to Moscow in order to get on the right train on the second attempt. They came to the Reverend with an unpleasant self-awareness of self-willed children who suffered from their own disobedience. So they understood that the blessing from the priest must not only be taken, but also fulfilled.
Novice mistakes
The parish priest takes care of the spiritual problems of his parishioners. However, in the life of every person, very difficult questions sometimes arise, which not every priest can answer. In this case, you need to turn to a more experienced confessor. But it is unreasonable, bypassing the blessing of the parish priest, to arbitrarily ask the elder about something, and then tell about what happened in his parish. Such behavior is bewildering, and most importantly, when problems arise, the priest can only shrug: “You went on your own, without my knowledge, and now you are asking what to do?”
You need to start solving difficult issues at your parish. Let the priest decide which elder to go to, which icon to pray to, which saint to ask for help. As a parish priest myself, I believe that a preparatory time must be set for a trip to the elder. Perhaps it makes sense to spend the entire Great Lent in prayer and repentance in order to beg the Lord for the opportunity to learn His will from the lips of a spirit-bearing elder, and only after that, having secured the blessing of his father, set off. Then the Lord will not allow to make a mistake and the person will accept the advice that he needed.
As we said above, pastoral care is an integral part of our parish life. The confessor is the leader of the inner life of a church person. We all know how necessary his help is in the work of salvation. Who went to the mountains, understands that without an experienced instructor it is impossible to climb to the top. Snow avalanches, cracks, abysses are only those visible dangers that an inexperienced person cannot get around without having the appropriate knowledge and experience. Similarly, a guide is needed in the spiritual life. However, when communicating with the priest, certain rules must be observed. Some "zealous" parishioners try to entrust the confessor with the spiritual work that must be done on their own. It is not right. As the saint taught, the confessor is a path indicator that tells the direction of movement during the journey, indicates how many kilometers have already been covered, how much is left to go. But the traveler himself makes the journey.
Relationships become wrong when children cling to confessors beyond all measure. In the person of a priest or even a priestly monk, such people often find for themselves that vital support that they do not have in everyday life. That is why we all need to understand that for any person the pastor of the Church is first of all and only a spiritual father. A different attitude towards the priest is dangerous, although often it arises not without the fault of the pastor himself. A kind of spiritual dependence arises when confessors, feeling in themselves the power received from God, begin to abuse this power, forbidding their children to take a step without blessing. In this case, it is already difficult to say whose will the flock is fulfilling: human or Divine.
Unfortunately, in our pastoral practice there are cases that are fraught with spiritual danger. This is a gross violation of all the rules that govern the relationship of the confessor with his children. Often, a skew in relations begins when zealous parishioners, out of their minds, want to see in the priest a perfect image of holiness, and an even obedient attitude is replaced for such by hysterical enthusiasm. Such a state, close to delusion, is dangerous because, along with it, impure thoughts can be allowed into the heart and, if the fight is not started in time, the fire of desire for the one who is obliged to be a loving father flares up in the soul. One must watch oneself very carefully, not allowing anything unclean in one's heart, so as not to damage the salvific work of spiritual guidance. If for a long time sinful thoughts do not leave the heart, we advise you to change your spiritual mentor.
When there is no one to ask...
Often situations arise in life when there is no spiritual father nearby, there is no one to consult with, but a decision must be made. Believers should always strive to do the Divine will. And how to know her? In such a situation, we advise you to turn to God with prayer and with humility and a feeling of deep repentance, accept the first thought after prayer as sent from God and act as the Guardian Angel teaches us. Well, if we talk about some vital issue (how to get married, get a job, move to another city), then more zealous and lengthy prayer is already needed here. A person can take on a special prayer rule, for example, reading an akathist, a canon, or additional kathismas from the Psalter in order to learn the will of God through the prayerful sigh of the soul. But let us repeat that this kind of work must always begin with a blessing. Self-will does not bear fruit in spiritual work.
Holy Scripture is the source of knowledge of the Divine will
Holy Scripture has always been and remains the source of Divine revelation for all believers. Holy Scripture is a collection of books written by holy prophets and apostles. There is a patristic saying that when we read Scripture with faith and reverence, the Lord Himself converses with us. And if prayer is a spiritual conversation between a person and God (and in prayer we open our hearts to the Lord, we repent before Him, we ask, praise, thank Him), then in the reading of the Holy Scriptures we hear the voice of God addressed to us and thus we recognize His will.
Probably, every believer can remember that touching time when the newly converted mind first comprehended the inspiration of the books of the New Testament. The gospel teaches us Christian morality, because the will of God is always directed to the salvation of man and his spiritual perfection, to the fight against sin and a virtuous life. And the guidance in this matter will always be for us the Word of God.
All the saints studied the Scriptures. We only recall that it must be studied in the spirit of patristic interpretation. The attitude to the sacred text can be called pagan, when people randomly open the page and hope in this way to find the answer to a difficult question. The Church Fathers advise to read the New Testament every day, meditate on what has been read and try to fulfill what is written.
It is necessary to treat especially the reading of the Gospel in the temple. During the service, the priest strictly prays at the altar before reading the Gospel. For the laity who read the Word of God in the home prayer rule, there is also a prayer in which we ask you to clear your mind of vain thoughts and help focus on the content of the sacred text. We pray that the Lord will enlighten our spiritual eyes and reveal His will through these lines.
I would like to urge our parishioners to get acquainted in advance with the gospel text that will be read at the Liturgy. About what kind of passage this will be, you can find out from the Orthodox calendar. It is good to read the commentary on this passage. We recommend the interpretation of a famous theologian, bishop, former rector of the Moscow Theological Academy. His commentary on the four gospels is presented in plain language. In addition, one can advise the interpretation of the blessed and the saint.
At every Sunday and holiday Liturgy, a sermon is delivered for the Gospel reading, from which one can learn much that is useful for spiritual and moral life. The sermon is a crucial moment of worship, for which the priest prepares in advance. Therefore, even if we are tired of the service, the sermon must be heard to the end. Thus, by our behavior and internal discipline, we will show our faith that we are listening to the priest as a teacher appointed by God, and not only the Gospel Word, but also its explanation will be deposited in our hearts. A person who strives to be a serious and responsible parishioner learns the truths of the Word of God more and more every year.
Turning to Holy Scripture as a source of Divine revelation, we should not doubt that through it the Lord reveals to man His holy will. Just do not try to speed up the process of cognition, to simplify or concretize it. You need to read the Word of God and carefully keep what you read in your heart in order to know how to act correctly in a Christian way in any everyday situation.
We Orthodox, unfortunately, have to admit our weakness in the knowledge of the sacred text. Entering into polemics with sectarians, we often see how much better they are well-read. Although it is known that the Word of God is a double-edged sword, with which one can not only strike the spirits of evil, but also inflict mortal wounds on oneself. For sectarians, the Word of God is a sword with which they strike themselves. Knowing the Scriptures well, they became like a dry branch of a fruitful vine (see:). After all, deep theological knowledge will not bring spiritual benefit in isolation from the Mother Church. It is important for us to realize that the Orthodox often do not have that commendable zeal with which they not only read the Holy Gospel every day, but also study it by representatives of other confessions.
It is known that our pious ancestors knew the Gospel by heart. Then printing was not yet as well developed as it is now. People copied the text of Scripture by hand to read it at home, although, of course, memorizing large passages is not an intellectual process. Most likely, the text lay down on pure heart, and it became a treasury that kept in itself the precious pearls of the Words of God.
A lot of spiritual literature is being published now. Books are published on good paper, in expensive bindings, with beautiful covers. And immediately there is another danger - to get carried away by the external side of the matter. In many houses on beautiful racks are complete collections writings of the Holy Fathers, hagiographic literature, liturgical collections... But do they read these books? Holy Scripture is a reference book for every Christian, which can be paper-bound or old, so long as the Word of God remains alive to us. Reading the Gospel, we believe that the Lord reveals His holy will to us and a person will definitely recognize it, but only when it is necessary and useful for him.
About Sacred Tradition
The will of God is revealed to man not only through Holy Scripture, but also through Holy Tradition. Holy Scripture is, as we have already said, a collection of books that make up the Bible, each of which was written by a prophet or Apostle at a certain time. historical era. Sacred Tradition has no temporal or historical boundaries, since this is the grace-filled life of the Holy Church.
The Orthodox Church does not seek the truth, but communes with it. Catholics, for example, have a theory of dogmatic development, which states that the basic tenets of the Church evolve over time. Time passes, new questions arise before the society, for the answers to which the Catholic Church adapts its dogmatic teaching. There is no such theory in the Orthodox Church. We believe that the Lord has put truth into its depths, and in a specific historical era, God-wise archpastors and shepherds get out of the spiritual treasury that which can serve as an answer to these questions. But we do not have the teaching that we do not have the fullness of the Truth. This is one of characteristic features Orthodox attitude to Church Tradition.
The apostle Paul also speaks of the need to adhere to Holy Tradition: Brethren, stand firm and hold on to the traditions that you have been taught either by word or by our epistle (). The tradition of the Church begins from the moment of its founding and, through the depths of centuries, brings to us the spiritual experience of its first and subsequent teachers. Church tradition also existed because it was impossible to write down everything that the Savior taught. In the Evangelist John the Theologian we read: Jesus did many other things; but, if I wrote about it in detail, then, I think, the world itself would not contain the books written (). For example, we will not find any special instructions in the Gospels on how worship should be organized. We also will not find answers to questions related to the church charter in the New Testament. This huge creative layer, without which the life of the Church is already impossible to imagine, was created and multiplied by the Holy Fathers of Orthodoxy. The Savior provided the Apostles, hierarchs, archpastors and pastors of the Church, in simple terms, with a part of His powers (the organization of church life). In the first centuries of Christianity, this was the right of those holy men who preserved the purity of the Orthodox teaching.
