God's will
I do not close my eyes to what is happening and to the future... and I try to be ready for everything, so that I can say in the words of the psalm: “Let us be prepared and not be troubled” (Ps. 119:60). The ways of God's Providence are incomprehensible to us. We cannot understand them. Therefore, with all humility I surrender to the will of God. By surrendering myself and everything to the will of God, I find peace in my soul. I firmly believe that everything is in God’s hands... I look forward to the life of the future century... (Venerable Nikon).
Don't worry too much about the arrangement of your destiny. Have only an unwavering desire for salvation and, leaving it to God, wait for His help until you the time will come(Venerable Ambrose).
You rely on my advice and blessing about your marriage. But who am I and what do I mean? The future is unknown to me - whether you will be happy in marriage or not, and therefore I do not take upon myself to tell you decisively, but leave it to the will of God. The will of God does not bind our autocracy, but is accomplished, looking at it - what it tends to. There is the will of God by good pleasure, and there is the will of God by permission - and this latter happens when we want it to be the way we think will be good for us. And when we surrender to the will of God and seek not what we want, but what will be pleasing to Him and useful to us, then the will of God happens in this - according to good will, useful and saving for us, and with the will of God, which happens by permission, sorrows are inevitable and sadness (Venerable Macarius).
Nothing is permanent in this world. Look outside: it was raining in the morning, clear at noon, and cold again in the evening. Now it’s windy, now it’s quiet, now it’s thunderous, now it’s hot; so in our lives - always be ready to follow the will of God, whether we like it or not (Rev. Anatoly).
Now there may be such cases: you cannot follow your will and there is no one to ask. What to do? You need to think about how the Lord would act in His meekness... The commandments of God were and are always the basis of life... Surrender to the will of God (Venerable Nikon).
If you completely rely on the will of God, then everything will be fine, and the unpleasant will be taken for granted. Everything that happens leads to the salvation of our souls, and at the same time great wisdom and depth are revealed. “Everything will work for good for those who love God” (Rom. 8:28) (Venerable Nikon).
Before you do anything, pray and think whether it will be reasonable and pleasing to God (Rev. Nikon).
A sincere desire to serve the Lord God and surrendering oneself, everything, and everyone entirely to the will of God, all-good, perfect, brings the peace of God to the heart, even when experiencing various sorrows, both external and internal, spiritual. “Pray to God to remove adversity from you and together renounce your will, as a sinful will, a blind will. Surrender yourself, your soul and body, your circumstances, both present and future, surrender those close to your heart, your neighbors to the will of God, the all-holy and all-wise...” Glory to God! God bless! For everything, thank God! From these wonderful, holy words, dark thoughts and burdens recede. Peace, consolation, and joy come into a person’s soul. Thy will be done, Lord! Thank God for everything! (Venerable Nikon).
Pray like a child, in the simplicity of your heart, for all your needs and sorrows and surrender yourself to the will of God, for the Lord is building our salvation (Venerable Nikon).
Believing in the Providence of God that cares for me, I am afraid to direct my life according to my own understanding, for I have observed how my own will brings sorrow and difficulty to people... Let the will of God be done, good and perfect! I entrust myself, and my whole life, and everyone to her. Acceptance of God's will brings peace to my heart... (Rev. Nikon).
There is a desire to surrender in everything to the will of God, not to arrange your life yourself, according to your own understanding. I believe that the Lord will send me exactly what I need and is useful... (Venerable Nikon).
We must pray, may the Lord show the way... Let us pray to the Lord, may he save us and may he help us in our troubles and needs. I don’t see any other refuge or hope. Human calculations are both vain and erroneous. When you have to endure something difficult, but you know that there is no will here, you get moral relief and peace of mind. God's will be done! May the Lord not disgrace our faith and devotion to His will. The only hope is in God. Here is a solid foundation. Everything else is fragile, especially in our situation. You don’t know at all where it’s better, where it’s worse and what awaits. May God's will be done!.. The thought occurred to me that we, monks, who have renounced the world, are now, albeit involuntarily, leading a world-denying life. This is how the Lord judged. Our job is to keep ourselves in faith and guard ourselves from all sin, and entrust everything else to God (Venerable Nikon).
Human pride says: we will do it, we will achieve it, and we begin to build the Tower of Babel, we demand an account from God for His actions, we want to be stewards of the universe, we dream of thrones beyond the clouds - but no one and nothing obeys it, and the powerlessness of man is clearly demonstrated bitter experience. Observing this experience from history and the ancients, long ago days gone by, and modern ones, I come to the conclusion that the ways of God’s Providence are incomprehensible to us, we cannot understand them, and therefore it is necessary with all humility to surrender to the will of God (Rev. Nikon).
The article “On the Will of God” by Bishop Ignatius teaches us to submit to the will of God. It is necessary for every believer to know what is said in this article, regardless of whether he is a monk or a layman. To our great regret, for the most part you see and hear grumbling around you and within yourself, unwillingness to submit to what the Lord sends, the demand for fair treatment and other crazy manifestations of resistance to the will of God. How great is our weakness! How weak is our faith! It is not our business to argue why and why this or that befalls us: we must know that this is the will of God, we must humble ourselves, and demanding, so to speak, an account from God is extreme madness and pride. So, everyone must: demand from themselves (that is, force themselves to do) the fulfillment of the commandments and everything that other people do to us, that is done to us without the assistance of people - consider the righteous judgment of God for our benefit, our salvation and humbly all that tolerate. This will be soul-saving and will bring peace to our hearts. God! Thy holy will be done! Comprehension of God's will is available to the pure through their lives. They receive the gift of spiritual reasoning, and it is higher than all virtues (Venerable Nikon).
Observing the events of both your life and other people, you can see a confluence of circumstances with amazing clarity. No precautions or measures could or can prevent what is happening, for it is taking place according to the judgment of God. There's no one to blame. We must humble ourselves and endure. Otherwise we will sin against God (Rev. Nikon).
Through everyone and everything, the will of God speaks to you, providing you with rich opportunities to capture, testify in thought, word or deed the goodness of your direction towards the Light of God’s face, and not in search of changing your life with the usefulness of your spiritual work on yourself. First direct yourself through prayer on the path of salvation, then you will become a Christian, a meek silent example, drawing others to this path (Rev. Anatoly).
It would be difficult to live on earth if there were definitely no one who could help us understand life... But above us is the Lord Almighty Himself, Love Himself... Rely on the will of the Lord, and the Lord will not will put you to shame. Rely not in words, but in deeds... That is why life has become difficult, because people have confused it all with their wisdom, that instead of turning to God for help, they began to turn to their reason and rely on it alone... Do not be afraid of anything grief, no illness, no suffering, no trials of any kind - all these are visits from God, for your benefit... (Venerable Anatoly).
We must be sure that God’s Providence always provides for us and works for our benefit, even in cases that are contrary to us (Venerable Leo).
Your desire to know about me, whether the excitement ceases, I cannot fully satisfy with an answer: I will only say that from the outside nothing is visible, but from the inside and secretly what is being built - I don’t know anything, only I am sure that nothing can follow with me , what God will not allow, and when it pleases Him to send anything for my sins, I must accept it with humility, for we will never escape from His hand (Venerable Leo).
Where the will of God follows, no great obstacles will be overcome (Venerable Leo).
The merciful Lord fulfills and turns everything into His will and for our benefit, although apparently through means and consequences that are contrary to us. With the help of the Most Merciful Lord God, we will endure, and we will see... (Venerable Leo).
Christ our Savior said about Himself: “I do not seek My will, but the will of the Father who sent Me” (John 5:30). And bearing in mind the bitter cup of suffering, kneel, praying, saying: “My Father! if possible, let this cup pass from Me; however, not as I want, but as You want” (cf. Matt. 26, 39). Let this be understood in you, as well as in Christ Jesus. Looking at Him, the Leader of faith, with patience and striving for the feat set before us, we strengthen ourselves with the humble prayer: according to Your will, Lord, so be it for me! (Venerable Moses).
By the feeling of Christian love, merciful and merciful, one cannot help but be convinced by those who demand it. But whether the opportunity will allow me to fulfill what I want, I don’t know. All that remains is to say: according to Your will, Lord, let this or that be done. Everything that is sent must be accepted as from the hand of the Lord: whether sorrowful - for patience, or pleasant for thanksgiving (St. Moses).
It is true that we do not manage time, but we manage it. And actions must be based on the truth, which constantly says: if God pleases, we will do this or that as suggested (St. Moses).
Although the ancient people were very simple, their sayings were very wise and thorough. Don’t live as you want, but as God leads (Rev. Ambrose).
However it pleases the Lord to decide your fate, by life or death, leave it to His all-good Providence, but in any case, try to be in a peaceful dispensation, against everything and against everyone. The Lord Judge is impersonal. In due time he will judge everything justly and reward everyone according to his deeds. And our main task, while we are in this life, is to endure everything, humble ourselves and ask the Lord for help and mercy, and everything will be fine (Venerable Ambrose).
The all-good Providence of God always arranges for us what is more useful for us. We, out of ignorance, often strive for the opposite. From time immemorial the killer threatened to kill, but it is said that this hour has not come. The Lord alone knows how he will be allowed to carry out this atrocity, or whether he will not be allowed to do so at all. The martyrs, surrendering to the will of God, some died a martyr's death, while others, by the will of God, simply died in prison. Let us also surrender to the will of God and the all-good Providence of the Lord, so that good and saving things will be arranged for us, as the message and as it will be pleasing to Him (Venerable Ambrose).
You write that Mother Abbess told you: “You yourself don’t know why the Lord or God’s Providence is keeping you.” And there is no need to test, but to submit to the will of God in everything - as the Lord wills, so let him arrange for us (Venerable Ambrose).
In one place they prayed for rain, and in another - that it would not rain, but it turned out that God wanted it (Venerable Ambrose).
Children! submit to the will of God, and the enemy who troubles you will flee from you... Stand where you can in the church, and say the Jesus Prayer, like a publican, and the Lord will help you (St. Ambrose).
As for rumors regarding your transfer to another monastery: then, firstly, do not attach much importance to these rumors, because rumors most often turn out to be false. And secondly, in this matter, surrender more to the will of God. If the Lord offers you something, you can ask him to leave you in the same place. If, in addition to the proposal, the Holy Synod decides to move you to another monastery, then you will inevitably have to move. But may the holy will of God be with you! The all-merciful Lord knows what is healthier for us; so it will be arranged (Venerable Joseph).
