Faith of the Saints. God's first law. Ten Commandments given to Moses. Sins against the sixth commandment of God

Are you here: Questions and answers

6. Don't kill. Dont kill.

By the sixth commandment, the Lord God forbids murder, that is, the taking of life from other people, and from oneself (suicide), in any way.

Life is the greatest gift of God; therefore, to deprive oneself or another of life is the most terrible, grave and great sin.

Suicide is the most terrible of all sins committed against the sixth commandment, since in addition to the sin of murder, suicide also contains the grave sin of despair, grumbling against God and daring rebellion against God's providence. In addition, suicide eliminates the possibility of repentance.

A person is guilty of murder, even if he killed another person by accident, without intent; and such a murder is a grave sin, because in this case the murderer is guilty of his negligence.

A person is guilty of murder even when, although he personally does not kill, he contributes to the murder, or at least allows others to kill. For example:

1. A judge condemning a defendant whose innocence he knows.

2. Anyone who helps others to commit murder by his order, advice, allowance, consent, or who shelters and justifies the murderer and thereby gives him an opportunity for new murders.

3. Anyone who does not deliver his neighbor from death when he could well have done so.

4. Anyone who exhausts his subordinates with hard work and cruel punishments and thereby hastens their death.

5. Anyone who, through intemperance and various vices, shortens his own life.

Sins against the sixth commandment and the one who wishes death to another person, who does not help the poor and sick, who does not live peacefully and in harmony with others, but, on the contrary, harbors hatred, envy and anger towards others, starts quarrels and fights with others, upsets others. All the evil and strong sin against the sixth commandment, who offend the weak, which happens among children. The gospel law of Christ says: whoever hates his brother (neighbor) is a murderer"(John. 3 , 15).

In addition to bodily murder, there is an even more terrible and responsible murder: this is spiritual murder. There is a kind of spiritual murder temptation, that is, when someone seduces (tempts) a neighbor into unbelief or onto the path of a vicious life and thereby exposes his soul to spiritual death.

The Savior said: “Whoever offends one of these little ones who believe in Me, it would be better for him if they hung a millstone around his neck and drowned him in the depths of the sea. Woe to that person through whom the temptation comes” (Matt. 18 , 6-7).

To avoid sin against the sixth commandment, a Christian must: help the poor, serve the sick, comfort the sad, alleviate the condition of the unfortunate, treat everyone meekly and with love, reconcile with those who are angry, forgive insults, do good to enemies, and not by word or deed set a disastrous example. others, especially children.

It is impossible to equate a battle in a war with a criminal murder. War is great public evil but at the same time there is a war and great disaster allowed by the Lord to correct and admonish the people, as He allows epidemics, famine, fires and other misfortunes. Because the murder in the war of St. The Church does not consider it as a private sin of a person, especially since every soldier is ready, according to the commandment of Christ, " to lay down one's soul (to give one's life) for one's friends", to protect the faith and the fatherland.

Among the soldiers there were many saints glorified by miracles.

However, in a war there can also be criminal murders, this is when, for example, a warrior kills an enemy who surrenders, raises his hands, allows atrocities, etc.

The death penalty the criminal also refers to the social form of evil and is a great evil, but it is permissible in exceptional cases, when it is the only, in fairness, means to stop the most numerous murders and crimes. But for justice the executed execution is answered, with all severity before God, the rulers who carried out this execution. The death penalty for a hardened criminal is often the only way to repent. And without the will of God, a hair will not fall from a person's head.

God's First Testament

"Pay attention, my people, to my law," the Lord God of Hosts commanded through His chosen one and the prophet Moses on Mount Sinai:

1. I am the Lord your God... Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
2. Do not make for yourself an idol or any image of what is in the sky above, and what is on the earth below, and what is in the water below the earth.
3. Do not pronounce the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave without punishment the one who pronounces His name in vain.
4. Work for six days, and do all your work; and the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.
5. Honor your father and your mother, that your days on earth may be long.
6. Don't kill.
7. Do not commit adultery.
8. Don't steal.
9. Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. Do not covet your neighbor's house; do not covet your neighbor's wife; neither his servant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is with your neighbor.

Verily, this law is short, but these commandments speak much to anyone who can think and who wants to save his soul.

But those who do not understand this main God's law with their hearts will not be able to accept either Christ or His teachings. Whoever does not learn to swim in shallow water will not dare to swim to the depth, fearing to drown. And whoever does not learn to walk first will not be able to run, for he will fall and be broken. And whoever does not first learn to count to ten will never be able to count thousands. And whoever does not first learn to read in syllables will never master fluent speech and writing. And whoever does not first lay the foundation of the house will try in vain to build a roof.

And once again: whoever does not fulfill the commandments of God's first law will knock in vain at the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven.

This is what, it turns out, these very first commandments of God mean, if we look at them closer and think about them longer.
I am the Lord your God... Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

It means:

God is one and there are no other gods besides Him. All creatures come from Him, live by Him, and return to Him. All strength and power resides in God, and there is no strength outside of God. And the power of light, and the power of water, air, and stone is the power of God. If an ant crawls, a fish swims and a bird flies, then this is thanks to God. The ability of a seed to grow, the ability of grass to breathe, and the ability of a person to live, all come from God. All powers are the property of God, and every creature receives its power from God. The Lord gives to everyone what He needs and takes back when He needs it. Therefore, when you want to gain the ability to do something, turn only to God, for only God is the source of life-giving and mighty power. There are no sources other than Him. Pray to the Lord like this:

"God, the Gracious, the only inexhaustible Source of strength, strengthen me, the weak, so that I can better serve You. God, give me wisdom so that I do not use the strength received from You for evil, but only for the good of myself and my neighbors to magnify Your glory . Amen."

Then, in God is all wisdom, and outside of God there is neither wisdom nor a drop of knowledge. The Lord endowed every creature with a particle of His wisdom. Therefore, my brother, if you think that God gave wisdom only to man, you will be mistaken. A bee and a fly, a swallow and a stork, a tree and a stone, water and air, fire and wind have reason. The Wisdom of God abides in everything, and nothing could exist without a grain of wisdom. By the wisdom of God, the animal senses danger in advance; and the bee builds honeycombs; and the fly anticipates the rain; and the swallow builds a nest; and the stork nurses the chicks; and the tree knows how it must grow; and the stone knows how to be silent and be a crystal; and the water knows that it must flow down from the mountain, and knows how to fly in a cloud; and the fire dormant in every thing can warm and shine; and the wind knows how to blow in the right direction, blowing out rubbish and bringing health to the sick. At the same time, no one and nothing has its own wisdom, which he himself created or himself gave birth to, but all wisdom flows from the one and only source of all wisdom. And that source is in God. Therefore, when you seek wisdom, seek it only in God, for the Lord is the Source of life-giving and great Wisdom. There is no other Source besides this Source. So pray to God like this:

"God, Almighty and All-Seeing, endow me, the unwise, with Your life-giving wisdom, so that I can better serve You. And guide me, Lord, so that I do not use the knowledge given to me for evil, like Satan, but only for the good of myself and my neighbor to glorify Your name, Amen."

Then, in God - all goodness. That is why Christ said that "no one is good, except God alone." His goodness includes His mercy, patience, and forgiveness of sinners. The Lord endowed all His creation with His kindness. Therefore, in any creature of God there is Divine goodness. Even the devil has God's kindness, because of which he wishes good for himself, and not evil, but out of his stupidity he thinks that he will achieve good by evil, that is, by causing evil to all God's creatures, he does good for himself. Oh, how much goodness of God is in every God's creation! In stone, in plant, in beast, in fire, in water, in air! All this kindness is received from God - the inexhaustible, bottomless and great Source of all virtue. Therefore, when you want to become kinder, do not look for kindness anywhere but God. He alone has kindness in abundance. So pray like this:

"Good, All-Merciful and Long-Suffering God, grant me, the wicked, Thy kindness, so that from Thy kindness I rejoice and shine and be able to serve You even more and better. Lead me and support me, Lord, so that I do not direct Your kindness to evil, like Satan, but only for joy and happiness, so that I can shine with kindness and illuminate myself and all of Your creatures surrounding me with it.

"Let there be no other gods but Me," commanded the Lord. But why do you need other gods, if there is the Lord God of hosts? As soon as you have two gods, know that one of them is the devil. And you cannot serve both God and the devil at the same time, just as one ox cannot plow two fields at the same time, just as one candle cannot light up two houses at the same time. The ox does not need two masters, for they will tear it to pieces; and forests do not need two suns, for they will burn; and the ant does not need two drops of water, for he will drown in them; and a child does not need two mothers, for a "child without an eye" will remain. And you do not need two gods, because you will not become richer, but poorer. So stay alone with your only Lord of Hosts, in Whom is all strength, all wisdom and all kindness, inseparable, inexhaustible, infinite. Honor Him, the One, bow to Him, only fear Him. And when you begin to pray to Him, pray like this:

"Lord, my God, You own an innumerable number of creations, but Your creations cannot have more than one God, You, the One in Essence. Drive away, Lord, from me bad thoughts and dreams about other gods. God, cleanse my soul, illuminate it, expand and dwell in it, You, the Only One, as the King in Your palace. It will lift my spirit, strengthen me, educate, correct and renew. Glory and praise to You, the One True God, Who rises above all false deities, like a mountain top above a reflection in a puddle. Amen."