Now we too can enjoy the fruits of the seeds sown by the Lord Himself and the faithful followers of His teachings. There are many vivid examples in the Gospel of how important it is to keep a live connection with the teachers of the Orthodox Church, to be imbued with its spirit (see, for example,). The need for a living, inseparable connection between each member of the Church and the body of the Church is obvious. Sacred Tradition makes it easier for a person to enter the Church. The experience of spiritual life shows that it is not always useful to pave the way yourself or be a pioneer. The same can be said for any business. But if the worldly matter can be corrected (perhaps losing money, strength, time, which is not so terrible), then irreparable mistakes happen in the spiritual life. For example, if a person in his search departs from the Orthodox Church and becomes carried away by sectarian or schismatic false teachings, then it will not be very easy to return to the right path and start a spiritual life anew. People need to remember that our soul is too tender to expose it to dangerous experiments, and some deformations and injuries can have irreversible consequences for it. Imagine that a greenhouse plant, striking in its beauty, is grown under certain temperature and climatic conditions. And someone, despising these vital factors for him, takes him out to a wasteland and transplants him into soil on which nothing grows except nettles and thistles. The plant dies. So, the Church Tradition, as the experience of the life of the Church, helps to familiarize a person with spirituality in a safe way. And if we talk in general about the churching of each person, then the most natural for us will be those conditions in which our loved ones became churched.
To make our story about Sacred Tradition as complete as possible, let us also remember the time when there were no books. Writing, according to biblical chronology, appeared under the Prophet of God Moses, when the Lord commanded him to write the Ten Commandments on stone tablets. Let us ask ourselves the question: “When there were no books, were there any special ways by which the Lord communicated His will to people?” Of course there were. Before Moses, the Lord appeared in a special way to the holy righteous of the Old Testament, who could hear and contain in their hearts what God revealed to them. This means that Sacred Tradition is older than Sacred Scripture. Before the Holy Scriptures, albeit the Old Testament, mankind already had the experience of communion with God, which means there was a Tradition that was passed down orally from generation to generation. Let us remember how Patriarch Abraham and his children, Patriarch Noah, that is, those who lived before Moses, communicated with God. Let us repeat that not everything was written down from the New Testament teaching that Christ brought to earth. That which was not written down, but was kept in the memory and hearts of holy people, is called Sacred Tradition.
Now let's sum up what has been said. In the teaching of the Orthodox Church there is the concept of Divine revelation. Divine revelation is that which God Himself reveals to man. Divine revelation is transmitted to people through Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition. Holy Scripture is the collection of books that make up the book of the Bible. Sacred Tradition is an oral way of transmitting Divine will to people. Holy Tradition is older than Holy Scripture. It must also be said that the Lord revealed His will, of course, not to all people. After the fall, from the expulsion of Adam from paradise to the appearance of the prophet of God Moses, a sufficient amount of time passed, and there were much fewer righteous on earth than sinners. The world was plunged into the darkness of polytheism, idolatry and various sinful pleasures. That is why the Lord chose special men to reveal His will.
But we may be asked: “Why then did the Holy Scripture appear at all, if there were people who kept the Word of God in their hearts?” The reason for this was the sinful life of people who began to distort the Word, and Scripture became a reliable way to store Divine revelation. Ancient manuscripts have survived to this day, on which we always rely in polemics with representatives of non-Orthodox confessions. In other words, we have a written document confirming the truth of Christian teaching.
Sacred Tradition is, as we said, a living experience of church life. The Church cannot exist without Sacred Tradition. On the other hand, Holy Tradition is kept in the Church and cannot be kept outside the Church. The Church protects him, monitors the purity of preservation and, when necessary, as a pillar and affirmation of the truth () gives people its infallible teaching. And we, in turn, must recognize and love Holy Tradition, be obedient to the voice of the Church and not be tempted by the false arguments of those who reject it and say that it is enough to follow Holy Scripture.
Briefly about the Law of God
The law of God, in modern terms, makes it easier to understand the Holy Scriptures. The edition of the "Law of God" edited by Archpriest Seraphim Slobodsky contains several sections. These are sections devoted to the history of the Old Testament, the history of the New Testament, the worship of the Orthodox Church, the interpretation of the Creed, the prayer "Our Father", the ten commandments of the law of God and the nine beatitudes. The "Law of God" is a kind of textbook, which reveals the foundations of the Orthodox faith. It can be especially useful to those who have decided to receive Holy Baptism in adulthood.
As is known, in pre-revolutionary Russia the Law of God was taught in all educational institutions. Children have been taught this subject since primary school in order to form in their minds a correct idea of what the Orthodox faith is from the earliest years of life.
Now in most general education schools the Law of God is not taught. But each church has or is preparing to open a parish Sunday school for adults and children, where the study of this subject is obligatory. But not so much teaching theoretical foundations the Orthodox faith should Sunday school, how much to help every person to become churched. After all, both adults and children perceive faith not only through a book or a lesson, but also through live communication with church people. The Orthodox Sunday School helps people learn to love the Church and the Christian life in general. Trips to holy places, events related to preparations for Orthodox holidays, tea parties on the occasion of memorable dates, assistance in landscaping - all this unites the Orthodox. In our unspiritual world, where people are divided, it is especially necessary for us to hold on to each other. After all, how nice it is to be in a team where everyone understands each other! Especially such communication is required for children. Children grow up disabled without communication, and we as adults should take an active part in creating a healthy environment for their upbringing. Of course, mistakes and failures are inevitable in any business. And in our midst there are misunderstandings, mutual insults, quarrels ... But knowing all this, we still must understand that our strength is in unity. A parish Sunday school can unite not only Orthodox children, but also their parents, and eventually become a real church community. To learn how to live according to the will of God, we are helped in many ways by the living experience of other people and the very way of life in the church community under the guidance of an experienced pastor.
I would especially like to say about the participation of the clergy in the work of education in the parish. Often by creating Sunday school, clerics are removed from her later life, shifting all the work onto the shoulders of teachers and catechists. It is a pity that this forgets a simple rule: just the sight of a priest with a cross and in a cassock has a beneficial effect on students of any age. A word from the lips of a priest is perceived differently than from the lips of the most intelligent and pious layman. The servant of the altar of the Lord has a special spiritual gift for bringing people to God and opening the mind of man to the knowledge of the highest gospel truths.
Preachers of the Word of God today need to be more condescending to the infirmities of modern man. We all need to understand that in their free time, many people read nothing but tabloid newspapers and detective stories. They get all the information from the TV and radio. The language of the classics of Russian literature, and even more so the language of the sacred text of the Gospel, is difficult for them to understand. Talk about Christ today in simple words even with those who have two higher secular educations and know several European languages. External education in the absence of moral purity does not allow the gospel seeds to take root in the hearts of people. Although, of course, among our pastors there are talented preachers who put all their strength into the cause of enlightening people with the light of Christ's faith and teaching their flock to seek, first of all, the will of God in everything.
What is a church charter?
The church charter is another source of divine revelation. Holy Scripture was given to people by God, and the church charter appeared when the Church itself appeared. We celebrate the birthday of the Orthodox Church on the Day of the Holy Trinity, when the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles and they received the fullness of Divine grace. The Apostle Paul wrote about the Church that she is the pillar and ground of the truth (). The Church points out to us the rules of spiritual life, by observing which we learn the Divine will and gain the opportunity to inherit eternal life.
The church is often compared to the army. Indeed, they are similar. In the Church, as in the army, there is a charter, there is a vestment (form), there is a hierarchy - the subordination of lower ranks to higher ones. Only the battlefield of the earthly warriors is visible, while the spiritual ones are invisible. But both in the army and in the Church, in order to count on victory, certain rules must be observed. For example, soldiers are well aware that discipline is a necessary component of army life and that failure to comply with regulations leads to bad consequences. Likewise, the church life of an Orthodox person has its own internal order. The life of the Church is controlled by God. The Church is the Body of Christ. The head of the Church is Christ. Everything established by the Church has a divinely inspired character. The rules of the Church are infallible and destined for execution. And holidays, and fasting, and participation in the Sacraments, and, of course, life according to the commandments of God - all this for a believer is life according to the charter of the Church. But most importantly, we must understand that the observance of the rules established by the Church reveals to man the will of God, which is always directed towards good. The Lord wants a person to sin as little as possible and practice the virtues as much as possible. And we see that the life of zealous executors of the church charter is the life of ascetics who desire salvation, in other words, the fulfillment of the Divine will for man.
What are the dangers for newcomers? Fascination with the outer side of the church charter. Consider the Pharisees and Sadducees. They knew the law of Moses by heart, fulfilled all the instructions regarding fasting, tithing, Sabbath rest, but at the same time their hearts remained cold: no warmth, no love, no humility, no mercy. Unfortunately, there are such zealots of the typikon among us: they fast according to the Typicon, attend all divine services… For such people, observance of the statutory rules becomes an end in itself. But this is only a means to change your inner sinful state. And this is a very complex process. It is often difficult even for a confessor to reach the heart of a person who has lived for many years, fulfilling all the prescriptions, and, like a wall, fenced himself off from God by his own self-will. He himself determines the measure of the severity of the fasts, the duration of the prayer rule ... But the danger lies in the fact that self-will lies at the heart of his exploits. It devalues all work. It is better to bear a small feat, but with the cutting off of one's own will. As they say, there is no price for a small feat, which is performed with a blessing.
Let us repeat that the observance of the church charter allows a person to lead a spiritual life correctly: to struggle with passions, to exercise in virtues, in other words, to perfect himself for the Kingdom of Heaven. Both the misunderstood Holy Scripture and the charter in isolation from the church mind, instead of helping a person to know the Divine will, will help him to do his own will or, even more terrible, to fulfill the will of the fallen demon.
The human will is a copper wall between him and God. If a man leaves her, he says (to David): By my God I will pass over the wall. My God, His way is blameless (). Reverend Abba Pimen
Part three. About obstacles on the way of knowledge
willfulness
We have already said that the Savior in His earthly incarnation became an ideal for us in the virtue of obedience. His human will was in every way consistent with the will of the Heavenly Father. Of course, in its entirety, this example is unattainable for any of us, but we still need to make efforts to become like God the Father in obedience to Christ. The monk says: “Of course, our flesh, by its own nature, can be neither more nor less, but the will, at its own discretion, can increase to any measure; for this<…>Divinity itself was enclosed in human nature, so that this nature would aspire to everything holy.
What is the main obstacle preventing us from fulfilling the Divine will? Our own will. A non-church, unbaptized, unbeliever person does not understand at all what life according to the will of God means. In his life, everything is determined only by his own will. That's why it's so hard to find the right words to talk about the meaning of life with non-believers. Living apart from the Church, they are blinded spiritually and do not have in their souls that saving grace that enlightens the mind, heart and will, the grace through which a person receives a correct idea of God, the world and himself. Sometimes a life catastrophe is needed in order to awaken the sleeper from spiritual sleep, to heal his blindness. And often only in misfortune do people finally understand that earthly life is not eternal and that there is “Something Higher” that is stronger than us. Well, if the Lord visits sorrows. If such a visit does not occur, then a state of spiritual death will come. What could be scarier than this?