Let everyone be innocent or justified not only before the authorities and before God himself, who loves the righteous and has mercy on sinners, and does not want the death of the sinner, but may he turn and live to be him, and decisively wants the whole person to be saved and come to the understanding of truth. Let us also agree with this will of God. Remember the one who said: “The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man will do to me” (Ps. 117:6). Trusting in Him, do not faint. I don’t know what else to tell you. May the All-Good Lord admonish you in everything to do His will, good and pleasing and perfect (St. Moses).
Regarding your expected transfer to the Pskov monastery, I have already written to you so that you can rely more on the will of God. For only that is good and useful for us that happens in accordance with the will of God (Venerable Joseph).
Everything must be surrendered to the will of God, including our separation. The Lord admonishes us not to cleave to earthly things, no matter how expensive they may seem, so that we strive for heavenly things, saving our souls. And give everything earthly an earthly price... Just to save the soul, and the rest is all vanity. Everything is changing here. And our thoughts should be in God, in future life. Everything on earth will pass away (Venerable Nikon).
About Fr. I advise M. not to bother the archpastor. Let God's will be done in his face. Peace of mind is indicated to us in humility of heart, but peace is not lasting through the satisfaction of pride. Let him learn not to follow himself, but by rejecting his wisdom and will to find peace of mind (St. Moses).
Theft
This evil - theft, it seems, cannot be destroyed by anything at all except universal fire. However, it is not against your conscience to invent and seek means to curb this evil of the people entrusted to you by God, for whom in due time you will need to give an answer before God (St. Anthony).
Divination
... “You don’t need to pretend, but it’s better to rely on the will of God.” Double-minded people go to fortune tellers, who do not hope for the mercy and help of God, but seek human help or rely more on some human calculations, and not on God and His all-powerful help and omnipresent Providence (Venerable Ambrose).
Entirely dedicated to the study of issues related to the search for the will of God and the conformity of our own human will with it.
Just as a warrior must be obedient to his commander in everything, follow his example and be ready to fulfill every order, so every true Christian must be, as it were, at hand and under the word of God throughout his entire life. All that it pleases God to do with us, for which He destined us, for which He commands us - in all this we must unquestioningly obey His holy will.
Saul, after being struck by the extraordinary light of heaven, fell to the ground and heard a voice: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? – The first question was: God! What do you want me to do?(Acts 9:4-6). Let us repeat this question every day whenever we are perplexed about what to do in this or that event: “Lord! What will you have me do? What is Your will about this, O all-merciful Jesus? Reveal Her to me in any way You please, so that I understand Her, whether with a kind word, advice or some other revelation. I will willingly follow Your good will, which You prayerfully inspired in me.”
To the question of how we can know the will of God in all matters, we will answer by pointing to some institutions or provisions through which the will of God is clearly revealed; let's call them for brevity commandments.
The first commandment
or a position conducive to knowledge of the will of God
Everything that distracts us from God is contrary to the will of God; everything that brings us to God is in accordance with the will of God: For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication(1 Thessalonians 4:3), not only from carnal fornication, but also from any error, especially illegal ones. Whoever feels such a delusion in himself must say to himself: this business I am undertaking, this friendship, this acquisition, this way of life will not make me morally better, because it distracts me from God; at least this is not Divine will for me.
Commandment two
The will of God is clearly and definitely explained to us by the law of God and church decrees. Therefore, in case of any doubt, we must inquire: what the commandments of God and Church Traditions require of us, and not only what they require, but also think about what is in accordance with them (although not precisely defined) and similar to their spirit. Christ once pointed out the commandments of God to a rich young man when he asked Him: What must I do to inherit eternal life?- You you know the commandments(Mark 10, 17; Mark 10, 25) - and pointed to those of them that prescribe our duties to our neighbors. Truly there is nothing better than the fear of the Lord, and there is nothing sweeter than to heed the commandments of the Lord(Sir. 23, 36). Abraham, to the rich man, who rejoiced all his days and then fell into hell, presents as a witness the Divine will, revealed through Moses and other prophets, speaking about the brothers of the rich man who were still alive: they have Moses and the prophets; let them listen to them(Luke 16:29); and the divine Apostle Paul says: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.(Rom. 12:2). Good The (righteous) will of God is in the ten commandments of God; godly– in evangelical councils; perfect- demanding that everything commanded by God be carried out by us on earth in the same way as it is carried out by Angels in heaven.
Commandment Three
This commandment was prescribed by the Apostle Paul in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 5:18): Give thanks for everything; For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Firstly, it is worthy of note here that our gratitude to God for everything that happens to us is very beneficial for us in anxiety and sorrow; especially when we receive something good. St. John Chrysostom expressed this beautifully: “Have you suffered something evil: if you do not want it to be evil for you, thank God, and now this evil has turned into good, this is high wisdom.” Ancient people taught their children a good custom, which was that if a child burns his finger, then he should immediately turn to God with the words: “Thanks be to God!” - a short but very beneficial commandment. For everything that a Christian has suffered, burdened with troubles and sorrows, cry out: “Thanks be to God!” Proclaim this a hundred times, a thousand times, incessantly: “Thanks be to God!” St. Paul adds to this: Don't quench the spirit, find a place in yourself for the Holy Spirit; God often reveals His will through hidden, mysterious signs, which must be guided and believed only if the glory of the One God flows from the act they indicate as its consequence. St. Paul further says: Do not disparage prophecies, that is: the explanations of the Divine Scripture and the teachings offered in the churches, as well as the prophetic decrees of intelligent and pious people, can never be despised by those who wish to harmonize their will with the will of the Divine. And whoever does not want to listen to all of the above clearly does not want to understand the will of God. Again Saint Paul teaches: Try everything, hold on to the good. Refrain from all kinds of evil(1 Sol. 5:21). Like banknotes, each coin is examined according to various known characteristics, by the sound of the metal made, by its markings, and thus distinguishes between a true coin and a counterfeit one: the first is accepted, and the second is rejected; This is also what we must do when recognizing God’s will in each of our deeds: we must adhere to everything that is truly in agreement with it, and we must hate and reject everything that has the slightest shade of lies and sin from ourselves as contrary to the will of God.
Commandment Four
For understanding the will of God in any doubtful case, there are other sources; in addition to the above-mentioned commandments of God and church institutions, this includes legally elected, truly Christian-living interpreters of the will of God in our misunderstandings (for example, confessors, pastors) about it; These are the spiritual and temporal judges of our conscience; among the laity, these include parents, school teachers, educators and all legally appointed, true rulers of human societies. Here are some historical examples:
When Saul, having surrendered himself entirely to the will of God, asked: God! what do you want me to do?- The Lord did not bother him with His immediate orders in all details and did not immediately send him the Spirit of Wisdom, but as a disciple sent him to Ananias, saying: ... get up and go into the city; and you will be told what you need to do(Acts 9:6). Ananias was the most reliable explainer of the will of God to Paul, just as Saint Peter was to Cornelius the centurion (see: Acts 10). From here God's favor is revealed to reveal His will to man through another person. Therefore, we should not neglect the good instructions of others: Ask advice from everyone who is prudent, and do not neglect useful advice.(Tov. 4, 18); If you follow this, you will not repent. The soul of a truthful man will sometimes say more(explain) rather than seven observers sitting on a high place to observe. But with all this, pray to the Almighty that He will guide your path in truth.(Sir. 37, 18–19). Stay in friendship with a truthful husband who has the fear of God in him: with his soul he will like you and, in the event of your fall, he will grieve with you. With all this keep the counsel of your heart; for there is no one more faithful to you than him(Sir. 37, 16–17). To resolve your doubts about how to act in accordance with the will of God in this or that matter, ask for advice and admonition from your spiritual fathers and superiors, to whom we have entrusted our conscience and all the moral activities of our lives. In general, turn to all the powers that be to resolve your perplexities, whose will, excluding the will for sinful deeds, is the will of God. Everything that they advise, except for sin, we must accept as transmitted through them by God Himself and must fulfill it.<…>In this way, all those who wished and strived to follow the will of God without error resolved their perplexities; they asked the elders and accepted their kind and useful advice: Stop in your ways, that is, pay all your attention to your deeds,” says the Lord through the prophet Jeremiah, “ and consider and ask about the ancient paths, where is the good way, and follow it, and you will find peace and consolation to your souls(Jer. 6, 16).
Fifth Commandment
If the time or place does not allow asking for advice, a person himself must judge his doubts regarding the understanding of the Divine will: how to act in accordance with it in the matter ahead of him, and God will not abandon his prayerful desire to fulfill the will of God in everything and will unexpectedly resolve his doubts . The doubter must at the same time delve into the upcoming matter carefully and discuss both or all of its aspects that give rise to doubt; and in choosing one of them, take into account which of them is more favorable to the will of God, and which is closer to our carnal lust or addiction. Having discussed all this impartially, everyone is obliged to do what is more pleasing to God, even if it is undesirable to our will, and even if it is not pleasing to bodily desires, for it does not give them any pleasure or joy, but only labor and fatigue. Despite this, we must follow the will of God, do pleasing to God, and not what pleases our pride and carnality; selfishness, pride and carnal desires are always shameful and close to our downfall; it is at least safe to resist them: If you hold your foot, says the prophet Isaiah, from fulfilling your whims for the sake of the Lord's rest day, then you will have joy in the Lord, and I will bring you to the heights of the earth, says the Lord (Isa. 58:13-14). Let us also provide practical advice for clarification. For a patient suffering from stomach problems, the best advice is not to eat what you really want: it will not do you any good, but will do more harm, for example, fresh watermelons, melons, cucumbers, mushrooms, strong undiluted drinks, cold water, young vegetables and garden unripe fruits - they stimulate excessive consumption of food and thereby aggravate digestion and cause harm not only to a sick person, but sometimes to a healthy person, although it can be pleasant to feast on them.
The same or similar thing happens in our moral actions: most often it happens that we are carried away by what pleasantly delights our external senses, what we can show off, what we can be proud of before people - in a word, everything worldly, temporary is desirable to us in the flesh, but harmful for our inner man. What excessively attracts our will to the material, short-term, distracts our spirit from the Divine, eternal, and therefore it is contrary to God, removes us from Him and plunges us into the abyss of evil. So put to death the members of the earth yours (restrain their attraction to ungodly deeds and passionate desires): fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil lust and covetousness, which is idolatry, for which the wrath of God will come on the sons of disobedience(Col. 3, 5–6). That's why do not follow your lusts and refrain from your desires,- advises the son of Sirach (Sir. 18, 30). In your perplexity, turn to God with prayer, so that He will enlighten you about His holy will in your affairs.
