Grace of the Holy Spirit according to the teachings of the Holy Fathers. Acquiring the grace of the Holy Spirit is the goal of the Christian life
In order to enter into a struggle with his injury, the lusts of the world and the devil, and his own egoism, a person must taste the Grace of God, delight in the sweetness of the Holy Spirit. It is the experience of Grace in Christ that supports Christians in their feat of pleasing God.
However, imprudence and a tempter can lead us astray, so that a false experience, instead of the experience of God, will lead us along dangerous paths into the muddy waters of delusion. Participation in the Holy Orthodox Church, the one true faith in the God-Man Jesus Christ, the heartfelt acceptance of the Holy Tradition of the Church and fidelity to it in everyday life - a guarantee for those who want to see the face of the Bridegroom of the Church and still from now on taste the hopes of eternity, taste the true experience of Communion with God.
"Taste and see that the Lord is good" - however, not outside the experience recognized by the Church, in which saints who achieve living communion with God will never cease to be born. To those who doubt the truth of their experience, the Church answers with the words of the Apostle Philip, once spoken by him to his then unbelieving friend, the Apostle Nathanael: "Come and see."
Come and become a living member of the Church in obedience and discipleship to Christ, humble your conceit, resist the spirits of evil - and then you will rejoice and know. Then you will receive that genuine personal experience, which, in His boundless love, God gives to those who seek Him, who seek unfeignedly and firmly.
WHY WE TALK ABOUT GRACE
Sermon delivered on January 14/27, 1989 at Stratoni in Chalkidiki at the invitation of His Grace Nikodim, Metropolitan of Ieris and Ardameria
Don't we know that the goal of our life is union with God? Doesn't Holy Scripture tell us that man is created in the image and likeness of God? Man was created in order to become like God, and this is the same as saying: to unite with Him. The holy fathers call the attainment by a person of likeness to God deification (θεόσις).
That's how great the goal of man is. It cannot be reduced only to becoming better, purer, more honest, more generous; but - to become a god by Grace. When a person unites with God, he himself becomes a god by Grace. What then is the difference between the All-holy God and the deified man?
The difference is this: Our Maker and Creator is God by nature, by His own nature, while we become gods by Grace; remaining human beings by nature, we are deified by His Grace.
And when a person unites with God by Grace, then he acquires the experience of knowing God, the feeling of God. Otherwise, how is it possible to unite with God without feeling His Grace?
Our forefathers in paradise, before they sinned, talked with God, felt divine Grace. God created man to be a priest, a prophet, and a king. A priest - in order to accept his being and the world as a gift from God and in return offer himself and the world to God, in the joy of thanksgiving and praise. A prophet - to know the Divine mysteries. In the Old Testament, prophets were those who spoke on behalf of God about the divine will and mysteries. King - to reign over the nature of everything visible and his own. A person should use nature not as a tyrant and tormentor, but reasonably and benevolently. Do not abuse creation, but use it gratefully (eucharistically). And today we do not use nature intelligently, but insanely and selfishly. And as a result, we destroy the creation and, as part of it, ourselves.
If man had not sinned by exchanging love and obedience to God for selfhood, he would not have tasted alienation from God. And he would be a king, a priest and a prophet. But even now the Holy God, out of compassion for His creation, wants to restore man in the lost state of a priest, a prophet and a king, so that he can again accept the experience of communion with God and unite with Him. Therefore, throughout the entire history of the Old Testament, God prepared, step by step, the salvation of man through the coming in the flesh of His Only Begotten Son. Only a few righteous people of the Old Testament received His gifts. Gifts similar to those that man had before the fall, including the gift of prophecy.
There were in the times of the Old Testament people like the prophets Elijah, Isaiah and Moses, who accepted the grace of prophecy and saw the glory of God. But this grace was not meant for everyone. Yes, and she was not with them all her life, but - as a special gift given to them by God in special circumstances and for a special purpose. That is, when God wanted these righteous to proclaim the coming Coming of Christ in the flesh or reveal His will, He gave them some experience and revelation to accept.
But the prophet Joel foresaw the time when God would give the Grace of the Holy Spirit not only to individuals with some special purpose, but to everyone and everyone. This is how his prophecy sounds: "... and I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons will prophesy, and your daughters, and your elders will see your sons, and your youths will see visions" (Joel 2, 28). In other words, "My people will see spiritual visions, My secrets will be revealed to them."
This outpouring of the Holy Spirit took place on the day of Pentecost. And since then, the Grace of the Holy Spirit has been given to the entire Church. In the Old Testament times, this Grace was not given to everyone because Christ had not yet been incarnated. There was an impassable gulf between man and God. In order for the Grace of the All-Holy Spirit to be poured out on all flesh, man's communion with God had to be restored. This reunion was brought about by our Savior Christ by His Incarnation.
The first union of a person with God, concluded in paradise, was not a hypostatic union (occurring in a person) - and therefore was not lasting. The second unity is hypostatically, personally. It means that in the Hypostasis (Personality) of Jesus Christ, the human and divine natures united inseparably, unchangingly, inseparably, inseparably and eternally. No matter how much a person sins, his nature is inseparable from God - because in the God-man Jesus Christ it is forever united with the divine.
This means that in order to be able to receive the Holy Spirit, to be a priest, a king and a prophet, to know the divine mysteries and feel God, a person must become a member of the Body of Christ, His Church. One is our Lord Jesus Christ - the true and perfect Priest, King and Prophet. He did what Adam and Eve were called to do at creation and did not do because of selfishness and sin. Now, in union with Him, we can become participants in His three ministries: royal, prophetic, and priestly.
A small caveat is needed here. In holy baptism and chrismation, a Christian accepts the general priesthood, not the private priesthood. For this there is the sacrament of the priesthood, in which the clergy are given special Grace to perform church sacraments and minister to the laity.
But a layman is not just a non-priest, but one who, through baptism and anointing with holy chrism, is honored with the honor of being a member of Christ's Body and a man of God and is honored to participate in the three ministries of Christ. The more healthy, wakeful and living member of the people of God and the Body of Christ he becomes, the fuller his participation in the priestly, prophetic and royal ministries of Christ, and the deeper and more tangible his experience of Divine Grace, for which there are many examples in the ascetics of Orthodox piety.
TYPES OF DIVINE GRACE
What is this experience of Grace, which makes the Christian faith and life from the rational and external - an all-embracing spiritual feeling of God, a true union with Him, bringing the whole Christian into kinship with Christ? This is, first of all, a heartfelt assurance that through faith in God the soul has found the true meaning of life. When, having gained faith in Christ, a person experiences deep inner satisfaction, feels that this faith fills his whole life with meaning and guides him, enlightening his whole being with clear light. The Christian's experience of this acquisition of inner faith is the beginning of a grace-filled life. From now on, God is no longer something external to him.
Another experience of Grace comes to someone who suddenly hears in his conscience a call to repentance for his secret sins, feels that the Lord is calling him to return to the Christian life, to confession, to a life according to God. This voice of God, silently sounding inside, becomes for such a person the first experience of Grace. During those long years that he lived away from God, he did not understand anything.
He begins repentance, confesses for the first time in his life to a confessor. And after confession, deep peace and joy come to him - which he had never experienced in his entire life. And he exclaims: "Oh, ease!" It is the Divine Grace that visited the soul that brought repentance, because God wants to comfort her. The tears of a penitent Christian, when he asks God for forgiveness in prayer or comes to confession, are tears of repentance that bring great relief. They enter into the soul silence and peace, and then the Christian understands that these tears were a gift and experience of divine Grace.
And the deeper he repents, the more he has love for God and prays with divine zeal, the more tears of repentance in him are transformed into tears of joy, tears of love and divine desire. These second tears are higher than the first and are also a visit from above and an experience of Grace.
Having brought repentance and confession, having prepared ourselves with fasting and prayer, we move on to partaking of the Flesh and Blood of Christ. What do we experience upon initiation? Deep peace of the heart, spiritual joy. This is also the experience of visiting Grace.
Sometimes - at prayer, at a service, at the Divine Liturgy - suddenly an inexpressible joy comes. And it is an experience of Grace, an experience of the Divine Presence.
However, there are other, higher experiences of the Divine life. The highest of them is the vision of the Uncreated Light. He was contemplated by the Lord's disciples on Tabor during the Transfiguration. They saw Christ shining brighter than the sun with this unearthly divine Light - not material, not created, like the light of the sun and any other creature. This Uncreated Light is the radiance of the Divine Itself, the Light of the Holy Trinity.
Those who are completely cleansed of passions and sin and have true and pure prayer are rewarded with a great blessing in this life to see the Light of the Divine. This is the Light of the future life, the Light of eternity; and they not only see Him now, but are also visible in Him, because the saints walk in this Light. We do not see it, but the pure in heart and saints do. The radiance (nimbus) around the faces of the saints is the Light of the Holy Trinity that enlightened and sanctified them.
In the biography of St. Basil the Great, it is said that when he stood at prayer, the Uncreated Light that illuminated him flooded the entire cell. Many other saints testify to this.
However, one should not forget that to be worthy to see the Uncreated Light is not the destiny of everyone, but of a very few who have succeeded in spiritual life, the greatest visitation of God. Abba Isaac of Syria says that a clear vision of the Uncreated Light is given to barely one ascetic for every generation (Word 16). But even today there are saints who have been rewarded with this exceptional experience of contemplation of God.
It is superfluous to say that not everyone who sees the light sees the Uncreated Light without fail. There is also a seducer who loves to deceive people by showing them all sorts of illuminations, whether of a demonic or psychophysical nature, so that they revere that which is not Divine Light. Therefore, a Christian should not immediately accept the phenomena that happen to him, whether he sees or hears something, as God's, so as not to be deceived by the devil. It is better to reveal everything to the confessor, who will help him to distinguish God's action from self-deception and from demonic seduction. This requires great caution.
PREREQUISITES FOR A GENUINE EXPERIENCE OF GRACE
Let us now consider by what indications it may be hoped that what we experience is a genuine and not false experience.
First, we must become related to repentance. He who does not repent of his sins and does not cleanse his heart from passions cannot see God. So our Lord says in the Beatitudes: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. The more a person cleanses himself of passions, repents and returns to God, the better he can see and feel Him.
It is a mistake to seek blessed experiences by artificial means and methods, as many do now: heretics, Hindus, yogis. Their experiences are not from God. They are caused by psychophysical means.
The Holy Fathers tell us: "give blood and receive the Spirit." That is, if you do not shed the blood of your heart in the deepest repentance, in prayer, fasting, and all spiritual warfare in general, you will not be able to receive the Grace of the Holy Spirit.
Authentic spiritual experience comes to those who, out of humility, do not ask for revelation. Instead, they ask for repentance and salvation. Visitations of the Spirit are poured out on those who humbly say: “My God, I am not worthy! For those who proudly ask for spiritual insights, God does not give them. But instead of a true experience of Grace, they receive from the devil, who is ready to take advantage of their mood, a deceitful and disastrous experience, commensurate with their pride. So, the second condition necessary for receiving Grace is humility.
The third thing that is required of us in order to receive Grace is to be in the Church, not to fall away from it. Outside of it, the devil will easily laugh at us. The wolf devours only those that have strayed from the herd. Security is within the herd. The Christian is safe in the Church. Separating from her, he opens himself to both self-deception and external seductions, human and demonic. Many, through disobedience to the Church and their confessors, have fallen into extreme delusions. They are sure that they have seen God and that God has visited them, when in reality they have been visited by a demon and their experience has been their ruin.