It is good for those who know from childhood what obedience is and know how to give up their desires. If a person did not go through this school in his youth (he was indulged in everything, everyone allowed him), then the process of teaching obedience in his mature years will be difficult and painful. So the unscrupulous attitude of parents to the upbringing of children brings its bitter fruits. It is very, very difficult to destroy the self-will of an adult.
Let us recall the parable of the sower, which speaks of a seed that fell on stony soil (see:). The seed began to grow, but there was not much land, and the stone layer did not allow it to take root. According to the interpretation of the holy fathers, such an obstacle in the human soul is self-will. Just as only thorny grass grows on stony soil, so the “good deeds” of a self-willed person are thoroughly saturated with vanity, far from fulfilling the Divine will. How to fight him? Through “I can’t”, through “I don’t want to”, we must crush the layer of self-will by the deeds that we do for the benefit of our neighbors. If a person lives in a family, then this is his family responsibilities. If there is no family yet, then there are definitely leaders, teachers, mentors, by conscientiously fulfilling the requirements of which, you can acquire those very good skills that are so necessary in the Christian life! From the outward doing of good deeds (especially those that you don’t want to do) and in the soul, over time, the skill of doing good will appear. Obedience must be learned. It has been observed that people who have the habit of obedience also succeed in the Christian life.
Just do not forget that everything we do to raise our children must be done with love and reason. Reasonable severity shown by the father and mother is the best manifestation of concern for the future of children. Through severity, the child gets used to difficulties and to the fact that they must be overcome. We must pray that the Lord enlighten us in the matter of education, and then our parental work will bear its good fruits.
Let's end this chapter like this: self-will is the wall that prevents the Divine will from acting. Until a person learns to overcome it, the entrance to Divine participation in his life will remain closed. How to deal with this disease? Life itself gives the answer: do not deviate from those life circumstances in which the Lord puts us. We respond kindly to the requests of the people around us, listen to advice with attention and try to fulfill them, and perceive comments from loved ones as a bitter medicine that heals our spiritual ailments, the main of which is the fulfillment of our will. And then the rejection of our own will and life according to the will of God will become a natural need for us.
About evil skills
Let us ask ourselves this question: “And what most strengthens in us disobedience to God? » In the soul of any person there are evil habits that have developed in us like a tumor on a weakening body. Something, perhaps, they did not see, and therefore the parents did not eradicate it with good upbringing, we ourselves did not notice (or did not want to notice) something in ourselves due to inattention or neglect. And the bad seeds have borne fruit. And now, in order to defeat this evil, it is necessary to practice good deeds, in other words, to acquire good habits, to ensure that doing good becomes our habit. And habit, as you know, is second nature.
I must say that any priest has to communicate with people who have turned to God in adulthood. They often ask: “Father, I am irritable, I have little patience, I use bad words. How can I deal with it?" Answering these questions, you can give a lot of advice, but the main thing is to understand that a long-term habit is not so quickly eradicated. Sometimes the Lord, for humility, allows a person to live the rest of his life with the skill that has been acquired over many years. Let's take smoking as an example. We all know that it is shameful for a Christian to smoke, but despite this, there are people among us who, until their death, could not get rid of this evil habit (although they recognized themselves as sinners). That is why it is so necessary from childhood to carefully monitor that nothing harmful takes root in the heart.
Another reason why we cannot comprehend the Divine Will is a lack of patience. The well-known confessor archimandrite in his teachings says that the will of God is revealed in patience, and we want, having prayed, to immediately receive what we ask for. But often, in order to know the Divine will, not just patience is required, but longsuffering. Sometimes you need to devote more than one year to the prayerful, humble expectation of what the Lord will reveal. And this expectation should not be passive.
Another flaw that makes us disobedient to God is our inner inconstancy, the variability of our will. The man himself does not seem to know what he needs. Today, it seems, you need one thing, tomorrow - something completely different. But in order to know the will of God about oneself, an exercise in constancy is required.
Let's take a simple example. The man decided to higher education. If he really firmly decided this, then he would begin to prepare for the exams long before they began, stop wasting time in vain and direct all his efforts to this vital matter. If he does not have this confidence (is the choice made correctly, is there enough strength?), then his behavior will be inconsistent: it seems that he needs to study, but at the same time he does not want to study. Accordingly, one can imagine in advance what the result will be in both cases.
It is the same in the spiritual life. One must clearly realize the need to work on one's soul, on correcting one's own shortcomings. After all, the reward will be a hundred times greater than all our efforts and exploits. The constancy and correctness of our actions, thoughts, worldview just determine what the Lord will reveal to us about ourselves in due time. A two-minded person (one who seems to want to live with God, but also does not want to part with the world) will not be able to correct his life and find out the Divine will about himself.
The test of strength in the Christian life is obedience to God in difficult trials and even at the time of death itself. Let us recall the gospel story about the resurrection of the son of the widow of Nain. Before us is a woman who lost not only her husband, but also her only son. It seems that it could be worse than this? Who can be more unhappy than a widow who is left alone in the whole world? What could be worse than her fate? But when he saw her, the Lord took pity on her and said to her: do not cry. And, going up, he touched the bed; the bearers stopped, and he said, young man! I tell you, get up! The dead man, having risen, sat down and began to speak; and Jesus gave him to his mother ().
Christians are called to find courage, strength and wisdom in themselves in order to accept any life circumstances as sent from God. There are no accidents in human life. Misfortunes befall us not without the will of God. For the Lord, whom he loves, punishes (). And the wiser, stronger the person, the more difficult, as a rule, the tests sent from above, without which they are not freed from evil habits, our souls are not resurrected.
Sorrows that heal sins
A feature of our time is that people come to faith in adulthood. Life is almost lived - the system of values has been formed, and with the arrival in the Church, everything must be rethought ... Perhaps much was done wrong. And one often hears indignant: “But I didn’t know how it should be!” Yes, but even in jurisprudence, ignorance of the law is no excuse. Moreover, no unrighteousness with God will go unnoticed. And here it is, the most important stage of churching - a person has to take a bitter medicine in order to recover spiritually: to come to terms with the fact that the Lord sends sorrows that heal our sins.
It is good to go to church, read the Gospel, spiritual books, but the most “effective” way of healing the soul is suffering sent from above without coordinating with our will. Often the most beloved and dear people become this medicine for us. How can you come to terms with this? Probably, remember that the sins that we have committed, even through ignorance, should be mourned. Repentance, acquired through suffering, is our cure for spiritual ulcers.
Sin is poisonous by nature. A soul crippled by sin is difficult to heal, so it sometimes takes a very long time to endure sorrows. But the monk spoke about this: "From patience - humility, from humility - salvation." The saint has a book, “I Loved Suffering,” which describes his spiritual path. Such is the state of righteous people: it is good to suffer on earth, to purify the soul with sorrows in order to receive retribution after death, and perhaps even during life to correct oneself and help other people. After all, the spiritual fracture of loved ones often depends on our behavior.
But human life is filled not only with suffering and pain. Every Christian knows that along with sorrows, the All-Merciful Lord sends to our hearts both a sense of comfort and a sense of joy. Such, for example, is Paschal joy - a prototype of that heavenly joy that a person can enjoy already here, in earthly life. Whoever worked harder, prayed more, who repented more deeply, will receive more joy.
The Christian worldview gives us an idea of what a person's life should be like. A Christian understands well that this life is not easy, just as the path of salvation is not easy. On this path, we are aware of the action of evil, but at the same time we feel the help of God, the Guardian Angel and the saints, through whose prayers the feat of salvation is accomplished. And, of course, the main driving force for a Christian is the belief that earthly life is finite, and therefore our suffering is temporary. Elderly people want to say: “Maybe there is very little patience left. Everything has its end: both labors and sorrows. Often we think that our suffering is so great that it is impossible to bear it. But great is the reward for patience. The bliss that a person will taste in the Kingdom of Heaven will make him forget all trials. We may even cry that we have not endured enough. Saint Seraphim said that if a person knew what bliss awaits him in the Kingdom of Heaven, he would agree to spend his whole life in a pit with worms.
About patience of insults and illnesses
Only real Christians can endure insults without repaying evil for evil. In the godless, spiritless world, completely different rules apply. The ancient law said: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth (). According to the pagan law, for the offense inflicted, it is necessary to return the offender a hundredfold, so that he will not be disliked in the future. But the law of Christ is higher than the Jewish law of the old man, and even more so than the law of the Gentiles. The voluntary bearing of grievances is the medicine that heals human sins. And we are often ready to explode, like a powder keg, because of insignificant taunts directed at us, and even for a small feat of patience with an offensive word, the Lord forgives us many iniquities. You can impose a fast on yourself, increase the prayer rule, limit yourself in a dream, exhaust the flesh with physical labor, but the result from these feats will not be as great as from the humility of enduring insults. After all, most of our exploits, unfortunately, are almost always based on vanity, pride, ambition and other unnecessary impurities, which, like a fly in the ointment in a barrel of honey, spoil any business. The Lord is most pleased with that virtue that is done against human will. Only, unfortunately, nothing is so difficult for us as obedience to life circumstances.
Along with the patience of insults and reproach is the resigned transfer of physical illnesses. We are not talking now about those ailments that arise as a result of improper behavior (lung cancer in smokers or meningitis in someone who walked bareheaded on a frosty day). In such cases, causal relationships are obvious. But if the disease that visited us was not connected with our way of life, then its humble transfer is pleasing to God, as well as the patient transfer of insults. If a person benevolently, without grumbling, bears the infirmities of his body, then the Lord shows him His mercy. The Holy Gospel also speaks of this: For, as He Himself endured, having been tempted, He is able to help those who are tempted (). We know that there are such saints, they are called many-sick, who shone in the patience of bodily infirmities. These patient ascetics were worthy of spiritual gifts even during their lifetime. The monk fell ill at a young age and remained infirm all his life. Bearing the cross of his own illness, he was honored by God with the gift of healing the illnesses of other people. Pechersk ascetic Pimen the Painful received the gift of prayer for sick people.
