About the Beatitudes. Gospel Beatitudes

priest Vasily Kutsenko

It was no coincidence that the Lord took the words from this particular psalm. Roman-occupied Judea saw what was said in the quotes just given. The wicked pagans, established in their title of rulers of the world, oppressing the poor and trampling on the holy things, conquered the chosen people of God. And the very hope for the Savior promised by God turned into the expectation of a leader who would lead the army in a war of liberation and conquer and destroy the enemies. But the coming Savior meekly reminds us that it is meekness and patience that will make believers heirs of the promises of God. These words contain a call to rethink the entire order we are accustomed to. And not just rethink it, but change it, starting first of all with ourselves. Be gentle, loving, patient, and not bold, proud, hateful and vindictive. Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who use you and persecute you. ().

Become like Christ

The Lord Jesus Christ spoke about Himself: I am meek and lowly in heart(). The meek become like Christ. But Christ promised the meek to inherit the earth. What land and where? And did He Himself inherit, being meek? Of course, it would be a mistake to see the promise of a comfortable plot of land in the words of Christ. After all, the Promiser Himself did not own anything in earthly life - He did not even have a place where He could bow your head(). And again we have a paradox before us - Christ, as God, is the Ruler of the world, but at the same time - he is the poorest of all - foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests(), and He is nothing. Nothing from earthly goods, nothing that sometimes turns into an idol to which everything is sacrificed. The Lord promises the meek a land where they live and do not die - land of the living(), eternal life with God, the life that Christ Himself lives. And only those who were meek, who were patient and kind, who were ready to open their love to others can accept this gift. Only the sincere and selfless can truly possess. God loves a person not because he wants to receive something in return for this love (and does God need anything in our sense?), but because He Himself is Love. Therefore, the signs of meekness can be called sincerity and selflessness - the desire to give oneself without expecting a reward. Because the reward from God is beyond any expectations. The apostle Paul expressed this idea best when he wrote to the Christian community of the city of Philippi that Christ He emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant, becoming in the likeness of men, and becoming in appearance like a man; He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even to the point of death, even death on the cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth. ().

In the famous book by Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) “The Screwtape Letters,” where the old experienced demon Screwtape gives advice to his young nephew, the tempting demon Gnusik, a simple and very deep idea is expressed that when a person sincerely and selflessly enjoys whatever it is, he thereby protects himself from the most subtle demonic temptations. Because meekness, combined with sincerity and selflessness, opens the way for God in a person’s heart.

This is the answer to the question posed at the beginning of our discussion - how can one be meek in this world? Genuine meekness, meekness in all its fullness, was revealed by Jesus Christ. And this means, in order to be meek, you need to be like Christ. Is this possible for humans? Man cannot become Christ in the literal sense, because Christ is the eternal God. But each of us - and all of us together in the Church, the Body of Christ - can become godlike, that is, similar to Christ. The power of Christ was revealed precisely in the seeming defeat - rejection by the people, crucifixion and death. Crucifixion and death were not an inglorious end, but an eternal victory over sin. Victory came from where it would have been hardest to expect. Therefore, our victory is connected with those virtues that are least valued in this world. Probably, this can be called one of the properties of God - to reveal Himself through something that no one expects. And one of the most striking manifestations of the power of God is this appearance to the prophet Elijah: And the Lord said to Elijah: Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, and behold, the Lord will pass by, and a great and strong wind will rend the mountains and break the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord will not be in the wind; after the wind there is an earthquake, but the Lord is not in the earthquake; after the earthquake there is fire, but the Lord is not in the fire; after the fire there is a breath of quiet wind...(). We see God not in the destructive and uncontrollable elements, but in the refreshing and gentle touch of a quiet wind, barely audible rustling the leaves. Quiet and gentle touch of God...

Life according to God's truth. About the Fourth Beatitude

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” ()

At first glance, it may seem that Christ praises the hungry (Church Slavonic “to hunger” means “to experience hunger”). But the Gospel repeatedly testifies: Christ Himself ate and drank and even made wine from water (see). Moreover, Christ’s participation in meals was so open that some said about Him: “Here is a man who loves to eat and drink wine, a friend of tax collectors and sinners” ().

It turns out that Christ Himself did not strive to become hungry and thirsty, but called others to this. And even more strange are the words of Christ that feeding the hungry and giving drink to the thirsty is one of the greatest virtues: “For I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink... Then the righteous will answer Him: Lord! when did we see you hungry and feed you? Or to the thirsty and gave them something to drink? And the King will answer them: “Truly I say to you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did it to Me” (). Or perhaps the beatitude in question has a different meaning?

The center of the fourth beatitude is the word “truth.” Those who hunger and thirst for the fourth commandment are those who seek righteousness, and yet do not want anything in return. A hungry person first of all wants to satisfy his hunger and thirst; he is unlikely to be interested in anything else. Believers must strive first of all for truth.

But what is truth - honesty, justice or something else? Perhaps Christ wants believers to be sincere, truthful people? This is a very useful quality for any person, not only for a believer. But still we are talking about something a little different. The word “truth” means righteousness (this is how the original Greek can be translated). This means that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are those who seek righteousness and want to be satisfied with righteousness. Hunger and thirst are constant companions of man. How many times a day do we eat and drink? The same is true in spiritual life. You cannot get enough of righteousness once. The desire for righteousness should always accompany the believer.

The great missionary, the Apostle Paul, spoke best about righteousness: “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for Him I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish, that I may gain

Christ and be found in Him, not with your own righteousness, which is from the law, but with that which is through faith in Christ, with the righteousness from God by faith" (). The Apostle Paul wanted only one thing - to be with Christ. These are the hunger and thirst that we hear about in the Beatitudes.

The Gospel of Matthew contains a story about the temptation of Christ by the devil. Before going out to preach, Jesus Christ stays in the desert for forty days, observing fasting. And so the tempter comes to Him and says: “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. He answered him, “It is written: Man will not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (). Righteousness is what becomes the content of human life. There is a famous saying: “We are our desires.” These words have no place in the Gospel. Because at the very beginning of the Gospel, Christ shows that man lives not only to satisfy his desires. Christ suffers hunger, but rejects temptation. And then Christ endures suffering and death, but restores life to everyone. Therefore, the only possible truth and righteousness is life with Christ and becoming like Him.

The gospel is a call to feel our dependence on God, dependence on righteousness. This call runs like a red thread through all the bliss. See your poverty before God, mourn your sins, become meek, hunger and thirst for the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God becomes the only criterion or measure of our lives. If we consider the expression: “Everyone has their own truth” to be correct, then where to look for this truth and how then to distinguish sin from virtue? If for us the truth is enclosed within the narrow framework of personal interests (after all, this is where the temptation lies: “Say, and the stones will become bread,” and even earlier the tempting serpent offered the first people: “Taste the fruit, and you will be like gods” (see) ), then we are already doomed to slavery to our own flesh. But God calls us, reminding us that we do not gain true life by bread alone.

But what kind of satisfaction does Christ promise to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness? The psalmist exclaims: “Those who seek the Lord do not lack any good” (). And the Lord asks a question, to which He Himself answers: “Is there such a person among you who, when his son asks him for bread, would give him a stone? and when he asks for a fish, would you give him a snake? So if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him” ().

Christ compares God to a father of a family, who is always ready to take care of his children, even if he himself is evil or dishonest. This does not mean that God is also angry and dishonest. It’s just that even if sinners love their children, then God loves us even more and is ready to share everything with us. Just as Christ shared with man even death itself. The only question is, how often do we ourselves seek the truth that the Gospel constantly calls us to search for? You can't be righteous on a schedule. You cannot answer Christ: “My working day as a righteous man has ended for today.” Christianity is not a job, a hobby or a club of interests. Christianity is life. Life with God. All our needs find meaning only in God. It is very convenient to believe that God is somewhere far away and has nothing to do with me personally. It is much more difficult to feel God here and now. Because this obliges us to seek Him, to strive for Him. But “The Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force, and those who use force take it away” ().

Blessed are the merciful. About the Fifth Beatitude

Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy (). What does it mean? What does it even mean to be merciful? At first glance, this is one of the easiest commandments to understand...