It is very helpful to pray purely and earnestly. It is in prayer that God predominantly gives a grace-filled experience. Whoever prays with zeal, with labor and patience, receives the gifts of the All-Holy Spirit and the living feeling of His Grace.
It is our custom on Mount Athos (and perhaps our readers as well) to pray "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner" - an unceasing prayer of the mind and heart. When you do it with humility, diligence and perseverance, it gradually brings into the heart a living feeling of the presence of Grace.
FALSE EXPERIENCES "GRACE"
False experience of the "divine" happens to those who think they can, by their own efforts, receive the Grace of the Holy Spirit, especially in heretical gatherings and religious organizations outside the Church. They gather, some new "prophet" becomes their leader, and it seems to them that "grace" visits them.
I happened to attend a Pentecostal meeting when I was in America in 1966. Their "church" was like a classroom. At first, the organ played measuredly and softly. Then the music became more and more frantic, deafening, driving to a frenzy. When it ended, the preacher spoke up. He also began calmly, but gradually raised his voice. By the end, he, too, produced a strong excitement. And then, when all those assembled were completely obedient to this collective hysteria, they suddenly began to shout, wave their arms, and utter inarticulate cries.
And I felt that there was no Holy Spirit of God between them - the Spirit of peace and silence, and not at all confusion and excitement. The Spirit of God cannot be forced to act by artificial and psychological means. I felt truly sorry for the children who were there with their parents and who were still to be affected by the consequences of this collective neurosis.
A young man who tried yoga before he became a monk on Mount Athos (you must know that there are about 500 Hindu sects in Greece) told me what kind of experiences they sought in meetings. When they wanted to see the light, they rubbed their eyes so that the lights appeared; if they wanted unusual auditory sensations, they clamped their ears, making noise in the head.
Similar artificial psychophysical effects are attributed by some heretics to the Holy Spirit.
However, what people experience at heretical meetings is not always only psychology, sometimes it also has a demonic nature. The devil takes advantage of the fact that they are looking for such experiences, and willingly provides them with various signs that are not from God, but from demons. They do not understand that they are the victims of the devil. They accept his signs as heavenly visitations, as acts of the Spirit of God. In addition, the demon endows them with certain "prophetic" abilities, like many "mediums" of its power.
But the Lord warned us that false Christs and false prophets would arise and give great signs and wonders (Matthew 24:24). Not just miracles, but great and marvelous and terrifying signs. Likewise, when the Antichrist comes, he will not do bad things. He will do good, heal the sick, work many miracles - to deceive himself. To deceive, if possible, even those chosen by God (Matt. 24:24), so that even they would believe that this is their Savior and follow him.
Therefore, caution is needed. Not all miracles and not all insights come from God. The Lord said, "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord! God! Have we not prophesied in Your name? and did they not cast out demons in your name? and have they not done many miracles in your name?" And then I will declare to them: "I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity" (Matthew 7:22-23).
I have met people who, upon returning to the Church after becoming involved in the occult or the Pentecostal movement, clearly realized that the various experiences they had in sectarian meetings were from demons. A former Pentecostal, for example, said that once, when a member of the meeting was prophesying, he felt inexplicable anxiety and began to read the prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner,” and immediately the spirit of “speaking in tongues” attacked him, turning him away from prayer.
And the devil is transformed into an angel of light; we are commanded to be very careful about spiritual experience. The Apostle John implores: Beloved, believe not every spirit (1 John 4:1). Not all spirits are from God. According to the Apostle Paul, only those who have received the gift of discerning spirits are able to distinguish between the spirits of God and the spirits of the devil (cf. 1 Cor. 12:10).
The Lord gives this gift to the confessors of our holy Church. Therefore, if such a question arises before us, we turn to the spiritual father, who will be able to see where this or that experience comes from.
Even monks can be deceived. On the Holy Mountain, it happened that the monks were spiritually mistaken, trusting themselves. For example, a demon came in the form of an angel to one and said to him: "Let's go to the top of Athos, and I will show you a great miracle." And he led him there, and would have thrown him there from the cliff onto the rocks, if the monk had not cried out to God. The monk was mistaken in believing that the vision was from God. Trust should not be, because the monks know that when they happen to see a vision, it is their job to reveal it to their elder. And he will say whether it is God's or from demons. In whom pride is still alive, they are easily deceived.
ABOUT PENTECOSTS
The experience of the Pentecostals is not from God. Therefore, he leads them away from the Church instead of helping them enter into it.
Only the devil is interested in leading away and alienating from the Church.
That they themselves do not represent the Church of God is clear, among other things, from their division into innumerable sects and groups.
There are thousands of sects in Protestantism. Pentecostals are one of them. There are thirty-nine sects in America alone, many of which do not communicate with each other. Listen to the names of some of them: "God's Church Mount Assembly", "God's United Church Assembly", "Gar Theatre", "Vigilant Mission", "Mother Horn Church", "Mother Robertson Church", "Jesus and Vigilant Mission", "Church of God Remnant", "Mogera Cook Church", "Four Accurate Gospels Church", "National Spiritual United Temple Church of God of David", "Holy American Church of God, Baptized by Fire".
If the Spirit of God dwelt in all these groups, there would be unity between them, it would be one Church, and not so many of the most contrasting organizations.
It is not from the quietness of the Holy Spirit of God that what takes place in their meetings: convulsive movements, falling "dead", inarticulate cries. Something similar is found in pagan cults. They have many similarities with the phenomenon of spiritualism.
They feed a spirit of pride, claiming that the whole Church has been in error for almost two thousand years, and now they have discovered the truth in 1900. One American took it and opened it. And the founder of their movement in Greece, Mikhail Gunas, declared: "Finally, after so many centuries, God first revealed Himself in Greece, as on the day of Pentecost." From him the Grace of God came to Greece, just like on the day of Pentecost?! Didn't she exist before him? Amazing selfishness and satanic pride!
And what, in fact, about their most beloved difference - glossolalia, "the gift of speaking in tongues"? Yes, indeed, the New Testament narrative mentions this phenomenon. On the day of Pentecost, the holy apostles spoke in the languages of those peoples who had come to worship in Jerusalem in order to bring the Gospel to them. The gift of speaking in tongues was a special gift given by God for a very specific purpose: to teach those who did not know Christ to believe in Him. And when the holy apostles spoke in other languages, they did not cry out inarticulate sounds like those possessed. And they did not speak any random languages, but the dialects of those people who were there and did not know Hebrew, so that they could know the greatness of God and believe. And inarticulate cries have nothing to do with the genuine gift of glossolalia, which, ignorant of it, Pentecostals think they have.
ORTHODOX CHURCH IS A PLACE OF GENUINE BENEFICIAL EXPERIENCE
In reality, our Orthodox Church is the Church of the true Pentecost: because it is the Church of Christ's Incarnation, His Death on the Cross, Resurrection and - Pentecost. When out of everything that Christ did, we snatch out only one side, distorting and exaggerating its meaning - isn't this called heresy? Only the Church that accepts and lives in harmony with the whole work of Christ's economy, including Pentecost, can truly be the Church in which the Holy Spirit of God lives. Can there be a Resurrection without the Cross? Can a person contemplate God before he crucifies himself by abstinence, prayer, repentance, humility and the fulfillment of the Lord's commandments? As in the life of Christ, so in the life of a Christian: first, the cross; it is followed by Sunday and Pentecost. It is not Christians who want resurrection and spiritual gifts without having to crucify themselves with repentance, spiritual struggle and obedience to the Church. And they are not the true Pentecostal Church.
Here it is, Pentecost, in every Orthodox Divine Liturgy. How does bread and wine become the flesh and blood of Christ? Is it not the descent of the Holy Spirit? This is Pentecost. The holy altar of every Orthodox church - isn't it the Zion Room? And with every baptized we have Pentecost. The grace of the Holy Spirit descends on a person and makes him a Christian and a part of the Body of Christ. And every ordination to the deacon, the priest, and especially the bishop is again Pentecost. The Holy Spirit descends and makes a person a servant of God.
Another Pentecost - every confession. When you humbly bow before your confessor and repent of your sins, and the confessor reads a permissive prayer over you - isn’t the grace of the Holy Spirit making a resolution?
Each church prayer and the celebration of each sacrament is nothing but a continuation of Pentecost, since they are performed by the Presence of the Holy Spirit. That is why almost all actions, prayers, sacraments begin with an appeal to Him: "King of Heaven, Comforter, Soul of Truth ... come and dwell in us ..." We ask the Paraclete, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit to come, and He comes. The Lord Holy Spirit descends where His Holy Orthodox Church, the true Church of Christ, is gathered.
Every saint of our Church is a God-bearer, filled with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of holy Pentecost.
The request of the Lord's Prayer "Let Your Kingdom come" also means "Let the Grace of the Holy Spirit come", because the Kingdom of God is the Grace of the All-Holy Spirit. So with this prayer we also ask the Father for the coming of the Holy Spirit upon us.
The Jesus Prayer "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner" is also done by the Grace of the Holy Spirit, because, as the Apostle Paul says, ... no one can call Jesus Lord, except by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12, 3) . No one will cry: Jesus, my Lord! - if the Grace of the Holy Spirit is not with him.
Here is a testimony to you that Pentecost in our Church does not stop.
We have an inexhaustible blessing: the Grace of God lives in our Holy Church. We have the opportunity to become Own to God and taste the experience of His Grace, uniting with Him. The Orthodox Church is a reliable and tested ship. This is the Church of the prophets, apostles, saints, martyrs and saints - up to our days they do not become impoverished in it, such as, for example, our prayer book and miracle worker Saint Nektarios. This is the Church, which for the past two thousand years has kept the gospel of Christ intact, in spite of neither persecution nor heretics.
Let's take a look at history: how many heresies rose up against the Church from century to century. Not simple Pentecostals, but emperors with an army and all the power of this world. And the Church is standing. Consider the iconoclastic controversy that lasted one hundred and thirty years. But Orthodoxy has not perished. Thousands died as martyrs; but the Church was not destroyed, although it seemed weakened. And the more she was persecuted, the stronger she actually became, enlightened by suffering.
And the Grace of the Most Holy Spirit of God dwells in it. To this day there are saints. The bodies of many saints are imperishable, exude myrrh, fragrant, work miracles. Where else is this happening? In what heresy and in which of the sectarian "churches" unburied bodies smell fragrant? In the Athos tombs, a fragrance is noticeable, because between the bones of the fathers are the bones of the holy monks. And all this is due to the presence of the Holy Spirit.
And, by the way, only water consecrated by Orthodox priests does not deteriorate. Those of you who have it at home know that it doesn't get stale no matter how long it sits.
INSTEAD OF AFTERWORD
Such is our faith, Orthodox, holy. Shall we reject it in order to follow the newly-appeared "saviors" who imagine themselves to be the founders of the Church? Just think what diabolical arrogance! The church has been standing for two thousand years, and they come and say that they brought the true faith, the Pentecostals and all the rest.
And if there is any other excuse to follow them for those who did not know Orthodoxy, there is none for us Orthodox. For us, who did not want to know what we have: what kind of culture, what saints, how many monasteries, how many incorruptible relics, miraculous icons, countless martyrs, marvelous reverends. For us, the betrayal of Orthodoxy is an unforgivable, monstrous apostasy from the God of our fathers.