Only a church person can have a correct attitude towards illness. Many Christians enter eternal life through sickness. Sickness and sorrow cleanse a person from sins, and we often do not want to understand that the attitude towards illness should be God-wise, reasonable. One must protect oneself from illnesses, remember that health is the greatest gift of God, but if one falls ill and does not receive the expected help from doctors, one must accept the illness without grumbling as a cross that the Lord Himself lays on us.
"Remember your end" ()
Remember your end, - the Holy Scripture tells us, - and you will never sin (). This is the golden rule of the Christian life. Mortal memory is like a bridle that keeps a person from committing sinful acts. It does not let us forget that after the grave we 1 will give an answer for all the iniquities that we have committed on earth. The memory of death supports the ascetics, strengthens the sick, who have abandoned hope for healing and are waiting for death as deliverance from torment. If there is no murmuring in the soul and illness is accepted as a spiritual medicine, then in this way a person is prepared for death by God Himself. In this case, it is perceived as the end of earthly suffering and the transition to a place where there is no longer “neither illness, nor sorrow, nor sighing.”
Death is terrible for those who live, like the gospel rich man, in bliss and idleness. For them, the very thought of death is a terrible reminder of eternity. Doing nothing to save the soul, such people receive all earthly consolations during their lifetime. So, after their death, figuratively speaking, there will be nothing to thank them for. The Christian attitude towards death is different. It is necessary for each of us to think courageously about our last hour, understanding at the same time that none of the earthly, even Christ Himself, was devoid of the fear of death. But let us also remember the words of the Apostle Paul: Death! where is your pity? hell! where is your victory? (). Enthusiastically and boldly, the Apostle addresses death on behalf of Christ Himself. In the feat of the Savior, the greatest event took place, through which death was powerless before Man. Through the death of Christ, through His Resurrection, each of the faithful disciples partakes in His Resurrection, and therefore in their own resurrection. That is why believers are not afraid of death: for them it is only a transition to another, blissful life. And if the All-Good and All-Merciful Lord desires just such a life for every person, then what is the point for us to oppose His holy will?
So, let us constantly praise God and thank Him unceasingly for everything, both in words and deeds. This is our sacrifice and offering, this is the best service and worthy of angelic life. If we constantly glorify Him in this way, then we will spend the present life without any stumbling, and we will achieve future blessings, which may we all be worthy of, by the grace and love of mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father with the Holy Spirit glory, power, honor now and forever and ever. Amen. saint
Part four. Thank God for everything, "for this is the will of God for you" ()
On Divine Providence and Divine Allowance
Let us recall the words of Christ that without the will of God, not a single hair will fall from a person’s head (see:). From these words it is clear that everything that happens to us happens either by the will of God or by God's permission. Non-church people think otherwise. Many of them believe that in life His Majesty chance rules the ball and all of humanity is divided into happy and unfortunate, lucky and unfortunate. The Orthodox Church asserts that God's Providence operates in the world and there is no random course of events.
When we talk about the Providence of God, then, of course, we mean a good, wise, loving effect on the soul of every person and on the whole world of Divine grace. But in theology there is such a thing as God's permission. It seems that from the very word "allowance" it breathes coldness and hopelessness. As if the All-Good and All-Merciful Lord could allow something or even miss it. In fact, the allowance is due to the fact that the Lord tried a variety of ways for a person to correct himself, change his behavior, his thoughts, but all to no avail, and then He gives the person the opportunity (allows) to act according to his own (sinful) will . And then... For the sins committed, the Lord allows suffering, and often it becomes a cure for a damaged soul.
We all see how much sorrow there is in the world today. However, nothing is accidental, everything is wisely arranged. Only it is not always useful for a person to inquire what is the reason for this or that phenomenon. Let us recall, for example, the post-revolutionary events, when in our country, the stronghold of Orthodoxy, a place that was called the lot of the Mother of God, churches were destroyed, monasteries were closed, the clergy were destroyed by the hands of theomachists, murderers. Why did this happen? There is probably no other explanation, except that the Lord allowed everything to happen for the sins of the Russian people.
I also remember the years of imprisonment of our compatriots in the camps. When you read about the conditions in which the exiles were, you invariably ask yourself: “How could all this be endured?” But strengthened by Divine power, often innocent, they endured to the end, and when they returned to freedom, they found themselves in a world where it was necessary to continue the feat of confession and fidelity to Christ.
Little comforting is happening in modern Russian society. Perhaps, for the life of previous generations, for the indifference of parents to the fate of their children, for complete external and internal dechurching, the Lord allows suffering to very young people. Today our entire society is suffering: politics, economics, morality. As a priest, it is especially painful for me to realize the latter. According to closed data, about a hundred thousand women are engaged in prostitution in Moscow. There are about a hundred thousand women who are the source of temptation, sin, passions, illnesses, the destroyers of families, in other words, the executors of the devil's will. Why does the Lord allow all this? Is it possible to fight the propaganda of fornication in the means mass media? I'm afraid that our forces are unequal. Today, efforts must be made to ensure that all this dirt does not penetrate our families. After all, we are not responsible for the media and the content of advertising posters on city streets, we have to reckon with the fact that all this is God's permission. But we will answer for the moral upbringing of our children, for the negligence from which our loved ones could suffer.
What is misfortune?
The Christian worldview helps to understand the depth of meaning of many concepts. Above, we talked about what God's Providence and God's allowance are. Both are easy to see when it comes to the fate of some people or state in a distant historical period time. But is it possible to understand the meaning of misfortune at the moment when it happens to us? What is “unhappiness” anyway? A person lost his health, failed at work - what is it: evil or good?
A Christian must understand every situation in life spiritually. Our so-called misfortunes are a feature and a necessary component of human life. In this case, both loss of health and trouble at work are all neutral things, and real misfortune is a sin. Unfortunate is the man who lives in sin. However, often by the word "unhappiness" we mean something completely different. If the so-called misfortune is temporary and does not affect our spiritual life, then, of course, this event is worthy of another definition.
It is unfortunate when someone in the family lays hands on himself. You can't pray for a suicide, you can't sing him a funeral service, you can't bury him in a Christian cemetery, you can't even put a cross on his grave. Some of the relatives went to a sect, where there is a danger of the death of the soul already on earth. This is also unfortunate. You should always try to understand that there is true misfortune and there is apparent misfortune.
The incomprehensibility of the Providence of God lies in the fact that the Lord wisely turns the evil that is done in the world into good. The most striking example of this in all human history is the betrayal of Christ by Judas. Here it is - the pinnacle of deceit, cunning, and indeed all the vices that were concentrated in one person. But it was through this betrayal that people became partakers of great blessings. The Calvary sacrifice was accomplished: the deliverance of man from sin, damnation and death. The Lord turned evil itself into great good. So we, imitating Christ, should treat evil people and even the very evil that is happening in the world in a Christian sensible way. The propaganda of injustice and violence should encourage us to strengthen ourselves in prayer, practice temperance, be faithful to our family and teach this to our children. If there were no temptations, we might become lazy and stop living the spiritual life. After all, evil, and sorrows, and difficult circumstances are all just for us to turn to the grace-filled Sacraments of the Church.
The path of achievement and prayer is not an easy one. But the Lord gives strength to bear these works. If a person leaves the spiritual path, then, as a rule, he does not get rid of sorrows, but only bears them without God's help. The Lord Himself visibly showed His help to the ascetics, who already here on earth lived as in the Kingdom of Heaven. So God grant that we all take up our cross prepared by the Lord and never try to get rid of it. After all, it is this cross, despite its apparent heaviness, that is the most convenient and light, because the Lord carries it with us.
“Thank the Lord for everything” ()
There are rare people who can see how the Lord from His generous treasury gives every person everything they need. For such, gratitude to God is a guarantee that in the future they will not be left without His help. And vice versa, ingratitude is the obstacle that blocks the entrance of Divine grace. After all, not to see, not to understand, or not to want to understand, Who sends us all the best, means to become spiritually blind, to withdraw into oneself and, thus, to become like the gospel rich man, who did nothing but break barns and build new ones.
But I would like to say not so much about a prosperous state (in which a person, like a grateful son, constantly praises God, and from this his inner dispensation becomes correct), but about a different state - mournful and gratitude to the Lord for these sorrows. Examples of such wisdom are rarer. It is easy to thank God for goodness, for joy, but it is quite another thing to find the strength to thank Him for suffering.
We often come into contact with human grief. Mothers lose children, husbands leave their wives, hardworking people are deceived, robbed... There is a lot of injustice in the world, and in confession a priest is often asked: “Why, if there is a God, does He allow all this? » What is really going on? By posing the question in this way, a person seems to be calling God to an answer, demanding that the Lord reveal to him why He allowed misfortune to occur. But the truth lies precisely in the fact that if, without requiring any explanation, we approach the icon, light the lamp, kneel down and say: “Lord, I thank You for everything that happened to me. Not my will, but Yours be done,” the Lord will surely reveal everything to us in due time, and we will understand why what happened happened. A person will know everything and will thank the Lord more than once for the fact that everything happened in this way. And, perhaps, we will not only thank God with our lips, but our hearts will also be warmed by the fact that even in suffering we trusted Him. Therefore, answering the question: “How to know the will of God?”, we can say: “We need to find the courage in ourselves (this is not easy) to thank God for everything that happens to us.” For this, the Lord will surely give a person joy, inner peace, and peace of mind.
About the fruits acquired by the fulfillment of the Divine will
Let's talk now about the fruits that a person acquires by fulfilling the Divine will. Let us remember that it is always necessary to do the will of God willingly. Work the Lord with fear, and rejoice in Him with trembling (), says the psalmist David. The flame of faith must constantly burn in our hearts, because we are working for our own salvation. And the labors that we bear on earth are negligible compared to the reward that the Lord has prepared for us in Heaven. But even on earth the Lord never leaves those who work. The best reward for striving to live according to the will of God is a special inner state of a person, about which the Savior said: The Kingdom of God is within you (). The state of righteousness, the state of true piety is determined not so much by external well-being (although such things happen), but by internal ones: by those virtues that a person has acquired in his heart. For a righteous life and for obedience to the will of God, the Lord gives peace in a person's heart.