To be merciful is to be tolerant, kind, merciful. To be merciful means to be ready to respond to someone else's pain and problem. The psalmist exclaimed: All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth (). God is merciful, and His mercy has no limits or conditions: “The Lord is generous and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in mercy: He is not angry until the end, and is not always indignant. He did not deal with us according to our iniquities, nor did He reward us according to our sins: for as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is the mercy of the Lord toward those who fear Him” (). Therefore, every believer must be merciful. Grace becomes a condition of faith, a condition of religious life.

At the same time, from the words of the Psalm we see that mercy is also forgiveness. Or rather, the ability to forgive. The ability to show mercy and love to someone who could not do this for me personally.

Here lies the biggest difficulty. How to be merciful to someone who has offended, insulted or deceived? I think that many will agree that it is pointless to harbor a grudge or desire revenge. It’s better to just forget everything and be indifferent to the offender. But will this be mercy? “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who use you and persecute you,” the Lord tells us, “so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven, for He makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" ().

Christ did not say, “forget about your enemies,” but called us to respond with mercy and love to evil and insults. Is this achievable for us? Achievable. Not in one second or instant. But still achievable. If Christianity is a denial of oneself for the sake of love for Christ, then this refusal is manifested precisely in mercy and mercy.

There is an amazing saint - Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna (1864-1918) - daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt Ludwig and granddaughter of the English Queen Victoria. She became the wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov. Sergei Alexandrovich was killed by a terrorist bomb in February 1905. Three days after this, the prince’s wife went to the prison where the murderer was placed to convey to him forgiveness from herself and from her deceased husband. This is an exceptional example. But exceptions, as we know, confirm the rules. Grace is a manifestation of true greatness, the depth of the human soul, overflowing with love. There is no place for hatred in mercy. In mercy only love is possible. “Father! forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” () - the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, nailed to the cross.

But if you look at everyday life, where and when can we show mercy, or rather, to whom? The Lord gives the answer to this question in the parable of the Good Samaritan (see). A Samaritan could pass by - after all, a resident of Jerusalem beaten and wounded by robbers was not his relative, friend, or fellow tribesman, and even moreover, the Samaritans and Jews were at enmity and did not communicate with each other. But mercy to the one who needs it here and now becomes a bridge stretching over all human discrepancies and divisions.

To show mercy - to help another person - means to overcome yourself, to leave your affairs and worries in order to take on other people's pain and grief. Help no matter what. Sometimes this is exactly what we miss so much. Why doesn't anyone see or notice my pain? How often do I myself notice the pain of others? “Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you” (). It is these gospel words that raise the greatest number of questions: what to do with those who ask not for good or to harm themselves? The Lord does not set conditions for mercy and alms, He simply says “give.” Give something of yourself, help the one who asks.

Recently on one forum I saw a discussion about a request for help. A young girl, a single mother who had no means of support, asked for help. Several times in the discussion the argument was made that “it was my own fault” and “I should have thought about it.” In its own way, this has its own logic and truth. We are always to blame for our problems, not someone else. But mercy and sympathy are always above our human logic and truth. An illustration of this is the parable of the Prodigal Son (see) - “the gospel within the Gospel,” as it is also called. The son asks his father for his due inheritance (it was possible to receive the inheritance only after the death of his father), leaves home and spends everything he had. His father could not accept him, could not forgive him, could have done everything that logic and justice sometimes demand. But instead of all this, we again see the depth of mercy of a loving heart. When the father saw his son walking along the road to the house, he “took pity and, running, fell on his neck and kissed him” (). Perhaps mercy and logic will never be compatible. But it is in such “illogicality” that Christianity is revealed.

The Lord says that the merciful will themselves receive mercy. They will be pardoned by God. They learn a hundredfold the mercy of God towards themselves - in response to the mercy shown to others. But doesn’t it turn out that works of mercy become a kind of attempt to “buy” God’s mercy? And this has its own logic - I will do a good deed so that I myself will feel good later. But the less logic there is in good deeds, manifestations of mercy and mercy, the less the desire to “buy” or acquire benefits for ourselves dominates us. Therefore, mercy should have no reason: I show mercy not because the person in need deserves it, but precisely because he needs it.

The main thing is to learn to feel other people's need and suffering. Don’t pass by, don’t leave a good deed “for later.” But in order to learn this, you need to recognize yourself as needing God, His love and mercy, His righteousness and truth. If I need God, the gospel call to mercy is a call to rise above the harsh reality of the world. Because only mercy and mercy can overcome cruelty.

Pure at heart. About the Sixth Beatitude

The sixth beatitude shows a very important thing - purity makes a person able to see God: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (). Of course, we are talking not just about purity as the absence of dirt, but about purity of heart. Purity of heart usually implies sincerity and openness. There is even such a word - “sincerity”.

The word “heart” is also familiar to all of us. And not as one of the vital organs of the human body, but as a center of feelings and emotions. We “love with all our hearts”; from an excess of joy, the heart can “burst out of the chest.” And it also happens that the heart is “overflowing with anger.” Our condition and attitude towards the people around us depends on what is in our heart.

Christ teaches that the human heart must be pure. It is not external cleanliness that is important, but internal cleanliness. Elsewhere in the Gospel of Matthew

The Lord answers the accusation that His disciples do not wash their hands when they eat bread (). Among the Pharisees - zealots of the law - the practice of washing was considered very important, although the basis of this tradition lay not in the Law of Moses itself, but in the traditions of the elders. The words of Christ are amazing: “Whatever goes into the mouth passes into the belly and is cast out, and what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, this defiles a person, for from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, blasphemy - this defiles a person.” ; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person” (). What's the point

of these words? Christ does not neglect hygiene. He says that washing hands before eating does not make a person internally clean, just as unwashed hands do not make us internally or spiritually unclean or filthy. A person is desecrated, first of all, by unclean thoughts, which nest where such virtues as love, mercy, and meekness should reside. Let us remember the main commandment: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (). This is what our heart should be filled with, or better yet, what it should live with. So the center of our feelings, our vital spiritual organ (by analogy with the physical heart) must live with love for God, transmitting this impulse to everything: soul, mind, feelings.

But if the heart lives in the opposite way - malice, lust, envy - then there is no place left for love. This is what truly defiles a person. This is the filth of sin from which we can be washed through repentance. True spiritual purity is internal purity. External cleanliness can be deceiving. We are accustomed to chasing the external. But sometimes external purity becomes a screen for internal filth, which, one way or another, manifests itself outside.

The sixth beatitude teaches us that the moral life of a Christian is focused on the inner life, because the outer state also depends on it. Otherwise, some of the commandments would look, at least, strange. For example, do not kill () and do not commit adultery (). Is every person capable of murder or adultery? And it’s good that not everyone does. It’s good that we have a conscience holding us back. But then why were these commandments given and aren’t there other evils to which “thou shalt not” could be pointed out? The Lord Jesus Christ answers this: “You have heard that it was said to the ancients: do not kill; whoever kills will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that everyone who is angry with his brother without cause will be subject to judgment; whoever says to his brother: “raka” (“empty man”) is subject to the Sanhedrin; and whoever says: “crazy” is subject to fiery hell” (). The commandment “do not kill” is violated by the one who allows irritation, anger and malice into his heart, by the one who insults another, but you can kill with a word. Then the Lord says: “You have heard that it was said to the ancients: You shall not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye offends you, pluck it out and throw it away from you, for it is better for you that one of your members perish, and not that your whole body is cast into hell. And if your right hand offends you, cut it off and throw it away from you, for it is better for you that one of your members perish, and not that your whole body is cast into hell" (). These words do not mean that you really need to tear out your eyes and cut off your hands. First of all, we need to cut off and drive away unclean thoughts from ourselves - thoughts, by agreeing with which we move on to sinful actions. Purity of heart is the absence in the heart, soul and mind of everything that distances us from God.