Second Commandment

Do not make for yourself an idol or any image of what is in heaven above, and what is on the earth below, and what is in the water below the earth.

It means:

Do not deify creation as the Creator. If you climbed a high mountain where you met the Lord God, why would you look back at the shadows in the puddle under the mountain? If a certain person longed to see the king and after much effort managed to stand before him, why would he then look around to the right and left at the king's servants? He can look around to the right and to the left for two reasons: either because he does not dare to stand face to face before the king, or because he thinks that the king alone cannot help him.

But why does a person not dare to stand alone before the face of the King of God? Is not that King at the same time his Father? And when a man is afraid to stand face to face with his father?

Didn't the Lord think about you, man, even before you were born? Was it not He who inaudibly touched you with His fingers in a dream and in reality, and you did not even suspect about it. Doesn't He think of you every day more than you think of yourself? Why are you afraid of him then? Verily, you fear God not as a man, but as a sinner. Sin always breeds fear. And he appears where there is no place for him or his creatures. It is sin that makes you turn your eyes away from the King and turn your eyes to the servants. Among servants sin is easy; this is his environment, where he rules and feasts. But you must know that the King is more merciful than the servants. Therefore, do not hide your eyes, but boldly look at the King, your Father. The look of the King will incinerate the sin in you. So the sunbeam destroys the harmful dirt in the water, purifying it, and the water becomes drinkable.

Or do you not believe that the King God will be able to help you, and therefore you rely on His servants?

But think for yourself: if the Lord God cannot help you, then all his servants are even less. Do not all of God's creatures expect help from God? So what kind of help from the creatures of God do you hope for? If a thirsty person cannot drink from a bubbling mountain spring, then will he get drunk, absorbing the dew from the meadow grasses, drop by drop?

Who deifies a carved face or a painted image? Only those who do not know the carver and painter. Anyone who does not believe in God or does not know about Him is forced to deify things, for a person must deify something. The Lord carved mountains and valleys, fashioned plants and animal bodies; He painted meadows and fields, clouds and lakes. The one who understands this praises the Lord as the greatest Carver and Painter, and the one who does not know this praises the very engravings and canvases of God.

But this is not the worst sin. The most terrible sin is when a person deifies what he himself created, the work of his hands and his mind. The savages carve an idol for themselves out of wood and pray and worship it. But savages are forgiven. Their savagery is their excuse. The true and eternal Lord God is merciful and indulgent towards them. Those prayers with which they turn to their wooden product, He accepts as if they were directed to Him, and sends help and protection to His unenlightened children.

Another thing is enlightened people. There are many cultured people who create something with their mind or with their hands, and consider their own creation to be a deity. There are artists who bow before their painting and worship it like a real deity. There are writers who, having written a book, will drive it into their heads that their book is the pinnacle of heaven and earth, and worship this book of theirs. There are rich people who rake up good things like a hamster for the winter, and begin to turn up their nose and look up, not noticing God and His light, worshiping their rotten, moth-eaten wealth. Where a man has all his thoughts and all his heart, there is his God.

If a certain person devotes all his thoughts and gives his whole soul to his family and does not know another god, then his family is a deity for him. It is a disease of the soul of one kind.

If a certain person devotes all his thoughts and gives all his heart to gold and silver and does not want to know another god, then gold and silver for him is a deity whom he worships day and night, until the night of death overtakes him and plunges him into darkness. This is a disease of the soul of a different kind.

If a certain person concentrates all his thoughts on rising above other people, tries at all costs to be the first, desires fame and praise, considers himself the best among all people and all creatures in heaven and on earth, then such a person - himself a deity to whom he sacrifices everything. This is a disease of the soul of the third kind.

You see, brother, only sick souls do not know the true God. And healthy souls are healthy thanks to knowledge and faith in the true one Lord God, the Creator and Ruler of all human families, all gold and silver, all mortal people on earth.

If someone writes the name of God on paper, or on a tree, or on a stone, or in snow, or in mud, then honor this paper, and this tree, and this stone, and snow, and mud for the sake of the Most Holy Name written on them. However, do not deify that on which the most holy name is written.

Or when someone depicts the face of God on anything, you bow, but know that you do not worship the matter on which the Lord is written, but the Living Great God, Whom the image reminds of.

Or when someone pronounces or sings the Name of the Lord, you bow, but know that you are worshiping not a human voice, but the Living and Mighty God, Whom the human language reminded you of.

Or when you see the greatness of the stars of heaven at night, you bow low, but bow not to the creation of the hands of God, but to the Lord Most High, Who is higher than the stars, the radiance of which reminds you of Him.

And when you kneel in the evening, pray like this:

"Lord, my God! I know You alone, I recognize and praise you always: and when the day reveals to me all Your Beauty through the beauty of Your deeds, and when the night covers everything with a dark mantle and leaves me alone with You. Amen.

Third Commandment

Do not pronounce the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave without punishment the one who pronounces His name in vain.

What?! Are there really those who dare to commemorate, without reason and need, the name that leads to trembling - the name of the Lord God Most High? When the name of God is pronounced in heaven, the heavens bow, the stars flash brighter, the Archangels and Angels sing: "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts," and the saints and saints of God fall on their faces. Then who among mortals dares to commemorate the Most Holy Name of God without spiritual trembling and without deep sighing from longing for God?

If a person is dying, give him any name, and you will not be able to cheer him up or restore peace to his soul. But when you remember one single name - the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, you will cheer up and calm him down. And the one leaving for another world with his last glance will thank you for the balm shed on his soul.

If relatives turn away from a person or friends betray him, and he realizes that he is alone in this endless world, then remember him, tired of loneliness on the way, the name of God, and you will, as it were, give him a staff for his heavy hands and feet.

If evil neighbors take up arms against someone and bring them to shackles and prison with false testimonies, bending the judges against the righteous to your side, approach the sufferer and whisper the name of the Lord in his ear. And at the same moment, tears will flow from his eyes, tears of hope and faith, and heavy shackles will seem to him easier than a fake rosary.

If someone drowns in the depths and remembers the name of God at the last moment between life and death, then his strength will be doubled.

If a scientist is trying to solve some difficult riddle of nature and, feeling that he has vainly relied on his limited mind, one day he will remember the name of God, then a sudden illumination will stir his soul, and the veil of mystery will be lifted.

The parable of the blasphemer

One goldsmith sat in his shop at a workbench and, while working, incessantly remembered the name of God in vain: either as an oath, or as a favorite word. A certain pilgrim, a haji, returning from holy places, passing by a shop, heard this, and his soul was indignant. Then he called out to the jeweler to come out into the street. And when the master left, the pilgrim hid. The jeweler, seeing no one, returned to the shop and continued to work. Hadji called him again, and when the jeweler came out, he pretended not to know anything. The master, angry, returned to his room and began to work again. Hadji called out to him for the third time, and when the master came out again, he again stood in silence, pretending that he had nothing to do with it. Then the jeweler in a rage attacked the pilgrim:

Why are you calling me in vain? What a joke! I have work up to my throat!

Hadji calmly replied:

Truly, the Lord God has even more work to do, but you call on Him much more often than I do you. Who has the right to be more angry: you or the Lord God?

The jeweler, ashamed, returned to the workshop and has kept his mouth shut ever since.

So let, brothers, the name of the Lord, like an unquenchable lamp, unceasingly flicker in the soul, in thoughts and heart, let it be on the mind, but not on the tongue without a significant and solemn occasion.

The Parable of the Slave

There lived in the house of a white master a black slave, a meek and pious Christian. The white master used to, in anger, scold and slander the name of God. And the white gentleman had a dog, which he loved very much. Once it happened that the owner became terribly angry and began to vilify and blaspheme God. Then the torment of death seized the negro, he grabbed the master's dog and let's smear it with mud. Seeing this, the owner shouted:

What are you doing with my beloved dog?!

The same as you with the Lord God, - the slave answered peacefully.

Parable about foul language

In Serbia, in one hospital, from morning to evening, bypassing the sick, a doctor and a paramedic worked. The paramedic had an evil tongue, and he constantly, like a dirty rag, whipped anyone he remembered. His dirty scolding did not spare even the Lord God

Once the doctor was visited by his friend, who came from afar. The doctor invited him to attend the operation. The paramedic was with the doctor.

The guest felt sick at the sight of a terrible wound, from which pus flowed with a murderous smell. And the paramedic, without ceasing, scolded. Then a friend asked the doctor:

How can you listen to such blasphemous abuse?

The doctor replied:

My friend, I am used to festering wounds. Pus should flow from festering wounds. If pus has accumulated in the body, it flows out of an open wound. If pus accumulates in the soul, it flows out through the mouth. My paramedic, scolding, only reveals the evil accumulated in the soul, and pours it out of his soul, like pus from a wound.