Peace is a broad and multi-valued concept. We are talking about the world (from the Greek word "irine"), which Christ brought to earth, about the Christian world as a state of mind. At divine services, we often hear the exclamation: "Peace to all," which the priest pronounces. As if on behalf of Christ, he teaches believers a peaceful state of mind. In the soul of a person deprived of Divine help, there is a war, passions boil. Often the state of "non-peace" is reflected even on people's faces. A person who is mired in sins lives immorally, without spirituality, and shows hostility towards others, and this is a quality that is not characteristic of a peaceful state. Thus, the external behavior of a person is always conditioned by his internal state. If outwardly he is restless, angry, then his soul is like an overflowing cauldron, from which a boiling mass splashes out. Inside is usually even worse, even, so to speak, "more peaceful" than outside. In order to overcome this hostility, a human feat and the assistance of the grace of God are required. For a submissive, humble, patient state, expectation and desire for the fulfillment of the will of God, the Lord sends peace into the human soul. When passions calm down and we cease to consider our virtues as our own, and sincerely attribute everything to God, an internal state of the world sets in, which is valuable because it no longer depends on external circumstances.
Let us remember the Christian saints who endured terrible torments for Christ. Being truly wise, they understood that any suffering would not take away from them the most important thing - the world that is in the soul. This inner world, if we recall the words of Christ that “the Kingdom of Heaven is within,” is a kind of harbinger of that special state of holiness in which the celestials are.
People who were tortured in the camps said that at some point they stopped feeling pain when they endured for the sake of Christ. The Lord covers the pain when the soul is cleansed and sanctified in suffering. To such a world, a world with one's own conscience, with God and neighbors, every person is called. And we will turn to our readers with a wish - to pray that peace will gradually settle in our souls. If there is peace in the soul, then our life will become peaceful.
About the feat
We have already said that to subordinate one's will to the will of God means to accomplish a feat, to make a sacrifice for eternal life. But our state is distorted by sin, sin in a sense enslaves us (in Scripture, a person is called a prisoner of the law of sin ()), and therefore it is not so easy to do this. And yet in our soul there are those grace-filled forces with which we can break the bonds of sin and become free. Let us recall the words of Christ that everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin (). The danger of a sinful state lies mainly in the fact that being in it, being blinded by it, a person falls into the most terrible captivity, the most terrible slavery - slavery to sin, slavery to the devil himself. And it is not so easy to get out of this vicious circle, out of this cage: the enemy of our salvation is not interested in releasing prey from his paws. Years of prayers and great penitential work are required in order to truly realize one's fall and be freed from sinful captivity.
As soon as a person begins to work for God, he gradually comes to the need in general to arrange everything in his life in the way that pleases the Lord. But for this you need to overcome the habit of living according to your own will. The labor expended in overcoming the evil habit of self-will, we can call a spiritual sacrifice. If the habit for goodness, for righteousness, for piety is formed by proper upbringing, then a person confidently follows the spiritual path, overcoming minor obstacles. But if life is distorted, if he has already known all the consequences of sin, this imaginary freedom, then, of course, in order to rise from the state of spiritual fall, colossal labors and a fairly long period of time will be required. But nothing is impossible for the Lord. The merciful God of any person is able to correct and make him worthy of His Kingdom. Let us only recall that this process is laborious and often painful for the soul and for the body.
A righteous life, life according to the will of God - this is the greatest reward for a person from the Lord for all his labors and deeds. The one who has tasted it is no longer envious of people who have succeeded in something material. Ask a rich man: is he happy? If he is frank enough, he will most likely answer in the negative. After all, happiness is something completely different. Rather, it is a kind of inner blissful state, which should become for us Christians the meaning and purpose of earthly life. To live according to the will of God, to strive for this with all your heart - this means to be filled with joy, to feel God. And this bliss, or at least a glimpse of it, can begin for many of us already here on earth, if we strive to properly arrange our lives.
Conclusion
So our conversations about life according to the will of God ended, although this topic is truly immense. The angelic forces humbly bow before the mystery of the incomprehensibility of the Lord and His holy will. But God was pleased to reveal Himself not only to Angels, but also to sinful people. The event of the Incarnation established completely new, hitherto unknown laws of human communication with God. Christ is born into the world in order to introduce people to the lost communion with God, to return to man the lost paradise and to restore the image of God darkened by sin in his soul. The preaching of Christ begins with words of repentance, without which it is impossible to do anything spiritually useful. Repentance, purifying the hearts, opens up to people a completely new perspective on the development of life. The feeling of God in the soul, the feeling of His closeness and the effect of Divine Love on a person - all these are experiences, having known which, people want to always have them in their hearts. But any careless, thoughtless step in the spiritual life leads to the loss of grace. And again, the soul is sad and gloomy.
What is the problem? Why can't we always live happily? This is what we tried to tell in our book. Violation of the will of God, even in a small, seemingly insignificant, deed sometimes leads to a real tragedy, and its fulfillment always gives the heart the long-awaited peace and peace. But the path to inner peace is thorny and difficult. He demands from Christians a real feat of faith. Man's work, his faith and the assistance of Divine grace - this is the formula for a successful march along the path of salvation. But there are many obstacles on this path, the main of which is self-will. Fulfillment of our own desires - that's what has become a habit for us. Sometimes it seems that it is impossible to give up what you really want. But there is no other way. Anyone who wants to know the Divine will must make appropriate efforts to do this - learn to renounce his own will.
And we also wish all of us to constantly be in a state of spiritual vigor, because human life is a dynamic process. Every day there are new events, the soul is filled with new experiences. How not to go astray, how to learn to make the right decisions? The answer is simple: always seek the will of God, pray about it, strive with all your heart to know it, and you will definitely get what you want. Let's just not lie. You need to trust yourself to Christ completely, otherwise mistakes cannot be avoided.
May our book help you find peace of mind through turning to the Lord. And for those who have already found their way to God and are working to correct their own shortcomings, we wish you not to forget that the Lord is always there and that His holy will is always directed towards good and good.
He who has embarked on this path will succeed only if he has learned by experience how the grace of the Holy Spirit works in a person, and if angry self-denial has taken root in his heart, i.e. a resolute rejection of his little "individual" will, for the sake of achieving and fulfilling the holy will of God. Such will reveal the true meaning of the question posed by Elder Silouan to Father Stratonikos: “How do the perfect ones say?”; the words of the holy fathers will become native to him: “Be pleased with the Holy Spirit and us”; he will understand more clearly those places in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, which speak of such a direct conversation of the soul with God; he will come closer to the true understanding of what the apostles and prophets spoke.
Man is created in the image and likeness of God and is called to the fullness of direct communion with God, and therefore all people, without exception, should follow this path, but in the experience of life it turns out to be accessible far “not for everyone”. This is because the majority of people do not hear the voice of God in their hearts, do not understand it, and follow the voice of the passion that lives in the soul and drowns out the meek voice of God with its noise.
In the Church, the way out of such a deplorable situation is another way, namely, questioning the spiritual father and obedience to him. The elder himself loved this path, followed it, pointed to it and wrote about it. He considered the humble way of obedience generally the most reliable. He firmly believed that for the sake of the faith of the questioning confessor, the answer of the spiritual father would always be kind, useful, pleasing to God. His faith in the effectiveness of the Sacraments of the Church and the grace of the Priesthood was especially confirmed after he saw the spiritual father of the elder Avraamy transformed, “in the image of Christ”, “inexpressibly radiant” in Old Russia during Great Lent at Vespers.
Full of grace-filled faith, he lived in the reality of the Sacraments of the Church, but we remember that he found that “in a human way”, i.e. in terms of psychological, it is not difficult to see the advantage of obedience to the spiritual father; he said that the confessor, performing his service, gives an answer to the question, being free at that moment from the action of passion, under the influence of which the questioner is, and because of this, he sees things more clearly and is more easily accessible to the influence of God's grace.
The confessor's answer in most cases will bear the mark of imperfection; but this is not because the confessor is deprived of the grace of knowledge, but because the perfect action surpasses the power of the questioner and is inaccessible to him. Despite the imperfection of the spiritual guidance, it, being received with faith and really fulfilled, will always lead to growth in goodness. This path is usually perverted by the fact that the questioner, seeing a “man” before him, wavers in his faith and therefore does not accept the first word of the spiritual father and objects to him, opposing his opinions and doubts.
Elder Siluan talked about this important subject with the abbot, Archimandrite Misail (born January 22, 1840), a spiritual man whom God favored and clearly patronized.
Father Silouan asked the abbot:
How can a monk know the will of God?
He must take my first word as the will of God,” said the abbot. - Whoever does this, the grace of God will rest on him, and if anyone opposes me, then I, as a person, will retreat.
The word of hegumen Misail has the following meaning.
The spiritual father, when asked, seeks guidance from God through prayer, but as a person he answers to the best of his faith, according to the words of the Apostle Paul: We believe, that's why we say(), but we partly know and partly prophesy(). In his striving not to sin, he himself, giving advice or making instructions, is at the judgment of God, and therefore, as soon as he meets an objection or even internal resistance from the questioner, he does not dare to insist on his word, does not dare to affirm it as an expression of the will of God and "like a man retreats."
This consciousness was very clearly expressed in the life of Abbot Misail. Once he summoned a novice monk, Fr. S. and entrusted him with a complex and difficult obedience. The novice readily accepted it and, making the proper bow, went to the door. Suddenly the abbot called him. The disciple stopped. Bowing his head to his chest, the abbot calmly but significantly said:
Father S., remember: God does not judge twice, therefore, when you do something for obedience to me, then I will be judged by God, and you are free from an answer.
When someone objected to the order or instruction of Abbot Misail, even to a small extent, this courageous ascetic in general, despite the post of administrator he occupied, usually answered: “Well, do as you like” - and after that he did not repeat his word . And Elder Silouan, meeting resistance, also immediately fell silent.
Why is this so? Because, on the one hand, the Spirit of God does not tolerate violence or argument, on the other hand, the will of God is too great a thing. In the word of the spiritual father, which always bears the stamp of relativity, it cannot fit in, cannot receive perfect expression, and only he who perceives the word as pleasing to God, without subjecting it to his own judgment, or, as they often say, “without reasoning ”, only he found the right path, for he really believes that To God all things are possible().