But what does the end of the commandment mean: “They will see God”? To behold means to see. How can you see God, and what does that mean? After all, the Gospel of John says that no one has ever seen God (). Contradiction? No, because then the Evangelist John adds: “The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has revealed” (). The Son of God, who became man, reveals God to us, makes us able to see God. The word “see” or “behold”, like the word “heart”, carries a spiritual meaning. In general, in the Holy Scriptures, seeing often means “to cognize holistically, to see with spiritual eyes.” A soul stained and defiled by sins cannot see or know God. Only after being cleansed of defilements do we become capable of knowledge. After all, sometimes even in ordinary life we ​​can see the light: see something as it really is, correctly understand and assess the situation. Something similar happens in spiritual life: a pure heart begins to see and sees God, knows Him, and is filled with His love. The great Russian ascetic and saint of the 20th century, the monk taught: “To know the Lord, one does not need to have either wealth or learning, but one must be obedient and self-controlled, have a humble spirit and love one’s neighbor, and the Lord will love such a soul, and He will reveal Himself to the soul , and will teach her love and humility, and will give her everything useful so that she can find peace in God,” and, “no matter how much we study, it is still impossible to know the Lord if we do not live according to His commandments.”

All the virtues that Christ spoke about in the previous beatitudes become components that prepare a person for the “vision of God.” It is paradoxical that you can know a lot about God, you can read all the Holy Scriptures and the works of the holy fathers of the Church, but at the same time you cannot see God, you cannot know Him with your heart and soul. Knowing God is not limited to accumulating information. Knowing God is the path of a Christian’s entire life. At the same time, God Himself comes to meet us. The main thing is not to pass by.

Blessed are the peacemakers. About the Seventh Beatitude

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God” (). What associations does the word “peacemaker” evoke in modern people? It can be assumed that for most of us a peacekeeper is a man in camouflage, combat boots, body armor, a helmet and with a machine gun at the ready.

One popular online encyclopedia reports that peacekeeping forces are used “for the purpose of preventing or eliminating a threat to peace and security through joint coercive actions (military demonstration, military blockade, etc.), if measures of an economic and political nature are or have proven to be insufficient” that is, one way or another, peace is maintained at best by a demonstration of the force of arms, and at worst...

But the Gospel clearly does not speak about modern camouflaged and armed peacekeepers, because then, during the life of Christ and the writing of the Gospel, there were no such peacekeepers. Actually they were. They just had a slightly different name and were armed differently. The thing is that their weapons were no less deadly than modern ones. There is even a special term “PaxRomana” - “Roman Peace” (sometimes “Peace of Augustus”, named after Emperor Octavian Augustus). This is a period of Roman history marked by relative calm. The number of military conflicts in the Roman Empire was reduced to a minimum.

But in reality, the Roman world was a peace maintained by the strength of the Roman military legions dispersed along the borders. Thus, the territory of the Roman world became a territory where there was no civil war - barbarians fought outside the borders of the empire. It often happened that the legions rebelled and proclaimed a new emperor. Modern military-political alliances are, in fact, a continuation of the idea of ​​PaxRomana, so armed peacekeepers were invented not today or even yesterday, but a very, very long time ago. Jesus Christ could not help but see the Roman garrisons that maintained peace in the by no means restless Judea. But it is hardly possible that Christ would call the pagans who despised the Israeli people and their faith sons of God.

The Lord's words imply a different world and completely different peacemakers. Christ addresses the disciples: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you" (). Any other world, be it the Roman world or something else, will remain imperfect and artificial in comparison with the peace that Christ gives to believers. The peace of Christ, or the peace of God, is the state of a person free from evil and sin, that is, this peace can be achieved by the “pure in heart” from the previous beatitude.

In one ancient anonymous commentary on the Gospel of Matthew there are wonderful words: “The only begotten God (that is, the Son of God - Christ) is the peace of the spirit, about which the apostle says: “For He is our peace” ()... But not only those who are called peacemakers are called peacemakers. who unites enemies in peace, but also those who do not remember evil - they love peace. After all, many willingly reconcile the enemies of others, but they themselves never reconcile with their enemies from the bottom of their hearts. Such people only depict the world, but do not love it. Peace is the bliss that lies in the heart, and not in words. Do you want to know who is truly a peacemaker? Listen to the words of the Prophet: “Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful words” ().”

We become peacemakers when we get rid of our own evil, which deprives us of peace with God and other people. And this task is much more difficult than reconciling the warring parties. Why? Because it is much easier to see the lack of peace and strife among others than to find peace in your own soul. Saint Augustine of Hippo believed that peacemaking lies primarily in the absence of resistance to God and mastery over sinful passions. Only through this can a person remain in a peaceful state. “Peacemakers are those who, having pacified and subordinated the movements of their soul to reason, that is, mind and spirit, and managed to curb carnal lusts, achieve the Kingdom of God.” Without peace in your own soul, without a constant desire to be at peace with God, it is impossible to bring peace to other people.

You can see that the nine beatitudes describe a kind of circle: Christ promises the Kingdom of Heaven to the poor in spirit, and the same promise is given to those persecuted for the sake of righteousness. A circle is a line without beginning or end. The path of life according to the Beatitudes becomes not a movement from point A to point B, but a constant movement in a circle. Stopping the Earth rotating around the Sun will mean its death, because it is this rotation that determines vital earthly processes. Spiritual life can also be compared to such rotation. Man revolves around the center, which is Christ. The beatitudes become the orbit or trajectory of this movement. They are inextricably linked and have only one goal. And this goal is the Kingdom of Heaven, or the Kingdom of God - being with Christ.

The very first article on the beatitudes said that the blessed is the happy. But those whom Christ calls happy do not fit into modern ideas about happiness and the position of man in the world and society. And in the last commandments the Lord says that those who believe in Him will be expelled, persecuted and slandered, that is, they will be rejected by the world and become outcasts. But their reward is great, because this has always been done to those who are faithful to God. This is how they persecuted the former prophets.

It is interesting that the word “prophet” has two meanings in the Bible, one of which has been almost completely forgotten by modern people. Nowadays, the word “prophet” in most cases will mean someone who foresees the future. In the Bible, prophets were called not only those messengers of God who spoke about future times (although many prophets, indeed, by the inspiration of God, revealed to people the secrets of future times, especially about the time of the coming of the Messiah promised by God), but also those who spoke about the present time. The prophet appealed to the conscience of those who had forgotten about their conscience, buried it under a pile of sins and untruths, retreated from God and wallowed in lies. Essentially, the prophet's preaching was a call to righteousness.

In the fourth beatitude, Christ spoke about those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, where the righteousness of God was called righteousness. The word “truth” is used in the same sense in the eighth commandment. Those expelled for the truth are not dissidents, oppositionists or fighters against social inequality. These are, first of all, those whose righteous life has become a denunciation of the untruths of this world.

When the truth gets in the way

One might argue: after all, Christ Himself denounced the rich and powerful, challenged the inviolability of the religious traditions of his contemporaries, and was essentially a dissident. Yes, in the Gospel you can find many accusatory words addressed to those who are now commonly called the elite. But Christ denounced, first of all, that the craving for worldly goods and successes completely drowned out the desire for the Divine.

The Lord denounced the rich for their lack of mercy and love, and the scribes and Pharisees for the fact that their imaginary righteousness had turned into pride and exaltation over others. With His life, Jesus Christ showed that the only true power is the power of God, and every believer must first of all seek “the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” (). But many wanted to see the Savior as a king leading the people to earthly prosperity. But the Lord calls for righteousness.

Righteousness is living before God. Openness to God, faithfulness to the Divine word. The life of a righteous person should be a testimony of Divine truth to other people.

But why does the Lord say that the righteous will be driven out for their righteousness? The Lord Himself gives the answer to this question in another place in the Gospel: “People loved darkness more than light, because their deeds were evil” (). A righteous life becomes a denunciation of a sinful life, a life of evil. Christ comes to call sinners to repentance in order to demonstrate the righteousness of God to everyone. Did everyone hear His call and follow Him?

But if we take into account all the previous words of Christ that it is necessary to strive to realize one’s poverty before God, to acquire meekness, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be merciful, does all this mean that one must specifically strive to be persecuted and slandered for the sake of Christ? After all, they persecuted the prophets...

The words of Christ do not mean that everyone should recognize himself as a prophet and go to denounce neighbors, relatives or anyone else. The Lord calls us, first of all, not to be afraid of our own faith, not to be ashamed of it, not to hide it from others. If we are Christians, then we should not be afraid of the misunderstanding of others.