The devil tried to crush the Church with various heresies. And every time it came out sideways to him. He thinks to harm Christ, the Church and Christians by declaring war on them, but he himself is defeated. The holy God turns his warfare to the benefit of the Church. The Orthodox bring the affirmation of faith out of it, become martyrs and confessors, great theologians and serious defenders of the faith.
When, in the 14th century, the Latin monk Varlaam attacked the Orthodox teaching about the energies of God and the Uncreated Light, experienced by the ascetics of Athos, God raised up from these ascetics the holy hieromonk Gregory Palamas and made him a great theologian.
So today, if it were not for the heresy of the Pentecostals, we would not have gathered here in order to delve deeper into our faith, we would not have learned to confess it with all our souls.
Once again, what is directed against the Church is directed at the head of her enemies. The Apostle Paul says that there must also be differences of opinion... so that those who are skillful will be revealed among you (1 Cor. 11:19). There must also be heresies, he says, so that those who are firm in the faith can manifest themselves. So if now godlessness, the ministry of the flesh and the next heresies besiege
Church from all sides, through radio, television, newspapers, and so on, then this is the time for faithful and genuine Christians, confessors of holy Orthodoxy, to be revealed.
In these very tense times, the one who firmly holds the Orthodox confession of Christ will be rewarded with a great blessing and a great reward from the Holy God. Simply because in these ill-fated and perverse days he was not corrupted by today's paganism and did not worship the false gods of modernity, but firmly professed the Orthodox faith.
God forbid any Orthodox become a traitor, a Judas, departing from his holy faith. And to all those who, out of ignorance and demonic seduction, were carried away by heretical teachings - may the Lord grant enlightenment in order to come to their senses and return, in order to still have hope.
All have sinned, all sinners, but being within the Holy Orthodox Church of our Lord, all have the hope of salvation. While, on the contrary, there is no hope for the righteous, alien to the Church. Here, in the Church, one can repent, bring confession, and God will allow us, and His Grace will have mercy on us. Outside the Church - who will help us? Outside the Body of Christ - what "holy spirit" will blot out our sins and what "church" will sustain our poor soul after death?
Any Orthodox who is dying in peace with the Church must know that he has hope. But he who has departed from Her does not have one, even though he thinks that he is doing much good.
Therefore, I implore you to the very end to stand firm in holy determination to remain faithful to Orthodoxy. Then with us, by the Grace of the Holy Spirit and the prayers of our Immaculate Mother of God, the great hope of salvation.
TRANSLATOR'S NOTES
1. The holy fathers call the state of spiritual delusion (glory. deception), in which the sensations and thoughts that come from nature and from the devil, are taken for grace-filled experiences that come from the Holy Spirit.
2. The sacrament, which is the focus of the whole life of the Church, is called the Eucharist (from the Greek εύχαριστέω - thank you) precisely because in it the whole creation is offered to the Lord with thanksgiving, which sanctifies the life of a Christian and everything to which it extends. In the ecclesiastical consciousness, the Eucharist itself is, in the fullest sense, thanksgiving, "returning" the world to God. See Archimandrite Cyprian (Kern) for details. Eucharist. Paris, 1947. Special with. 25-38.
3. It was with this prophecy that on the day of Pentecost, St. Apostle Peter - see Acts. 2, 12-40.
4. An essential point is emphasized here, which distinguishes patristic theology from the legally philistine idea of the Redemption: the point is not that the externally understood "forgiveness" is given to a person by Christ's sacrifice on the Cross, but that Christ takes upon Himself his nature, damaged by sin, and by suffering in this nature renews it, by virtue of which it becomes capable of receiving divine Grace. See Nicholas Cabasilas for details. Seven words about life in Christ. T. 3. M .: The pilgrim. 1991. S. 64-65.
5. The author assumes that the listeners are acquainted with the patristic teaching, which distinguishes communion with the Divine by nature, by hypostasis, and by energy. See for example: P. Nellas. Image of God: part of the translation of the monograph, which is being prepared for publication, placed in the magazine "Chelovek", 2000, No. 4. C 71-86, esp. 79-80
6. The famous formulation of the Fourth Ecumenical Council. And then the author continues the line common to the Holy Fathers: what is accomplished in Christ is accomplished in a Christian; Christology passes directly into anthropology, theology into life.
7. The Lord-given principle of distinguishing spirits "by their fruits you shall know them" (Matt. 7:16 and 20) should invariably accompany a Christian. It is deep peace and quietness (meekness) that the fathers point to as a reliable criterion of true spirituality. Wed Gal. 5, 22 - 6,2 - Apostolic reading at the liturgy in honor of the Saints.
8. Wed. prayers for Holy Communion. Zeal - zeal, desire. In the original - eros - love, the aspiration of desire.
9. On the passage of certain steps in weeping and "the transformation of painful tears into sweet ones," writes St. John of the Ladder (see Ladder, 7, 55 and 66).
10. In this context, it is not without interest to compare the Orthodox iconographic tradition, which in the form of a halo depicts the reality of the Uncreated Light, united with the personality of a deformed person, and the oval rims adopted in Western church painting, symbolically “crowning” those awarded with holiness. See Micftel Quenot. Icon. Mowbray. 1992. P. 153.
11. Second Epistle of St. Apostle Paul to the Corinthians testifies that both the state of contemplation of the Light and the state of delusion were known to the Church from the very beginning. It is to his words that Satan assumes the form of an Angel of Light (2 Cor. 11:14) and the Fathers of the Church refer to, warning believers against trusting visions.
12. Non-false experience should be based on a true view of a person. Revelation speaks of a change in the original human nature that occurred after the fall, which made it impossible for a person to return to God naturally (only by the forces of his nature). The destructive tendencies of self-deification (cf. Gen. 3, 5: "and you will be like gods") must be overcome by the feat of repentance, without which the entire human psychophysical composition is not only damaged, but also consists in communion with the devil, who "captured" the human nature. Trusting the "natural" methods of "Communion with God" is a direct way to surrender into the hands of the enemy. Since the feat of repentance, revealed to us by God Himself, is painful for egoism, people invent other ways, diverse, but surprisingly similar in one thing: the refusal to recognize the work of repentance as necessary for communion with God.
13. Something similar happened in the young Corinthian church. Individual members of this church, probably bringing themselves into a state of frenzy, shouted along with "prayers" and blasphemy against God, not controlling their mind and word. To this belongs the remark of the Apostle Paul, who criticized the Corinthian community and reminded that the spirits of the prophets are obedient to the prophets (1 Cor. 14:32) and that no one who speaks by the Spirit of God will utter anathema against Jesus (1 Cor. 12:3). Compare: Interpretations on the New Testament by Blessed Theophylact, Archbishop of Bulgaria. SPb., 1911. S. 470-490.
14. At the same time, it is likely that the speaking of the apostles in various languages on the day of Pentecost should be distinguished from a special gift, which was present, in particular, in the Corinthian church of the 1st century (and to which the sectarians mainly refer). In the first case, the apostles spoke in those languages that were understandable to the Jews of the Diaspora who listened to them. The special gift of the Corinthian church was that the members of the community proclaimed prayers and prophecies in an unknown - at least to those assembled - "dialect", which needed interpretation (see 1 Cor. 14). The Apostle Paul does not deny the authenticity of this gift, but warns against reckless passion for it. Such a gift existed in the Church for a rather short period and was accompanied, as we have already seen, by certain charming states disguised as "the gift of the Holy Spirit" (cf. note 15). Since the end of the first century, we no longer find mention of such gifts in the Church, which were "a sign not for believers, but for unbelievers" (1 Cor. 14, 22). Hieromonk Seraphim Rose examines this phenomenon in detail in his book Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future.
15. The word "heresy" comes from the Greek. αίρέω "I choose".
16. This name means "Comforter" (Greek παράκλητος), much loved by the Greek hymnographers, and most often referring to the Holy Spirit; however, one can also find its application to Christ (see 1 John 2:1, where “Intercessor” is Greek παράκλητος. Compare also the Akathist to the Sweetest Jesus, ikos 10).
17. Wed. Joel. 2:32 and Acts. 2:21 And it will come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
18. This refers to St. Nektarios of Aegina (1846-1920), glorified by the Greek Church in 1961 (Comm. 9 November).
The grace of the Holy Spirit is not given if the person who is supposed to receive it is not capable of it. On the other hand, the natural abilities of any person are not enough to receive any gift of the Holy Spirit, unless he also possesses the supernatural power of God. Here is what St. Maximus the Confessor says in this connection in the sixth centurion of theological chapters (ch. 13): “ The grace of the All-Holy Spirit does not create in people either wisdom if there is no mind capable of receiving wisdom, nor knowledge, if there is no power of reason capable of receiving knowledge, nor faith, if the mind and reason do not ascertain future events that until then were unknown to anyone. known, neither the gift of healing, if there is no natural love for mankind, nor any other gift, if a person is not able and does not have the opportunity to accept it. On the other hand, a person, by virtue of his natural abilities, cannot acquire any of the listed gifts without the Divine power that gives them. This is discovered by all the saints who, after the revelation of divine words, seek an explanation of what was revealed to them.«.
Thus, neither Divine grace creates enlightenment by knowledge if there is no instrument with a natural ability to receive enlightenment, nor, conversely, this instrument does not itself create enlightenment if Divine grace does not give it to it. He who strives to receive Divine grace from God, if his soul is not bound by passions, receives grace in order to cultivate the virtues.
Those who want to receive the more abundant grace of the Holy Spirit must prepare themselves for its perception by fulfilling the commandments and purifying themselves of the passions. The grace of the Holy Spirit is given to believers according to their purity and faith. Therefore, the God-bearing Maximus says: “The divine apostle calls the different actions of the Holy Spirit different gifts, performed by the same Spirit.” Such a manifestation of the Spirit is given according to the measure of faith existing in each, in the communion of a certain gift; it is each of the believers, according to the faith and the spiritual mood that exists in it, that commensurately accepts the action of the Spirit, which gives him sufficient disposition and strength for the fulfillment of this or that commandment.
Just as one receives the word of wisdom, another the word of understanding, another faith, and another some other of the gifts cleansed by the great apostle, so one receives through the Spirit the gift of perfect, immediate and nothing material love for God, according to the measure of faith; the other, through the same Spirit, receives the perfect gift of love for one's neighbor; another is a different kind of gift, according to the same Spirit, as I said, since everyone has his own gift acting in him. For every effective and strong disposition towards the fulfillment of the commandment, the apostle calls the gift of the Spirit ”( Rev. Maxim the Confessor).
The Holy Spirit has a simple essence, but His actions are diverse. It is divided without suffering any damage, and with each particle it is perceived in its entirety, just like a sunbeam, although its energy, apparently, is inherent only in the one who perceives it, at the same time it shines over water and land and mixes with air. In the same way, the Holy Spirit, although it would seem that he is present only in that which is able to accommodate his actions, at the same time continuously endows the whole world with his grace. Those who share in the Holy Spirit receive as much as they can contain their nature, and not as much as He can convey to them.