O Almighty, why does not even an ox scold you, but a man scolds you? Why did You create an ox with a mouth that is purer than that of a man?

O All-Merciful One, why do not even frogs revile You, but man reviles You? Why did You create a frog with a nobler voice than a man?

O All-Suffering One, why do not even snakes blaspheme You, but a man blasphemes? Why did You create a snake more like an angel than a man?

O most beautiful one, why does not even the wind that rushes over the earth far and wide carry Your name on its wings without a reason, and why does a person pronounce it in vain? Why is the wind more God-fearing than man?

O marvelous name of God! How omnipotent, how beautiful, how sweet! May my lips be silent forever if they pronounce it casually, ordinaryly, in vain.

Fourth Commandment

Work six days, and do all your work; and the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.

It means:

The Creator created for six days, and on the seventh day He rested from His labors. Six days are temporary, vain and short-lived, and the seventh is eternal, peaceful and durable. By the creation of the world, the Lord God entered into time, but did not leave eternity. This mystery is great... (Eph. 5:32), and it is more fitting to think about it than to speak about it, for it is not accessible to everyone, but only to God's chosen ones.

The chosen ones of God, being fleshly in time, rise in their spirit to the heights of the world, where there is eternal peace and bliss.

And you, brother, work and rest. Work hard, for God also worked; rest, for the Lord also rested. And let your work be creation, for you are a child of the Creator. Do not destroy, but create!

Consider your work as cooperation with God. So you will not do evil, but only good. Before doing anything, think about whether the Lord will do it, because, basically, the Lord does everything, and we only help Him.

All of God's creatures are working unceasingly. May this give you strength in your work. Getting up early in the morning, look, the sun has already done a lot. And the sun, and water, and air, and plants, and animals. Your idleness will be an insult to the world and a sin before God.

Your heart and lungs work day and night. Why don't your hands do the same? And your kidneys work day and night. Why not work on your brain too?

The stars rush across the expanses of the universe, faster than a galloping horse. So why would you indulge in idleness and laziness?

The Parable of a Great Inheritance

In one city there lived a rich merchant, and he had three sons. He was a worthy merchant, and through hard work he managed to amass a huge fortune. When asked why he needed such wealth and so much trouble, he answered: "I suffer in order to provide for my sons so that they do not suffer." Hearing this, his sons became lazy and stopped working altogether, and after the death of their father, they began to spend the wealth accumulated by their father. The father wanted to come from the other world to see how his sons live without labor and worries. The Lord God let him go, and he went down to his native city and went to his house.

But when he knocked on the gate, a stranger opened it for him. The merchant asked about his sons and heard in response that his sons were in hard labor. Idleness brought them to a quarrel, and the quarrel led to the burning of the house and the murder

Alas, - the father, distraught with grief, sighed, - I wanted to create a paradise for my children, but I myself created hell for them.

And the unfortunate father began to walk around the city and teach all parents:

Don't be as crazy as I was. Because of the immense love for my children, I myself pushed them into hell. Do not leave any possessions to the children, brethren. Teach them to work, and leave it to them as a legacy. Distribute all other wealth to the poor before your death. Truly, there is nothing more dangerous and pernicious for the soul than to inherit a large fortune. Be sure that the devil rejoices in a rich inheritance more than an angel, for nothing else does the devil spoil people so easily and quickly, as with a large inheritance.

Therefore, brother, work hard and teach your children to work. And when you work, do not look for only profit, benefit and success in work. Better find in your work the beauty and pleasure that labor itself gives.

For one chair that the carpenter will make, he can get ten dinars, or fifty, or a hundred. But the beauty of the product and the pleasure from the work that the carpenter feels, strict with inspiration, gluing and polishing the wood, does not pay off with anything. This pleasure is reminiscent of the highest pleasure that the Lord experienced at the creation of the world, when He inspiredly "planed, glued and polished" it. The whole of God's world could have its own price and could pay off, but its beauty and the pleasure of the Creator at the Creation of the world have no price.

Know that you humiliate your work if you think only about the material benefit from it. Know that such work is not given to a person, he will not succeed, will not bring him the expected profit. And the tree will be angry with you and resist you if you work on it not out of love, but for profit. And the earth will hate you if you plow it without thinking about its beauty, but only about your profit from it. Iron will burn you, water will drown you, stone will crush you if you look at them not with love, but in everything you see only your ducats and dinars.

Work without selfishness, as the nightingale unselfishly sings its songs. And so the Lord God will go forward in His work, and you will follow Him. If you run past God and rush forward, leaving God behind, your work will bring you a curse, not a blessing.

And on the seventh day, rest.

How do you rest? Look, rest can only be close to God and in God. Nowhere else in this world can one find true rest, for this light seethes like a whirlpool.

Dedicate the seventh day entirely to God, and then you will truly rest and be filled with new strength.

All seventh day think about God, talk about God, read about God, listen to God and pray to God. So you will truly rest and be filled with new strength.

The parable of the labors on Sunday

A certain person did not honor the commandment of God about the celebration of the Sunday and continued the Sabbath labors on Sunday. And while the whole village was resting, he worked up to a seventh sweat in the field with his oxen, which he also did not allow to rest. On Wednesday, however, he became exhausted, and his oxen also weakened; and when the whole village went out into the field, he remained at home, tired, gloomy and desperate.

Therefore, brothers, do not become like this man, so as not to lose strength, health and soul. On the contrary, work for six days, helping the Lord, with love, pleasure and reverence, and devote the seventh day entirely to God. From my own experience, I was convinced that the correct celebration of Sunday inspires, renews and makes a person happy.

Fifth Commandment

Honor your father and your mother, that your days on earth may be long.

It means:

Before you knew the Lord God, your parents knew Him. This alone is enough for you to bow to them and give them praise and respect. Bow down and give praise to everyone who has known the Highest Good in this world before you.

The parable of the young man

A wealthy young Indian was passing with his entourage through the passes of the Hindu Kush. In the mountains he met a certain old man grazing goats. The beggar old man stepped down to the side of the road and bowed to the rich youth. And the young man jumped off his elephant and prostrated himself before the old man. The elder was amazed at this, and the people from his retinue were also amazed. And he said to the old man:

I bow before your eyes, for they saw this light, the creation of the Most High, before mine. I bow before your lips, for they uttered His holy name before mine. I bow before your heart, because it trembled before mine from the joyful realization that the Father of all people on earth is the King of Heaven.

Honor your father and your mother, for your path from birth to this day is watered with mother's tears and father's sweat. They loved you even when you, weak and dirty, disgusted everyone else. They will love you even when everyone hates you. And when everyone throws stones at you, your mother will throw you immortelle and basil - symbols of holiness.

Your father loves you, although he knows all your shortcomings. And others hated you, although they only knew your virtues.

Your parents love you with reverence, for they anticipate that you are a gift from God entrusted to them for preservation and upbringing. No one except your parents is able to see the mystery of God in you. Their love for you has a holy root in eternity.

Through their tenderness towards you, your parents comprehend the tenderness of the Lord towards all His children.

Just as spurs remind a horse of a good trot, so your harshness towards your parents encourages them to take even more care of you.

Parable about father's love

A certain son, corrupted and cruel, rushed at his father and plunged a knife into his chest. And the father, breathing his last, said to his son:

Quickly wipe the blood off the knife so you don't get caught and put on trial.

Parable about mother's love

In the Russian steppe, one immoral son tied his mother in front of a tent, and in the tent he drank with promenading women and his people. A gang of robbers stumbled upon them and, seeing their mother bound, decided to immediately avenge her. But then the bound mother shouted at the top of her voice and thereby gave a sign to the unfortunate son that he was in danger. And the son was saved, and instead of the son, the robbers killed the mother.

Parable about the father

In Tehran, a Persian city, an old father lived in the same house with two daughters. The daughters did not listen to their father's advice and laughed at him. By their bad deeds they have soiled the honor of their father. One evening, the daughters, thinking that their father was asleep, agreed to prepare poison and give it to him in the morning with tea. And my father heard everything and wept bitterly all night and prayed to God. In the morning, the daughters brought tea and placed it in front of him. Then the father said:

I am aware of your intention and will leave you as you wish. But I want to leave not with your sin to save your souls, but with mine.

Having said this, the father overturned the bowl of poison and left the house.

Son, do not be proud of your knowledge before your uneducated father, for his love is worth more than your knowledge. Think that if it were not for him, there would be neither you nor your knowledge.

Daughter, do not be proud of your beauty before your hunched mother, for her heart is more beautiful than your face. Remember that both you and your beauty came out of her emaciated body.

Day and night develop in yourself, son, reverence for your mother, for only in this way will you learn to revere all other mothers on earth.

Verily, children, you do little if you honor your father and mother and despise other fathers and mothers. Respect for your parents should become for you a school of respect for all men and all women who give birth in pain, raise in the sweat of their brow, and love their children in suffering. Remember this and live according to this commandment so that the Lord God will bless you on earth.