In the first three centuries of our era, misunderstanding of the Christian faith on the part of the pagan world often ended in persecution and death penalties for those who did not understand. The same thing happened again in the 20th century in Russia, and in some places it’s still happening now. But still, the majority of Christians are not persecuted and persecuted, are not sent to prison and are not led to execution. But this does not mean that the world accepted Christ and came to terms with His preaching. Therefore, a Christian must be prepared to testify to his faith before the modern world. The modern world does not threaten death and reprisals to those who strive to live according to the truth of Christ, but the threat lies elsewhere. The modern world is trying to present Christian righteousness as something unnecessary, outdated, depriving a person of freedom. Why do you need all this? Live your life to the fullest, cross out all these outdated norms and rules.

Are we now ready to respond with our lives to the challenges of the modern world? Every Christian can ask this question to himself. And this challenge has been and will always be as long as the world exists. Therefore, as long as the world exists, believers in Christ must be prepared to endure the sorrows of this world. It is no coincidence that the Lord said: “You will have sorrow in the world” (). But the sorrow will not be hopeless, because the Lord continues: “But take heart: I have overcome the world” (16, 33). The promise of the Kingdom of God to the exiled and slandered, and in fact to all who have remained faithful to God, is the promise of victory over a world lying in evil. God conquers the world with the Cross, and those who believe in Him - with the righteousness that God has given us through the Cross and Resurrection.

Newspaper "Saratov Panorama" No. 30 (958), No. 31 (959), No. 40 (968), No. 46 (974), No. 49 (977), No. 50 (978), No. 2 (981), No. 4 ( 983)

In order to be confirmed in the hope of salvation and bliss, one should add one’s own effort to achieve bliss to prayer. The Lord Himself speaks about this: Why do you call Me: “Lord! God!" and do not do what I say (Luke 6:46). Not everyone who says to Me: “Lord! Lord!” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven (Matthew 7:21).
The teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, briefly set out in His Beatitudes, can be a guide in our feat.
There are nine beatitudes:

1. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
2. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
3. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
4. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
5. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
6. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
7. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
8. Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
9. Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and slander you in every way unjustly because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven. (Matt. 5:3-12).

For a correct understanding of the Beatitudes, we should remember that the Lord handed them to us as the Gospel says: He opened His mouth and taught. Being meek and humble in heart, He offered His teaching, not commanding, but pleasing those who would freely accept and implement it. Therefore, in each saying about beatitude one should consider: a teaching or commandment; gratification, or promise of reward.

About the first beatitude

Those who desire bliss must be poor in spirit.
To be poor in spirit means to have the spiritual conviction that we have nothing of our own, but have only what God gives, and that we cannot do anything good without God’s help and grace; and thus, we must consider that we are nothing and resort to God’s mercy in everything. Briefly, according to the explanation of St. John Chrysostom, spiritual poverty is humility (Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, conversation 15).
Even the rich can be poor in spirit if they come to the conclusion that visible wealth is perishable and impermanent and that it does not replace the lack of spiritual goods. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what ransom will a man give for his soul? (Matthew 16:26).
Physical poverty can serve to perfect spiritual poverty if a Christian chooses it voluntarily, for God. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself said this to the rich man: If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give it to the poor; and you will have treasure in heaven; and come and follow Me (Matthew 19:21).
The Lord promises the Kingdom of Heaven to the poor in spirit.
In the present life, the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such people internally and initially, thanks to their faith and hope, and in the future - completely, through participation in eternal bliss.

About the Second Beatitude

Those who desire bliss must be weepers.
In this commandment, the name crying should be understood as sadness and contrition of the heart and actual tears because we serve the Lord imperfectly and unworthily and deserve His wrath through our sins. Sorrow for God's sake produces unchangeable repentance leading to salvation; but worldly sorrow produces death (2 Cor 7:10).
The Lord promises those who mourn that they will be comforted.
Here we understand the consolation of grace, consisting in the forgiveness of sins and a pacified conscience.
Sadness over sins should not reach the point of despair.

About the third beatitude

Those who desire bliss must be meek.
Meekness is a quiet disposition of spirit, combined with caution not to irritate anyone or to be irritated by anything.
Special actions of Christian meekness: do not grumble not only at God, but also at people, and when something happens against our desires, do not indulge in anger, do not become arrogant.
The Lord promises the meek that they will inherit the earth.
In relation to the followers of Christ, the prediction of inheriting the earth was fulfilled literally, i.e. the ever meek Christians, instead of being destroyed by the fury of the pagans, inherited the universe which the pagans had formerly possessed.
The meaning of this promise in relation to Christians in general and to everyone in particular is that they will receive an inheritance, as the Psalmist puts it, in the land of the living, where they live and do not die, i.e. will receive eternal bliss (see Ps. 27:13).

About the Fourth Beatitude

Those who desire bliss must be hungry and thirsty for righteousness.
Although we should understand by the name of truth every virtue that a Christian should desire as food and drink, we should primarily mean that truth about which in Daniel’s prophecy it is said that eternal truth will be brought (Dan 9:24), i.e. the justification of a person guilty before God will be accomplished - justification through grace and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The apostle Paul speaks of this truth: The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ in all and on all who believe: for there is no difference, because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth. as a propitiation in His blood through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness in the forgiveness of sins previously committed (Rom. 3:22-25).
Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are those who do good, but do not consider themselves righteous; not relying on their good deeds, they admit themselves to be sinners and guilty before God. Those who desire and pray faith, like true food and drink, hunger and thirst for grace-filled justification through Jesus Christ.
The Lord promises those who hunger and thirst for righteousness that they will be satisfied.
Just like bodily saturation, which brings, firstly, the cessation of feelings of hunger and thirst, and secondly, the reinforcement of the body with food, spiritual saturation means: the inner peace of a pardoned sinner; the acquisition of power to do good, and this power is supplied by justifying grace. However, the complete satiation of the soul, created for the enjoyment of infinite good, will follow in eternal life, according to the word of the Psalmist: I will be satisfied when Your glory is revealed (see Ps. 16:15).

About the Fifth Beatitude

Those who desire bliss must be merciful.
This commandment must be fulfilled through physical and spiritual works of mercy. St. John Chrysostom notes that there are different types of mercy and this commandment is broad (Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, conversation 15).
The physical works of mercy are as follows: to feed the hungry; give drink to the thirsty; clothe the naked (lack of necessary and decent clothing); visit someone in prison; visit the sick person, serve him and help him recover or Christian preparation for death; accept the wanderer into the house and provide rest; bury the dead in poverty and misery.
The works of spiritual mercy are as follows: exhortation to turn a sinner from his false path (James 5:20); teach the ignorant truth and goodness; to give good and timely advice to your neighbor in difficulty or in case of danger that he does not notice; pray to God for your neighbor; comfort the sad; not to repay the evil done to us by others; forgive offenses with all your heart.
Punishing a defendant does not contradict the commandment of mercy if done out of duty and with good intention, that is, to correct the guilty or protect the innocent from his crimes.
The Lord promises the merciful that they will receive mercy.
This implies pardon from eternal condemnation for sins at the Judgment of God.

About the Sixth Beatitude

Those who desire bliss must be pure in heart.
Purity of heart is not quite the same as sincerity. Candor (sincerity) - when a person does not demonstrate his good dispositions, which in reality do not exist in his heart, but embodies the existing good dispositions with modesty in deeds - is only the initial degree of purity of heart. True purity of the heart is achieved by constant and unflagging feat of vigilance over oneself, expelling from the heart every unlawful desire and thought, attachment to earthly objects, with faith and love, constantly preserving in it the memory of the Lord God Jesus Christ.
The Lord promises those with a pure heart that they will see God.
The Word of God allegorically endows the human heart with vision and calls Christians to make the eyes of the heart see (Eph. 1:18). Just as a healthy eye is able to see light, so a pure heart is able to contemplate God. Since the sight of God is the source of eternal bliss, the promise to see Him is a promise of a high degree of eternal bliss.