St. Basil the Great in his dogmatic chapters on the Holy Spirit writes the following: “The assimilation of the Spirit with the soul is not a local rapprochement (because the incorporeal can approach in a bodily way), but the elimination of the passions that subsequently ascended into the soul from its attachment to the body and alienated it from affinity with God. Therefore, whoever has cleansed himself from the shame that he has produced in himself by sin, returned to natural beauty, through purification, as it were, returned the ancient appearance to the royal image, he alone can approach the Comforter. And He, like the sun with which a pure eye meets, in Himself will show you the image of the Invisible. And in the blissful contemplation of the image you will see the inexpressible beauty of the Prototype. Through the Spirit - the ascent of hearts, the guidance of the weak, the perfection of the prosperous. The Spirit, shining upon those who are cleansed of all defilement, makes them spiritual through communion with Himself. And just as shining and transparent bodies, when a ray of light falls on them, themselves become luminous and cast a new ray from themselves, so spirit-bearing souls, being illumined by the Spirit, themselves become spiritual and pour out grace on others. St. Basil the Great. About the Holy Spirit).
Divine grace visits human souls and, when it finds them prepared and cleansed, pours into them, drop by drop, the dew of the Holy Spirit. Then the soul begins to close its petals little by little, to limit its feelings, so that the mind does not scatter over various passions and soar among various thoughts. Thus, the spiritual maturation of the soul takes place and it brings forth the juicy and fragrant fruits of virtue.
The bee does not visit all flowers, but only those on which nectar can be collected. And flies, mosquitoes and other harmful insects are not interested in flowers, but fly only where there is dirt and sewage.
In order for Divine grace to settle within us, it needs to prepare a clean bed. But just as a housewife cannot lay clean sheets for her guest in a room full of dirt, dust and cobwebs, so Divine grace can stay in our soul for the night only if it is clean. Divine grace desires to see our soul pure and free from passionate thoughts and filthy pleasures. She also needs clean sheets to cover herself with. What are these sheets? Shining robes of virtues that adorn the soul.
If we do not have all this, Divine grace, although it visits us, does not linger for a long time. After all, the Holy Spirit is exalted, lofty and straight, he cannot abide in the midst of the stench of passions. So, grace does not linger, or lingers for a little while to comfort and strengthen us, after which it withdraws again, because by our walk we offend the Holy Spirit. That is why the apostle Paul says: Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God" and "Do not quench the Spirit» [Eph. 4:30]
Divine grace does not remain even because we treat it with indifference, coldness and indifference. We do not allow her inside ourselves, but closes the doors of our soul so that she leaves offended. Divine grace does not force our will. She knocks with reason at the door of our soul to enter and work with us: “ Behold, I stand at the door and knock” (Rev. 3:20). If anyone hears my voice and opens the door of his heart, I will enter him, make intimate friendship with him and eat food with him, rejoicing and rejoicing in his salvation. And he will eat with me, tasting the joys and happiness of a blissful life«.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock” (Revelation 3:20)
The Holy Spirit also gives the following advice: “Because in your present spiritual state you are unhappy, miserable and naked, I advise you to buy from me pure gold refined in fire in order to be enriched by virtue and good deeds. Put on shining clothes, that is, acquire holiness and purity in your life so that your spiritual nakedness is not obvious. Anoint the eyes of your soul with an eye potion in order to gain Divine enlightenment, in which you will be able to see your spiritual state.
How many good deeds are brought to society not only by the venerable elder, but also by any ascetic Christian who has acquired the grace of the Holy Spirit! One spiritual person transforms the souls of believers, tames morals, makes bodies chaste, and calms the souls of those who suffer.
The Holy Spirit is the fragrance and beauty of the world.
A holy person is the pride and true manifestation of the Orthodox faith.
Elder Markell, disciple of Joseph the Hesychast. Holy Mount Athos
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Congratulations, dear brothers and sisters!
We are already at the end of the wonderful period of Holy Pentecost, which in a sense corresponds to the time of Great Lent. There is a seven-week fast and there is a seven-week Pentecost. It is no coincidence that even divine services at this time are celebrated according to special books: during fasting and preparatory weeks according to the Lenten Triodion, and during Holy Pentecost and the next week before Peter's Lent - according to the Colored Triodion - and these books are one of the most wonderful and ancient in our church everyday life. They are often much deeper and more interesting than what we read in the Menaion, where divine services dedicated to various saints and church events are scheduled for each day.
The Trinity is always some kind of completion and beginning. It is always some kind of mystery, always something mystical, deep, requiring an inspired look at what the church tradition invites us to remember here, what kind of Mystery to delve into.
On the one hand, you and I know very well that Pentecost is the birthday of the Church. The Holy Spirit descends on the meeting of Christ's disciples, on the original church meeting, because the New Testament could not be opened and come into effect only because Christ accomplished salvation. Something else was needed that would completely change the very heart of people who believe in Christ. Christ on the Cross and in the Resurrection, of course, concludes a New Covenant with God the Father, but it cannot yet act in people who have not received the gift of the Spirit and have not acquired the wisdom corresponding to this gift. In the Old Testament, there was also a touch to the Spirit, there were also revelations of the Spirit, and there was also wisdom of its own, which we know quite well thanks to the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament. However, we see what a huge step forward was made with the entry of the New Testament into action.
On the day of Holy Pentecost, in the troparion of the holiday, we just sang:
You have made the fishermen wise,
sending them the Holy Spirit,
and through them he caught all the nations.
O philanthropist, glory to Thee!
The sending down of the Spirit meant the appearance of a new power - people recognized God as a Spirit in a new way. In a new way, although they were before in one way or another, especially through the prophets, they were joined to the same Spirit. But people did not know that revelation of the Spirit, which is given to us in the New Testament.
However, this is not enough. If the power of the Spirit has appeared, then a person becomes wise, he acquires a new meaning of life.
Blessed are You, Christ our God,
You made the fishermen wise (!)
sending them the Holy Spirit,
and through them caught the universe.
In order to “catch the universe”, in order to fulfill the great commission of Christ to make all nations His disciples (Matthew 28:19), one must have this wisdom. And you can't get it automatically. It is not enough just to wish it, or even to express this wish in prayer. Many prayed for the Spirit and its gifts, and some were even willing to pay a hefty sum for it, but this only angered God. And the point is not only whether this gift is given to people for a fee or free of charge, but with what heart and why they ask for the Spirit. Now, if they want to gain wisdom in order to “catch the universe,” even if they are simple fishermen, or peasants, or people of the urban class, simple bourgeois, then this pleases God, and God in return pleases us with this gift of wisdom in the Holy Spirit. All our other motives are vain. When we simply want health, prosperity, and peace for ourselves, this is not a basis for receiving the Spirit, and such a person will not gain wisdom.
Today there was a baptism here, and we baptized only children - this happens very rarely with us: usually we baptize children together with adults, as if adding them to adults. But today they baptized three nine-year-old children and anointed one more. And it was a blessed, good baptism. It, of course, had to be done in some other way, not in the same way as in the case of adults, because it is difficult for children to understand what is said in prayers. Often they do not understand anything - even nine-year-olds, I'm not talking about those who are younger in age - it is very difficult for them to enter into what is happening. But when the sacraments already begin to be performed - repentance, baptism, chrismation, and they are ready to go to the liturgy in a new way, to take communion, to give thanks - then something always happens, and the children, a little distracted, a little bored (because they don’t understand anything) , turn on, they seem to be ready to fulfill what has been said, although they do not understand what is said. Their hearts open, they have some new trust, a new mood appears, faces, as always in such cases, change (although we can remember something similar even in the case of babies, let alone such big children).
But they still cannot fulfill the will of God. They still cannot go and enlighten all nations, make them disciples of Christ. Well, where will a nine-year-old child go, I wonder? He can go to school, but what do they do at school? Normally they study. It doesn't always work, but it does sometimes work.
So, people are already somehow partaking of grace - this can be seen, this can be witnessed, and this is joyful, and everyone who was present at the baptism today, I think, will confirm this. But they still cannot fulfill the will of God. Why? Because they don't have that wisdom to receive by receiving the Spirit. They are still “accumulating”, and they must continue to be taught until they can learn, catechesis and enter into the fullness of church life - in brotherhood, in the community, as it should be according to the apostolic tradition of our Orthodox Church.
And when this wonderful baptism took place, I thought: what to do? The Church has always hesitated: to baptize children or not to baptize. Because they can gain faith and learn even if they are not baptized - they, of course, must be publicized, they must be communed with grace, but is baptism necessary for this? This question remained a question for me, despite the fact that it was possible to testify once again that the baptism of children was grace-filled. Here in churches they often baptize in such a way that it is impossible to testify to this, that is, you can testify directly to the opposite, that this is not baptism, but a desecration of the sacrament. And there are many such cases, we know many formally baptized. They are not baptized, no need to be deceived about this. But in this case, it could be said for sure that baptism happened and that grace touched all these children, although they were all prepared in different ways and of a completely different nature (you know what a difficult modern situation is among children of this age in spiritual, mental and physical terms ). The only answer that I found, and even said this in a sermon, is that there is a great commission of Christ, but they will have to fulfill it later. For this, they will need both grace and wisdom.
But what children! We often have the same trouble with adults: people somehow receive grace, but there is little wisdom in them. What to do here? It is clear with children: they went to school, as their parents taught, so this will continue until they are more or less adult, until they can be announced, and so on. And what about adults? The answer is at the very least understandable if they are not announced. Although we know how many people will refuse to go to the announcement. They will say: “I am baptized, I take communion, what do you want from me, in general, leave me alone with your Gospel.” We know how sometimes they react even to ordinary members of our brotherhood, say, members of their families, who often consider themselves believers, but at the same time they are categorically against the fact that their loved ones go anywhere at all, read something, especially somewhere then they studied, because it tears them away from home, but you need to stay at home. Stay home! In fact, these are two Christianity. In fact, these are two churches - one is Christ's, and the other - I don’t know whose ... As if “homely” - but at home in such cases there is little joy, and grace, to put it mildly, a little, and at work the same. How to be?
We celebrate the feast of the Holy Trinity and we must know very well what the church tradition conveys to us on this day. She gives a strict task to ourselves and all our neighbors: to acquire the Spirit and preserve it, having gained Wisdom - the Wisdom of God, and not only human. Human wisdom in such cases "does not benefit at all." With human wisdom, you can defend yourself, become a doctor of science, even an academician, or be a good businessman, or something else like that, be some very active figure, including culture, art, and so on, without any grace. Can! In our time, grace is not needed for this, it is even “harmful”. But to fulfill the will of God, to fulfill the word of Christ without divine Wisdom - the one that was revealed to us at Pentecost, and not just the one that was known in the Old Testament or in the pagan world - is impossible. You can't confuse these things.
It is no coincidence that Christ gives us a new revelation, He forms His Church from people who have found both the Spirit and Meaning, who have found both the Spirit and divine Wisdom through His Love and through faith in Christ. And this Church is always a small flock, it is not billions and in many cases not even millions. There are few such people. We see this very well when studying the history of the 20th century: on whom the Spirit descended, to whom the mystery of divine Wisdom was revealed through Christ, and to whom not. Sometimes people who did not receive the Spirit and Wisdom could suffer, because they, too, could be repressed as belonging to a church organization. God is the Judge, we are not talking about their eternal fate, we are talking about how they lived on earth.