If you, dear reader, come across something neutral, for example, you go and meet two people asking for alms: they are both equally poor, and for some reason you cannot give alms to both of them equally - give and not equally: to whomever has more for those who have less - according to your desire, you will not sin against the will of God in this inequality of your alms. If the matter is complex and requires special study and consideration, then ask advice from knowledgeable people and prayerfully ask God for His blessing for a good deed. If we are talking about choosing one of these things and it is completely unknown how God wants one or the other of them to be carried out, then wait a while, without doing any of them, until you find out in some way, although approximately, your action and your choice are not contrary to the will of God. In all doubtful judgments, two advisers are very useful: reason and conscience. If both of them diligently study a dubious matter, they will easily find the true solution to how best to act and how to complete the undertaking in accordance with the will of God.<…>
Commandment Six
Saint Paul’s prayerful appeal to God greatly contributes to the knowledge of the Divine will: (Acts 9:6). And we, following the example of St. Paul, often have the need to repeat his prayer request: Lord, what do you want me to do? It has become a habit among the holy saints of God. In matters of doubt and emergency, they always resorted to prayer for God’s help, so that He would reveal His holy will to them: Lord, what do you want me to do? So Moses and Aaron at one time approached the Ark of the Covenant (the icon case of the Lord) with a prayerful request to the Lord, so our old people did and do, if the sky instantly becomes covered with thick clouds, thunder strikes like cannon shots with continuous flashing of lightning, then they order to ring to ring the bells to thin out the thunderclouds and at the same time to call everyone to fervently pray to God for mercy on us sinners and His help for salvation. We should do the same when we notice that the righteous sun of God’s will is moving away from us and we don’t know at all what to do. It is necessary and very useful for us to lift our eyes to heaven and knock on it with fervent prayers, saying: Lord, what do you want me to do? This is what the Apostle Paul did when an unbearable light suddenly shone on the field and he fell to the ground and heard a voice: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? He asked in horror and trembling: Lord, what do you want me to do?(Acts 9:3-6). It is useful to repeat this prayer often; but the most favorable time for its frequent aggravation is when we, with fear and trembling, begin to accept the Divine and Most Pure Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ; Fully aware of our unworthiness to perceive them, we must pray to our Redeemer with all our soul and heart: Lord, what do you want me to do? God-inspired men advise to constantly keep in mind and express in words: “Lord, I am unworthy; but I recognize in my heart: what is pleasing to You, let it be pleasing to me as well; what I promised, I will keep my promises and fulfill them.” Daily surrender of oneself to the will of God is the most perfect and useful preparation of oneself for the unknown to us, but inevitable hour of our transition from this life to the future, afterlife, where we will receive what we deserve here through our good or bad actions.
Note: If anyone, after praying for a long time to God for the fulfillment of any of his requests, does not receive what he asks, then let him know that the Merciful Heavenly Father is in no hurry to fulfill his request, either because what he asked will not serve the petitioner’s benefit, or he postpones the fulfillment of the request in order to to force the petitioner to pray more often and accustom him to patience for greater reward.
There is not the slightest doubt that often the best father is in no hurry to give his son or daughter what they ask for, in order to test their affection for him and teach them useful patience, which deserves a greater reward than impatience and resentment after the first refusal. It is all the more natural for the Omniscient Heavenly Father to act this way with us. We would stop praying to God completely or would pray very rarely, and then only out of need, and we would hardly have any patience if God immediately granted us everything that we wanted from Him.
It is much more useful for us to acquire small gifts of God through long and frequent prayers than to quickly fulfill them through prayer; for unceasing prayer in itself is already the greatest gift of God, and moreover, it honors the one praying with greater mercy - consolation and peace of mind. Such a petition repeated many times, but not heard by God, brought the greatest silence and peace to the hearts of many righteous people.
King David of Judah, when the prophet Nathan convicted him of sin and declared the will of God about the death of his child conceived in sin, prayed for a long time and fasted, shed tears, throwing himself on the ground before God, begging Him for deliverance from the death of his son who was born; but when he heard that his son had died, he immediately calmed down: he changed his mournful clothes to festive ones, went to the house of God and worshiped God (see: 2 Kings 12:14-23). Christ, the God-man, after praying for the third time in the Garden of Gethsemane for the rejection of the mortal cup from Him, having completely surrendered Himself to the will of the Heavenly Father, calmly said to His disciples, burdened with sleep: arise, let us go: behold, he who betrayed me has drawn near(Matt. 26:46). So, it often happens that unheard prayer brings peace of mind and heart, from which we can know the will of God, that not in fulfilling what we ask, but in completely surrendering ourselves to the will of God regarding the requested subject, God’s favor is revealed.
Eli, the Jewish priest, when Samuel told him what kind of execution God had determined for the house of Eli and his children, humbly said: He is the Lord; whatever He pleases, let him do(1 Kings 3:18); as if expressed like this: “Your announcement of God’s judgment is unpleasant for me, O Samuel, but since I know that this is the will of God, I willingly accept your words and recognize the will of God in them: I and my sons receive punishment according to our deeds.” , according to the verdict of God's court, which no one has the right to resist; May the Lord do everything that is pleasing to His most holy will: we are slaves, He is the Lord; we are criminal in many ways; His job is to correct our sins with righteous punishment.” When the Apostle Paul was going to Jerusalem through Caesarea and the Caesarea Christians, knowing from predictions that he would have a lot of trouble and sorrow from the Jews in Jerusalem, wanted to dissuade him from his intention to continue his journey there, then Paul answered their tearful petition: what are you doing? Why are you crying and breaking my heart? I'm not only Want to be a prisoner, but ready to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. When will we(Caesarean Christians) They could not persuade him, but they calmed down, saying: the will of the Lord be done!(Acts 21:13–14). This is the only true peace of mind, if our prayer, our petitions are not heard, pray for one thing: “The will of the Lord be done.”
Seventh Commandment
No one who is alive can more accurately know the will of God regarding the actions he undertakes than only one who sincerely, heartily desires to act in everything according to the will of God. Such a desire of his will truly serve as his guiding thread in the labyrinth to eliminate the inconveniences and errors encountered along the way in understanding the will of God in the upcoming work. Embraced by such a zealous desire to act according to the will of God or to choose what is pleasing to God from any two affairs, doubting which undertaking is in accordance with the will of God, let him prayerfully turn to God, saying with all his soul, with all his heart: “Lord! If I knew exactly what was pleasing to You, I would certainly do the same thing and I would do it, and therefore I believe that You will invisibly put into my heart a thought pleasing to You.”
Having poured out his heart before the All-Seeing, he can do what seems best to him, choose this or that, putting aside all doubt: he will not anger God because the most loving Father does not allow such a loving son to fall into error. If there is no person capable of edification, God sends a good Angel, as He sent an Angel in a dream to Joseph, when the latter was pondering and wondering how to deal with the Virgin betrothed to him in a very important matter. In the same way, an Angel was sent to the three eastern kings, who were going to worship the Baby lying in a manger in Bethlehem, to admonish them not to fulfill the flattering instructions of King Herod and to return to their side in another way. Angels were sent to Abraham, the slave Hagar and many other people to help them deviate from various errors, or instead of Angels, faithful people were sent for guidance.
In 324, Emperor Constantine the Great, leaving Rome, began to build a new capital in Helia; according to the Providence of God, his undertaking was displeasing, and in order to change it and indicate the place for the construction of a new capital, God miraculously arranged so that the construction tools and materials for building the city were transferred in one night by invisible force from the Asian shore of the strait to the European - to Thrace, as Beda and Glika talk about it. Zonara also adds that the eagle, having grabbed the city plan prepared by the architect in its beak, flew with it across the strait and dropped it near Byzantium.
Thus, God never refuses to reveal His will in one way or another to those who sincerely desire to know and fulfill it; for the man-loving Holy Spirit of Wisdom, He moves away from wickedness as the true contemplator of our heart and, as the all-encompassing One, knows our every word... The Lord is close to all those who truly seek Him and reveals His will to them with wondrous and sweet instruction: He will do the will of those who fear Him, and He will hear their prayer, and I will save(Ps. 144:19), that is, from all delusions or errors and dangers.
(12 votes: 4.6 out of 5)Archpriest Andrey Ovchinnikov
Part one. The will of God and the will of man
What is life according to the will of God?
Let's talk about what life is according to the will of God. Is this possible in our time? The Holy Gospel reveals to us the laws of spiritual life, on the fulfillment of which the internal perfection of man depends. The ideal example of the life of Man according to the will of God is the life of the Savior for us. The saint teaches that our Lord Jesus Christ in His earthly incarnation was not only the True God, but also the True Man. As a Man, He had a human will, and as God, He was endowed with a Divine will. At the same time, two wills were united in Him - Divine and human, but the human will never came into conflict with the Divine will.
According to the teaching of the Church, our Lord Jesus Christ is sinless. This means that He did not have any sin, either original or personal, and therefore His will was also sinless. The human will of Christ was in everything subordinated to the holy Divine will, which is aimed exclusively at the creation of goodness, truth and love. But we know that as a Man the Lord had “immaculate passions.” He needed sleep, food. He, like any person, needed rest. The Gospel also says that the Lord wept. And like every person, the Savior feared death. He prayed in Gethsemane to strengthen Himself, and His prayer was heard; through her He drew the strength necessary for the Feat, which was accomplished on Golgotha.
In Christ, the unattainable ideal of the absolute subordination of the human will to the Divine will is revealed to us. And when we talk about the necessity of human life according to the will of God, then we must say that this was precisely the life of the Savior. Before suffering on the cross, knowing about the upcoming crucifixion, He did not try to reject the Divine will for Himself. His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane is a request for the strength to fulfill the will of the Father, aimed at performing the Great Sacrifice for the sake of saving the human race from sin, curse and death.
Indeed, Christ the Man is the True and Most Obedient Executor of the Divine Will. But let us now turn to ordinary people, to those who are clothed with infirmities and live in a state of struggle with sin. In other words, let's turn to ourselves. Why is it so difficult for us to live according to God’s will? Yes, Christ was a Man, but a sinless Man not only by grace, but also by His nature. We are different, our condition is infinitely far from the condition of Christ. Our will is distorted by sin. She seems to be in the stage of a serious illness, the treatment of which sometimes takes a whole life. However, let us say right away that the Holy Church gives us all the necessary medicines for healing. Correcting your will and subordinating it to the Divine will is not an easy task, but this is the very feat that every Orthodox Christian is called to accomplish.