About the Seventh Beatitude

Those who desire bliss must be peacemakers.
To be a peacemaker means to act in a friendly manner and not give rise to disagreement; stop the disagreement that has arisen by all means, even sacrificing one’s interests, unless this contradicts duty and does not harm anyone; try to reconcile those at war with each other, and if this is not possible, then pray to God for their reconciliation.
The Lord promises the peacemakers that they will be called sons of God.
This promise signifies the height of the peacekeepers’ feat and the reward prepared for them. Since by their deed they imitate the Only Begotten Son of God, who came to earth to reconcile sinful man with the justice of God, they are promised the gracious name of the sons of God and, without a doubt, a degree of bliss worthy of this name.

About the Eighth Beatitude

Those who desire bliss must be ready to endure persecution for the sake of the truth, without betraying it. This commandment requires the following qualities: love of truth, constancy and firmness in virtue, courage and patience if someone is exposed to disaster or danger for not wanting to betray truth and virtue. The Lord promises those persecuted for the sake of righteousness the Kingdom of Heaven, as if in exchange for what they are deprived of through persecution, just as it was promised to the poor in spirit in replenishing the feeling of lack and poverty.

About the Ninth Beatitude

Those who desire bliss must be ready to joyfully accept reproach, persecution, disaster and death itself for the name of Christ and for the true Orthodox faith.
The feat corresponding to this commandment is called martyrdom.
The Lord promises a great reward in Heaven for this feat, i.e. predominant and high degree of bliss.

Interpretation of the Beatitudes

Throughout world history, humanity has received from God two moral codes: the Old Testament legislation of Moses, given on Mount Sinai, and the New Testament law of the Gospel, which is known as the Sermon on the Mount of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The essence of the Sinai legislation, as incomparably higher and more valuable than all the legislation of the Ancient World, is set out in the decalogue. But it has exhausted itself over a certain historical period. And then God was pleased to send His Son into the world for the complete restoration of human nature, the lost heavenly bliss. His preaching opened a new path for humanity, indicated in the New Testament beatitudes (see: Matt. 5-7; Luke 6, 17-49).

The Old Testament commandments were given to the Jewish people in menacing and majestic natural phenomena, inspiring awe and horror. People had to move a certain distance away from the mountain, and on pain of death they were forbidden to approach it. The commandments were spoken by an unknown and hidden Being (Ex. 19, 10-19, 25; 20, 1-18).

We see a completely opposite picture of the acceptance of commandments in the New Testament. Nature itself, as it were, prepared a magnificent setting in which the Lord utters “verbs of new life.” The Son of God talks to the people like a loving father with his family. Instead of the formidable elements of nature, there is a clear transparent sky. But not only the external circumstances, but also the internal content of the New Testament commandments far exceeds the Old Testament legislation. The Sermon on the Mount is alien to the compulsory nature of the Mosaic Law: Christ no longer demands only abstinence from evil, but also gradual perfection in virtues. With the coming of the Savior into the world, humanity changes its slavish attitude toward God to a filial one (1 John 3:2; Rom. 8:14–15).

Let us move on to an exposition of the Beatitudes themselves, which form the foundation of Christian morality. In them, the proclamation of new principles of relationships between people led to a great moral revolution. Hitherto unknown truths gain the rights of citizenship in the hearts of people: the temporal is replaced by the eternal, the material by the spiritual, the limits and norms of the Law’s prescriptions are completely removed: their limit is complete likeness to God.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for among them is the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt. 5:3; Luke 6:20). To understand and fully interpret this commandment, as well as to understand the entire Gospel of Matthew, it is necessary to remember that the Old Testament is the main background of this entire Gospel. No less important is an appeal to Jewish traditions, customs, everyday life, religious and cultural ideas, geography, and psychology.

To understand the meaning of the Lord’s words, you need to know the meaning of the concept of poverty and wealth in the Holy Scriptures. Wealth was originally seen as visible proof that a person was at peace with God. Wealth was seen as a blessing from God, rewarding on earth for a pious life.

In prophetic literature there is a different point of view about wealth and poverty. A poor man is a destitute man, robbed by a rich man, he has nothing left in which he could trust, his hope is only in God, to whom he constantly raises prayers and cries. The rich man most often acts as a proud and self-confident person, relying on wealth; he oppresses the one whom God protects, and therefore becomes the enemy of God.

In addition, the Bible repeatedly calls the rich man a fool because he, consciously or subconsciously, is sure that he does not need God, that he can live in this life without Him. This is why the word "poor" gradually acquired the additional meaning of "pious, humble, devoted to God" and became a religious term.

There were many words in the Hebrew language that meant “poor,” but they all included additional connotations: “small, insignificant, humiliated, insulted, humble, suffering, meek.”

Material poverty is increasingly understood as spiritual poverty, as opposed to pride and arrogance.

If we perceive the nine beatitudes as a ladder of virtues, then the first of these commandments is fundamental, without it further improvement of a Christian in spiritual life is impossible.

Many theologians have drawn attention to the fact that as the first sin that removed a person from God is pride, the first virtue that restores the connection with the Creator is humility, which is a protective virtue that protects a person from conceit and does not allow him to stop in perfection.

When we talk about humility, we think about the behavior of a person who, when he is praised or something good is said about him, tries to prove that this is not so; or about the behavior of a person who, when the thought comes to him that he has said something good or done something right, tries to avert this thought for fear of becoming proud. These prevailing opinions are incorrect not only in relation to oneself, but also in relation to God: to believe that since I did or said it cannot be good, or that recognizing the good in oneself can lead to pride is wrong. Humility is when, even if God has given a person to say something good, right, or to do something worthy of both Him and me as a person, I must learn to thank Him for this, not take credit for it, and switch from vanity or pride to Gratitude.

False humility is one of the most destructive things; it leads to the denial of goodness in oneself.

Humility is mostly opposed by pride or vanity. But there is a significant difference between them. A proud man who does not recognize either God's or human judgment over himself, who is his own law, his own measure and judge.

Vanity is very different from this. Vanity lies in complete dependence on the opinion or judgment of men, but not on the judgment of God. A vain person seeks praise, approval, and the most humiliating thing is that he seeks praise and approval from people whose opinions he does not even respect - as long as they praise him. There is also another side: if a vain person begins to hope that someone will praise him, then he is looking for praise not for the highest, not for the most noble, not for what is worthy of both God and us, but for whatever. And it turns out that a vain person is entirely dependent on human opinion and approval; it is a disaster for him when he is judged harshly or is somehow denied; and just to earn praise, he does not shun the lowest actions.

But humility is not just the absence of vanity and pride. Humility begins from the moment we enter into a state of inner peace: peace with God, peace with conscience and peace with those people whose judgment reflects God's judgment; this is reconciliation. At the same time, this is reconciliation with all the circumstances of life, the state of a person who accepts everything that happens from the hand of God. In this sense, humility is peace, the basis of which is the love of God.

Humility is not artificial self-humiliation, not digging into one's own sins, not trampling oneself into the dirt. Humility is the result of a person’s one-on-one meeting with God: before the immeasurable greatness of God, a person seems so insignificant and insignificant.

Poverty of spirit has one more side: when a person does not hold on to the old, sinful dispensation, but is freed from this burden in order to accept a new state, that which belongs to the Kingdom of Heaven. The spirit here does not mean the Spirit of God, but our human spirit - the deepest part of our being, the organ through which we come into contact with God. We need to be poor from sin in this part of our being in order to become partakers of the Kingdom of Heaven.

In accordance with the material laws of the world, it must be asserted that if I gave away a piece of bread, then I became poorer by a piece of bread, and if I gave a certain amount, then I had less by that amount. By spreading this law, the world thinks: if I gave my love, then I became poorer by that amount of love, and if I gave my soul, then I am completely ruined and have nothing left to save. But the laws of spiritual life in this area are directly opposite to the material laws. According to them, any given spiritual wealth is not only returned to the giver like an irreplaceable ruble, but grows and becomes stronger. We give away our human wealth and in return we receive the greatest Divine gifts.

Thus, the mystery of human communication becomes the mystery of divine communication, what is given is returned, flowing love never exhausts the source of love, because the source of love in our heart is Love itself - Christ. Here we are not talking about good deeds, not about that love that measures and calculates its capabilities, which gives interest and saves capital - here we are talking about genuine kenosis (exhaustion), about some semblance of how Christ exhausted Himself when He became incarnate. in humanity.