Verily, children, you do little if you honor only the persons of your father and mother, but not their work, not their time, not their contemporaries. Think that by respecting your parents, you honor their work, and their era, and their contemporaries. So you will kill in yourself the fatal and stupid habit of despising the past. Children, believe that the days given at your disposal are not dearer and closer to the Lord than the days of those who lived before you. If you are proud of your time before the past, do not forget that you will not have time to blink an eye when grass will grow over your graves, your era, your bodies and deeds, and others will laugh at you as if they were a backward past.

Any time is filled with mothers and fathers, pain, sacrifices, love, hope and faith in God. Therefore, any time is worthy of respect.

The sage bows with reverence before all past epochs, as well as before the future ones. For the wise know what the fool does not, namely, that his time is but a minute on the clock. Look, children, at the clock; listen to how minute after minute flows, and tell me which of the minutes is better, longer and more important than the others?

Get on your knees, children, and pray to God with me:

"Lord, Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother, glory to You that You commanded us to honor our father and mother on earth. Help us, Omnipotent, through this veneration learn to respect all men and women on earth, Your precious children. And help us, All-Wise , through this, learn not to despise, but to honor the previous epochs and generations, which before us saw Your glory, pronounced Your holy name and disappeared in the dust before Your shining throne.Amen.

sixth commandment

Dont kill.

And this means:

God breathed life from His Life into every created being. Life is the most precious wealth given by God. Therefore, one who encroaches on any life on earth raises his hand on the most precious gift of God, more than that - on the very Life of God. All of us living today are only temporary bearers of the Life of God in ourselves, keepers of the most precious gift that belongs to God. Therefore, we do not have the right, and we cannot take away the Life borrowed from God, either from ourselves or from others.

First, we don't have the right to kill;

Second, we cannot kill life.

If a clay pot happens to be broken in the marketplace, the potter will become furious and demand compensation for the loss. In truth, a person is also created from the same cheap material as a pot, but what is hidden in it is priceless. This is the soul that creates a person from within, and the Spirit of God, which gives life to the soul.

Neither father nor mother have the right to take the life of their children, for it is not the parents who give life, but God through the parents. And since parents do not give life, they have no right to take it away.

But if parents who work so hard to put their children on their feet do not have the right to take their lives, how can those who accidentally bump into their children along the way of life have such a right?

If you happen to break a pot in the bazaar, it will hurt not the pot, but the potter who made it. In the same way, if a person is killed, it is not the person who is killed who feels the pain, but the Lord God, who created man, exalted and breathed in His Spirit.

So if the one who breaks the pot must compensate the potter for his loss, how much more must the murderer compensate God for the life he has taken. Even if people don't demand restitution, God will. Murderer, do not deceive yourself: even if people forget about your crime, God cannot forget. Look, there are things that even the Lord cannot. For example, He cannot forget about your crime. Remember this always, remember in your anger before you grab a knife or a gun.

On the other hand, we cannot kill life. To completely kill life would be to kill God, for life belongs to God. Who can kill God? You can break a pot, but you cannot destroy the clay from which it was made. In the same way, it is possible to crush a person's body, but it is impossible to break, or burn, or dispel, or spill his soul and his Spirit.

The Parable of the Vizier

A certain terrible, bloodthirsty vizier ruled in Constantinople, whose favorite pastime was to watch every day how the executioner flogs heads in front of his palace. And on the streets of Constantinople lived one holy fool, a righteous man and a prophet, whom all people considered God's saint. One morning, when the executioner was executing another unfortunate man in front of the vizier, an old beggar stood under his windows and began to swing an iron hammer to the right and left.

What are you doing? the vizier asked.

The same as you, - the old man answered.

Like this? the vizier asked again.

Yes, the old man replied. - I'm trying to kill the wind with this hammer. And you're trying to kill life with a knife. My labor is in vain, as is yours. You, vizier, cannot kill life, just as I cannot kill the wind.

The vizier silently retired to the dark chambers of his palace and did not let anyone in. For three days he did not eat, did not drink, and did not see anyone. And on the fourth day he called his friends together and said:

Truly the man of God is right. I acted stupid. Life cannot be destroyed, just as the wind cannot be killed.

The Parable of the Murdered Neighbor

In America, in the city of Chicago, two men lived next door. One of them was seduced by the wealth of his neighbor, made his way to his house at night and cut off his head, then put the money in his bosom and went home. But as soon as he went out into the street, he saw a murdered neighbor who was walking towards him. Only on the shoulders of the neighbor was not his head, but the own head of his killer. Terrified, the murderer crossed to the other side of the street and started to run, but the neighbor again appeared in front of him and walked towards him, looking like him, like a reflection in a mirror. The killer broke out in a cold sweat. Somehow he got to his house and barely survived the night. However, the next night, the neighbor again appeared to him with his own head. And so it was every night. Then the killer took the stolen money and threw it into the river. But that didn't help either. Neighbor from night to night appeared to him. The murderer surrendered to the court, admitted his guilt and was exiled to hard labor. But even in the dungeon the killer could not close his eyes, for every night he saw his neighbor with his own head on his shoulders. In the end, he began to ask one old priest to pray to God for him, a sinner, and to give him communion. The priest replied that, before praying and taking communion, he must make one confession. The convict replied that he had already confessed to the murder of his neighbor. "Not that," the priest told him. "You must see, understand, and admit that your neighbor's life is your own life. And by killing him, you also killed yourself. That's why you see your head on the body of the murdered. By this God gives you a sign that your life, and the life of your neighbor, and the life of all people together, are one and the same life.

The convict thought. After much thought, he understood and admitted everything. Then he prayed to God and took communion. And then the spirit of the murdered person ceased to haunt him, and he began to spend days and nights in repentance and prayer, telling the rest of the condemned about the miracle that had been revealed to him, namely, that a person cannot kill another without killing himself.

Behold, brethren, how terrible are the consequences of murder. If this could be described to all people, there would truly be no madman who would encroach on someone else's life.

God awakens the conscience of the murderer, and his own conscience begins to grind him from the inside, as a worm under the bark grinds a tree. Conscience gnaws, and beats, and rumbles, and roars like a mad lioness, and the unfortunate criminal does not find rest day or night, neither in the mountains nor in the valleys, nor in this life nor in the grave. It would be easier for a person if his skull were opened and a swarm of bees settled inside, than an impure, disturbed conscience would settle in his head.

Therefore, brothers, God forbade people, for the sake of their own peace and happiness, to kill.

"O Lord, the Good, how sweet and useful is every Thy commandment! O Lord Almighty, save Thy servant from an evil deed and a avenging conscience, to glorify and praise You forever and ever. Amen."

seventh commandment

Don't commit adultery.

And this means:

Do not have an illegal relationship with a woman. Indeed, in this, animals are more obedient to God than many people.

Adultery destroys a person physically and mentally. Adulterers are usually twisted like a bow before old age and end their lives in wounds, agony and madness. The most terrible and most evil diseases that are known to medicine are diseases that multiply and spread among people through adultery. The body of the adulterer is constantly in disease, like a stinking puddle, from which everyone turns away in disgust and runs with their noses pinched.

But if evil concerned only those who do this evil, the problem would not be so terrible. However, it is simply terrible when you think that the children of adulterers inherit the diseases of their parents: sons and daughters, and even grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Verily, the disease from adultery is the scourge of mankind, as the phylloxera aphid is to the vineyard. These diseases, more than any other, are dragging humanity back into decline.

The picture is scary enough, if we mean only bodily pains and deformities, rotting and decay of the flesh from bad diseases. But the picture is completed, it becomes even more terrible and gets on the nerves when spiritual deformity is added to bodily deformities, as a consequence of the sin of adultery. From this evil, the spiritual forces of a person are weakened and upset. The patient loses the sharpness, depth and height of thought that he had before the illness. He is confused, forgetful and feels constantly tired. He is no longer capable of any serious work. His character completely changes, and he indulges in all sorts of vices: drunkenness, gossip, lies, theft, and so on. He has a terrible hatred for everything good, decent, honest, bright, prayerful, spiritual, divine. He hates good people and tries his best to harm them, slander them, slander them, harm them. Like a true misanthrope, he is also a God-hater. He hates all laws, both human and God's, and therefore hates all legislators and keepers of the law. He becomes a persecutor of order, goodness, will, holiness and ideal. He is like a fetid puddle for society, which rots and stinks, and infects everything around. His body is pus, and his soul is also pus.

That is why, brothers, God, who knows everything and foresees everything, has imposed a ban on adultery, fornication, extramarital affairs between people.

Young people especially need to beware of this evil and shun it like a poisonous viper. The people where the youth indulges in licentiousness and "free love" has no future. Such a nation will in time have more and more deformed, stupid and feeble generations, until finally it will be captured by a healthier people who will come to subdue it.

The Holy Scripture speaks of the fall of two cities, Sodom and Gomorrah, in which it was impossible to find even ten righteous people and virgins. For this, the Lord God brought down on them a fiery rain with sulfur, and both cities immediately fell asleep, as if in a grave.