Such is the way of faith, known and approved by the thousand-year experience of the Church. It is always not safe to talk about these subjects, which constitute the unhidden mystery of the Christian life, which, however, go beyond lazy everyday life and usually little spiritual experience, because many may misunderstand the word and misapply it in practice, and then instead of benefit, harm is possible. especially if a person embarks on a feat with proud self-confidence.
When someone sought the elder's advice, he did not like and did not want to give an answer "from his own mind." He remembered the words of the reverend: "When I spoke from my mind, there were mistakes" - and at the same time he added that mistakes can be small, but they can also be large.
The state that he spoke of to Father Stratonikos, namely, that “those who are perfect do not say anything from themselves ... They only say what the Spirit gives them,” is not always given even to those who have come close to perfection, just as the Apostles and other saints did not always work miracles, and the prophetic Spirit did not work equally in the prophets, but sometimes with great power, sometimes departed from them.
The elder clearly distinguished the “word from experience” from direct suggestion from above, that is, from the word that “gives the Spirit.” The first is also valuable, but the second is higher and more reliable (cf.). Sometimes he faithfully and definitely told the questioner that it was God's will for him to do this, and sometimes he answered that he did not know God's will about him. He said that the Lord sometimes does not reveal His will even to the saints, because the one who turned to them turned with an unfaithful and deceitful heart.
According to the elder, one who prays fervently has many changes in prayer: a struggle with the enemy, a struggle with oneself, with passions, a struggle with people, with imagination, and in such cases the mind is not pure and everything is not clear. But when pure prayer comes, when the mind, united with the heart, silently stands before God, when the soul tangibly has grace in itself and surrenders to the will of God, free from the darkening action of passions and imagination, then the prayer hears the suggestion of grace.
When one who does not have sufficient experience, who cannot “according to taste” with certainty distinguish the action of grace from the manifestation of passions, especially pride, starts this work - the search for the will of God through prayer - then it is absolutely necessary to turn to the spiritual father, but when meeting with any spiritual appearance or suggestion, until the mentor decides to strictly adhere to the ascetic rule: "do not accept or reject."
“Not accepting,” a Christian protects himself from the danger of a demonic action or suggestion to consider as Divine and thus learn to “listen to seducing spirits and teachings of demons” and render divine worship to demons.
“Not rejecting,” a person avoids another danger, namely: to ascribe Divine action to demons and thereby fall into “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit,” just as the Pharisees attributed the exorcism of demons by Christ to “the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons.”
The second danger is more terrible than the first, since the soul can become accustomed to reject grace and hate it, and so acquire a state of resistance to God that it will be determined in the eternal plan, thanks to which this sin will not be forgiven ... neither in this century, nor in the future(). Whereas in the first error, the soul sooner recognizes its own untruth and achieves salvation through repentance, because there is no unforgivable sin, except for unrepentant sin.
A lot should be said about this extremely important ascetic rule - “not to accept or reject” and how it is applied in the life of an ascetic, but since in this work we are faced with the task of presenting only the main provisions, and not the details, then we will return to the previous topic.
In its more perfect form, the knowledge of the will of God by prayer is a rare phenomenon, possible only under the condition of long labor, great experience in the struggle with passions, after many and difficult temptations from demons, on the one hand, and great intercessions of God, on the other. But fervent prayer for help is a good deed and necessary for everyone: those in authority and subordinates, elders and younger, teaching and learning, fathers and children. The elder insisted that everyone, without exception, regardless of their position, or condition, or age, always and in everything, each as best they can, ask God for enlightenment, so that in this way they gradually bring their path closer to the paths of the holy will of God, until they reach perfection. .
About obedience
The question of obedience is closely connected with the question of knowing the will of God and surrendering oneself to the will of God, to which the elder attached extreme importance not only in the personal life of every monk and Christian, but also in the life of the entire “body of the Church”, all of Her “fulfillment” (pleromas) .
Elder Silouan had no disciples in the usual sense of the word and did not sit on the teacher's chair, and he himself was not a student of any particular elder, but he was brought up, like most Athos monks, in the flow of a common tradition: by constantly staying in the temple for divine services, hearing and reading the Word of God and the writings of the holy fathers, conversations with other ascetics of the Holy Mountain, strict keeping of the prescribed fasts, obedience to the abbot, confessor and senior worker.
He gave absolutely exceptional attention to inner spiritual obedience to the abbot and confessor, considering it the Sacrament of the Church and the gift of grace. Turning to the confessor, he prayed that the Lord, through His servant, would have mercy on him, reveal to him His will and the path to salvation; and, knowing that the first thought that is born in the soul after prayer is an indication from above, he caught the confessor's first word, his first hint, and continued his conversation no further. This is the wisdom and mystery of true obedience, the purpose of which is the knowledge and fulfillment of the will of God, and not of man. Such spiritual obedience, without objections and resistance, not only expressed, but also internal, unexpressed, is in general the only condition for the perception of living Tradition.
The living Tradition of the Church, flowing through the ages from generation to generation, is one of the most essential and, at the same time, subtle aspects of her life. Where there is no resistance to the teacher on the part of the student, the soul of the latter, in response to faith and humility, opens easily and, perhaps, to the end. But as soon as there is even a slight resistance to the spiritual father, the thread of pure tradition is inevitably interrupted and the soul of the teacher is closed.
In vain do many people think that the confessor is “an equally imperfect person”, that he “needs to explain everything in detail, otherwise he will not understand”, that he “can easily make mistakes” and therefore he needs to be “corrected”. A confessor who objects and corrects himself puts himself above the latter and is no longer a disciple. Yes, no one is perfect, and there is no person who would dare to teach like Christ “who has power”, for the subject of the teaching is “not from a person” and “not according to a person” (see:), but priceless a treasure of gifts of the Holy Spirit, not only priceless, but also in its nature undiscoverable, and only one who walks the path of unfalse and complete obedience penetrates into this secret storehouse.
A prudent novice or confessor behaves with a confessor in the following way: in a few words he speaks his thought or the most essential thing about his condition and then leaves the confessor free. The confessor, praying from the first moment of the conversation, awaits admonition from God, and if he feels a “notification” in his soul, then he gives his answer, on which he should stop, because when the confessor’s “first word” is missed, then at the same time the effectiveness is weakened Sacraments and confession can turn into a simple human discussion.
If the novice (confessor) and confessor maintain a proper attitude towards the Sacrament, then a notice from God is given soon; if for some reason there is no notification, then the confessor can ask for further explanations, and only then they are appropriate. If the confessor, not paying due attention to the confessor's first word, clutters it up with his explanations, then by doing so he reveals the lack of his faith and his understanding and follows a hidden desire to persuade the confessor to his thought. In this case, the psychological struggle begins, which St. Paul called it "useless" (see:).
Faith in the power of the Sacrament, faith that the Lord loves a person and will never leave the one who renounces his will and reason for the sake of His Name and His holy will, makes the novice unshakable and fearless. Having received a commandment or simply instruction from his spiritual father, the novice, in his striving to fulfill it, despises even death itself; and we think it is because he "passed over from death unto life."
From the first days of his monastic life, Elder Siluan was such a perfect novice, and therefore for him every confessor was a good mentor. He said that if monks and believing Christians in general obey their spiritual fathers and pastors without judgment on them, without criticism and without internal resistance, then they themselves will not lose salvation, and the whole Church will live a full life.
The path of the elder was such that one who follows this path soon and easily receives the gift of the great mercy of God, and the self-willed and self-willed, no matter how learned and witty they may be, can kill themselves with the most severe feats, ascetic or scientific-theological, and only barely they will feed on the crumbs that fall from the Throne of Mercy, but they will live more, imagining themselves to be the owners of wealth, but not being such in reality.
The elder said: “It is another thing to believe in God, and another thing is to know God.”
In the great sea of church life, the true and pure tradition of the Spirit flows in a thin stream, and whoever wants to fall into this thin stream must renounce “his” reasoning. Where “one’s own” reasoning has appeared, purity inevitably disappears, because wisdom and human truth are opposed to the wisdom and truth of God. To self-indulgent people, this seems unbearably difficult and even madness, but the one who was not afraid to become "insane" (see:), he knew true life and true wisdom.
Hieroschemamonk
It was from me
The spiritual testament of Hieroschemamonk Seraphim Vyritsky was written in 1937, at the time of the most cruel persecution of the state authorities against the Russian Church. In it is a reflection of the deepest prayer mystery, the great and eternal meaning of man's communion with the Lord. Everything that happens to us is known to Him, He- always there, always ready to help. If only we ourselves did not reject priceless gift boundless divine love.
D Have you ever thought that everything that concerns you concerns Me? For what touches you touches the apple of my eye. You are dear in My sight, valuable, and I have loved you, and therefore it is a special joy for Me to educate you. When temptations come upon you and the enemy comes like a river, I want you to know that it was from me.
H then your infirmity needs My strength, and that your safety lies in enabling Me to protect you. Are you in difficult circumstances, among people who do not understand you, do not take into account what pleases you, who push you away - it was from me.
I- Your God, who disposes of circumstances, and it is not by chance that you ended up in your place, this is the very place that I appointed you. Have you asked me to teach you humility? And so I placed you in that particular environment, in that school where this lesson is being studied. Your environment and all who live with you only do My will. Are you in financial difficulty, is it difficult for you to make ends meet, know that it was from me.
AND for I dispose of your means and want you to resort to Me and know that you are dependent on Me. My reserves are inexhaustible. I want you to be convinced of My faithfulness and My promises. Let it not be that in your need it may be said to you, “Do not believe the Lord your God.” Have you experienced the night in sorrow? You are separated from those close and dear to your heart - from me it was sent to you.
I- A man of sorrows, who has known illnesses, I allowed this so that you turn to Me and in Me you can find eternal consolation. Have you been deceived in your friend, in someone to whom you have opened your heart, - it was from me.
I I allowed this disappointment to touch you, so that you would know that your best friend is the Lord. I want you to bring everything to Me and speak to Me. Has anyone slandered you, leave it to Me and cling closer to Me, I will shelter you, with your soul, to hide from the strife of tongues, I will bring out your truth and your fate as a light, like noon. Your plans collapsed, you drooped in soul and got tired - it was from me.
You made a plan for herself, had her own intentions, and you brought them to Me so that I would bless them. But I want you to let Me manage and manage the circumstances of your life, since you are only an instrument, not an active person. Have unexpected life failures befallen you, and despondency seized your heart, know - it was from me.