Can modern man recognize the Divine will?
Speaking about modern man, we must remember about all his weaknesses, about the fact that many people today are cut off from the spiritual tradition, from church life. What can we say about a generation whose parents and grandparents did not know the Church! Our contemporary is almost defenseless against the powerful pressure of spiritually harmful information from the outside. Just as it is difficult for a person to hear a human voice under the roar of music, it is just as difficult for a person to hear the voice of God, the voice of his conscience, in his soul. We have forgotten how to listen to ourselves. The lack of silence - both internal and external - has led to the fact that it has become difficult to talk to people about God.
Before the revolution, there were frequent cases when even members of the royal family left their duties for a while and went to monasteries in order to break away from the bustle, be in silence, pray and hear the voice of their conscience, the voice of God. But these were church-going people who loved their Fatherland and wanted to be useful to it.
A serious problem of our time is human information overload. While solving various problems, we do not have the opportunity to understand our own life, the pace of which is too fast to stop and think. Understanding all the intricacies of the modern way of life, a person sometimes cannot answer the question of what faith he professes, whether he loves his country, whether he cares about his parents, how he would like to raise his children.
Work also does not create favorable conditions for modern man to see God in his life. After a busy week of work, people are so devastated spiritually and physically that it is not easy to plant even a small seed of a gracious word in their souls. In addition, the environment, as a rule, is not conducive to a person thinking about something high, spiritual and holy.
Most of our flock are young people. And it is to her that I want to turn my words. Mature people have lived their lives, their value system has long been formed. It is already difficult for them to change anything about themselves. But young people who have recently turned to faith can still grow a fruit-bearing tree. This process is not easy, not quick, and impossible without God’s help. The Apostle Paul taught that he who plants and he who waters is nothing, but God who increases everything ().
If, with God’s help and the efforts of shepherds, spiritual growth, albeit slow, has begun, then it always turns out that it is directly related to man’s fulfillment of God’s will. The more we practice fulfilling the Divine will, the faster this growth. But even successful Christians are important to remember the words of the Savior: So you too, when you have fulfilled everything commanded to you, say: we are worthless slaves, because we did what we had to do (). That is why we must completely shift the concern for the result to God. Our job is to work, strive, fight sin, practice doing good deeds, be faithful children of the Church, serve God and our neighbors, and the state of spiritual growth depends on the Lord.
Not to an inquisitive mind, but to a loving and humble heart
Often people of intellectual work, accustomed to analyzing everything that happens, try to subject the Providence of God to analysis. Such attempts are doomed to failure, because there is no way to scientific research God's will does not yield. The will of God is revealed not to an inquisitive mind, but to a loving and humble heart. In saying this, we, of course, do not reject reason as a kind of tool - say, a compass - that allows us to determine the right direction of life. With its help, from external circumstances, a person with a Christian worldview can understand what God’s will for him is.
Here's a simple example. Children are growing up in the family. Parents begin to look for a good school for them, teachers who would help them develop their God-given abilities. It is clear that it is God’s will that children receive education and upbringing. After graduating from school, a person faces the choice of a future profession. It is obvious that the Lord wants us to work for the good of our neighbors, for the good of the Fatherland, and the worker who has received the appropriate education is always in demand. Then the moment comes when a person understands that it is necessary to start a family. The Lord blessed the marriage, performing His first miracle at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, blessed childbirth, saying that the wife<…>will be saved through childbearing (), which means it is God’s will for the continuation of the human race. Each of us has parents whom we need to take care of in old age and pray for their salvation. Caring for parents is our very responsibility, which is a direct indication of the Divine will. Thus, in certain cases, a person who has the right worldview can truly know the will of God. But this is hardly possible for people who are rationalistic, do not have faith in their hearts, and are indifferent to the Church. Although for a simple Christian, the safest state is not the exploration of the Divine paths, but filial submission to the will of the Father.
But how can we find out God’s will in any particular case? For example, to understand what the right thing to do in a difficult situation? Let us immediately stipulate that we most often find ourselves in such situations because we violate the laws of spiritual life. It must be said that we are quite rarely called upon to make a responsible decision without thinking. However, for some reason we are always in a hurry to do it quickly. But the will of God is revealed in patience: I prayed, thoroughly weighed everything, and only after that I decided. The state of unhurriedness also limits the number of possible mistakes.
Why doesn't God hear me?
Parishioners often ask the priest about this. To answer this question, let's turn to simple example. The young man met a girl whom he fell in love with and asks his confessor to pray for her to become his wife, he himself fervently prays for his beloved, asks for prayerful help from his parents... Well, is this the will of God? Does he ask himself this question? A person often insists on his own and thinks that the Lord does not hear him, does not give what he asks, does not participate in his life... But it also happens that we ask God for something not for the good, but to the detriment of our soul,
Why doesn’t the Lord immediately fulfill our requests? Maybe because it tests our patience? They say that a person does not value what he gets without effort. This is true and this is our natural state. Let's say, the one who found the money will never treat it the same way as the one who earned it through honest labor. So it is in our case. You need to pray for more than one year for the Lord to send a good wife, and also ask your parents for help and listen to good advice. Only then will you find a person with whom you can live your whole life. Often what we lack to solve many problems is obedience, be it obedience to a confessor, parents, or boss at work. Modern people do not know how to live according to advice, they cannot give up their will. The condition, which the holy fathers call self-will, is the root cause of many mistakes and sorrows. The basis of disobedience is often disobedience to the Lord and violation of His holy will.
But let’s not give up and be discouraged; we’d better believe that the Lord is only testing our patience in prayer and will definitely fulfill our request. It doesn’t do it right away, because it waits and looks at our diligence, at our devotion. It does not fulfill only when we ask for something that is not useful for ourselves.
It also happens that the Lord does not fulfill a request, so that a person thinks about why God does not hear him. Maybe he will remember something that he forgot to say in confession: there is an unpaid debt, an unforgiven offense on his conscience, or non-reconciliation with someone... You never know the sins! External well-being often depends on the internal state.
The search for the will of God is the most important matter of our life, since, falling on its path, a person is included in eternal divine life.
Reverend
Part two. How to find out the will of God?
“Honor your father and your mother...” ()
Parents are those people thanks to whom the birth of a person into the world takes place. The commandment to honor parents is very ancient. We know that even in the Old Testament, the prophet of God Moses and other prophets called on the people of Israel, who kept the true knowledge of God, to honor their father and mother: Honor your father and your mother [so that it may be good for you and] so that your days on earth may be lengthened () . For disrespect for parents, a terrible punishment was imposed - the death penalty by stoning: Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death (). The commandment to love and honor parents is revealed even deeper and more meaningfully in the New Testament. Christ Himself showed us an example of caring for His Mother and imaginary father, Elder Joseph.
Each of us has parents. Whether a person has created his own family or lives in his father’s house, the relationship with his parents may change, but it is not interrupted throughout his life. Parents are the people to whom we should direct most of our attention, care and love. When our own family appears, we, according to the commandment, leave our father and mother and cleave to our wife or husband (see:). From this moment on, parents cease to be our family, but they are not forgotten, the form of serving them simply changes. In Orthodox young families there is a tradition of establishing special “parent days” - for example, visiting the husband’s parents on Wednesday, and visiting the wife’s parents on Friday in order to communicate and provide them with the necessary help. Each family has its own charter, but we repeat that the commandment to honor our parents does not end even when we leave our parental home.
How does the knowledge of the Divine will occur through parents? Are they always its guides? What if the parents are non-believers? I think we can say that parents still have their own special grace of “parenthood” (the grace of motherhood or the grace of fatherhood). And just as in the Sacrament of the Priesthood an ordinary person, being born as a spiritual person, receives grace-filled strength and help to perform his ministry, so during childbirth, the father and mother receive from the Lord the necessary help in order to raise and educate their child. Through our parents, the Lord introduces us into earthly life. There is a wise saying that the birth of a person into the world is an act of Divine mercy, since each of us, upon being born, receives the opportunity to inherit eternal life. Along with the priceless gift of life, we receive from our father and mother their love, without which, like without sunlight, nothing living can grow. This is the natural state of motherhood and fatherhood. Only God can love a child more than parents. That is why obedience to father and mother is essentially obedience to Love, and therefore obedience to the Lord.
This is the ideal relationship between children and parents. But life is not easy, and the child’s development takes place under the influence of various circumstances, in which the father and mother nevertheless take a direct and most active part. We see how children of pious parents, who conscientiously perform their duty, grow up to become moral, righteous and even saints. We also see how children of careless and irresponsible parents grow up. “Where were you when the child needed your care!” - I would like to say to a mother who does not know how to correct her adult son.
The participation of parents in the lives of children is very important and meaningful. Not so long ago, not a single thing was done in Rus' without the blessing of father and mother, be it choosing a profession, getting married, or moving to a new place of residence. Through parental approval, the Lord Himself sends His blessing to all the good deeds that a person does. And parents, blessing their children, in turn are called to understand that their advice should protect their children from danger.
The bitter truth of our time is that many parents are cut off from the Church. Their advice often does not correspond to the gospel commandments. In this case, it is appropriate to remember the apostolic word that one must listen to God more than to man. And, of course, if parental advice contradicts the Divine commandments, then, without becoming embittered, without irritation, we must explain to father and mother that the choice will be made as the Holy Gospel teaches. Such parents need our prayerful help so that they too accept the truth in the form in which it is given by the Orthodox Church.
To whom the Church is not a mother, God is not a Father
When we talk about the will of God, we must make the following remark: only a church person can fulfill it. Non-church people, non-believers do not know Divine revelation. Although many of them live, probably checking their actions with the voice of conscience, they do not feel the action of grace, which meets with strong resistance from the sinful way of their unrepentant nature. But as soon as a person begins to fight sin, as soon as he makes an attempt to destroy this wall separating him from God, he immediately begins to feel and experience God in his life. The depth of the Gospel truths is revealed to such a person, a real Meeting takes place, and now he sincerely wants to arrange his whole life according to the will of God.
Fulfilling the will of God is the goal of Christian life. This is the very height to which we must rise at all costs. By the grace of Baptism, every person is able to turn to God and begin to fulfill the Divine will, even in small ways, but sincerely and with zeal.