Some receive grace, others do not. Some embody it in this Wisdom, in a new life, in the center of which stands only Christ and nothing and no one else, while others do not. Someone is more important than his health, or summer cottage, or material well-being, or public opinion, and much more: children, family, grandchildren, artistic fame - whatever you want. If something like this stands in the center, then it is very doubtful that people, even once having received grace, will keep it. It is very likely that they will lose it and remain empty, their heart will grow cold and dark, and God knows whether it is possible for such a heart to find grace again. Some think that it is impossible, other saints think that it is possible. Probably, it is necessary to try, and come what may.
You can't lose the Spirit. It is impossible to lose the Wisdom of God. We must always grow and strengthen spiritually, we must go forward and upward every day of our Christian life, not exchanging it for trifles, remaining the light of the world and the salt of the earth. This is the whole point of the feast of the Trinity. This is not a “Russian birch holiday”, this is something completely different. You and I must not only know and remember this, we must testify to it calmly, peacefully and with dignity, but confidently. The Holy Trinity is revealed when a person is ready to accept this Wisdom with his heart and mind. The Mystery of the Holy Trinity is the Mystery of Christ's Love. This is not only the Mystery of Christ Himself, it is the Mystery of God. And you and I are Christians insofar as we are attached precisely to this Mystery of Christ's Love and to this Mystery of the Holy Trinity. When we are ready to live in the Holy Spirit, ready to live in Christ, ready to live in our God, Heavenly Father, then the Kingdom of God draws close to us, then we gain those powers that many of our contemporaries lack so much.
Bishop Inokenty of Irkutsk
The grace of God is the grace of the Holy Spirit
No matter how much has been given for our moral life by our Savior, Jesus Christ, the work of our salvation still requires the participation of new divine help, which would accomplish the very assimilation by believers of the saving merits of Jesus Christ. This help is given in the grace of God, which heals the weak and replenishes the impoverished.
Grace in a broad sense can be understood as any mercy of God bestowed by God on a person without any merit on his part, and in particular everything that relates to the arrangement of our salvation through Jesus Christ; but in the most particular sense, grace means that saving power of God, which is accomplished by the action of the Holy Spirit, is given primarily in the holy sacraments of the Church and manifests itself in the diverse gifts of the Holy Spirit and miracles performed by blessed people and various saints.
The action of the grace of God is an action of the highest degree spiritual and mysterious, and therefore, both the general teaching about grace, and in particular about its participation in moral life, is one of the most important and most difficult dogmatic questions, which are therefore disclosed in dogmatics with special thoroughness.
A moralist, on the other hand, can say about grace that it acts in the conversion of people to salvation and in the accomplishment of salvation, or otherwise in all the most important moments of moral life and at all stages of moral improvement.
Under the action of the grace of God, the freedom of human will is not violated; just as the freedom of human actions does not hinder the action of grace, which is always alive and active. "Grace, despite the fact that it is grace, saves those who wish, and not those who reject it and oppose it," says St. John Chrysostom.
Although Jesus Christ did everything necessary for the salvation of all people, however, many do not use it, since by themselves they cannot get out of their damaged state. Meanwhile, in addition to one's own damaged nature, there are also extraneous morally unfavorable influences. This further blocks the sinner's path to salvation.
“The human soul, left to itself, is so weak that as soon as the spirit of malice attacks it, or sensual desires require satisfaction, it can rarely resist them; but it is enslaved by them, and even then it cannot restore itself to its original state. ' says Saint Anthony the Great. From this it is obvious that in order for a person to begin to live a Christian life, a special stimulating or inviting action of the grace of God is necessary.
The excitement takes place, firstly, through the Word of God, which "said the holy men of God," enlightened by the Spirit of God, and which therefore is the spirit, life, and "power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes" (Rom. 1:16).
Attention on the part of man to the invocation of grace constitutes the first step towards salvation; it is followed by a special receptivity to the Word of God and the teaching of its evangelists; and then special openings of the heart and mind are given to comprehend the depth of its content and the strength of its spirit.
Clothed and surrounded by all the gifts of grace, a Christian, in order to develop and strengthen the beginning of a new life in himself, must, firstly, preserve and nourish the spirit of zeal for life in God; secondly, to exercise all one’s strength in religious and moral activity and, thirdly, to fight against temptations to evil, since in these feats one succeeds in the true Christian life, and without observing them, it is possible to deviate from the true path of life and even complete destruction.
Keeping and nourishing the spirit of zeal for life according to the will of God is the only saving power for us. “Where he is, there are worries, zeal, readiness for deeds pleasing to God. Where he is not, everything stops and falls: there is no life of the spirit, it grows cold, freezes,” says one of our theologians, Bishop. Theophan the Recluse.
When divine grace acts on a person in his heart, then his spirit penetrates there with his consciousness, and behind him all the forces of the soul and body. Hence self-assembly is the confinement of consciousness in the heart; an intense gathering there of the forces of soul and body is an essential means for this. Thus, self-assembly is not the same as self-deepening in reflection, since here everything happens in the head, and there in the origin of all movements, in the heart. This is a stay in the depths of the soul, and therefore a self-assembled person is called internal. "The kingdom of God is within you," says Jesus Christ Himself.
Who, walking along the path of Christianity, will rely only on his own strength, he will not even take a step on it; and if Jesus Christ, our great Benefactor, did not give us help for this, then no person could go this way. And even the Apostles themselves, when they did not have this help, could not, they were afraid and were afraid to follow Jesus Christ; but when they received help from Jesus Christ, then they followed Him with joy and gladness, and no hardships and sufferings, not even death itself, frightened them. But what is this help that Jesus Christ gives to those who follow Him? – This help is the help of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus Christ gives us, and which is always with us, and always surrounds us and draws us to Himself; and anyone who wants can receive Him and be filled with Him.
The Holy Spirit, as God, the third Person of the Holy Trinity, is just as omnipotent as the Father and the Son. He gives life, animates and gives strength to creatures. He gives life to animals, minds to humans, and spiritual, higher life to Christians: that is, the Holy Spirit admonishes a person and helps him go to the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Holy Spirit is not given according to merit, but is sent as a gift and by the mercy of God for the salvation of people; and the Holy Spirit helps in this way: the Holy Spirit, dwelling in a person, gives him faith and light. Without Him no one can have true living faith.
Without the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, even the most wise and learned person in the works of God and His building is a complete blind man. On the contrary, the Holy Spirit can open inwardly and directly show the works of God even to the most unlearned and simple person, and can make him feel the sweetness of the Kingdom of Heaven. A person who has the Holy Spirit in himself feels in his soul an extraordinary light, hitherto completely unknown to him.
The Holy Spirit, dwelling in a person, produces true love in his heart. True love in the heart is like pure heat or warmth that warms it; it is the root that produces all good works in it. For a person animated by true love, there is nothing difficult, terrible and impossible; for him, no laws and commandments are difficult, and all are easy to fulfill.
Faith and love, bestowed on a person by the Holy Spirit, are such the greatest and most powerful means that one who has them can easily, conveniently, with joy and consolation follow the path that Jesus Christ walked.
Moreover, the Holy Spirit gives a person the strength to resist the charms of the world, so that even though he enjoys it as a temporary visitor, without sticking his heart to them. But a person who does not have the Holy Spirit in himself, with all his learning and prudence, is more or less always a slave and admirer of the world.
The Holy Spirit gives wisdom to man. We can see this especially in the holy Apostles, who before receiving the Holy Spirit were the most simple and unlearned people; but then who could resist their wisdom and the power of their word? The Holy Spirit also grants wisdom in deeds and deeds: for example, a person who has the Holy Spirit in himself will always find the means and time for his salvation, and in the midst of worldly noise and in all his occupations, he knows how to enter into himself - then as an ordinary person it seems impossible even in the very temple of God.
The Holy Spirit gives true joy and gladness of the heart and unshakable peace. A person who does not have the Holy Spirit in himself can never rejoice with true joy and rejoice in pure joy, and cannot have spiritual, sweet peace. True, he sometimes rejoices and has fun; but what is this joy? minute and impure; and his joy is always empty, poor, after which boredom overcomes him even more. And it is also true that such a person is sometimes calm; but this rest is not the spiritual world, but the sleep or slumber of the soul. And woe will be to the one who is negligent and does not want to rise from such a dream!
The Holy Spirit gives true humility. A man, even the most intelligent, if he does not have the Holy Spirit in himself, cannot properly know himself; for, as was said above, without the help of God he cannot see his inner state of soul. If he does good to others and acts honestly, then he thinks of himself that he is a righteous person and even perfect in comparison with others, and therefore he thinks that he no longer needs anything. Oh, how often people perish from a false confidence in their honesty and truth - that is, they perish because, hoping for their righteousness, they do not think at all about the spirit of Christianity and the help of the Holy Spirit, while they urgently need His help.
And, since the Holy Spirit is given only to those who ask and seek, and such people not only do not ask and do not seek Him, but do not even consider it necessary: He is not given to them, and therefore they remain in error and perish. But the Holy Spirit, having settled in the heart of a person, shows him all his inner poverty and weakness, and the corruption of his soul and heart, and the distance from God; and, with all his virtues and truth, he shows him all his sins, laziness and negligence for the salvation and welfare of people, his self-interest in his most apparently selfless virtues, his pride - where he did not suspect him.
In short, the Holy Spirit shows everything in its present form. And then a person begins to humble himself with true humility, begins to lose hope in his own strengths and virtues, considers himself the worst of people. And humbled before Jesus Christ, Who alone is Holy to the glory of God the Father, he begins to truly repent, and from that time he decides not to sin anymore and to live more carefully: and if he really has any virtues, then he sees clearly that he he has made and is doing them only with the help of God, and therefore he begins to hope in God alone.
The Holy Spirit teaches true prayer. No one, until he receives the Holy Spirit, can pray such a prayer that is truly pleasing to God. Because if someone, not having the Holy Spirit in himself, begins to pray, then his soul is scattered in different directions, from one thing to another, and he can in no way keep his thoughts on one; and moreover, he does not properly know himself, nor his needs, nor how to ask and what to ask from God - and he does not know who God is.
But the person in whom the Holy Spirit dwells knows God, and sees that He is his Father, and knows how to approach Him, and how to ask, and what to ask from Him. His thoughts in prayer are slender, pure and directed towards one subject - God; and with his prayer he can definitely do everything, even move mountains from place to place.
Here is a short story about what the Holy Spirit gives to those who have it in themselves! And you see that without the help and assistance of the Holy Spirit it is impossible not only to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but even to take a step towards it. And therefore it is necessary to seek and ask for the Holy Spirit and have Him in oneself, just as the holy Apostles had Him.
The Holy Spirit is a gift of God; It must be said that only a true believer can receive the Holy Spirit, that is, one who professes the Holy Orthodox Catholic Faith: one who professes the right, without any increase or decrease, or change, but as the holy Apostles betrayed to us and set forth and approved by the Holy Fathers at the Ecumenical Councils. Every doubt and philosophizing about faith is disobedience; and the disobedient cannot be a temple or a house of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit, as the most perfect purity, cannot in any way be in a person defiled by sins. And how can He be in our heart when it is filled and cluttered with various worries, desires and passions?
And therefore: if we want the Holy Spirit, whom we receive at our baptism, not to depart from us, or if we want to receive Him again: then we must be pure in our hearts and must guard our bodies from fornication; because our heart and body must be the temple of the Holy Spirit. And if someone is pure in heart and not defiled in body, then the Holy Spirit will enter into him and take possession of his heart and soul, unless such a person hopes for his good deeds and boasts of them, that is, considers himself, as it were, entitled to receive the gifts of the Spirit Saint, or receive as a due reward.