In southern Italy, there still exists a place called Pompeii, once a rich and luxurious city, but now only a miserable ruin, where people gather to look and shudder with horror. And the fate of Pompeii, in short, is this: wealth has brought this city to such an immoral life, which, probably, the world does not remember. And suddenly the punishment of God overtook the city. Once Mount Vesuvius opened up near Pompeii, a volcano woke up, and a fiery rain of ash and sulfur began to cover the city with all its inhabitants, until it fell asleep at home to the roofs, burying Pompeii under the ashes, like a dead man in a grave.

May the Lord Almighty help you, brethren, not to slip into the dangerous path of adultery. May your Guardian Angel keep peace and love in your home.

May the Mother of God inspire your sons and daughters with Her Divine chastity, so that sin does not stain their bodies and souls, but they are pure and bright, so that the Holy Spirit can fit into them and breathe into them what is divine, what is from God. Amen.

eighth commandment

Don't steal.

And this means:

Do not grieve your neighbor by disrespecting his property rights. Don't do what foxes and mice do if you think you're better than a fox and a mouse. The fox steals without knowing the law on theft; and the mouse gnaws at the barn, not realizing that it is harming someone. Both the fox and the mouse understand only their own need, but not someone else's loss. They are not given to understand, but you are given. Therefore, you are not forgiven what is forgiven for a fox and a mouse. Your benefit must always be under the law, and it must not be to the detriment of your neighbor.

Brethren, only the ignorant go to theft, that is, those who do not know the two main truths of this life:

The first truth is that man cannot steal.

The second truth is that a person cannot benefit from stealing.

"Like this?" many nations will ask, and many ignoramuses will be surprised.

That's how:

Our universe is many. She is all strewn with an abundance of eyes, like a plum tree in springtime, completely covered with white flowers. Some of these eyes people see and feel on themselves their views, but they neither see nor feel a significant part. An ant crawling in the grass does not feel the gaze of a sheep grazing above him, nor the gaze of a person watching him. In the same way, people do not feel the views of the innumerable number of higher beings who are watching us at every step of our life path. There are millions and millions of spirits who keep a close eye on what is happening on every inch of the earth. How then can a thief steal without being noticed? How then can a thief steal without being discovered? You can't put your hand in your pocket without millions of witnesses seeing it. It is all the more impossible to stick one's hand into someone else's pocket so that millions of higher forces do not raise the alarm. He who understands this asserts that a person cannot steal unnoticed and with impunity. This is the first truth.

Another truth is that a person cannot benefit from theft, for how can he use stolen goods if invisible eyes have seen everything and pointed to him. And if he was pointed out, then the secret will become clear, and the name "thief" will stick to him until his death. The powers of heaven can point out a thief in a thousand ways.

The Parable of the Fishermen

On the bank of one river lived two fishermen with their families. One had many children and the other was childless. Every evening both fishermen cast their nets and went to sleep. For some time now, it has become so that in the nets of a fisherman with many children there always turned out to be two or three fish, and in a childless one - in abundance. A childless fisherman, out of mercy, pulled out several fish from his full net and gave them to a neighbor. This went on for quite a long time, perhaps a whole year. While one of them grew rich trading fish, the other barely made ends meet, sometimes not even being able to buy bread for his children.

"What's the matter?" complained the poor man. But then one day, when he was sleeping, the truth was revealed to him. A certain man appeared to him in a dream in a dazzling radiance, like an angel of God, and said: "Quickly get up and go to the river. There you will see why you are poor. But when you see, do not give vent to anger."

Caught red-handed, the neighbor was simply numb with fear. When he came to his senses, he threw himself at the feet of the poor fisherman and exclaimed: "Truly, the Lord pointed out to you my crime. It is hard for me, a sinner!" And he gave half of his wealth to the poor fisherman, so that he would not tell people about him and send him to prison.

The Parable of the Merchant

In one Arab city lived a merchant Ishmael. Whenever he released goods to customers, he always shortchanged them for a few drachmas. And his condition greatly increased. However, his children were sick, and he spent a lot of money on doctors and medicines. And the more he spent on the treatment of children, the more he deceived his customers. But the more he deceived customers, the more his children got sick.

Ishmael rushed as if he had been pierced by a sword. And he began to bitterly repent of his grave sin. Since then, Ishmael began not only to weigh correctly, but always added a surplus. And his children returned to health.

In addition, brethren, a stolen thing constantly reminds a person that it has been stolen and that it is not his property.

The Parable of the Clock

One guy stole a pocket watch and wore it for a month. After that, he returned the watch to the owner, confessed his misdeed and said:

Whenever I took my watch out of my pocket and looked at it, I heard it say: "We are not yours; you are a thief!"

The Lord God knew that theft would make both unhappy: the one who stole and the one from whom it was stolen. And so that people, His sons, would not be unhappy, the All-Wise Lord gave us this commandment: do not steal.

"We thank You, Lord, our God, for this commandment, which we really need for the sake of peace of mind and our happiness. Command, Lord, Your fire, let it burn our hands if they reach out to steal. Command, Lord, Your snakes, let them wrap themselves around our feet if they go to steal. But, most importantly, we pray to You, Almighty, cleanse our hearts from thieving thoughts and our spirit from thieving thoughts. Amen."

ninth commandment

Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.

And this means:

Do not be deceitful either towards yourself or towards others. If you lie about yourself, you yourself know that you are lying. But if you slander someone else, that other person knows that you are slandering about him.

When you praise yourself and show off to people, people do not know that you are falsely testifying about yourself, but you yourself know it. But if you start repeating these lies about yourself, people will eventually realize that you are deceiving them. However, if you start repeating the same lies about yourself over and over again, people will know that you are lying, but then you yourself will begin to believe in your lies. Thus lies will become truth for you, and you will become accustomed to lies, as a blind man becomes accustomed to darkness.

When you slander another person, that person knows that you are lying. This is the first witness against you. And you know you're slandering him. So you are the second witness against yourself. And the Lord God is the third witness. Therefore, whenever you bear false witness against your neighbor, know that three witnesses will be brought against you: God, your neighbor, and yourself. And be sure, one of these three witnesses will expose you to the whole world.

This is how the Lord God can expose false evidence against a neighbor.

Parable of the slanderer

Two neighbors, Luka and Ilya, lived in the same village. Luka could not stand Ilya, because Ilya was a correct, hard-working person, and Luka was a drunkard and a lazy person. In a fit of hatred, Luke went to court and reported that Ilya had spoken swear words against the king. Ilya defended himself as best he could, and in the end, turning to Luke, he said: "God willing, the Lord Himself will reveal your lie against me." However, the court sent Ilya to prison, and Luka returned home.

Approaching his house, he heard crying in the house. From a terrible foreboding, the blood froze in the veins, for Luke remembered the curse of Elijah. When he entered the house, he was horrified. His old father, having fallen into the fire, burned his eyes and his whole face. When Luca saw this, he became speechless and could neither speak nor cry. At dawn the next day, he went to court and admitted that he had slandered Ilya. The judge immediately released Ilya, and punished Luka for perjury. So Luke suffered two punishments for one sin: both from God and from people.

And here is an example of how your neighbor can expose your perjury.

Parable of the false witness

There was a butcher in Nice named Anatole. Some rich but dishonest merchant bribed him to give false evidence against his neighbor Emil, that he, Anatole, saw Emil doused with kerosene and set fire to the merchant's house. And Anatole testified to this in court and swore an oath. Emil was convicted. But he swore that when he served his sentence, he would live only in order to prove that Anatole had perjured himself.

Emil was a sensible man and soon amassed a thousand Napoleons. He decided that he would give all this thousand in order to force Anatole to confess to witnesses in his slander. First of all, Emil found people who knew Anatole and made such a plan. They were supposed to invite Anatole to dinner, give him a good drink and then tell him that they needed a witness who would testify under oath at the trial that a certain innkeeper was harboring robbers.

The plan was a success. Anatole was told the essence of the matter, laid out in front of him a thousand golden Napoleons and asked if he could find a reliable person who would show what they needed in court. Anatole's eyes lit up when he saw a pile of gold in front of him, and he immediately declared that he himself would take up this matter. Then the friends pretended to doubt whether he would be able to do everything as it should be, whether he would be frightened, whether he would be confused in court. Anatole began to ardently convince them that he could. And then they asked him if he had ever done such things and how successfully? Unaware of the trap, Anatole admitted that there was such a case when he was paid for false testimony against Emil, who as a result was sent to hard labor.

Having heard everything they needed, the friends went to Emil and told him everything. The next morning, Emil filed a complaint with the court. Anatole was tried and sent to hard labor. Thus, the inevitable punishment of God overtook the slanderer and restored the good name of a decent person.

And here is another example of how the perjurer himself confessed to his crime.