AND for I want your heart and your soul to be always ablaze before My eyes, and that you overcome every cowardice in My Name. You do not receive news for a long time from people close to you, people dear to you, due to your cowardice and lack of faith, you fall into grumbling and despair, know - it was from me.
AND for by this yearning of your spirit I will test the strength of your faith in the immutability of the promise and the strength of your boldness in prayer for those close to you, for did not you place the care of them on My providential love? Are you not now handing them over to the Protection of My Most Pure Mother? Whether a serious illness, temporary or incurable, befell you, and you found yourself chained to your bed - it was from me.
AND for I want you to know Me even more deeply in your bodily infirmities, and not grumble for this test that is sent down to you, and that you do not try to penetrate My plans for the salvation of human souls in various ways, but meekly and humbly bow your head to goodness mine about you. Have you dreamed of doing any special work for Me and instead you yourself fell down on a bed of sickness and infirmity - it was from me.
AND for then you would be immersed in your affairs, and I could not draw your thoughts to Me, and I want to teach you the deepest thoughts and lessons of My, so that you will be in My service. I want to teach you to realize that you are nothing without Me. Some of My best sons are those who are cut off from living activity so that they may learn to wield the weapons of unceasing prayer. Whether you are called unexpectedly to take a difficult and responsible position, relying on Me, I entrust these difficulties to you, and for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your affairs, in all your ways, in everything, your Lord will be your Leader and Mentor. On this day, My child, I have given this vessel of consecrated oil into your hands, use it freely. Always remember that every difficulty that arises, every word that offends you, every slander and condemnation, every obstacle in your work that could cause a feeling of annoyance, disappointment, every revelation of your weakness and inability will be anointed with this oil - it was from me.
P remember that every obstacle is God's instruction, and therefore put in your heart your word, which I have declared to you this day - it was from me.
X hurt them, know and remember - always, wherever you are - that every sting will be dulled when you learn to see Me in everything. Everything is sent by Me for the perfection of your soul - everything from It was me.
Akathist of gratitude "Glory to God for everything"
about the author
“It is good to be with the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration, but it is more precious to love the will of God amid dull everyday difficulties, and go out to meet Christ in the midst of a storm, and worship Him, and thank Him when He is on the cross.”
The thanksgiving akathist "Glory to God for everything" was written by the metropolitan in the post-revolutionary years. Vladyka Trifon (in the world Boris Petrovich Turkestanov) was born on November 29, 1861 in the family of the ancient princely family of the Turkestanovs, in Moscow. During a serious illness of the infant Boris, when the doctors lost hope of recovery, his mother Varvara Alexandrovna (née Naryshkina) went to the church of the Holy Martyr Tryphon. She promised to dedicate the child to God if he survived. And if he is honored with the monastic rank, give him the name Tryphon. When the boy recovered, Varvara Alexandrovna made a trip with him to Optina Pustyn to see Elder Ambrose, famous throughout Russia. Meeting them, the elder said to the people standing around: "Give way, the bishop is coming." People parted in surprise in front of a woman with a child in her arms.
Years have passed. The spiritual path of Metropolitan Tryphon was not easy. Vladyka died on June 14, 1934. He wrote a thank-you akathist "Glory to God for everything" shortly before his death. This is a kind of testament, which reflects the spiritual experience of the Russian Orthodox Church during the most severe persecution.
Akathist "Glory to God for everything"
Kondak 1
Imperishable King of the Ages, containing in His right hand all the ways of life by the human power of Your saving Providence, we thank Thee for all Your known and hidden blessings, for earthly life and for the heavenly joys of Your Kingdom of the future. Stretch to us and henceforth Your mercy, singing:
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Ikos 1
Glory to Thee for Thy secret and manifest mercies;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kondak 2
Lord, how good it is to visit You: the fragrant wind, the mountains stretching into the sky, the waters, like endless mirrors, reflecting the gold of the rays and the lightness of the clouds. All nature whispers mysteriously, all is full of affection, and birds and animals bear the seal of Your love. Blessed is mother earth with her fleeting beauty, awakening longing for the eternal homeland, where in imperishable beauty it sounds: Alleluia!
Ikos 2
You brought me into this life, as if into an enchanting paradise. We saw the sky as a deep blue bowl, in the azure of which the birds are ringing, we heard the soothing noise of the forest and the mellifluous music of the waters, we ate fragrant and sweet fruits and fragrant honey. It is good with You on earth, joyfully visiting You.
Glory to Thee for the feast of life;
Glory to Thee for the fragrance of lilies of the valley and roses;
Glory to Thee for the sweet variety of berries and fruits;
Glory to Thee for the diamond radiance of the morning dew;
Glory to Thee for the smile of bright awakening;
Glory to Thee for earthly life, a harbinger of heaven;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kondak 3
Every flower smells with the power of the Holy Spirit, a quiet breath of aroma, tenderness of color, the beauty of the Great in the small. Praise and honor to the Life-Giving God, stretching the meadows like a flowering carpet, crowning the fields with gold ears and azure cornflowers, and souls with the joy of contemplation.
Rejoice and sing to Him: Alleluia!
Ikos 3
How beautiful You are in the triumph of spring, when all creation is resurrected and joyfully calls out to You in a thousand ways: You are the source of life, You are the conqueror of death.
In the light of the moon and the song of the nightingale, valleys and forests stand in their snow-white wedding dresses. The whole earth is Your bride, she is waiting for the Imperishable Bridegroom. If You clothe the grass in this way, then how will You transform us into the future age of resurrection, how our bodies will be enlightened, how our souls will shine!
Glory to Thee, who brought forth from the darkness of the earth a variety of colors, tastes and aromas;
Glory to Thee for the cordiality and affection of all nature;
Glory to Thee for having surrounded us with thousands of Thy creatures;
Glory to Thee for the depth of Thy mind, imprinted throughout the world;
Glory to Thee, I reverently kiss the traces of Your invisible foot;
Glory to Thee, who lit ahead the bright light of eternal life;
Glory to Thee for the hope of immortal ideal imperishable beauty;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kondak 4
How Thou delights those who think of Thee, how life-giving is Thy holy Word, softer than oil and sweeter than hundreds of conversations with Thee. Prayer to You inspires and lives; what a thrill then fills the heart, and how majestic and reasonable then nature and all life become! Where there is no You, there is emptiness. Where You are - there is the wealth of the soul, there the song flows like a living stream: Alleluia!
Ikos 4
When the sunset descends on the earth, when the peace of eternal sleep and the silence of the fading day reign, I see Your chamber under the image of shining chambers and cloudy vestibules of dawn. Fire and purple, gold and azure speak prophetically of the inexpressible beauty of Your villages, they solemnly call: let's go to the Father!
Glory to Thee in the quiet hour of the evening;
Glory to Thee, who poured out great peace to the world;
Glory to Thee for the farewell ray of the setting sun;
Glory to Thee for the rest of blessed sleep;
Glory to Thee for Thy goodness in darkness, when the whole world is far away;
Glory to Thee for the tender prayers of a touched soul;
Glory to Thee for the promised awakening to the joy of the eternal non-evening day;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kondak 5
The storms of life are not terrible for those who have the lamp of Your fire shining in their hearts. Around bad weather and darkness, horror and the howling of the wind. And in his soul there is silence and light: Christ is there! And the heart sings: Alleluia!
Ikos 5
I see Your sky shining with stars. Oh, how rich You are, how much light You have! Eternity looks at me with rays of distant luminaries, I am so small and insignificant, but the Lord is with me, His loving right hand protects me.
Glory to Thee for unceasing concern for me;
Glory to Thee for providential meetings with people;
Glory to Thee for the love of relatives, for the devotion of friends;
Glory to Thee for the meekness of the animals that serve me;
Glory to Thee for the bright moments of my life;
Glory to Thee for the clear joys of the heart;
Glory to Thee for the happiness of living, moving and contemplating;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kondak 6
How great and close You are in the powerful movement of a thunderstorm, how Your mighty hand is visible in the bends of dazzling lightning, Your greatness is marvelous. The voice of the Lord over the fields and in the noise of the forests, the voice of the Lord in the Christmas of thunder and rain, the voice of the Lord over many waters. Praise be to Thee in the roar of the fire-breathing mountains. You shake the ground like clothes. You raise the waves of the sea to the sky. Praise be to the one who humbles human pride, who utters a repentant cry: Alleluia!
Ikos 6
Like lightning, when it illuminates the halls of the feast, then after it the lights of the lamps seem miserable, so You suddenly shone in my soul during the most powerful joys of life. And after Your lightning-fast light, how colorless, dark, ghostly they seemed. The soul was chasing you.
Glory to Thee, the edge and limit of the highest human dream;
Glory to Thee for our unquenchable thirst for communion with God;
Glory to Thee, who inspired in us dissatisfaction with earthly things;
Glory to Thee, Who has clothed us with Thy subtlest rays;
Glory to Thee, who crushed the power of the spirits of darkness, doomed all evil to destruction;
Glory to Thee for Thy revelations, for the happiness of feeling Thee and living with Thee;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kondak 7
In a marvelous combination of sounds, Your call is heard. You open to us the thresholds of the coming paradise and the melodiousness of singing in harmonious tones, in the height of musical colors, in the brilliance of artistic creativity. Everything truly beautiful carries the soul to You with a mighty call, makes it rapturously sing: Alleluia!
Ikos 7
By the influx of the Holy Spirit You illuminate the thoughts of artists, poets, and scientific geniuses. By the power of the Superconsciousness, they prophetically comprehend Your laws, revealing to us the abyss of Your creative wisdom. Their deeds involuntarily speak of You; oh how great You are in Your creatures, oh how great You are in man.
Glory to Thee, who has shown inconceivable power in the laws of the universe;
Glory to Thee, all nature is full of the laws of Thy being;
Glory to Thee for all that has been revealed to us by Thy goodness;
Glory to Thee for what Thou hast hidden according to Thy wisdom;
Glory to Thee for the genius of the human mind;
Glory to Thee for the life-giving power of labor;
Glory to Thee for the fiery tongues of inspiration;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kondak 8
How close are You in the days of illness, You Yourself visit the sick, You Yourself bow down at the bed of suffering, and the heart converses with
You illuminate the soul with peace during times of grave sorrow and suffering, You send unexpected help. You console, You are love that tests and saves, We sing a song to You: Alleluia!