And there is and cannot be any doubt that by giving ourselves in love to another person - the poor, the sick, the prisoner - we will meet Christ Himself face to face in him. He Himself spoke about this in words about the Last Judgment and how He would call some to eternal life, because they showed Him love in the person of every destitute and unfortunate, and He would send others away from Himself, because their hearts did not have love. , because they did not help Him in the person of His suffering brothers, in whom He appeared to them. If we have doubts based on our unsuccessful everyday experiences, then the only reason for them is ourselves.

And of course, we can see the highest and most perfect example of humility only in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thus, a “poor in spirit” is a person who has complete trust in God. And it is precisely such people that the Lord calls “blessed.”

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted (Matt. 5:4; Luke 6:21). The second commandment of beatitudes sounds especially hysterical, especially paradoxical, especially incomprehensible, since it calls those who cry “blessed.” What kind of crying can bring comfort and lead to bliss?

The second commandment is the second stage, the second step in the “ladder” of spiritual beatitudes, since true humility is always accompanied by sincere crying.

Jesus Christ, pronouncing these words, had in mind those people who mourned and lamented about their spiritual poverty. They understood that human nature, damaged by sin, is not able to get out of a sinful situation and justify itself before God on its own. The Old Testament Jewish people often grieved and mourned their fate. But this crying was caused exclusively by political and material factors.

Most researchers of this issue say that crying is the sadness of repentance, as the Jewish theologians of antiquity rightly believed and as most of the Church Fathers subsequently believed. True humility, a sincere consciousness of spiritual poverty, is accompanied in a person by a deep sense of admiration for the greatness of God. Experiencing the consequences of sin at the sight of powerlessness to overcome sin with one’s own strength produces contrition and crying.

Indeed, nothing is more worthy of regret than our sins. It is precisely this “sorrow for God” that the Apostle Paul calls us to; such sorrow “produces unchangeable repentance leading to salvation.” It must be remembered that life in Christ is not only a path of joy. In Luke's version of the sermon, Jesus says, “Woe to you who laugh now! for you will mourn and lament” (Luke 6:25). The truth is that there is another path in Christianity, the path of sorrow, the path of Christian mourning, but few follow it.

The Lord mourned the sin of others, seeing their bitter situation, and wept over the unrepentant city that did not accept Him. Every Christian should acquire lamentation for the evil of the world, as the people of the Bible did. This is how the holy Apostle Paul wept for the perishing people of Israel when he wished to be excommunicated from Christ so that his brothers would be saved. And he called us to weep with those who weep. At the heart of this cry is the greatest love for all creation, for a creation that has not maintained its original state and does not want to return to its Creator.

Sincere tears cleanse the dirt that “lies” on the heart and contribute to peace and bliss of the heart. After such tears, silence and tranquility of conscience sets in in the soul, and spiritual fragrance and joy spread throughout a person’s entire being. The Lord will comfort everyone, pouring out His love with His Holy Spirit, and then all sadness will go away.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5). Both among pagans and Jews, meekness was considered one of the most important virtues. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato, for example, calls it “true divinity,” and Jewish legends extolled the gentleness of the great teacher Hillel. On the one hand, an extreme may be a lack of a certain quality in a person, and on the other hand, its excess. Virtue is the golden mean between these extremes. For example, generosity is the golden mean between extravagance and stinginess. As for meekness, the philosopher Aristotle defined it as the golden mean between excessive anger and inactive gentleness.

Although it may seem strange to a Russian-speaking reader, the third beatitude practically repeats the first, because in the Hebrew language the same word “ani” means both “poor” and “meek.” In the Greek translation of the Bible it was often rendered as ?????? and, therefore, acquired a different meaning: “meek, soft, gentle; peaceful; modest,” while in Hebrew it meant “defenseless, powerless, powerless, timid, oppressed.” These were the distinguishing characteristics of the poor. But gradually this word acquires additional meanings that make it a religious concept: “uncomplaining, meekly accepting suffering, obedient to the will of God.” Such people are powerless, but they do not need strength, power, because they completely rely on God. That is why they do not seek to be served, but are willing to serve others. The whole life of Jesus Christ gives us an example of such meekness.

The Orthodox Catechism defines meekness as “a quiet disposition of spirit, combined with caution, so as not to irritate anyone or to be irritated by anything.”

The meek in love endure and with patience love those who are courageous in the power of love. They courageously endure lies and make peace with all people. Such people believe that evil cannot be overcome by evil.

Jesus Christ left us a great and eternal example of meekness and humility. The holy Apostles also followed the path of our Lord. He did not even grumble against His crucifiers, but prayed for them: “Father! forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

To respond to an insult with an insult, to an insult with an insult - this is a matter of human instinct, a matter of passion, which completely takes possession of him in a moment of irritation, anger, making him at that time his enemy. Mankind did not know such a commandment before Christ. Both Jew and Gentile could not reconcile with the offender. The law of revenge prevailed and was almost legitimized. And only in Christianity did a meek person free himself from slavery to passions and become the master of his spiritual movements and actions. The guiding principle for meekness should be love for God, restraining the soul from the movements of anger, vexation, envy, revenge, and enmity.

In order to approach a state of meekness, a feat is necessary, difficult and constant, aimed primarily at knowing one’s own heart. Every decision should not be made immediately, but in a calm, peaceful state of heart. It is also necessary to pray to God, to remember that every virtue is not only the fruit of our activity and efforts, but the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We see that it is not so much the person who controls himself through willpower that is blessed, because no one on his own is capable of absolutely complete self-control. But only the person who is constantly guided by God Himself is truly blessed, because only in serving Him do we gain perfect freedom and in fulfilling His will our perfection. A person who does not have meekness cannot truly learn anything, because the first step to learning is the awareness of his ignorance.

One of the great Roman teachers of oratory, Quintilian, said of his students: “They would undoubtedly be excellent students if they were not convinced that they knew everything.” No one can teach a person who is convinced that he already knows everything. Without meekness there can be no love, for the basis of love is the feeling of one’s unworthiness. Without meekness there can be no true religion, for every religion begins with the awareness of our weakness and our need for God. A person only reaches true maturity when he realizes that he is a creature, and God is his Creator, and that without God he cannot do anything. No one can lead others until he has learned to control himself, no one can serve others until he has submitted himself, no one can control others until he has learned to control his own will. A person who completely surrenders himself into the hands of God will find meekness in the perfect gift of the Holy Spirit.

To people who imitate the Son of God, who humbly fulfilled the will of the Father, God will give possession of the earth. These words are a quotation from Ps. 37 (36), 11. In ancient times, the people of God were promised the land of Canaan, the “promised land”, which became the land of Israel. Land was the greatest wealth for people. God ordered the land of Canaan to be divided among the eleven tribes of Israel (the descendants of Levi were to live off tithes), so there should have been no poor in Israel; the rich made their fellows poor, robbing them of their land.

Initially, the Christian community was small, and despite this, by the power of God, Christianity defeated the pagan world and spread throughout the world. We know that Christ came in order to found the Church on earth - the Kingdom of God, which must be passed through to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. This Kingdom of God is a society of people whose inner world is governed by the will of God as an eternal and unchanging law. This society, initially extremely small, grew, just as a luxurious branchy tree grows from a small grain.

Jesus Christ taught that in the society of men which became His Church, the conquest of the earth would be achieved not by means of weapons, but by enduring injury, by patience, and by repaying evil with good, that laws would be prescribed and power would be exercised not by force, but by conviction and in a spiritual manner, that those who practice meekness will find in their activity a reward for their kindness.

The bliss of the meek begins here on earth. It lies in the fact that they emerged victorious in the fight against passions and took the true path of salvation. But complete bliss will come in the Kingdom of Heaven renewed by God.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied (Matt. 5:6; Luke 6:21).“Truth” means “righteousness.” In the Gospel of Luke, the Lord declares those who are now hungry to be happy, but the Apostle Matthew probably added the word “righteousness” in order to clarify the meaning. First of all, it is necessary to establish in what meaning he used this word, because it has many meanings and is used differently by different authors of the New Testament. In the Evangelist Matthew it is found in the meaning of “fulfilling the commandments of the Law” and “doing the will of God.” Many commentators believe that this word is used here in the classical sense of “justice.” After all, the poor are people who lack not only food, but also, as a rule, deprived of justice. The rich took away their land and thereby deprived them of their means of subsistence; they dominate the courts, so that the poor are unable to help themselves and can only cry out to God with a prayer for the restoration of justice. They ask Him that God would establish, or rather restore on earth, the norms and laws of His Royal reign, under which they “will not suffer hunger or thirst.”