The parable of the slandered girl

In the same town lived two guys, two friends, Georgy and Nikola. Both were unmarried. And both fell in love with the same girl, the daughter of a poor craftsman who had seven daughters, all unmarried. The eldest was called Flora. Both friends looked at this Flora. But George was faster. He wooed Flora and asked a friend to be the best man. Nicola was overcome with such envy that he decided at all costs to prevent their wedding. And he began to dissuade George from marrying Flora, because, according to him, she was a dishonorable girl and walked with many. The words of a friend struck George like a sharp knife, and he began to assure Nicola that this could not be. Then Nikola said that he himself had a connection with Flora. George believed a friend, went to her parents and refused to marry. Soon the whole city knew about it. A shameful stain fell on the whole family. The sisters began to reproach Flora. And she, in despair, not being able to justify herself, threw herself into the sea and drowned.

About a year later, Nikola walked into the church on Maundy Thursday and heard the priest calling parishioners for communion. "But let thieves, liars, perjurers and those who sully the honor of an innocent girl not come to the Chalice. It would be better for them to take fire into themselves than the Blood of a pure and innocent Jesus Christ," he finished.

Hearing these words, Nikola trembled like an aspen leaf. Immediately after the service, he asked the priest to confess him, which the priest did. Nicola confessed everything and asked what he should do to save himself from the reproaches of an unclean conscience that gnawed at him like a hungry lioness. The priest advised him, if he was really ashamed of his sin and afraid of punishment, to tell about his offense publicly, through the newspaper.

The whole night Nikola did not sleep, gathering all his courage to repent publicly. The next morning he wrote about everything he had done, namely, how he had thrown a stain on the respectable family of a respectable artisan and how he had lied to his friend. At the end of the letter, he added: "I will not go to court. The court will not condemn me to death, and I deserve only death. Therefore, I sentence myself to death." And the next day he hanged himself.

“O Lord, Righteous God, how unfortunate are people who do not follow Your holy commandment and do not bridle their sinful heart and tongue with an iron bridle. God, help me, a sinner, not to sin against the truth. Wise me with Your truth, Jesus, Son God, incinerate all the lies in my heart, as a gardener burns the nests of caterpillars on fruit trees in the garden. Amen.

tenth commandment

Do not covet your neighbor's house; do not covet your neighbor's wife; neither his servant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is with your neighbor.

And this means:

As soon as you desired someone else's, you have already fallen into sin. Now the question is, will you come to your senses, will you catch yourself, or will you continue to roll down the inclined plane where your desire has led you?

Desire is the seed of sin. A sinful act is already a harvest from the seed sown and grown.

Note the differences between this, the tenth commandment of the Lord, and the previous nine. In the previous nine commandments, the Lord God prevents your sinful deeds, that is, does not allow the harvest from the seed of sin to grow. And in this tenth commandment, the Lord looks into the root of sin and does not allow you to sin even in your thoughts. This commandment serves as a bridge between the Old Testament, given by God through the prophet Moses, and the New Testament, given by God through Jesus Christ, because when you read the New Testament, you will see that the Lord no longer commands people not to kill with their hands, not to commit adultery with the flesh, not to steal hands, do not lie with the tongue. On the contrary, He descends into the depths of the human soul and obliges not to kill even in thoughts, not to imagine adultery even in thoughts, not to steal even in thoughts, not to lie in silence.

So, the tenth commandment serves as a transition to the Law of Christ, which is more moral, higher and more important than the Law of Moses.

Do not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor. For as soon as you desired someone else's, you have already sowed the seed of evil in your heart, and the seed will grow, and grow, and grow, and grow strong, and branch, leading your hands, and your feet, and your eyes, and your tongue to sin. and your whole body. For the body, brethren, is the executive organ of the soul. The body only obeys the orders given by the soul. What the soul wants, the body must fulfill, and what the soul does not want, the body will not fulfill.

Which plant, brothers, grows the fastest? Fern, right? But the desire sown in the human heart grows faster than a fern. Today it will grow just a little bit, tomorrow - already twice as much, the day after tomorrow - four times, after the day after tomorrow - sixteen times, and so on.

If today you envy your neighbor's house, tomorrow you will begin to make plans to appropriate it, the day after tomorrow you will begin to demand from him that he give you his house, and the day after tomorrow you will take away his house or set it on fire.

If today you looked at his wife with lust, tomorrow you will begin to figure out how to kidnap her, the day after tomorrow you will enter into an illegal relationship with her, and after tomorrow you will plan, together with her, to kill your neighbor and possess his wife.

If today you desired your neighbor's ox, tomorrow you will desire this ox twice as much, the day after tomorrow four times as much, and after the day after tomorrow you will steal the ox from him. And if a neighbor accuses you of stealing his ox, you will swear in court that the ox is yours.

This is how sinful deeds grow from sinful thoughts. And again, note that whoever tramples on this tenth commandment will break one by one the other nine commandments.

Listen to my one advice: try to fulfill this last commandment of God, and it will be easier for you to fulfill all the others. Believe me, one whose heart is filled with evil desires so darkens his soul that he becomes unable to believe in the Lord God, and to work at a certain time, and to keep Sunday, and to honor his parents. In truth, it is true for all the commandments: if you break at least one, you break all ten.

Parable of sinful thoughts

One righteous man named Laurus left his village and went to the mountains, eradicating from his soul all his desires, except for the desire to devote himself to God and enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Laurus spent several years fasting and praying, thinking only of God. When he returned to the village again, all the villagers marveled at his holiness. And everyone revered him as a true man of God. And there lived in that village someone named Thaddeus, who envied Laurus and told his fellow villagers that he could become the same as Laurus. Then Thaddeus retired to the mountains and began to exhaust himself with fasting in solitude. However, a month later, Thaddeus returned. And when the villagers asked what he was doing all this time, he replied:

I killed, I stole, I lied, I slandered people, I exalted myself, I committed adultery, I set houses on fire.

How can it be if you were there alone?

Yes, I was alone in body, but in soul and heart I was always among people, and what I could not do with my hands, feet, tongue and body, I did mentally in my soul.

So, brethren, a man can sin even in solitude. Despite the fact that a bad person will leave the society of people, his sinful desires, his dirty soul and impure thoughts will not leave him.

Therefore, brothers, let us pray to God to help us to fulfill this last commandment of His, and thereby prepare to listen, understand and accept God's New Testament, that is, the testament of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

"Lord, my God, the Great and Terrible Lord, Great in His deeds, Terrible in His inevitable truth! Give us a share of Your strength, Your wisdom and Your good will in order to live according to this holy and great commandment of Yours. Strangle, God every sinful desire in the heart before it begins to choke us.

O Lord of the world, saturate our souls and bodies with Your strength, for by our strength we can do nothing; and your wisdom, for our wisdom is foolishness and confusion of mind; and Your will, for our will, without Your good will, always serves evil. Draw near to us, O Lord, that we may draw near to You. Bend down to us, O God, that we may rise up to Thee.

Plant, Lord, Your holy Law in our hearts, plant, graft, water, and let it grow, branch, bloom and bear fruit, for if You leave us alone with Your Law, without You we will not be able to make friends with it.

May Your name be glorified, O One Lord, and may we honor Moses, Your chosen one and prophet, through whom You gave us this clear and powerful Testament.

Help us, Lord, to learn word for word this First Testament, so that through it we can prepare for the Great and Glorious Testament of Your Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ, our Savior, to whom, together with You and with the life-giving Holy Spirit, eternal glory, and song, and worship from generation from generation to century, from century to century, until the end of the world, until the Last Judgment, until the separation of unrepentant sinners from the righteous, until victory over Satan, until the destruction of his kingdom of darkness and the shining of Your Eternal Kingdom over all kingdoms known to the mind and visible to the human eye. Amen".

Commandment Eight

“Do not steal” (Ex. 20:15)

Any display of intemperance towards the property of another person or group of people is hateful to God. Man's property is holy in God's eyes, and He protects it from encroachment with the commandment: "Thou shalt not steal." The eighth commandment protects a person's right to property.

The causes of theft are internal and external. Internal causes include unbelief and greed. Man does not believe in God's care and in the goodness of the Almighty. The unbeliever asks, "Will God take care of me?" “No,” he answers to himself and takes care of arranging the house and family on himself, but he does it at the expense of others. Greed is manifested in dissatisfaction with what is, an exorbitant desire to have more and more leads to theft.

There is only one external reason - the instigation of Satan. Judas was a thief because he was originally the son of perdition. Satan says that the thieves' life is full of romance, and thieves are brave people, their wallets are not empty. As crows flock to carrion, so thieves flock to unrighteous bread.

God does not accept theft in any way. An official who takes bribes is a thief. A dishonest seller steals from a buyer: “... open the barns, reduce the measure, increase the price of the shekel, and deceive with false weights” (Amos 8:5).

Lightening weights, the seller makes money and loses his soul. Greed towards a brother is theft. “... so that you do nothing with your brother ... self-interestedly: because The Lord is the avenger for all this...» (1 Thessalonians 4:6).

An administrator or employer who does not pay wages on time is a thief. " The wages of a hired hand shall not remain with you until the morning” (Lev. 19:13). The usurer, who lends money on interest, knits the victim with seeming help.