When asked whether representatives of other Christian denominations fulfill the Divine will, we can say with confidence that this is a section of a complex theological topic. There is hardly any point in discussing it in detail in our book. Let's just say that these people, unfortunately, do not know the fullness of the Truth that is in the womb Orthodox Church.
People who are not baptized, but who live according to the law of conscience, can realize that only in the Church are all human talents most fully revealed. Churching makes it possible to know the will of God and receive the necessary strength to fulfill it. We have already said that fulfilling the will of God is a feat, and for the feat you need strength. These powers are given to a person in the bosom of the Orthodox Church.
Churching begins with the Sacrament of baptism and the associated Sacrament of Confirmation. Dogmatically, the Church says that a baptized person, who has washed away all sins in the font and received the grace of Baptism, and then the grace of Confirmation, becomes a full-fledged and full-fledged worker in the field of Christ. In these Sacraments, the Lord gives us those grace-filled powers that we did not have before. Now we can legitimately strive, in other words, stand on a par with the saints who also once began their journey with the Sacrament of Baptism and ended it in the Kingdom of Heaven.
"Obey your teachers" ()
One of the signs of the truth of the Church is the presence of a legal hierarchy in it. Not everyone can introduce people to spiritual life and teach them to always act according to the will of God. In the Orthodox Church, for this purpose there are clergy appointed by the Law - bishops, priests and deacons. Where there is no true hierarchy, there is no truth. The grace of the Priesthood, received in the Sacrament of the Priesthood, originates from the Savior and the holy Apostles. We believe that in the Orthodox Church, through a chain of ordinations, a bishop is united with one of the Apostles, the Apostles are united with Christ Himself, and the inviolability, indissoluble nature of this spiritual connection is obvious. When the Sacrament of the priesthood is performed, the bishop who lays on hands adds another link to this chain. He himself, being in turn the bearer of the fullness of church power (where there is no bishop, there is no Church), transfers the grace of the Priesthood to one of his brothers. And the grace of the Priesthood makes the shepherd ready for the work for which he is assigned.
Another sign of truth is the presence of the Sacraments in the Church. Through the Sacraments, the Lord pours out grace on his faithful followers and thus helps us all to recognize His will. The Sacrament is based on a certain mystery (mystery) - a way of communicating with God that is incomprehensible to our human understanding. The most striking example of this is the Sacrament of the Eucharist, when through Holy Communion a person is united with the Lord.
Each Sacrament carries a deep spiritual meaning. Through them, a person receives the necessary gracious help. And our task is to join them, not to neglect what God gives to each of us. This is especially important for beginners, who should not limit their church life to just going to church to light a candle. In our prayers before Communion, we ask the Lord for enlightenment of the mind and other grace-filled gifts. For example, in the rite of Communion for a sick person at home, the priest reads a prayer that contains the following words: “May the Lord make you wise,” “May the Lord save you,” “May the Lord have mercy on you.” This is how he addresses the sick or dying person before Communion, instilling in the heart of a weakened person the hope that he will not be abandoned by God’s mercy either in this life or in the future.
Without participating in church life, it is impossible to know the will of God. The church is often compared to a hospital. Let's imagine a patient who comes to the doctor, but after walking along the corridors, talking with other patients, looking into the office, he leaves. Does his condition improve after such a visit? It's the same in church. A person will write a note, light a candle - and that’s it... And so on until next time. But we are all spiritually sick, and participation in the Sacraments is for us that very necessary operation, thanks to which positive changes occur in our souls. Moreover, we must try to resort to these saving means as often as possible, so as not to waste the grace that is communicated to us in the Sacraments. We all need to constantly feel the Lord in our hearts and thus recognize His holy will for ourselves. The question of how often one should receive communion and confession should be agreed upon with the confessor.
Happy is the person who has a spiritual father. People should thank God and pray for their spiritual father, because the institution of spiritual fatherhood also exists in the Church so that through our pastors we learn the Divine will about ourselves. Probably, those who have been cared for by one priest for many years (especially if he is an elder, decorated not only with years of shepherding, but also with prayerful wisdom and ascetic life), know well that the Lord Himself speaks to us through the mouth of a confessor.
Elders are vessels of God's grace, but often people cannot contain the advice or blessing they receive. Once a young man went to an experienced elder to ask for advice on an important issue. This question was related to the choice of life path. At the meeting, the priest asked:
- You are married?
“No,” answered the young man. Having heard the answer, the confessor advised him to become a monk.
The young man bowed, kissed his hand and went home. And when he arrived, he realized that he could not fulfill the blessing. It turned out that his spiritual condition did not allow him to become a monk. With tears in his eyes, he returned back, begging the elder to remove this blessing from him. Is the confessor to blame for trying to reveal God’s will to man? No. The one who started to find her out at the wrong time is to blame.
What should you do in such a case? Now in almost every locality there are parish churches, around which church life glows. The reason the parish is called that is because people who live nearby come to the church. This is the tradition legally established by the Church. Just as people living in one area are assigned to a passport office or a clinic, they are also assigned to the nearest temple. The parish priest is the spiritual center with whom the flock resolves all its vital issues. Of course, you need to pray that the priest will be a worthy person, a kind and loving shepherd, but also try to be an exemplary parishioner yourself. This is a very important spiritual rule. The one who “travels” to different parishes and different confessors acts dangerously and unreasonably.
Our time, according to one Christian theologian, is called the time of “Christian tourism.” People now travel a lot: they go to the Holy Land, to holy relics in different countries and throughout Russia... They also travel to Moscow churches. Of course, this is a very necessary and important matter, and God grant that the pilgrimage service of our Church develops. Pilgrimage to shrines is a necessary component of spiritual life, but now we are talking about internal discipline, which should be present in every person. When we come to a new church, this is accompanied by many vivid impressions: new people, new clergy... We need to approach the shrine, receive a blessing, buy something as a souvenir, and instead of calmly praying, we fuss, and the holiday becomes a restless pastime .
The leader of spiritual life should be the parish priest. This is the shepherd appointed by God who cares for his parishioners and blesses them for every good deed, including trips to shrines. It has become a good tradition for experienced pilgrims to take a blessing on the road, since from their own experience they know about the temptations that occur on such trips. Parish pastors could tell many interesting stories about the power and gracious help of the priestly blessing. Here is just one example from personal practice. The young couple gathered to visit St. Sergius. The trip was planned for Sunday, and the day before, on Saturday evening, these people approached me and asked me to tell me how best to get to the monastery. I advised them to make the pilgrimage by bus, which regularly departs from the VDNH metro station and quite quickly delivers passengers to Sergiev Posad. Having taken my recommendations into account, the young people, leaving the temple, for some reason decided to go to the Lavra by train. They told me about the result of such “innocent disobedience” immediately after the trip. Having taken a ticket to Sergiev Posad, they boarded the train and, satisfied, set off. Imagine their surprise when, instead of the domes of the Assumption Cathedral, they saw at the final station the dilapidated buildings of some local factory! It turned out that instead of taking the train to Sergiev Posad, they took the train going to the city of Fryazevo, where they ended up. I had to return to Moscow to get on the right train on the second attempt. They came to the Reverend with an unpleasant feeling of self-willed children who had suffered from their own disobedience. So they realized that the priest’s blessing must not only be taken, but also fulfilled.
Newbie mistakes
The parish priest deals with the spiritual problems of his parishioners. However, in the life of every person, sometimes very difficult questions arise, which not every priest can answer. In this case, you need to turn to a more experienced confessor. But it is unreasonable, bypassing the blessing of the parish priest, to voluntarily ask the elder about something, and then talk about what happened in your parish. This behavior causes bewilderment, and most importantly, when problems arise, the priest can only throw up his hands: “You went on your own, without my knowledge, and now you’re asking what to do?”
You need to start solving difficult issues at your own parish. Let the priest decide which elder to go to, which icon to pray to, which saint to ask for help. Being a parish priest myself, I believe that a preparatory time should be set for a trip to the elder. Maybe it makes sense to spend the entire Great Lent in prayer and repentance in order to beg the Lord for the opportunity to find out His will from the lips of a spirit-bearing elder, and only after that, having secured the blessing of your priest, set off on the road. Then the Lord will not allow a mistake and the person will accept the advice that he needed.
As we said above, an integral part of our parish life is pastoral care. The confessor is the leader of the inner life of a church person. We all know how necessary his help is in the matter of salvation. Anyone who has climbed the mountains understands that without an experienced instructor it is impossible to climb to the top. Snow avalanches, cracks, abysses - these are only those visible dangers that an inexperienced person cannot get around without the appropriate knowledge and experience. A guide is just as necessary in spiritual life. However, when communicating with the priest, certain rules must be followed. Some “zealous” parishioners try to entrust to the confessor the spiritual work that must be done independently. It is not right. As the saint taught, a confessor is a path indicator that tells you the direction of movement during a journey, indicates how many kilometers have already been covered, how much remains to go. But it is the traveler himself who makes the journey.
Relationships become incorrect when children cling to their spiritual fathers beyond all measure. In the person of a priest or even a holy monk, such people often find that support in life that they do not have in everyday life. That is why we all need to understand that for any person, the shepherd of the Church is first and foremost and only a spiritual father. A different attitude towards a priest is dangerous, although it often arises not without the fault of the pastor himself. A kind of spiritual dependence arises when confessors, feeling within themselves the power received from God, begin to abuse this power, forbidding their children to take a step without a blessing. In this case, it is already difficult to say whose will the flock is fulfilling: human or Divine.
Unfortunately, in our pastoral practice there are cases that are fraught with spiritual danger. We are talking about a gross violation of all the rules that govern the relationship of the confessor with his children. Often, the imbalance in relationships begins when zealous parishioners who are unreasonably zealous want to see in the priest a perfect image of holiness, and an even, obedient attitude is replaced for such by hysterical enthusiasm. Such a state, close to delusion, is dangerous because along with it unclean thoughts can be allowed into the heart and, if the fight is not started in time, the fire of lust will flare up in the soul for the one who is obliged to be a loving father. We must watch ourselves very carefully, not allowing anything unclean into our hearts, so as not to damage the saving work of spiritual guidance. If sinful thoughts do not leave the heart for a long time, we advise you to change your spiritual mentor.
When there is no one to ask...