But if, by misfortune, you have defiled and corrupted your heart and body, then try to purify yourself by repentance, that is, stop sinning, and in contrition of heart - repent that you have so far offended God, your loving Father; repent and begin to live with greater discretion: then you too can receive the Holy Spirit.
One of the surest means to receive the Holy Spirit is humility. Even if you are an honest, kind, just and merciful person, in a word, even if you fulfill all the commandments of God, but for all that, always consider yourself an indispensable slave, and nothing more than an instrument of God through which He acts. And besides, if we take a closer look at our good deeds and even the greatest virtues: how many of them will turn out to be worth the name of Christian virtues?
The true value of gold is given by art, and the true value of virtues is given by love - but Christian love, pure, unselfish - love that only the Holy Spirit can give. Everything that is not done out of Christian love, that is, not by the Holy Spirit, is not true virtue. And therefore, a person who does not have the Holy Spirit in himself, with all his virtues, is poor and poor.
The Holy Spirit can be received by attentive listening to the voice of God. The voice of God, speaking clearly, distinctly and intelligibly, can be heard everywhere and in everything, only for this you need to have "ears to hear." God, as your most philanthropic Father, from your very birth until now, speaks to you every day, calls you to Himself, warns, instructs, teaches and admonishes.
The voice of God, telling you that you should love with all your heart God, who only benefits you, and thank Him according to your strength, and that you, using the blessings of this world, do not forget to rejoice even the lesser brethren of Jesus Christ, that is, the poor, and not I would forget the true blessings and joys of heaven and Him Who is the Source of all blessings and joys. Who among us has not heard and does not hear the voice of God speaking to us through various adventures with us? – Yes, we all hear, and we hear clearly and distinctly; but few of us understand and act according to the voice of God.
We, usually in our sorrows and sorrows, instead of delving into ourselves, seek distraction in vain pursuits or amusements; and instead of accepting such visitations of God as great medicine and using them for our souls, we seek to get rid of them, and even sometimes grumble and lose our temper. Or, at least, instead of seeking comfort in God, the Source of all comfort, we seek in the world and its pleasures.
And being in well-being and prosperity, instead of loving God more and more as our Benefactor, we forget Him, and instead of using the blessings that the Lord gives us, use them for the common good and for the benefit of our needy brethren, we use them to their whims and to the satisfaction of their completely superfluous desires. If it is illegal and terrible to be inattentive and not listen to the voice of the king of the earth, then how much more sinful and terrible is it not to heed and not listen to the voice of the King of heaven! Such negligence and inattention can lead to the fact that God, after numerous and unceasing voices and calls of His, finally rejects us from Himself, as stubborn children, and allows us to do whatever we want: and from this it may be that the mind our little by little can become darkened to the point that even the most terrible and vile sins will seem to us nothing more than the inevitable weaknesses of human nature. And therefore, just as it is useful and salutary to be attentive to the voice of God, it is just as disastrous and terrible not to listen to it and to turn away from it.
The Holy Spirit can be received through prayer. This remedy is the simplest and most reliable, which anyone can always use. It is known that prayer is external and internal: that is, whoever prays and bows with his body, at home or in church, prays externally; but whoever turns to God with his soul and heart and tries to always have Him in his mind, he prays inwardly. Which of these prayers is better, more real and more pleasing to God - each of you knows. You also know that you can pray to God always and everywhere, in any place, and even when sin overcomes us; you can pray both at work and without work, on holidays and weekdays, and standing, and sitting, and lying down; you know that. But here it is only necessary to say that although inner prayer is the most powerful means for receiving the grace of God, it is not necessary to abandon external prayer, and especially public prayer.
Much labor and effort must be used in order to be able to pray holy prayer; not suddenly and not soon you can reach the point of being able to lift your thoughts and your heart to God: because not only with us, ordinary people, but even with many of those who have devoted their whole lives to prayer, it happens that that you want to turn your thoughts to God, but they break up in different directions and into different deeds: you want to have God in your thoughts - and something completely different, and sometimes even terrible, comes to you.
True prayer has in itself a sweet consolation of the heart, so that many holy fathers stood at prayer for whole days and nights, and in their sweet delight did not notice the time and continuation of their prayer. And for them, prayer was not labor, but pleasure. But it is not easy to reach such a state, especially for one who from childhood gave full rein to his passions and oppressed his conscience. However, what in the world, or what kind of science and art, or consolation, do we get easily, quickly and without difficulty?
And therefore, when you pray, despite the fact that you see no consolation or pleasure in prayer, except for labors, pray, and pray diligently and with possible zeal; accustom yourself to prayer and conversation with God; If possible, try to collect and hold your scattered thoughts, and little by little you will feel that it becomes easier and easier for you, and you will sometimes feel sweet consolations. And if you sincerely care about this, then the Holy Spirit, seeing your diligence and the sincerity of your desire, will soon show you, and then, entering into you, will teach you to pray with true prayer. It is easiest to pray in the misfortunes and sorrows that happen to us; and therefore do not miss such opportunities and use them: pour out your sorrow before God in prayer.
Jesus Christ tells us to pray without ceasing. Many say: how can one pray unceasingly while living in the world? If we are busy with prayer alone, then when will we correct our positions and go about our business? Of course, we cannot have unceasing prayer outwardly, that is, always stand in prayer: because we must correct other duties and work. But whoever feels his inner poverty will not stop praying in the midst of his studies; Whoever zealously desires to enter the Kingdom of Heaven will find occasion and time to pray both inwardly and outwardly: even during the most difficult and uninterrupted work, he will find time to say a word to God and worship Him. Only those who do not want to pray do not find time to pray.
It is also said that God will not listen to sinners, that is, sinners will not receive from God what they ask. Indeed, what kind of sinners will God not listen to? Those who pray to God to forgive them their sins, but they themselves do not want to forgive others for anything. Of course, God will not listen to such sinners, and will not fulfill their prayers. And therefore, when you pray to God for the forgiveness of your debts, then forgive yourself the debts of others, and have the intention to lag behind your sins. When you pray to God to be merciful to you, be merciful to others at the same time, and then God will listen to you.
Some people think that you can only pray with a book. Of course, it is good if you know how to pray and glorify God in psalms and spiritual songs; but if you are not literate, then it is free for you to know the most important prayers, especially the prayer of the Lord (that is, our Father): because in this prayer, given to us by Jesus Christ Himself, all our needs are set forth.
But when circumstances do not allow you to pray any longer, then say ordinary prayers, such as: Lord have mercy! or Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!
One of the holy fathers said: if you want your prayer to fly to God, then give it two wings, that is, fasting and almsgiving. What is a post? Fasting can be different, for a person brought up in bliss, fasting can be like this, for a person brought up in a simple and rude state it is different: because for one it means nothing to eat the coarsest food and be healthy, or to stay without food for several days, but for For another, a big change in food can be very noticeable and even harmful. And therefore, for everyone in general, fasting is most importantly abstinence and strict moderation in the use of food.
What is charity? Under the name of alms, one should understand all the deeds of mercy and mercy, such as: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned in prison, and help them; and also give place to the homeless, look after the orphan, and so on. But in order for your charity to be true, then you must do all this without boasting, not wanting praise from people for your good deeds, or gratitude from the poor. But do as Jesus Christ Himself says, that is: lest your left hand know what your right hand is doing; and then the heavenly Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly.
You can receive the Holy Spirit by reading and listening to the Holy Scriptures as the true Word of God. Holy Scripture is such a treasure for a person from which he can draw both light and life: light that can enlighten and make every person wise, and life that can enliven, comfort and delight every person.
Holy Scripture is one of the greatest blessings of God to man, and such a blessing that anyone who wants to can take advantage of. But it must be said that Holy Scripture is Divine wisdom, and wondrous wisdom, such that it can be understood and comprehended by the most simple and unlearned person, and therefore many simple people, by reading or listening to Holy Scripture, became pious and received the Holy Spirit; but there were also those, even among the learned, who, while reading the Holy Scriptures, went astray and perished: and this is because some read it in simplicity of heart and without sophistication and philosophizing and did not look for learning in it, but grace, strength and spirit, but others, on the contrary, considering themselves wise and omniscient people, sought in it not the strength and spirit of the word of God, but the wisdom of the world, and instead of submissively accepting everything Providence wanted to reveal to us, they tried to penetrate and learn the hidden; and because of this they fell either into unbelief or into schisms. Not! rather than pour the whole sea into a small bowl than a man comprehend all the wisdom of God!
And therefore, when you read or listen to Holy Scripture, lay aside all your wisdom, submit to the word and will of Him Who speaks to you through Holy Scripture, and ask Jesus Christ to instruct you Himself, illuminate your mind, and give you the desire to read. Scripture and do what it says.
There are many books in the world that are called useful and soul-saving; but only those of them are worth this name, which are based on Holy Scripture and which agree with the teaching of our Orthodox Church: and therefore one can and should read such books, but one must be careful in choosing them so that sometimes, under the guise of a soul-saving book, one does not get caught one that can destroy the soul.
To all morally sick people, as if they were afflicted with the same disease of sin, the Savior indicates the same remedy for healing from the disease, namely, baptism with water by faith in Him, in the name of those who bring salvation to the three Persons of the Godhead (Matt. 28:19); and to all morally weak people, as suffering from the same reason, namely, from weakness of the will for an energetic struggle against evil, the Savior indicates the same means for educating the moral energy of the will - the sacrament of His Body and Blood (John 6:51). -55).
In baptism, the saving power of Christ's death is communicated to a person (Rom. 6:3), that is, all the sins of a person who has received baptism according to the commandment of the Savior are taken upon Himself by the Savior of the world, and therefore a person is completely cleansed of all his sins and, by virtue of this, is clothed into Christ, that is, becomes a member of His kingdom (Gal. 3:27).
Of course, the divine power of the Savior in no case can be bound by any sensual conditions, and the Savior Himself, in order to cleanse the sins of a person, does not at all need the person who believes in Him to be immersed in water three times. But what the Savior does not need as God, in that, by its very nature, a person naturally needs, because for a person thought and life are not the same thing, and a simple recognition of faith does not at all constitute an obligatory rule of life for him.
Therefore, baptism on the part of a person confirms his promise to God of a good conscience (1 Peter 3:21), but on the part of the Savior, it grants a sinful person the atonement for his sins and thus opens the real way for him to achieve his eternal salvation. But since it is too difficult and even completely impossible for a weak person to follow this path, the Savior does not leave him with His divine power and gives him the opportunity to make his human life a true branch of divine life. The Savior gives this opportunity to man in the sacrament of His Body and Blood. Under the guise of bread and wine, a person accepts his own living Body and Blood of Jesus Christ (Matt. 26:26-28), and therefore, by transforming this Body and Blood into himself, he becomes a true member of his own Body of Christ (Rom. 12:5), and by virtue of this real connection with the Most Pure and Life-Giving Body of Christ, it becomes a living temple and an organ of manifestation of that very God-human life of power, by which the Savior Christ lives and acts in the world (Eph. 2:21-22).