Borrowing money and not knowing how to return it later, simply steals: “The wicked borrows and does not repay…” (Ps. 36:21). The one who uses the services of a thief (buying stolen goods) also steals. A tree without water will dry up, and a thief without selling stolen goods will not steal.

What makes theft even more base and disgusting? - theft without need, when everything is there, but the soul craves: more and more is needed.

Why does this command exist? First, to protect property rights. The idea of public ownership or common ownership does not fit with the teachings of the Bible. “When you come into your neighbor's harvest... you shall not bring a sickle into your neighbor's harvest” (Deut. 23:25).

Property is sacred. The Lord erected the eighth commandment as a protective fence, and it is impossible to overcome it without committing a sin.

Secondly, to prevent the consequences of sin. Some try to justify the sin of stealing as a vital necessity: "I did my best to earn honestly, but I could not, so I stole, but only in order to survive." Here we see an example of the greatest unbelief, as if the Lord God is not able to give you what you need without your participation in sin.

Thirdly, the commandment is needed to dissuade the sinner: think, thieves are the spiders of the earth, enemies of any society; God hates theft and thieves, the thief lives in constant fear that they are about to come for him. Guilt breeds fear. The worst thing about stealing is that by stealing the property of others, the thief is stealing his own salvation. How to avoid sin? Live by the Word: “He who has stolen, do not steal first, but rather work, doing what is useful with your own hands, so that there is something to give to the needy” (Eph. 4:28).

Commandment ninth

“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor” (Ex. 20:16)

The Creator created the language to glorify God, but people turned it into an instrument of unrighteousness, as the ninth commandment warns us about. The Lord erected two natural barriers for the tongue - teeth and lips, and this commandment is the third barrier designed to keep the tongue from evil.

This commandment forbids slander directed against a person and false testimony.

Why is the commandment given? First of all, in order to call evil evil. “You open your mouth to slander, and your tongue weaves deceit. You sit and speak against your brother, you slander against your mother's son” (Ps. 49:19,20).

In Greek, the slanderer and the devil are called by the same word - diabolos. Thus slander and slander unsafe. The one who commits this sin is working with Satan. At least three suffer from slander: the one about whom they are talking; the one who listens; the one who speaks.

This is a terrible sin. Stolen property is difficult, but it can be restored, but it is much more difficult to restore a person's good name. If black paint gets on a snow-white canvas, then it takes a lot of effort to remove the stain. The same goes for a good name.

Diogenes said: "Of all predators, the detractor is the most dangerous." Emperor Anthony issued a law that anyone who blasphemes a person and cannot prove his guilt is subject to the death penalty.

Perjury is monstrous in its essence.

If I love a friend, then I don’t say anything bad about him, and so should I do with my neighbor. The First Epistle to the Corinthians says that love "thinks no evil". In other words, love and slander are incompatible. Love unites believers, eliminates misunderstandings, misunderstandings between them. The one who is faced with slander, let him bless the one who breaks the commandment

If you have been slandered, slandered or offended by a word, turn it to your advantage. See if there is an unconfessed sin behind you, for which God could allow the slander of your name, remember, maybe you hurt someone and told a lie about a person. Close your mouth and let God do what He does. If you are being slandered for no reason, don't worry.

A good conscience is a good defense against encroachments on your good name. Just as flattery cannot revive conscience, so slander cannot harm it. The Lord Himself will cleanse the names of His people. “Commit your way to the Lord and put your trust in Him, and He will perfect and bring out, as a light, your righteousness and your justice like noon” (Ps. 36:5-6). And if the Lord has saved you from the slanderers, then unceasingly thank Him for this.

Truly, to be unslandered and unspecified is bliss.

According to the commandment in question, we must not only not bear false witness, but also stand up for those who have been touched by lying lips. You can also slander by silence, without standing up for defense in the case when you know that this or that person is innocent. Silence in this case is deadly.

May the fear of God keep us from lies, slander and slander.

M hello to you, dear visitors of the Orthodox website “Family and Faith”!

W The commandments of God given to the prophet Moses have been at the forefront of the lives of people who believe in God for several millennia. The commandments need not only be known, they must also be understood.

With Saint Nikolai Serbsky gives excellent explanations of the EIGHTH COMMANDMENT, explaining the seriousness of the consequences of its violation.

"Don't steal"(Ex. 20:15).

And this means:

Do not grieve your neighbor by disrespecting his property rights. Don't do what foxes and mice do if you think you're better than a fox and a mouse. The fox steals without knowing the law on theft; and the mouse gnaws at the barn, not realizing that it is harming someone. Both the fox and the mouse understand only their own need, but not someone else's loss. They are not given to understand, but you are given. Therefore, you are not forgiven what is forgiven for a fox and a mouse. Your benefit must always be subordinate to the law, it must not be to the detriment of your neighbor.

Brothers, only the ignorant go to theft, that is, those who do not know the two main truths of this life. The first truth is that a person cannot steal unnoticed. The second truth is that a person cannot benefit from stealing. "Like this?" many nations will ask, and many ignoramuses will be surprised.

That's how. Our universe is many. All of it is strewn with an abundance of eyes, like a plum tree in springtime, completely covered with white flowers. Some of these eyes people see and feel on themselves their views, but they neither see nor feel a significant part. An ant crawling in the grass does not feel the gaze of a sheep grazing above him, nor the gaze of a person watching him. In the same way, people do not feel the views of the innumerable number of higher beings who are watching us at every step of our life path. There are millions and millions of spirits who keep a close eye on what is happening on every inch of the earth. How then can a thief steal without being noticed? How then can a thief steal without being discovered? You can't put your hand in your pocket without millions of witnesses seeing it. It is all the more impossible to stick one's hand into someone else's pocket so that millions of higher forces do not raise the alarm. He who understands this asserts that a person cannot steal unnoticed and with impunity. This is the first truth.

E There is a parable about the fishermen.

On the bank of one river lived two fishermen with their families. One had many children and the other was childless. Every evening both fishermen cast their nets and went to sleep. For some time now, it has become so that in the nets of a fisherman with many children there always turned out to be two or three fish, and in a childless one - in abundance. A childless fisherman, out of mercy, pulled out several fish from his full net and gave them to a neighbor. This went on for quite a long time, perhaps a whole year. While one of them grew rich trading in fish, the other barely made ends meet, sometimes not even being able to buy bread for his children.

"What's the matter?" thought the poor man. But then one day, when he was sleeping, the truth was revealed to him. A certain man appeared to him in a dream in a dazzling radiance, like an angel of God, and said: “Hurry, get up and go to the river. There you will see why you are poor. But when you see, do not give vent to anger.

Then the fisherman woke up and jumped out of bed. Having crossed himself, he went out to the river and saw how his neighbor was throwing fish after fish from his net to his. The poor fisherman's blood boiled with indignation, but he remembered the warning and subdued his anger. Having cooled down a bit, he calmly said to the thief: “Neighbour, can I help you? Well, why are you suffering alone! Caught red-handed, the neighbor was simply numb with fear. When he came to his senses, he threw himself at the feet of the poor fisherman and exclaimed: “Verily, the Lord has shown you my crime. It's hard for me, a sinner! And then he gave half of his wealth to the poor fisherman, so that he would not tell people about him and send him to prison.

E There is a parable about the merchant.

Once, when Ishmael was sitting alone in his shop, full of worries about his children, it seemed to him that for a moment the heavens opened. He raised his eyes to the sky to see what was happening there. And he sees: angels are standing at the huge scales, measuring all the blessings that the Lord endows people with. And so, the turn of Ishmael's family came. When the angels began to measure health for his children, they threw less health on the scale than there were weights on the scales. Ishmael got angry and wanted to shout at the angels, but then one of them turned to him and said: “The measure is correct. What are you angry about? We underfeed your children exactly as much as you underfeed your customers. And so we do the truth of God.” Ishmael rushed as if he had been pierced by a sword. And he began to bitterly repent of his grave sin. Since then, Ishmael began not only to weigh correctly, but always added a surplus. And his children returned to health. In addition, brethren, a stolen thing constantly reminds a person that it has been stolen and that it is not his property.

E There is a parable about the clock.

One guy stole a pocket watch and wore it for a month. After that, he returned the watch to the owner, confessed his misdeed and said:

Whenever I took my watch out of my pocket and looked at it, I heard it say, “We are not yours; you're a thief!"

The ban on murder is based on the well-known biblical provision that man is created in the image and likeness of the Almighty. Therefore, murder is nothing but a daring and open rebellion against the Creator.

In one of the previous conversations on the Ten Commandments, if you remember, we talked about an atheist who, when meeting with a rabbi, said that he also keeps the Ten Commandments, since universal human morality is based on them. Then, however, it turned out that he had not heard about the commandment to honor the Sabbath, and therefore did not honor the Sabbath. In addition, being a convinced materialist living within the framework of Western culture, he sincerely believed and worshiped a number of modern idols, not knowing about the prohibition of the Torah. To crown it all, he did not fulfill the commandments requiring the recognition of the existence of the Almighty, as well as forbidding to pronounce His Name in vain. He did not always speak respectfully to his parents, as required by the commandment "honor your father and mother." And, only when the turn came to the commandment “do not kill”, the atheist sighed with relief: “That’s what I had in mind when I said that I also observe universal human laws and rules! I fulfill this commandment one hundred percent.” To this, the rabbi remarked: “Don't be in a hurry. Do you even know what it means?"