Although Scripture promises that God will literally feed the hungry and needy, hunger and thirst are often used as metaphors to describe the thirst for knowledge of God, the desire for Him.

This beatitude can be translated as follows: “How happy are they who are hungry and thirsty in regard to righteousness,” that is, it is addressed to people who thirst for the fulfillment of the will of the Lord more than food and drink. Without food and water, a person cannot exist, but “man must live not only by bread.”

In the Fourth Gospel, Jesus often compared himself to bread that gives life and to living water. In this case, the word "righteousness" can mean the righteousness of God himself, or, in other words, His sovereign rule, i.e., the Kingdom of Heaven. In no way can this mean that such a righteous order can be achieved by the efforts of the people themselves, by personal righteousness or by revolutions and social reforms.

And one more important note. The words of the fourth beatitude are addressed not to people who have already achieved righteousness, but to those who strive for it, who achieve it. These are people with an open and lively heart, not ossified in coldness and indifference. The will of God can never be done once and for all; Christianity is a long way, and the one who is called first may be the last, and vice versa.

The words “hunger” and “thirst” express an uncontrollable desire for something. In this sense, the fourth beatitude represents a question and at the same time a challenge: how much do we need the truth? Do we thirst for it in the same way as someone dying of hunger and thirst thirsts for food and drink? How much do we desire the presence of goodness and truth in ourselves and in the whole world?

Many have an instinctive desire for virtue, but it is rather a vague and unclear desire, often brought up on romantic literature, without a solid basis for what exactly the desire for truth is necessary for. Such a desire is not keen and strong, and when the decisive moment comes, such a person will remain unable to make the effort and make the sacrifices that true virtue requires. The souls of many are sick from the lack of desire for good. The world would be a very different place if virtue were our strongest desire and aspiration.

At the heart of this commandment is the idea that tells us that not only is the person who becomes virtuous, but also the one who longs for virtue with all his heart. If bliss awaited only those who had achieved virtue, then no one would achieve such bliss. But bliss is achieved by those who, despite all the failures and falls, have in their hearts love and the desire for perfect truth. In His mercy, the Lord judges us not only by our deeds and achievements, but also by our desires and dreams, for dreams are the treasure of our heart, to which it strives. Even if a person never reaches the pinnacle of virtue that he strived for, even if until the end of his days he experiences a feeling of hunger or thirst for virtue, but his desire will be sincere, sincere, selfless, he will be honored with bliss, according to the word of the Lord.

There is another interesting point in this beatitude, which is clearly visible only in the Greek text. The point is this. The Greek says: “I am hungry for bread.” This means that he wants a little bread, some part of it, and not the whole loaf. The Greek says: “I thirst for water.” Therefore, he wants to drink some water, but not all the water in the jug.

In fact, people rarely want to restore the whole truth and are content with a small part of it. A person, for example, can be kind in the eyes of other people in the sense that, no matter how much and no matter how much one searches, outwardly one cannot find any moral shortcomings in him. His honesty, morality and honorability are not in question. But it may well be that there is no place in his soul for someone who seeks consolation in him, who could come to him and cry out their pain on his chest. He shuddered if anyone wanted to do this. There is a virtue that is combined with cruelty, with a tendency to judge, with a lack of sympathy and love. This is only an external virtue, and in the strict sense is not a virtue at all.

Another person may be full of all sorts of shortcomings and vices. He can drink, gamble and lose his temper, and at the same time, when someone is in trouble or needs his care, he will give the last penny from his pocket and the last shirt. But this will also not be a virtue in the true sense. Because the fullness of help that a person can give to another person can flow through a purified heart.

The feeling of spiritual thirst in a person is a sign of his spiritual health, just as the feeling of hunger in the absence of food is a sign of physical health. Therefore, anyone who does not know the holy desires of a righteous life before God is most likely seriously ill in his inner man, unless he is already spiritually dead. This disease is called self-justification; death is indifferent indifference to life according to the truth of God or moral bitterness.

Those who hunger and thirst will be satisfied in justification through faith in Jesus Christ. Whoever fulfills this commandment receives spiritual food necessary for the life of the soul, and the true food is Christ. It is not for nothing that the Kingdom of Heaven is often metaphorically described as a feast where people will eat and drink at God’s table.

Our hunger will be completely satisfied in the life of the next century. Like all the qualities included in the Beatitudes, hunger and thirst are constant characteristics of the disciples of Jesus Christ, as constant as poverty of spirit, meekness and mourning. Only when we reach heaven will we “neither hunger nor thirst,” for only then will Christ, our Shepherd, “lead us... to living springs of water.”

Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy (Matthew 5:7). In the Jewish tradition, mercy has always been placed extremely high. First, God was called merciful, who chose the people of Israel for himself not because of their merits or merits, but because of His great mercy. That is why people should imitate this characteristic of God in their relationships with others. This was expressed primarily in the fact that God expected from them active love and help to their brothers in need. The obligation to share with the poor, that is, to give alms, extended to everyone. Mercy is the central theme of Jesus Christ's preaching. He called for love and mercy towards everyone: women, children, sinners, outcasts of society, even enemies. In His eyes, the most terrible sin is the refusal of a person forgiven by God to forgive his neighbor. It is especially important that this beatitude immediately follows the beatitude that spoke of those who thirst for justice. We would all like God to judge us not according to justice, but according to mercy.

Among Christ’s listeners there were probably many pagans who, in their moral aspirations, could not, with their own thoughts, rise to a merciful attitude and compassion for their brothers, much less for their enemies. Therefore, we have the right to call this commandment primarily Christian.

The ancient world, as we know from history, always glorified noble people. This celebrity could lie in heroism, in knowledge, in beauty, in strength, in wealth. Poor people, apart from their exploitation by the privileged classes, could not expect anything better. One deterrent incentive was the law of truth: “Do not do to others what you do not wish for yourself.” The pre-Christian world did not know the lofty ideals of Christianity, prescribing brotherly, sacrificial love of one’s self for the sake of one’s neighbor.

Christian almsgiving does not rely on gaining self-interest; it is aimed at the benefit of one’s neighbor.

The Lord taught us that alms should not be done for show. Nothing compels us to forgive like the love and mercy revealed to us on the cross and in the revelation of the Lord, declaring that we ourselves have been forgiven by Him. Nothing proves more clearly that we have been forgiven than our willingness to forgive. In this sense, the commandment of mercy is closely related to the commandment of meekness, since to be meek means to recognize oneself as a sinner before others; to be merciful means to have compassion for others if they are enslaved by sin.

He who thinks about the poor and the needy will be freed from grief. Even in earthly life, the Lord rewards the merciful, and in heavenly life he will receive the reward in its entirety.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God (Matthew 5:8). The human heart is the beginning and root of all our actions. This is a spring from which a stream of spiritual life flows as a living spring. He is pure in heart who expels evil thoughts and desires through prayer and good reflection.

This commandment about purity of heart echoes the Gospel passage about the lamp of the body, which is the eye. In biblical terminology, the “eye” is often equated with the “heart.” The heart is the eye with which a person sees God and through which the light of Divine, illuminating grace penetrates into his entire being. And the more pure the heart, the easier it is for the light of God to come, penetrate and sanctify us. If the eye is clouded by sin, then the perception of reality will be distorted. The light that penetrates us is the light in which we interpret the world around us. The condition of the window determines how much light enters the room. If the window is clean, clear and not broken, light floods the room and illuminates every corner. If the window is frozen or stained glass, dirty, broken or dark, it will be difficult for light to enter and the room will not be illuminated, darkness will dwell in it. The amount of light entering a room depends on the condition of the window through which it passes. And therefore the Lord says that the amount of light entering the heart, soul and in general into a human being depends on the spiritual state of the heart through which the light passes, because the heart is an eye, a window for the whole body. The impression that people make on us depends on what kind of eye we have. Some things can blind our eyes and distort our vision, first of all it is sin that clouds the heart.