Jesus Christ said: "The one who eats My Body and drinks My Blood abides in Me, and I in him, has eternal life in himself, and I will raise him up on the last day": that is, whoever worthily partakes of the Holy Mysteries is mysteriously united with Jesus Christ; - that is, whoever, with true repentance, with a pure soul and with the fear of God and faith, receives the Body and Blood of Christ, he at the same time receives the Holy Spirit, Who, having entered into a person, prepares a place in him for receiving Jesus Christ Himself and God the Father and hence it becomes the temple and habitation of the living God. But whoever partakes of the Body and Blood of Christ unworthily, that is, with an unclean soul, with a heart filled with malice, vengeance and hatred: he not only does not receive the Holy Spirit, but becomes like Judas the traitor, and, as it were, crucifies Jesus Christ a second time.
Christians of the first centuries, feeling the importance and spiritual benefit of the Holy Mysteries, every Sunday and every holiday partake of the Holy Body and Blood of Christ; and that is why they had, as the book of Acts says, "one heart and one soul." But, my God, what a difference between them and us! How many of us are those who have not communed for several years in a row! How many of those who do not think about it at all!
So, for God's sake, have a desire to partake of the Holy Mysteries, and at least once a year, but by all means, each of you must fulfill this. The Body and Blood of Christ for the worthy is the true cure for all ailments and diseases. Who among us is perfectly healthy? and who would not want to be healed and relieved?
The Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is food on the way to the Kingdom of Heaven. But is it possible to go on a long and difficult journey without food? The Body and Blood of Jesus Christ is a visible shrine, given and left to us by Jesus Christ Himself for our sanctification. But who would not want to be a participant in such a Holy Place and be sanctified?
So, do not be lazy to approach the cup of life, immortality, love and holiness; but approach with the fear of God and faith. And whoever does not want and neglects this, he does not love Jesus Christ, and he will not receive the Holy Spirit, and consequently, he will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
When you begin to pray with prayer to the Holy Spirit, know and remember that the Holy Spirit entered the world according to the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, and acts in the world, especially in His Church, and accomplishes our salvation. The Holy Spirit performs all the sacraments, sanctifies, enlightens, strengthens, excites to prayer, produces compunction in souls, sheds tears of repentance, thanksgiving, praise, converts souls, saves, gives life, raising from spiritual death to life, bestows peace, freedom of spirit, grace sonship, crying out in the hearts of the faithful from the depths of their souls: Abba, Father! That is why we begin our prayers with a prayer to the Holy Spirit: Glory to Thee, O All-Holy Soul, Source of our life, indifferent to the Father and the Word!
If we all partake of the Spirit, how we should commune, then we would see Heaven and our future state there. (45, 17) .
The grace of the Spirit, when it enters the soul and establishes itself in it, flows stronger than any source, does not stop, does not deplete and does not stop. (42, 335) .
Grace not only accompanies you in labors and dangers, but also assists in the easiest, according to outward impression, deeds and provides its help in everything. Saint John Chrysostom (43, 668).
Grace blossoming with the Spirit exists only in those who have mortified themselves to sin. Saint Gregory of Nyssa (17, 326).
Trust the tender love of grace, because it is the beginning of all acquisition. While you do not yet see her love, like babies who suckle milk, they do not know about mother's care. Be patient, leave yourself to her will, and then you will see her good deeds. Saint Ephraim the Syrian (26, 635).
Immaterial and Divine fire illuminates souls and tempts them like genuine gold in a furnace, while vices burn like thorns and straw. (33, 190) .
The fire of grace drives away demons, destroys sin, it is the power of resurrection, the effectiveness of immortality (33, 190) .
What is of grace, in that is peace, joy, love, truth (33, 65) .
The descending grace, purifying the inner man and the mind, completely removes the veil of Satan, imposed on people by disobedience, and frees the soul from all filthiness and every unclean thought, so that the soul becomes pure and, having assumed its own (original) nature, freely and with clear eyes looks at glory true light (33, 412) .
When grace takes possession of the pastures of the heart, then it reigns over all members and thoughts. For the heart owns the mind and all the thoughts and aspirations of the soul (33, 120) .
In whom grace abides, in that it becomes, as it were, natural and inalienable: being one, it in various ways, as it pleases, perfects a person for his own benefit. (33, 424) .
From each one will be required the fruits of virtues according to the measure of the benefits rendered to him by God - natural or bestowed by God's grace. Saint Macarius of Egypt (33, 228).
The grace of God not only cuts off the branches of evil, but also uproots the roots of the corrupted will. Rev. John Cassian the Roman (53, 563).
Grace becomes a wall and a fortification for man and separates him from this age for the life of the Age to Come. (25, 111) .
Grace knows what is good for us, and our nature is known to her; she knows the measure of everyone and gives according to this measure (26, 639) .
Waves of grace warm the mind and soul. The manifestation of grace brings delight, silence and contrition (25, 364) .
Waves of grace and illumination of the Holy Spirit become pleasant in the heart, and the soul suddenly forgets earthly and carnal passions. (25, 364) .
With grace (man) succeeds in every virtue and, enlightened by it, will be able to know the infinity and bliss of the Future Age (25, 111) .
Not everyone, having matured, honors his mother - so few honor grace, although she nourished many. Not everyone remembers the illnesses of a woman giving birth and the labors of educators. Likewise, not many of us are grateful for the gifts of grace. Saint Ephraim the Syrian (26, 638).
By the power of faith, before any other virtue, the grace of God comes as the foundation of all virtue. And already with the help of the grace of God, every virtue is established in the heart and becomes effective. So that every virtue that does not come from the grace of God is imputed by God not into real virtue, because such a virtue is not God's. It happens that demons also teach people to appear chaste, merciful, meek and keep them in conceit and pride because of this.
So, one should know that the grace of the All-Holy Spirit comes to everyone who believes in Christ, not for good deeds, which he did before (if it came for good deeds, then there would be no grace, but repayment for deeds). But it comes from God for faith, it comes before any good deeds, and already on it, as on a solid foundation, good deeds are built, which only with the help of grace become perfect. So the deeds that happen without the grace of the All-Holy Spirit, God does not impute to anything, as if they did not exist at all. it is no longer good if it is not created on a good foundation, but it is impossible for good to be created on a good foundation without the grace of Christ. If it were possible, God would not have come to earth to become a man... And blessed is the man who knows that only with the help of the grace of Christ can every good thing be perfected... (60, 168–169) .
When the Divine fire shines and drives away the swarm of passions, and cleanses the house of your soul, then He mixes with it without mixing and unites inexpressibly, essentially - with its essence, All with everything is perfect. And little by little it illuminates it, makes it a fire, enlightens how? - and I can’t say. Then the two – the soul and the Creator – become one. And the Creator abides in the soul, One with it alone, all the One Who maintains the universe with His hand. Do not doubt, He is all contained in one soul with the Father and the Spirit, and embraces this soul within Himself. Venerable Simeon the New Theologian (59, 18).
A soul quickened by God's grace sees God by faith, touches it by faith, hears Him speaking to it, tastes and smells Him with love, and tries to do things pleasing to Him. So it behooves the penitent to begin a new life after repentance and, as it were, be born again, eat, grow, and come into a perfect man (104:58). The sons of this age have their treasure; Christians also have their treasure. For the sons of this age, this is perishable wealth, gold, silver, and for Christians, God's grace. This is a heavenly, spiritual treasure abiding in their hearts, as the apostle wrote: “We carry this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the excess power is attributed to God, and not to us” (). People who have a perishable treasure make up for their needs and shortcomings through this: if they don’t have bread, they will buy bread for themselves; if they don’t have clothes, they get clothes. Thus, the grace of God, a heavenly treasure, living in Christian hearts, fills all their needs and spiritual shortcomings. (104, 60–61) .
All the spiritual treasures of man are by the grace of God (104, 27) .
By grace man from old becomes new (104, 28) .
Freely, by one grace, the faithful receive life (104, 63) .
The Grace of God descends like gentle rain, irrigating the heart for fruitfulness (104, 63) .
The work of grace is joy (104, 66) .
Humility Is the Fruit of the Work of Grace (104, 66) .
True repentance is from grace (104, 67) .
Grace Teaches Prayer (104, 67) .
Grace teaches the fear of God (104, 67) .
He who is enlightened by grace considers material goods rubbish (104, 67) .
The grace of God enlightens the human heart, kindles in it the fire of God's love. Feeling this love in his heart, a person responds with the words of love: “I will love You, Lord, my strength!” ()... He who truly loves God, neither on earth nor in heaven, desires anything but God... Such to be in hell with God - paradise; without God - and in the sky there is torment (104, 66) .
Such a person does not want to offend anyone either by deed or by word, but tries to love everyone without hypocrisy and wishes every good for himself and for anyone. He wants salvation for everyone, as well as for himself, and prays for him. With every person it is not deceitful, not crafty, but simply manages; what he says in his word, he also has in his heart, and therefore does not want to lie and deceive anyone (104, 66) .
He guards against every sin and struggles against every sin. And just as it was easy for him to sin before, so already in this state it is hard for him to sin even in small things, to irritate God and disturb his conscience. He knows that God is angry with every sin, and the sinner is deprived of His mercy. Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk (104, 67).
“Where did he get this from? what kind of wisdom was given to him?” (). Thus spoke of the Lord those who knew His former, humble life. The same is true of all who truly follow the Lord. Whoever strictly adheres to the path of the Lord, after labors, when he overcomes everything that is wrong in himself, changes all, in all his composition: both the look, and the gait, and the speech, and the behavior all bear the seal of special harmony and dignity, even if he had become such before. of the lowest birth and not at all educated. And you have to hear: “Where did he get this from?”. If the bodily and visible things are thus transformed, then what is to be said of the internal and spiritual, which is more immediately and more closely subject to the action of transforming grace and in relation to which the external serves only as expression and consequence? How bright are all thoughts, precise and definite! How true is the judgment about what is and what is transitory! His views on everything are above philosophical. What about intentions and actions? Everything is pure, holy reflects heavenly light. This is truly a new man! He did not receive an education, he did not listen to lectures at the academies and had no education, but he is the most well-bred and wise. Attention to oneself, work on oneself, and approaching God have changed everything by the grace of God, but how? - no one sees this. That's why the question: "Where did he get it from?". Saint Theophan the Recluse (107, 279,280).
A feat is necessary for a Christian. But it is not achievement that frees him from the dominion of passions: the right hand of the Most High frees him, the grace of the Holy Spirit frees him. (108, 525) .
Divine grace, which has overshadowed the soul, gives it a spiritual sensation, and passions, these sensations and inclinations, carnal and sinful, remain idle. (108, 526) .
Impurity is an inalienable property of a fallen nature, while purity is a gift of the grace of God (108, 531) .
When sorrows surround you, you need to increase your prayers in order to attract the special grace of God to yourself. Only with the help of special grace can we trample on all temporary disasters (108, 549) .
When grace-filled consolation operates with the mysterious knowledge of Christ and His will, the Christian does not condemn either the Jew, or the Gentile, or the obvious lawless one, but burns with quiet, undefiled love for everyone. (109, 140) .
The heart, overshadowed by Divine grace, is resurrected into spiritual life, acquires a spiritual sensation unknown to it in a state of fall, in which the rational sensations of the human heart are mortified by mixing with bestial sensations. (110, 62) .
Let us acquire the Grace of the Holy Spirit - this seal, this sign of election and salvation; it is necessary for free movement through the airspace and for gaining entrance to the heavenly gates and mansions (110, 182,183) .