Often situations arise in life when there is no spiritual father nearby, no one to consult with, but a decision must be made. Believers should always strive to fulfill the Divine will. How can you recognize her? In such a situation, we advise you to turn to God with prayer and, with humility and a feeling of deep repentance, accept the first thought after prayer as sent from God and act as the Guardian Angel teaches us. Well, if we talk about some vital issue (how to get married, get a job, move to another city), then more diligent and lengthy prayer is needed here. A person can take upon himself a special prayer rule, for example, reading an akathist, a canon, or additional kathismas from the Psalter in order to know the will of God through the prayerful sighing of the soul. But let us repeat that this kind of work should always begin with a blessing. Self-will does not bear fruit in spiritual work.
Holy Scripture is the source of knowledge of the Divine will
The source of Divine revelation for all believers has always been and remains the Holy Scripture. The Holy Scriptures are a collection of books written by holy prophets and apostles. There is a well-known patristic saying that when we read Scripture with faith and reverence, the Lord Himself speaks to us. And if prayer is a spiritual conversation between a person and God (and through prayer we open our hearts to the Lord, repent before Him, ask, praise, thank Him), then in reading the Holy Scriptures we hear the voice of God addressed to us and thus recognize His will.
Probably every believer can remember that touching time when the newly converted mind first comprehended the inspiration of the books of the New Testament. The Gospel teaches us Christian morality, because the will of God is always aimed at the salvation of man and his spiritual improvement, at the fight against sin and a virtuous life. And the Word of God will always be our guide in this matter.
All the saints studied the Scriptures. Let us only recall that it must be studied in the spirit of patristic interpretation. An attitude towards a sacred text can be called pagan when people open a page at random and hope to thus find an answer to a difficult question. The Church Fathers advise reading daily New Testament, reflect on what you read and try to fulfill what you wrote.
We must take special care when reading the Gospel in church. During the service, the priest strictly prays at the altar before reading the Gospel. For the laity who read the Word of God in the home prayer rule, there is also a prayer in which we ask to clear our minds of vain thoughts and help us focus on the content of the sacred text. We pray that the Lord will enlighten our spiritual eyes and reveal His will through these lines.
I would like to encourage our parishioners to familiarize themselves in advance with the Gospel text that will be read at the Liturgy. You can find out exactly what kind of passage this will be from the Orthodox calendar. It is good to read the interpretation of this passage. We recommend the interpretation of a famous theologian, bishop, former rector of the Moscow Theological Academy. His interpretation of the four Gospels is set out accessible language. In addition, we can recommend the interpretations of the blessed one and the saint.
At every Sunday and holiday Liturgy, a sermon is preached on the Gospel reading, from which one can learn a lot of useful things for spiritual and moral life. A sermon is a crucial moment of worship, for which the priest prepares in advance. Therefore, even if we are tired from the service, we must listen to the sermon to the end. Thus, by our behavior and internal discipline, we will show our faith that we are listening to the priest as a teacher appointed by God, and not only the Gospel Word, but also its explanation will be deposited in our hearts. A person who tries to be a serious and responsible parishioner will learn more and more fully the truths of the Word of God every year.
Turning to the Holy Scriptures as the source of Divine revelation, we should not doubt that through it the Lord reveals His holy will to man. Just don’t try to speed up the process of cognition, simplify or specify it. You need to read the Word of God and carefully keep what you read in your heart in order to know how to act correctly in a Christian way in any everyday situation.
We Orthodox Christians, unfortunately, have to admit our weakness in knowledge of the sacred text. When entering into polemics with sectarians, we often see how much better read they are. Although it is known that the Word of God is a two-edged sword, with which you can not only defeat the spirits of evil, but also inflict mortal wounds on yourself. For sectarians, the Word of God is a sword with which they strike themselves. Knowing the Scripture well, they became like a dry branch of a fruitful vine (see:). After all, deep theological knowledge will not bring spiritual benefit in isolation from the mother Church. It is important for us to realize that Orthodox Christians often do not have the commendable zeal with which they not only read the Holy Gospel every day, but also study it with representatives of other faiths.
It is known that our pious ancestors knew the Gospel by heart. At that time, printing was not yet as well developed as it is now. People copied the text of Scripture by hand to read it at home, although, of course, memorizing large passages is not an intellectual process. Most likely, the text fell on a pure heart, and it became a treasury containing precious pearls of the Words of God.
A lot of spiritual literature is being published now. The books are published on good paper, in expensive bindings, with beautiful covers. And another danger immediately arises - getting carried away outside affairs. In many houses, on beautiful shelves there are complete works of the holy fathers, hagiographic literature, liturgical collections... But are these books read? The Holy Scriptures are a reference book for every Christian, which can be in a paper cover or an old one, as long as the Word of God remains alive for us. Reading the Gospel, we believe that the Lord reveals His holy will to us and man will definitely recognize it, but only when it is necessary and useful for him.
About Sacred Tradition
The will of God is revealed to man not only through Holy Scripture, but also through Holy Tradition. The Holy Scriptures are, as we have already said, a collection of books that make up the Bible, each of which was written by a prophet or an Apostle in a certain historical era. Sacred Tradition has no temporal or historical boundaries, since this is the grace-filled life of the Holy Church.
The Orthodox Church does not seek the truth, but joins it. Catholics, for example, have a theory of dogmatic development, which states that the fundamental tenets of the Church develop with the times. Time passes, society faces new questions, the answers to which Catholic Church adapts his dogmatic teaching. There is no such theory in the Orthodox Church. We believe that the Lord placed truth in its depths, and in a specific historical era, godly archpastors and shepherds take from the spiritual treasury what can serve as an answer to these questions. But we do not have the teaching that we do not have the fullness of the Truth. This is one of the characteristic features of the Orthodox attitude to Church Tradition.
The Apostle Paul also speaks of the need to adhere to the Holy Tradition: Brethren, stand and hold to the traditions that you have been taught either by word or by our epistle (). The tradition of the Church begins from the moment of its foundation and, through the depths of centuries, brings to us the spiritual experience of its first and subsequent teachers. Church tradition also existed because everything that the Savior taught was impossible to write down. From the Evangelist John the Theologian we read: Jesus did many other things; but if we were to write about it in detail, then I think the world itself would not be able to accommodate the books written (). For example, we will not find in the Gospel any special instructions on how worship should be organized. We also will not find answers to questions related to church regulations in the New Testament. This enormous creative layer, without which it is impossible to imagine the life of the Church, was created and multiplied by the holy fathers of Orthodoxy. The Savior providentially provided the Apostles, saints, archpastors and shepherds of the Church, saying in simple language, part of His powers (organization of church life). In the first centuries of Christianity, this was the right of those holy men who preserved the purity of Orthodox teaching.
Now we too can be satisfied with the fruits of the seeds sown by the Lord Himself and the faithful continuers of His teaching. The Gospel contains many striking examples of how important it is to maintain a living connection with the teachers of the Orthodox Church and to be imbued with its spirit (see, for example,). The need for a living, inextricable connection between each member of the Church and the body of the Church is obvious. Sacred Tradition makes it easier for a person to enter the Church. The experience of spiritual life shows that paving the way yourself or being a pioneer is not always useful. The same can be said about any business. But if everyday affairs can be corrected (perhaps losing money, strength, time, which is not so scary), then irreparable mistakes happen in spiritual life. Let’s say, if a person, in his search, moves away from the Orthodox Church and gets carried away by sectarian or schismatic false teachings, then returning to the right path and starting his spiritual life anew will not be very easy. People need to remember that our soul is too tender to be subjected to dangerous experiments, and some deformations and injuries can have irreversible consequences for it. Let's imagine that a greenhouse plant, striking the eye with its beauty, is grown under certain temperature and climatic conditions. And someone, disregarding these vital factors for him, takes him out to a vacant lot and transplants him into soil on which nothing grows except nettles and thistles. The plant dies. So, Church Tradition, as the experience of the life of the Church, helps in a safe way introduce a person to spirituality. And if we talk in general about the churching of each person, then the most natural conditions for us will be those conditions in which our loved ones became churchgoers.
In order for our story about Sacred Tradition to be as complete as possible, let us remember the time when there were no books. Writing, according to biblical chronology, appeared under the prophet of God Moses, when the Lord commanded him to write the Ten Commandments on stone tablets. Let us ask ourselves the question: “When there were no books, were there any special ways in which the Lord conveyed His will to people?” Of course there were. Before Moses, the Lord appeared in a special way to the holy Old Testament righteous, who could hear and accept into their hearts what God revealed to them. This means that Holy Tradition is older than Holy Scripture. Before the Holy Scriptures, even the Old Testament, humanity already had experience of communion with God, which means there was a Tradition that was passed down orally from generation to generation. Let us remember how Patriarch Abraham and his children, Patriarch Noah, that is, those who lived before Moses, communicated with God. Let us repeat that not everything was written down from the New Testament teaching that Christ brought to earth. What was not written down, but was kept in the memory and hearts of holy people, is called Sacred Tradition.
Now let's summarize everything that has been said. In the teachings of the Orthodox Church there is the concept of Divine revelation. Divine revelation is what God Himself reveals to man. Divine revelation is transmitted to people through Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition. The Holy Scriptures are the collection of books that make up the book of the Bible. Sacred Tradition is an oral way of transmitting Divine will to people. Sacred Tradition is older than Sacred Scripture. It must also be said that the Lord, of course, did not reveal His will to all people. After the Fall, from the expulsion of Adam from paradise to the appearance of the prophet of God Moses, a sufficient amount of time passed, and there were much fewer righteous people on earth than sinners. The world was plunged into the darkness of polytheism, idolatry and various sinful pleasures. That is why the Lord chose special men to reveal His will.
But we may be asked: “Why then did the Holy Scripture appear at all, if there were people who kept the Word of God in their hearts?” The reason for this was the sinful life of people who began to distort the Word, and Scripture became a reliable way of storing Divine revelation. Ancient manuscripts have survived to this day, on which we always rely in polemics with representatives of non-Orthodox faiths. In other words, we have a written document that confirms the truth of Christian teaching.
Sacred Tradition is, as we said, a living experience of church life. The Church cannot exist without Sacred Tradition. On the other hand, Sacred Tradition is kept in the Church and cannot be kept outside the Church. The Church protects it, monitors the purity of its preservation and, when necessary, as a pillar and affirmation of the truth () gives people its infallible teaching. And we, in turn, must recognize and love the Holy Tradition, be obedient to the voice of the Church and not be tempted by the false arguments of those who reject it and say that it is enough to follow the Holy Scripture.