The adjective “pure” was very often used to denote moral purity, a relatively impeccable life. Generally under the word??????? in this case, it is necessary to understand the purity of the heart with nothing dirty, free from everything that distorts and defiles the mind, feelings, desires of a person, since the heart is the center of all spiritual life.

Those who are not convicted by their conscience are pure in heart. A pure heart is when a person is free not only from unclean sin or desires, but rather when he is free from all thoughts, even sinful ones. Virtue, if it does not flow from inner purity and good thoughts of the heart, is ostentatious, visible. This is a tree with rotten roots and a rotting core. A perfect attitude towards our neighbors must be based on absolutely selfless love, arising from the purity of the heart, without even a shadow of enmity.

The Lord loves the pure in heart. Those who are pure in heart feel the presence of God in themselves and in nature. The Word of God for them is the living voice of God in themselves and before themselves; the pure in heart live in this world as in the house of God. They do everything as it should be done, being in the house of God, before His all-seeing gaze. In all circumstances of life, they completely surrender to Him and unshakably rely on Divine fatherly care; they always carry in their hearts strong love for Him as the all-good Father. Earthly happiness does not blind them, misfortunes do not confuse them, do not plunge them into despondency or despair. This life for them is only a preparation for the future life. The joys and sorrows of this life are only consolations and difficulties on the way to the eternal fatherland, where they will see God face to face.

The reward that people with a pure heart will receive is the highest: this is what is the main aspiration of every believer, the goal of every religion - they will see God. We can only guess what this state of bliss is essentially like.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God (Matthew 5:9). Greek word???????????? (“happy, blessed”) is very rare; this word was sometimes used to describe kings and generals who stopped wars, bringing peace between the warring parties. Here this word is used the only time in the New Testament and in a completely different sense. To understand it, you need to know in what meanings the word “world” was used in Greek and Hebrew. As for Greek, in it it had approximately the same meaning as in Russian: initially it meant the absence of war and strife, and only then, much later, in philosophical language it also began to mean an internal state of spiritual peace. But in Hebrew, peace (shalom) is one of those words that does not have a complete correspondence in European languages, because its meaning is much broader. “Shalom” meant the fullness of God’s gifts to man, and these gifts meant both material well-being (prosperity, health, contentment) and spiritual blessings (reconciliation with God, righteousness).

Sin is the source of evil throughout the world; it divides people, pushing them into destructive wars. Sin brought discord into the entire universe. Man has lost peace with God. Sin brought into our being disagreement, enmity of flesh and spirit, good and evil.

The peacemaker is called to overcome this disagreement, this duality in himself through victory over sin, to return the state of his nature to a state of pristine harmony and peace, to recreate the lost paradise inside his heart. We must strive for this, first of all, for peace in our souls.

A great example for a peacemaker, the example of our Lord, Who, at the very moment when His hands and feet were pierced by iron nails, hanging on the cross, tormented by thirst and suffocation, prayed: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” . This privation of evil, the absence of enmity and revenge, must be the constant state of the whole nature of the peacemaker, who must strive to restore the lost peace as quickly as possible. One of the ways to strive for peace is the path of forgiveness, which also leads to the forgiveness of the sins of the forgiver himself.

A person is not capable of being a peacemaker if there is enmity in his heart, which is sin, becoming an abyss between creation and the Creator. This abyss is bridged by repentance, which returns to the state of blessed peace through works of faith in Christ.

The desire for peace between people is not a desire to indulge passions, it is not a compromise with evil. But this is the desire to establish a world where God would live, where there is no sin. Severing a relationship is sometimes necessary in order to preserve the integrity of the other intact. It is the deep misunderstanding and gulf between Christianity and paganism, between evil and good that divides even the closest relationships. Disagreement with evil is necessary in order to be a reproach for it and a call to return to peace in God.

Peacemakers in their mission are like the Son of God, who tried on creation with the Creator, and the Lord calls them “sons of God”, since they bring peace to the situation in which the Lord has placed them.

The Apostle Paul writes about Christians who, together with Christ, carry the mission of the world, who suffered with Him, therefore, together with Him, by kinship, they will be heirs in the Kingdom of Heaven. Just as in life children inherit from their parents, so the sons of God will be heirs in the Kingdom of Christ the Savior.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5.10). The eighth beatitude, like the fourth, deals with “truth.” But the fourth commandment speaks of the internal dispensation of a Christian, and the eighth commandment sings of blessedness to those who suffer persecution for this truth. The eighth commandment is a complement to the seventh.

In this commandment, the Lord shows us that in the pursuit of bliss, a Christian must be prepared to endure sorrow and persecution for the sake of truth, which is Christian life according to the commandments of Christ. Truth and the desire for truth have always been persecuted; we find a lot of evidence of this in the Holy Scriptures. The Savior walked a thorny path throughout His life from Bethlehem to Golgotha. Herod is looking for the Infant Christ in order to destroy Him, He is tempted by the devil in the desert, His teaching is strongly attacked by the proud scribes and Pharisees, but Christ does not stop His preaching. Some condemn and prepare death for Him, but others accept Christ’s teaching and give their lives for Him. Therefore, the truth of God will always be persecuted.

No matter what suffering a person experiences for the sake of righteousness, in whose soul a mighty tree of righteousness has grown, he experiences triumph, joy, because persecution can torment the body, persecutors can even kill this body, but they cannot kill the soul, its joys and its triumph in service truth.

Active love for God and neighbors is manifested in the desire to be with God and lead all creation to deification, without sparing either oneself or one’s life for this.

“Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and slander you in every way unjustly because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven: even so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5-12). Western theology combines the eighth and ninth commandments into one because they are similar in content. Orthodox theology preserves the nine commandments, since the word “blessed” is repeated nine times in the Gospel.

Strictly speaking, this last, ninth beatitude only reveals the meaning of the eighth, the idea here is the same. The main difference is that it used to be said that persecution was because of one's very belonging to Christ. It is known that in the early years of the existence of the Christian Church, it was most often subjected to verbal attacks. But sometimes physical suffering is easier to bear than slander and dirty slander that humiliate a person and deprive him of honor and respect. It was not for nothing that the Jews considered slander one of the gravest sins, as terrible as idolatry, debauchery and bloodshed combined.

The reason for such wild joy is the great reward that awaits those who endure lies and slander. After all, life with God is the goal of human existence. This life - a reward, although not visible, already exists quite really, it is in Heaven, that is, with God. From now on, all who follow Christ, likened to the prophets, must fulfill this great ministry, be ready to share their fate.

Thus, in the Beatitudes, Christ proposed new, hitherto unknown to mankind, ways of moral life. The founder of the New Testament makes it clear that the point is not in their letter, as it was in the Old Testament, but in the spirit, for which the letter, external forms, must obviously be freely created by man in individual cases of life.

The Beatitudes show us the moral image of a disciple, a follower of Christ. We see him first alone, on his knees before God, recognizing his spiritual poverty and mourning it. This leads him to meekness, and he becomes lenient in his relationships with people, since honesty helps him to be before them as he himself confessed to God. But he does not calm down, remembering his sinfulness and the sinfulness of the world. He cries over the fall of creation from its Creator. He does not strive for a settled, comfortable, carefree existence, because he longs for absolute, complete truth, for which he is ready to shed blood and give his whole life, if only it would triumph. Then we see him in human society, the pain and sorrow of which he experiences together with his God. He shows mercy by bringing peace to the situation in which God has placed him, restoring integrity to those who are torn apart by contradictions, and destroying sin. He is not afraid, and he is insulted and persecuted for the truth, for Christ, with whom he identifies himself. Yes, such is a disciple of Christ, completely incomprehensible to the non-Christian world, seeming crazy in his aspirations. The ideal of the Beatitudes will always be in conflict with generally accepted worldly values. And you cannot be a Christian without trying to embody this ideal in your life.

Beatitudes are not a promise or a prediction, they are a formula of congratulations. The Lord seems to congratulate those who are in the life situations described by the “bliss”. However, the happiness proclaimed in the first part of each “beatitude” cannot be understood without the promise given in the second.

The religion of the beatitudes, based on promise, cannot but be a religion of hope. The difficulties and obligations of the present moment are the points at which joyful hope is born, transforming our existence in the present.