Ikos 8
When I consciously called You for the first time as a child, You fulfilled my prayer, and reverent peace dawned on my soul. Then I realized that You are good and blessed are those who seek You. I began to call you again and again and now I call:
Glory to Thee, fulfilling my good desires;
Glory to Thee, who watches over me
day and night;
Glory to Thee, who heals sorrows and losses with the healing course of time;
Glory to Thee, with Thee there are no hopeless losses, You grant eternal life to all;
Glory to Thee, You bestowed immortality on everything good and lofty, You promised the desired meeting with the dead;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kondak 9
Why does all nature smile during holidays? Why, then, does a wondrous lightness spread in the heart, incomparable to anything on earth, and why does the very air of the altar and temple become luminous? This is the breath of Your grace, this is a reflection of the Light of Tabor: then heaven and earth sing laudatory: Alleluia!
Ikos 9
When You inspire me to serve others, and illumined my soul with humility, then one of Your countless rays fell on my heart, and it became luminous, like iron on fire. I saw Your mysterious, elusive Face.
Glory to Thee, who has transformed our lives with good deeds;
Glory to Thee, who imprinted unspeakable sweetness in every Thy commandment;
Glory to Thee, clearly dwelling where mercy is fragrant;
Glory to Thee, who sends us failures and sorrows, so that we are sensitive to the sufferings of others;
Glory to Thee, who placed a great reward in the inherent value of good;
Glory to Thee, accepting the high impulse;
Glory to Thee, who exalted love above everything earthly and heavenly;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kondak 10
What is broken into dust cannot be restored, but You restore those whose conscience has decayed, You restore the former beauty to the souls that have hopelessly lost it. With You there is nothing irreparable. You are all love. You are the Creator and Restorer. We praise you with a song: Alleluia!
Ikos 10
My God, knowing the falling away of the proud angel Dennitsa, save me by the power of grace, do not let me fall away from You, do not let me doubt You. Sharpen my hearing so that in all the moments of my life I hear Your mysterious voice and cry out to You, the omnipresent:
Glory to Thee for the providential coincidence of circumstances;
Glory to Thee for grace-filled forebodings;
Glory to Thee for the revelation in a dream and in reality;
Glory to Thee, who destroys our useless designs;
Glory to Thee, through suffering sobering us from the intoxication of passions;
Glory to Thee, Who saves the pride of the heart;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kondak 11
Through the icy chain of centuries I feel the warmth of Your Divine breath, I hear the flowing blood. You are already close, part of the time has dissipated. I see Your Cross - it is for me. My spirit is in the dust before the Cross: here is the triumph of love and salvation, here praise does not cease forever: Alleluia!
Ikos 11
Blessed is he who tastes the supper in Your Kingdom, but You have already shared this blessedness with me on earth. How many times have you stretched out your body and blood to me with your divine right hand, and I, a great sinner, accepted this shrine and felt your love, inexpressible, supernatural.
Glory to Thee for the incomprehensible life-giving power of grace;
Glory to Thee, who raised Thy Church as a quiet haven for a tormented world;
Glory to Thee, who revives us with the life-giving waters of Baptism;
Glory to Thee, You return to the penitent the purity of immaculate lilies;
Glory to Thee, inexhaustible abyss of forgiveness;
Glory to Thee for the cup of life, for the bread of eternal joy;
Glory to Thee, who raised us to heaven;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kondak 12
I have seen many times the reflection of Your glory on the faces of the dead. With what unearthly beauty and joy they shone, how airy, intangible were their features, it was a triumph of achieved happiness, peace; in silence they called to you. At the hour of my death, enlighten my soul, calling: Alleluia!
Ikos 12
What is my praise before You! I have not heard the singing of the Cherubim, this is the lot of high souls, but I know how nature praises You. I contemplated in winter how in the moonlit silence the whole earth silently prayed to You, clothed in a white robe, shining with diamonds of snow. I saw how the rising sun rejoiced in You and the choirs of birds thundered glory. I heard how mysteriously the forest rustles about You, the winds sing, the waters murmur, how the choirs of luminaries preach about You with their harmonious movement in infinite space. What is my praise! Nature is obedient, but I am not, while I live, I see Your love, I want to give thanks, pray and cry out:
Glory to Thee, Who showed us the light;
Glory to Thee, who loved us with a deep, immeasurable, Divine love;
Glory to Thee, overshadowing us with light, hosts of angels and saints;
Glory to Thee, All-Holy Father, Who commanded us His Kingdom;
Glory to Thee, the Redeemer Son, who opened the way to salvation for us;
Glory to Thee, Holy Soul, Life-giving sun of the future age;
Glory to Thee for everything, O Trinity Divine, All-good;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kondak 13
O All-good and Life-Giving Trinity, receive thanksgiving for all Thy mercies and reveal us worthy of Thy good deeds, so that, having multiplied the talents entrusted to us, we may enter into the eternal joy of our Lord with victorious praise:
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Ikos 1
I was born into the world as a weak, helpless child, but Your Angel spread its bright wings, guarding my cradle. Since then, Your love has been shining on all my paths, miraculously guiding me to the light of eternity. The gloriously generous gifts of Your Providence have been revealed from the first day until now. I thank and cry with all who have known Thee:
Glory to Thee, who called me to life;
Glory to Thee, Who showed me the beauty of the universe;
Glory to Thee, who opened heaven and earth before me as an eternal book of wisdom;
Glory to Your eternity in the midst of the temporary world;
Glory to Thee for secret and manifest mercies
Glory to Thee for every breath of my sadness;
Glory to Thee for every step of life, for every moment of joy;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kondak 1
Imperishable King of the ages, containing in His right hand all the ways of life by the human power of Your saving Providence, we thank Thee for all Your known and hidden blessings, for earthly life and for the heavenly joys of Your Kingdom of the future. Stretch to us and henceforth Your mercy, singing:
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Hieromonk. Saint Silouan of Athos. – Minsk, 2003.
Metropolitan. Akathist "Glory to God for everything." - St. Petersburg, 1999.
If someone does some deed, following his own will, and then finds out that this deed is contrary to the will of God, he must, as having acted wrong out of ignorance, return to the path of God. Whoever stubbornly clings to his own will, which is contrary to the will of God, does not want to obey others, but considers only his own opinion, he will not be able to return to the path of God. Sayings of the Nameless Elders
You will act according to the nature of Jesus and attract His help to you, if your heart renounces sin, renounces the principles that give birth to sin, if you constantly remember the torments of hell, if you feel that your Helper is always near you, if nothing you will offend Him if you constantly weep before Him, saying: "Lord! Only You can deliver me from sin. I myself cannot avoid the enemy without Your help" Abba Isaiah
Blessed are those who have not put their trust in their own deeds, who have comprehended the greatness of God and in everything do His will. Knowing their weakness, they concentrate all their deeds in the sorrow of repentance: they mourn themselves, leaving the vain and sinful care about everything that happens in the world, which, as a creation of God, is subject to the judgment of the One God. Abba Isaiah
If someone calls you to the table of love and puts you in the last place, do not be offended in your thoughts. Tell yourself I don't deserve better. I tell you that neither dishonor nor any kind of sorrow comes to a person except by the permission of God, for temptation and for the correction of a person or for his sins. Whoever does not think in this way does not believe that God is a righteous Judge. Sayings of the Nameless Elders
If the natural forces of the soul are not cleansed of the filth with which they are buried because of sins, and if they do not then receive the proper healing, transformation and strengthening, then there is no way for them to fulfill the will of God. The sick and infirm must first be healed and strengthened in order to be fit for service. Reverend Simeon New Theologian
"Let Thy will be done, as in heaven and on earth." The will of God happens even without our petition. Therefore, we do not ask that God do what He wants, but that we can do what His will wants. Hence we see that we cannot do the will of God without God. God's will is fulfilled when we keep piety and remain in it to the end, as it is said: "Be faithful unto death" (Rev. 2:10), and when sinners lag behind sins and repent: God "desires that all people be saved and reach knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:4). For this to be fulfilled, we ask God: "Thy will be done." Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord! Lord!” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven (Matt. 7:21).
Prayer alone will not save you: with prayer you must combine the fulfillment of the will of God - everything that is entrusted to each, according to his rank and order of life. And in prayer, we must primarily ask that God grant us not to deviate in anything from His holy will. And vice versa, whoever has the zeal to fulfill the will of God in everything, the prayer is bolder before God and more easily gains access to His throne. Even so, if prayer is not accompanied by walking in the will of God, then prayer is not real prayer, sober and heartfelt, but only external, verbal. During its time, the moral malfunction, like a fog, is covered by verbosity with disorder and wandering of thoughts. It is necessary to establish both with piety, then there will be fruit
Bishop Theophan the Recluse
The Lord encourages prayer, promising to hear how a father hears the petitions of his children. But it immediately hints at the reason why prayers and petitions are sometimes not heard or fulfilled. The Father will not give his children a stone instead of bread and a snake instead of a fish (Luke 11:10-13). If the father does not do this, much less will the Heavenly Father do this. And our petitions often resemble the petition of a snake and a stone. It seems to us that bread and fish are what we ask, but the Heavenly Father sees that what we ask will be a stone and a snake for us, and does not give us what we ask. You say: why pray? No, you can't pray. But in prayers about certain subjects, one must always keep in mind the condition: "If, Lord, You Yourself find it saving." Saint Isaac of Syria advises to abbreviate every prayer like this: "Lord, you know what is useful for me: do with me according to Your will" Bishop Theophan the Recluse
What are the commandments of God? This is the will of God, declared by God to people for guidance in actions that depend on their arbitrariness. What are the fates of God? This is an action or allowances of the Will of God, on which the arbitrariness of man has no influence.
What calms in fierce times of spiritual distress?.. It calms the mere consciousness of oneself as a servant and creation of God... As soon as a person prays to God with all his heart: "May Thy will be done to me, my Lord," as the excitement of the heart subsides. From these words, spoken sincerely, the most severe sorrows lose their overwhelming power over a person. Bishop Ignatius (Bryanchaninov)
Humble devotion to the will of God, consciousness and readiness to endure all the sufferings that will be allowed by God, complete inattention and disbelief in all the words, actions and manifestations of fallen spirits destroy all the significance of their attempts, which receive the greatest significance with attention to them and trust in demons. Bishop Ignatius (Bryanchaninov)