Briefly about the Law of God
God's law, speaking modern language, facilitates understanding of the Holy Scriptures. The publication of “The Law of God”, edited by Archpriest Seraphim Slobodsky, contains several sections. These are sections devoted to Old Testament history, the history of the New Testament, the worship of the Orthodox Church, the interpretation of the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the ten commandments of God's law and the nine beatitudes. "The Law of God" is a kind of textbook that reveals the basics Orthodox faith. It may be especially useful for those who decide to take Holy Baptism in adulthood.
As you know, in pre-revolutionary Russia the Law of God was taught in all educational institutions. Children were taught this subject already in elementary school, in order to form in their minds a correct idea of what the Orthodox faith is from the earliest years of life.
Now in most secondary schools the Law of God is not taught. But at every church there is or is preparing to open a parish Sunday school for adults and children, where the study of this subject is compulsory. But Sunday school should not so much teach the theoretical foundations of the Orthodox faith as help every person become a church member. After all, both adults and children perceive faith not only through a book or lesson, but also through live communication with church people. Orthodox Sunday school helps people learn to love the Church, and indeed the Christian life in general. Trips to holy places, events related to preparations for Orthodox holidays, tea parties on the occasion of memorable dates, assistance in landscaping - all this unites and unites the Orthodox. In our soulless world, where people are divided, we especially need to stick to each other. After all, how good it is to be in a team where everyone understands each other! Children especially need such communication. Children grow up handicapped without communication, and we as adults must take an active part in creating a healthy environment for their upbringing. Of course, mistakes and failures are inevitable in any business. And in our midst there are misunderstandings, mutual insults, quarrels... But knowing all this, we must still understand that our strength lies in unity. A parish Sunday school can unite not only Orthodox children, but also their parents, and over time become a real church community. In learning to live according to the will of God, we are greatly helped by the living experience of other people and the very way of life in the church community under the guidance of an experienced pastor.
I would especially like to say about the participation of clergy in the matter of education in the parish. Often, having created a Sunday school, clergy are removed from its further life, shifting all the work onto the shoulders of teachers and catechists. It is a pity that a simple rule is forgotten: just the sight of a priest with a cross and in a cassock has a beneficial effect on students of any age. A word from the mouth of a priest is perceived differently than from the mouth of the most intelligent and pious layman. The servant of the altar of the Lord has a special spiritual gift for leading people to God and opening the human mind to the knowledge of the highest truths of the Gospel.
Preachers of the Word of God today need to be more forgiving of the weaknesses of modern man. We all need to understand that in their spare time, many people read nothing but tabloid newspapers and detective stories. They get all their information from the TV and radio. The language of the classics of Russian literature, and even more so the language of the sacred text of the Gospel, is difficult for them to understand. Today we have to talk about Christ in simple words even with those who have two higher secular educations and know several European languages. External education in the absence of moral purity does not allow the gospel seeds to take root in the hearts of people. Although, of course, among our pastors there are talented preachers who apply all their strength to the task of enlightening people with the light of Christ’s faith and teaching their flock to seek first of all the will of God in everything.
What is a church charter?
The church charter is another source of Divine revelation. The Holy Scriptures were given to people by God, and the church charter appeared when the Church itself appeared. We celebrate the birthday of the Orthodox Church on the Day of the Holy Trinity, when the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles and they received the fullness of Divine grace. The Apostle Paul wrote about the Church that it is the pillar and foundation of the truth (). The Church shows us the rules of spiritual life, by observing which we recognize the Divine will and gain the opportunity to inherit eternal life.
The church is often compared to an army. Indeed, they are similar. In the Church, as in the army, there are rules, there are vestments (uniforms), there is a hierarchy - the subordination of lower ranks to higher ones. Only the battlefield of earthly warriors is visible, but that of spiritual ones is invisible. But both in the army and in the Church, in order to count on victory, certain rules must be followed. For example, soldiers know well that discipline is a necessary component of army life and evasion of compliance with the regulations leads to bad consequences. Likewise, the church life of an Orthodox person has its own internal order. The life of the Church is governed by God. The Church is the Body of Christ. The head of the Church is Christ. Everything that is established by the Church is divinely inspired. The rules of the Church are infallible and intended to be fulfilled. And holidays, and fasting, and participation in the Sacraments, and, of course, life according to the commandments of God - all this for a believer is life according to the charter of the Church. But most importantly, we must understand that compliance with the rules established by the Church reveals to man the will of God, which is always aimed at good. The Lord wants a person to sin as little as possible and practice virtues as much as possible. And we see that the life of zealous executors of the church charter is the life of ascetics who desire salvation, in other words, the fulfillment of the Divine will for man.
What dangers might newbies face? Passion for the external side of the church charter. Let us remember the Pharisees and Sadducees. They knew the law of Moses by heart, fulfilled all the instructions regarding fasting, tithing, Sabbath rest, but at the same time their hearts remained cold: no warmth, no love, no humility, no mercy. Unfortunately, there are such adherents of the charter among us: they fast according to the Typikon, attend all services... For such people, compliance with the charter rules becomes an end in itself. But this is only a means to change your inner sinful state. And this is a very difficult process. It is often difficult even for a confessor to reach the heart of a person who has lived for many years, fulfilling all the instructions, and has fenced himself off from God like a wall with his own self-will. He himself determines the severity of the fasts, the duration of the prayer rule... But the danger lies in the fact that the basis of his exploits is self-will. This is what devalues all work. It is better to carry out a small feat, but with cutting off your own will. As they say, a small feat that is performed with a blessing has no price.
Let us repeat that compliance with the church charter allows a person to lead a spiritual life correctly: to fight passions, to practice virtues, in other words, to improve for the Kingdom of Heaven. Both the misunderstood Holy Scripture and the statute, in isolation from church reason, instead of helping a person to know the Divine will, will help him to do his own will or, what is even worse, to fulfill the will of a fallen demon.
The human will is a copper wall between him and God. If a man leaves her, he says to him (with David): By my God I will cross the wall. My God, His way is blameless (). Reverend Avva Pimen
Part three. About obstacles on the path of knowledge
Self-will
We have already said that the Savior in His earthly incarnation became for us an ideal in the virtue of obedience. His human will agreed in everything with the will Heavenly Father. Of course, this example in its entirety is unattainable for any of us, but we still need to make efforts to become like God the Father in obedience to Christ. The monk says: “Of course, our flesh, by its own nature, can be neither more nor less, but the will, by its own will, can increase to any measure; for this reason<…>The Divinity itself was enclosed in human nature, so that this nature would rush towards everything holy.”
What is the main obstacle that prevents us from fulfilling the Divine will? Our own self-will. A non-church person, an unbaptized person, an unbeliever generally does not understand what life according to the will of God means. In his life, everything is determined only by his own will. This is why it can be so difficult to find the right words to talk about the meaning of life with non-believers. Living in isolation from the Church, they are spiritually blinded and do not have in their souls that saving grace that enlightens the mind, heart and will, grace through which a person receives a correct understanding of God, the world and himself. Sometimes it takes a catastrophe in life to awaken the sleeper from spiritual sleep, cure his blindness. And often only in misfortune do people finally understand that earthly life is not eternal and that there is “Something Higher” that is stronger than us. It’s good if the Lord visits you with sorrows. If such a visit does not occur, then a state of spiritual death will occur. What could be worse than this?
It’s good for those who know from childhood what obedience is and know how to give up their desires. If a person did not go through this school in his youth (he was indulged in everything, everything was allowed to him), then the process of learning obedience in adulthood will be difficult and painful. Thus, the dishonest attitude of parents towards raising children bears its bitter fruits. It is very, very difficult to destroy the self-will of an adult.
Let us remember the parable of the sower, which talks about a seed that fell on rocky soil (see:). The seed began to grow, but there was little land, and the stone layer did not allow it to take root. According to the interpretation of the holy fathers, such an obstacle in the human soul is self-will. Just as only prickly small grass grows on rocky soil, so the “good deeds” of a self-willed person are thoroughly saturated with vanity, which is far from fulfilling the Divine will. How to deal with it? Through “I can’t”, through “I don’t want”, we must crush the layer of self-will with the deeds that we do for the benefit of our neighbors. If a person lives in a family, then these are his family responsibilities. If you don’t have a family yet, then there are definitely leaders, teachers, mentors, and by conscientiously fulfilling their requirements, you can acquire those very good skills that are so necessary in the Christian life! From externally doing good deeds (especially those that you don’t want to do), the skill of doing good will appear in your soul over time. Obedience must be learned. It has been noticed that people who have the skill of obedience also succeed in Christian life.
Just don’t forget that everything we do to raise our children must be done with love and judgment. Reasonable severity shown by the father and mother is the best manifestation of concern for the future of the children. Through severity, the child gets used to difficulties and the fact that they must be overcome. We must pray that the Lord will enlighten us in the matter of education, and then our parental work will bear good fruit.
Let’s finish this chapter like this: self-will is the wall that prevents the Divine will from acting. Until a person learns to overcome it, the entrance to Divine participation in his life will remain closed. How to deal with this disease? The answer is given by life itself: do not shy away from those life circumstances in which the Lord places us. We respond kindly to the requests of people around us, listen to advice with attention and try to fulfill them, and perceive comments from loved ones as a bitter medicine that cures our spiritual ailments, the main one of which is fulfilling one’s will. And then rejection of our own will and life according to the will of God will become a natural need for us.
About evil skills
Let us ask ourselves the following question: “What most strengthens disobedience to God in us? “In the soul of every person there are evil habits that have developed in us like a tumor on a weakening body. There may be something that our parents did not see, and therefore did not eradicate with good upbringing; something, due to inattention or negligence, we ourselves did not notice (or did not want to notice) in ourselves. And the bad seeds bore fruit. And now, in order to defeat this evil, it is necessary to practice good deeds, in other words, to acquire good skills, to ensure that doing good becomes our habit. And habit, as you know, is second nature.
It must be said that any priest has to communicate with people who turned to God in adulthood. They often ask: “Father, I’m irritable, I have little patience, I use bad words. How can I deal with this? Answering these questions, you can give a lot of advice, but the main thing is to understand that a long-term habit is not so quickly eradicated. Sometimes the Lord, out of humility, allows a person to live the rest of his life with the skill that he has acquired over many years. Let’s take for example the disease of smoking. We all know that smoking is a shame for a Christian, but despite this, there are people among us who, until their death, were never able to get rid of this evil habit (although they recognized themselves as sinners). That is why it is so necessary from childhood to carefully monitor that nothing harmful takes root in the heart.