A monk should have no doubts about receiving the gift of Divine grace... just as a son has no doubts about receiving an inheritance from his father... At the same time, Saint Isaac the Syrian considers a petition in prayer for sending down a clear action of grace deserving of censure... (108, 282) .
The action of grace resolves the blindness of the mind (112, 48) .
When grace works in a person, it does not show anything ordinary or sensual, but secretly teaches what it has never seen or imagined before. (112, 65) .
That attention that completely observes prayer from entertainment or from extraneous thoughts and dreams is a gift of God's grace. (112, 98) .
The union of the mind with the heart in prayer accomplishes God's grace in its own time, determined by God (112, 114) .
It is natural for Divine grace... to reunite the mind not only with the heart and soul, but also with the body, to give them one right aspiration towards God. (112, 115) .
All the joys, all the pleasures of the world are insignificant before the consolation delivered by Divine grace... (111, 179) .
The grace of God, having overshadowed the penitent, destroys the kingdom of sin in him, establishes the Kingdom of God... Saint Ignatius (Bryanchaninov) (112, 440).
GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
It happens that the soul, having devoted itself to every feat of virtue, with a strong love for God, constantly retains in itself His imprinted image, and God, as it were, indwells it. Then, having become inspired from a strong aspiration and inexpressible love for God, she becomes worthy of a prophetic gift. And God gives Divine power and opens the eyes of the soul to understand the visions that He pleases to communicate. Saint Basil the Great (5, 8).
“They also do not pour young wine into old wineskins” (). Those who decayed from old age and rejected the new grace, the Lord called “old wineskins”, as if breaking through and shedding the new teaching of the Kingdom. This is how Caiaphas showed himself, for, having heard from the Lord that He is the Son of God, he tore his clothes. But Peter, having accepted the law of the Spirit of life, not only, being taught, did not deny it, but also, being questioned, he confessed (Jesus as the Son of God), revealing the knowledge of the truth implanted in him. Rev. Isidore Pelusiot (115, 480).
“And tongues appeared to them, as if of fire, and rested one on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Everyone knows how the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles - how abundantly, how wonderfully, and with what success. Evangelist Luke writes that this miracle happened almost at the meeting of the whole world. It was amazing to hear then this noise, which suddenly came from heaven, delighting the ears of the disciples, while frightening everyone else. It is the breath of the wind, pleasantly touching the soul. Divided into fiery particles, the fire played on the heads of the apostles, and its power gave them the ability to glorify the greatness of God in different languages. This power penetrated the mind and enlightened it with Divine light. It also penetrated into the heart, and from this fire the fire of love, the fire of peace, the fire of spiritual joy was immediately kindled!
This miraculous descent of the Holy Spirit was evidence that we too will receive the Holy Spirit, His miraculous actions and gifts, if we have an apostolic soul. Do not think that these fiery tongues that rest on the heads of the apostles cannot be sent to anyone else. No, the grace of God is abundant and generous to all. What do these fiery tongues mean? Oratory, eloquence. But what is meant here is not human eloquence, consisting in the choice of words, in a beautiful style, in a strong and heated expression. No, such wisdom is often regarded by God as foolishness. He deigned to save us not by the wisdom of the word, but by the “foolishness of preaching” (). Yes, and His great preacher frankly admits: “And when I came to you, brethren, I came to proclaim to you the testimony of God, not in the superiority of word or wisdom” (). “And my word and my preaching are not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in the manifestation of the Spirit and power, so that your faith is not based on human wisdom, but on the power of God” ().
So, the fiery tongues that descended on the apostles meant the gift of the word, but not bodily, but spiritual, not earthly, but heavenly. God speaks to the soul that loves Him simply, sincerely and frankly. For even among people, between sincere friends, conversation is simpler and more frank, not adorned with sweet talk. And floridity, painted and intricately woven, is more used where there is no sincerity, or they are trying to attract another to their side, or they want to show their mind and thereby shame and humiliate the simple and unlearned. But God speaks simply to the soul that loves Him. Yes, and in the conversation He does not need: He speaks not to the ears, but to the heart. Platon, Metropolitan of Moscow (106, 338-341).
Since the power of Christ is omnipotent, then with its nature
according to the fact that she works miraculously through the saints, when it pleases the Lord, as she once miraculously worked through the headbands and scarves that were on the holy apostle Paul and took his sweat into themselves (), and even after one overshadowing by the shadow of the holy apostle Peter () . What a marvelous recompense for piety, that by it not only the human spirit is elevated to grace-filled communion with Christ, but the very body, by which we accomplish these small ascetic feats of fasting, becomes partaker of the grace-filled power of Christ, life-giving and miraculous! And if it is still on earth, then what life, what power, what glory awaits the pious in Heaven.
Meanwhile, it can be noted that not all the pious, and not even all the saints, participate in this first, so to speak, resurrection (), which consists in miraculous incorruption on earth of their sanctified bodies, as in the initial appearance of this first resurrection, many rose the bodies of the departed saints, but not all. What does it mean? Is not God just to His saints, increasing the measure of grace to some, and decreasing to others, bringing immortality closer to some, and moving others away, glorifying some, and hiding others? Surely no one who knows God can think of this. So, what does the apparent inequality of the visible reward given to the saints mean? Perhaps, in some way, it corresponds to the degrees of their inner sanctification, according to which - let's say in the words of the apostle - as “a star differs from a star in glory. So it is with the resurrection of the dead "()..? But with greater solidity, from the inequality of this preliminary reward to the saints, one can conclude that it is bestowed not so much as a reward to themselves, but for another purpose, consistent with the wisdom and goodness of God. Indeed, for those who do not seek human glory, who are sure that they will forever reign in the glory of God with Christ, is it important to have or not to have temporary firstfruits of glory on earth? But with the Resurrection of Christ, many bodies of the departed saints rose up to enter the holy city and appear to many living - to assure them of the revealed power of the resurrection. So now the bodies of the departed saints appear in incorruption, with miraculous and life-giving power, to assure us who live in the resurrection of Christ and in our future resurrection, to strengthen the weak in the exploits of sin and death, to excite the inattentive and negligent to the exploits of piety. (114, 213–214) .
We must look at the descent of the Holy Spirit not only as a miracle that glorified the Apostolic Church, but also as an event essentially connected with the work of our salvation. The feast of Pentecost is not a mere remembrance of the past, but a continuation of the apostolic preparation for the reception of this Spirit, who breathes ceaselessly wherever it wants. The apostles, as the book of Acts narrates, after unanimous and constant prayers, were filled with the Holy Spirit; and not only the apostles, but, according to the explanation of Chrysostom, and the disciples who were with Him, about a hundred and twenty people (). What is being filled with the Holy Spirit? What the Holy Spirit is in His original gifts, He explains it Himself, with His fiery tongues. He is an immaterial fire that acts with two forces: light and warmth - the light of faith, the warmth of love. This heavenly light, in the words of Solomon, comes and enlightens “until the full day” (), “disperses the darkness of ignorance and doubt; reveals the deception of ghosts,” which the mind, mired in sensuality, often takes for truth. This light enables a person to see himself in the nakedness of corrupt nature, to know the world in relation to the soul and to feel the presence of God as a source of light; reports "the realization of what is expected and the certainty of the invisible" (). To the extent that the light from the Sun of Truth intensifies in the mind, the heart is warmed and kindled. Divine love drives out self-love from him, burns the thorns of carnal desires, cleanses, frees him and attracts new light into the soul. The fusion of these initial spiritual gifts forms a fiery language that pronounces the law of God the Word in the heart of a person (), depicting Christ in it (), making a rebirth into spiritual life. A person filled with the Holy Spirit, to an eye not darkened by prejudices, shows such an image of perfection, before which, like a shadow, everything that the world calls beautiful and high disappears. The apostle appreciated him when he said about some ascetics of the faith that the whole world is not worthy of them (). Grace turns into a priceless treasure everything that it touches in a person devoted to it. The spirit of wisdom shines in his mind - not the one that distinguishes the sons of this age, according to the Savior, “in their own way” (), that is, which teaches them to be resourceful in ways and dexterous in cases to gain favorable times, teaches them to multiply dignity not as much in oneself as in the opinion of others, but wisdom, spiritually judging everything (), in order to turn everything into means for the one eternal good of the soul. His will is driven by the spirit of freedom: for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus freed him from the law of sin and death, which gives its slaves as many heavy masters as there are needs and whims, passions and habits. In the depths of his heart is the peace of God “beyond all understanding” (), which gives to His disciples, “not like the world gives” (). The peace bestowed by Christ is established on an unshakable confidence in reconciliation with God, so that a Christian does not despair of temptations, sorrows and dangers, even to death is given up peacefully, in the confidence that "our short-term light suffering produces eternal glory in an immeasurable excess" ( ). A spirit of greatness dwells in him - not blind courage, not pride covered with pomp, not the brilliance of natural virtues, impure in their source, but the true loftiness of thoughts occupied by God, the vastness of contemplations, limited only by eternity, the nobility of feelings, born and nurtured by the word of God. The spirit of humility dwells in him, which, amidst the riches of the grace of God, sees in itself only poverty and unworthiness, in order to magnify the Lord the more, while those who are not reborn by the Spirit of God in their very shortcomings try to find something great, to ask for respect for themselves by the very humiliation, they crawl to suppress others. A spirit of strength operates in him, with which the Christian is not a powerless prisoner of his own feelings, exposed on all sides to the attacks of the enemy, defeated before the battle and to pacify one passion, submitting to another, but a good warrior, clothed in the whole armor of God ( Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow (114, 118-120).
After the death of his elder, Abba John fasted for forty days. And he had a heavenly vision, in which he heard a voice: "On any sick person you lay your hands on, he will be healed." And in the morning, by the providence of God, a man came to him, brought his suffering wife and began to ask that Abba John heal her. Abba called himself a sinner, unworthy of such a deed. But the husband relentlessly pleaded for mercy. Then Abba John, laying his hand on the woman, overshadowed her (with the sign of the cross), and she was immediately healed. Since that time, God has shown many other signs through him, not only during his life, but also after his death. Blessed John Moskh (75, 73).
One Thebeian monk received from God the grace of service, according to which he delivered the necessary to all those in need. It happened one day that he made a love feast for the poor. And then a woman in the most dilapidated clothes comes to him for alms. The monk, seeing her in such rags, put his hand into the pouch to give her much. But the hand clenched, and he took out little. Another one came to him, well dressed; looking at her clothes, the monk lowered his hand with the intention of giving a little. But the hand opened up and captured a lot. He inquired about the women and found out that the one who was in good clothes belonged to the number of honorable persons and fell into poverty, and was well dressed thanks to her relatives. The other put on sackcloth in order to lure out a large alms. Fatherman (82, 508).
Once the hermit dweller Mark asked the Monk Seraphim: “Who in our monastery is above all before the Face of God?” The elder, without hesitation, said: "The cook, from the former soldiers." And he explained that the character of the cook is fiery by nature, he is ready to kill a person in his passion, but his unceasing internal struggle attracts the great favor of God. For this struggle he is given the grace-filled power of the Holy Spirit. God's promise is immutable: to him who overcomes (myself), I will give a place to sit with me and clothe him in white clothes. And vice versa, if a person does not fight with himself, then he comes to a terrible bitterness, which leads the soul to certain death and despair. Trinity flowers (91, 81).
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