So, the sixth commandment is “Thou shalt not kill.” The Torah expressly forbids killing. Moreover, it is forbidden to directly or indirectly endanger human life. The Torah declares the absolute value of life, for the sake of which it allows and in extreme cases even requires the violation of many other commandments.

The ban on killing is based on the well-known biblical provision that man was created in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, murder is nothing but a daring and open rebellion against the Creator. It is said in the Talmud: “He who kills at least one soul will destroy the whole world. And the one who saves at least one soul will save the whole world.”

Small digression. On the pages of the Russian-language press, one can sometimes come across completely ridiculous accusations: they say that repatriates who have settled in a religious quarter cannot call an ambulance on Saturday, and in some place an ambulance that was going to the patient on an urgent call, orthodox pelted with stones. Note: those who pour detailed nonsense on the innocent heads of readers violate an important universal commandment: "do not nonsense." But we will talk about this ban another time, but for now - the ban on murder.

In the event of a threat to human life, the Torah cancels all Shabbat restrictions. You don't have to look far for examples. Pay attention - who comes for women in labor on Saturday? And not only in religious quarters. The entire ambulance team, including the driver and the orderly, consists of Hasidim - real ones, with sidelocks and kippahs. Sometimes you can see how a religious Jew, interrupting the Sabbath rest, himself carries his wife to the emergency room of the maternity ward.

For it is forbidden to endanger life. When the Torah was given, the Ten Commandments were imprinted on two stone tablets and placed in pairs, one opposite the other. The commandment "Thou shalt not kill" coexists with the first law "I am the Most High." It turns out that the violation of this commandment, i.e. murder means, in fact, the denial of the Creator of the Universe.

"Dont kill"! - one of the three commandments, about which it is said: "Die, but do not". (The same group includes prohibitions against idolatry and certain types of adultery.) What does this mean? If they say to you: “Kill such and such a person, otherwise we will kill you,” you must answer: “Is my blood redder than his blood?” In other words, one should prefer one's own death to murder under duress. Otherwise, know that you are committing a crime by violating the prohibition against killing.

The commandment "Thou shalt not kill" seems obvious and understandable. In fact, there are many subtleties here. After all, the world is complex and consists not of extremes, but of nuances. Take at least a fashionable phenomenon today - euthanasia. Some terminally ill people or people suffering from depression claim the right to voluntarily die in order to get rid of torment and a sense of doom as soon as possible. There were even doctors who, contrary to professional ethics (although ethics are now also a changeable thing) and the Hippocratic oath, specialize in “helping” such patients.

The Torah categorically condemns euthanasia, as it does any other form of suicide. For suicide is essentially no different from murder. This also includes cases where the killing of a seriously and hopelessly ill person, no longer able to decide his fate, is carried out at the request of his relatives, who cannot bear to see his suffering.

Let's be honest. With an atheistic view of the world, it is difficult to explain why it is necessary to save a person who is burdensome for society, for his family, and besides, he himself does not want to live anymore. But the Jewish tradition assesses this situation differently. She says that a person has an immortal soul, that the appearance of this soul in our world is not accidental, just as all its manifestations at every moment of its life are not accidental. Our life is filled with deep meaning. To take on the role of the Creator, who decides when it is time for a person to leave the earth, the Torah considers a crime.

Even if a person is unconscious or in severe pain, any active action aimed at hastening his death even for one second is considered murder. And for murder, Judaism requires punishment according to the principle of "measure for measure", i.e. in this case - "the highest measure."

Let's talk right away. By requiring the death penalty for a murderer, the Torah imposes a number of restrictions and precautions on the Jewish court in order to exclude a miscarriage of justice that could lead to the punishment of an innocent. Even in the era of the Temple, when the courts were given the right to pass death sentences, to exercise this right in practice, i.e. to sentence a person to death was incredibly difficult. The Sanhedrin (Supreme Jewish Court), which passed only one death sentence in 70 years, is called "bloody" in the Talmud.

Another serious problem of today is abortion. Abortion is also considered murder if there is no danger to the life and mental health of the expectant mother. Under the danger to mental health is meant not domestic difficulties caused by the unplanned appearance of a child, but quite specific and serious mental illnesses. In each individual case, it is necessary to consult a doctor and a competent rabbi who specializes in such matters.

The commandment "Thou shalt not kill" also requires avoiding situations that could lead to murder. If you see that someone is going to endanger his life or the lives of others, you must do everything to stop him.

Let's take the most common case as an example. Let's say after a heavy drink our friend is going to drive a car. Of course, he doesn’t have any thoughts of killing anyone, but it is obvious that in this state he turns into a potential killer - or a suicide, which, from the point of view of the Torah, is equally criminal. Therefore, our duty is to prevent him from going on his way. To do this, you can use any means - persuasion, cunning, physical impact, up to calling the police.

In Israel and other developed countries, the car has long become the most common means of unintentional killing. On Israeli roads, reckless driving has become a sad norm, violating all driving laws - overtaking, speed limits and other obvious provisions of the road code. Therefore, it is not surprising that more people died on our roads as a result of car accidents than from all the Arab-Israeli wars combined. We remind you once again: if we are being driven by a reckless driver, we should not be shy about reprimanding him. We need to stop him, stop him. Do everything in human power. Thus, we will not only prevent a possible tragedy, but also fulfill one of the most important commandments of the Torah: “Thou shalt not kill!”

Yet Judaism is far from pacifist. Moreover, he considers this idea immoral. There is a special commandment in the Torah to prevent murder: "Do not stand on the blood of your neighbor." Among other things, it includes the duty to stop a potential killer in time. Anyone who does not do this is actually encouraging the crime. If you can stop a killer without killing him, then you should. In other words, in this case, it is simply forbidden to kill him. But if it is obvious that "humane" methods will not give a result, then it is necessary to go to the extreme measure of restraint.

Killing is also allowed in the following cases. In self-defense: if someone attempts on your life, you must get ahead of him, kill this person (if there is no other salvation) before he carries out his criminal intent.

The commandment “Thou shalt not kill” also does not apply to the person who executes the sentence of the court.

It is allowed to kill the enemy in war, because war is considered a collective form of self-defense.

The commandment "Thou shalt not kill" has a connection with the previous commandment, which speaks of honoring the father and mother. It is said: the one who is financially secure, but does not help his old, needy parents, is like a murderer. At the same time, this commandment warns us against the other extreme: for example, a loving son, jealously guarding the honor and dignity of his parents, is forbidden to encroach on the life of their offender, and parents cannot demand this revenge from their children.

The prohibition "Thou shalt not kill" applies to all people: Jews and non-Jews, men and women. He is one of the Seven Commandments of the sons of Noah, given to all mankind long before the Sinai revelation and the giving of the Torah.

It is known, however, that if a commandment is given repeatedly, it means that something is added to it. In Jewish tradition, the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" is closely related to the prohibition of publicly insulting a person. The Talmud explains in detail that we are talking about a crime that is equated with bloodshed - if the insult was inflicted in the presence of a sufficiently large number of people (10 people or more).

However, a public insult is detrimental not so much to the victim as, first of all, to the offender himself. Jewish tradition says: the one who publicly humiliated his neighbor, the soul does not escape hell.

We used the word "hell", but in the Hebrew dictionary there is no such concept, there is a term geinom. Moreover, the latter has nothing to do with hell in the Christian view. It has a different function. Our tradition states that after a person's death, his immortal soul leaves the body and goes to the Judgment. (Surprisingly, this phenomenon has been confirmed by a number of modern studies in various fields of medicine and psychology.) During the "trial" before the soul, like in a movie, visible pictures of her earthly life pass. She sees all her deeds, good and bad, and is fully aware of her responsibility for them before the Creator. Evil deeds cause her a painfully burning feeling of shame and regret. This shame is "hell fire". It purifies the soul, rids it of the spiritual consequences of negative actions. After this process, the purified soul leaves the Geinome and continues its development.

But if it turns out at the Judgment that its owner, during his lifetime, publicly humiliated people and in a timely manner - i.e. he did not repent even during his lifetime, then the soul can forever remain in genome. The prospect, you see, is by no means joyful.

The topic of life after death and the latest research in this area are quite complex and extensive; they deserve separate analysis.

The commandment "Thou shalt not kill" has several other important aspects. Among other things, a murderer is equated with one who deprives his neighbor of the opportunity to earn a living, and also one who, not having the right to make decisions in the field of Jewish law, nevertheless takes on such a function.

But this rule also has a downside. Anyone who has the right to pass judgment and teach people the Torah, but does not do so, is also equated with a murderer. For wisdom and knowledge prolong man's life in this world and the world to come. Therefore, to deprive people of vital information is also a serious crime, bordering on a violation of the commandment “Thou shalt not kill.”

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