Another reason why we cannot comprehend the Divine will is lack of patience. The famous confessor Archimandrite in his teachings says that the will of God is revealed in patience, and we want, having prayed, to immediately receive what we ask for. But often, in order to know the Divine will, it takes not just patience, but long-suffering. Sometimes you need to devote more than one year to prayerfully, humbly waiting for what the Lord will reveal. And this waiting should not be passive.
Another flaw that makes us disobedient to God is our inner inconstancy, the changeability of our will. It’s as if the person himself doesn’t know what he needs. Today, it seems, you need one thing, tomorrow - something completely different. But in order to find out God’s will for oneself, an exercise in constancy is required.
Let's take a simple example. The man decided to get higher education. If he really firmly decided on this, he will begin to prepare for the exams long before they begin, will stop wasting time and will direct all his energy to this vital matter. If he doesn’t have this confidence (has he made the right choice, is he strong enough?), then his behavior will be inconsistent: it seems like he needs to study, but at the same time he doesn’t want to study. Accordingly, one can imagine in advance what the result will be in both cases.
The same is true in spiritual life. You need to clearly understand the need to work on your soul, on correcting own shortcomings. After all, the reward will be a hundred times greater than all our efforts and exploits. The constancy and correctness of our actions, thoughts, worldview precisely determine what the Lord will reveal to us about ourselves in due time. A double-minded person (one who seems to want to live with God, but does not want to part with the world) will not be able to correct his life and learn the Divine will about himself.
The test of strength in the Christian life is submission to God in difficult trials and even at the time of death itself. Let us remember the Gospel story about the resurrection of the son of the widow of Nain. Before us is a woman who lost not only her husband, but also her only son. It seems that it could be worse than this? Who could be more unhappy than a widow who is left alone in the whole world? What could be worse than her fate? But when the Lord saw her, he took pity on her and said to her: don’t cry. And, approaching, he touched the bed; those carrying them stopped, and He said: young man! I'm telling you, get up! The dead man got up, sat down and began to speak; and Jesus gave him to his mother ().
Christians are called to find the courage, strength and wisdom to accept any life circumstances as sent from God. There are no accidents in human life. Misfortunes befall us not without the will of God. For the Lord punishes whomever he loves (). And the wiser and stronger a person is, the more difficult, as a rule, are the tests sent from above, without which we are not freed from evil habits, our souls are not resurrected.
Sorrows that heal sins
A feature of our time is that people come to faith in adulthood. Life has almost been lived - a value system has been formed, but when you come to the Church, you need to rethink everything anew... Perhaps a lot was done wrong. And you often hear indignant: “But I didn’t know how it should be!” Yes, but even in jurisprudence, ignorance of the law does not exempt you from responsibility. Moreover, no untruth with God will go unnoticed. And here it is, the most important stage of churching - a person has to take bitter medicine in order to recover spiritually: to come to terms with the fact that the Lord sends sorrows that heal our sins.
It’s good to go to church, read the Gospel, spiritual books, but the most “effective” way to heal the soul is suffering sent from above without agreement with our will. Often the most beloved and dear people become this medicine for us. How can you come to terms with this? Perhaps we should remember that the sins we have committed, even out of ignorance, must be mourned. Repentance acquired through suffering is our cure for spiritual ulcers.
Sin is poisonous by nature. A soul crippled by sin is difficult to heal, so sometimes you have to endure sorrow for a very long time. But the monk said about this: “From patience comes humility, from humility comes salvation.” The saint has a book, “I Loved Suffering,” which describes his spiritual path. This is the state of righteous people: it is good to suffer on earth, to cleanse the soul with sorrows, in order to receive reward after death, and perhaps, while still alive, to correct oneself and help other people. After all, the spiritual turning point of loved ones often depends on our behavior.
But human life is not only filled with suffering and pain. Every Christian knows that along with sorrows, the All-Merciful Lord sends to our hearts both a feeling of consolation and a feeling of joy. Such, for example, is the joy of Easter - a prototype of that heavenly joy that a person can enjoy already here, in earthly life. Whoever worked harder, prayed more, who repented more deeply, receives more joy.
The Christian worldview gives us an idea of what human life should be like. A Christian understands well that this life is not easy, just as the path of salvation is not easy. On this path we realize the action of evil, but at the same time we feel the help of God, the Guardian Angel and the saints, through whose prayers the feat of salvation is accomplished. And, of course, the main driving force for a Christian is the belief that earthly life is finite, and therefore our suffering is temporary. Elderly people want to say: “Perhaps there is only a little time left to be patient. Everything has its end: both work and sorrow.” We often think that our suffering is so great that it is impossible to endure. But the reward for patience is also great. The bliss that a person will taste in the Kingdom of Heaven will make him forget all his trials. We may even cry that we did not suffer enough. The Monk Seraphim said that if a person knew what bliss awaits him in the Kingdom of Heaven, he would agree to spend his whole life in a pit with worms.
On enduring insults and illnesses
Only true Christians can endure insults without returning evil for evil. In a godless, unspiritual world, completely different rules apply. The ancient law said: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth (). According to the pagan law, an insult must be returned to the offender a hundredfold, so that he will not be reprimanded in the future. But the law of Christ is higher than the Jewish law of the old man, and even more so higher than the law of the pagans. Voluntary enduring of grievances is the medicine that cures human sins. And we are often, because of minor barbs directed at us, ready to explode like a powder keg, but even for the small feat of patience with an offensive word, the Lord forgives us many iniquities. You can impose fasting on yourself, increase your prayer rule, limit yourself in sleep, exhaust your flesh with physical labor, but the result from these feats will not be as great as from humbly enduring insults. Indeed, most of our exploits, unfortunately, are almost always based on vanity, pride, ambition and other unnecessary impurities, which, like a fly in the ointment, spoil any business. The Lord is most pleased with that virtue that is performed against human will. But, unfortunately, nothing is so difficult for us as obedience to life’s circumstances.
On a par with enduring insults and reproaches is the uncomplaining enduring of physical illness. We are not talking now about those ailments that arise as a result of improper behavior (lung cancer in smokers or meningitis in someone who walked bareheaded on a frosty day). In such cases, cause-and-effect relationships are obvious. But if the illness that visited us was not related to our way of life, then humbly enduring it pleases God, as does patiently enduring insults. If a person bears the infirmities of his body complacently and without grumbling, then the Lord shows him His mercy. The Holy Gospel also speaks about this: For just as He Himself suffered, being tempted, He can help those who are tempted (). We know that there are such saints, they are called many-sick, who shone in the patience of bodily infirmities. These patient ascetics were awarded spiritual gifts during their lifetime. The monk fell ill in his youth and remained weak throughout his life. Bearing the cross of his own illness, he was granted the gift from God to heal the illnesses of other people. Pechersk ascetic Pimen the Much-Sick received the gift of prayer for sick people.
Only a church person can have a correct attitude towards illness. Many Christians enter eternal life through illness. Illnesses and sorrows cleanse a person from sins, but we often do not want to understand that the attitude towards illness should be godly and judicious. We must protect ourselves from illnesses, remember that health is the greatest gift of God, but if we get sick and do not receive the expected help from doctors, we must accept the illness without grumbling as a cross that the Lord Himself places on us.
"Remember your end" ()
Remember your end, the Holy Scripture tells us, and you will never sin (). This is the golden rule of Christian life. Mortal memory is like a bridle that keeps a person from committing sinful acts. She does not let us forget that beyond the grave we will give an answer for all the lawlessness that we have committed on earth. The memory of death supports ascetics, strengthens the sick, who have given up hope of healing and are awaiting death as deliverance from torment. If there is no grumbling in the soul and illness is accepted as a spiritual medicine, then in this way a person is prepared by God Himself for death. In this case, it is perceived as the end of earthly suffering and a transition to a place where there is no longer “neither illness, nor sorrow, nor sighing.”
Death is terrible for those who live, like the rich man of the Gospel, in bliss and idleness. For them, the very thought of death is a terrible reminder of eternity. Without doing anything to save their souls, such people receive all earthly consolations during their lifetime. This means that after their death, figuratively speaking, there will be nothing and nothing to thank them for. The Christian attitude towards death is different. It is necessary for each of us to think courageously about our last hour, while understanding that none of the earthly beings, not even Christ Himself, was devoid of the fear of death. But let us also remember the words of the Apostle Paul: Death! where is your sting? hell! where is your victory? (). Enthusiastically and boldly, the Apostle turns to death on behalf of Christ Himself. In the deed of the Savior, the greatest event took place, through which death was powerless before Man. Through the death of Christ, through His Resurrection, each of the faithful disciples participates in His Resurrection, and therefore in their own resurrection. This is why believers are not afraid of death: for them it is only a transition to another, blissful life. And if the All-Good and All-Merciful Lord desires just such a life for every person, then what is the point of us resisting His holy will?
So, let us constantly praise God and unceasingly thank Him for everything, both in words and in deeds. This is our sacrifice and offering, this is the best service and worthy of angelic life. If we constantly glorify Him in this way, then we will spend our present life without any stumbling, and we will achieve future blessings, which may we all be worthy of, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father with the Holy Spirit be glory, power, honor now and ever and ever. Amen. Saint
Part four. Glory to God for everything, “for this is the will of God for you” ()
About Divine Providence and Divine Permission
Let us remember the words of Christ that without the will of God not a single hair will fall from a person’s head (see:). From these words it is clear that everything that happens to us happens either by the will of God or by God’s permission. Non-church people think differently. Many of them believe that His Majesty chance rules the roost in life and all of humanity is divided into happy and unhappy, lucky and unlucky. The Orthodox Church asserts that God’s Providence operates in the world and that there is no random course of events.
When we talk about the Providence of God, then, of course, we mean the kind, wise, loving action of Divine grace on the soul of every person and on the whole world. But in theology there is also such a concept as God’s permission. It seems that the very word “permission” emanates coldness and hopelessness. As if the All-Good and All-Merciful Lord could allow or even miss something. In fact, permission is due to the fact that the Lord tried a variety of ways for a person to correct himself, change his behavior, his thoughts, but everything was unsuccessful, and then He gives the person the opportunity (allows) to act according to his own (sinful) will . And then... For the sins committed, the Lord allows suffering, and often it is this that becomes the cure for a damaged soul.
We all see how much sorrow there is in the world today. However, nothing is accidental, everything is wisely arranged. But it is not always useful for a person to find out what is the reason for this or that phenomenon. Let us at least recall the post-revolutionary events, when in our country, the stronghold of Orthodoxy, a place that was called the inheritance of the Mother of God, at the hands of atheists and murderers, churches were destroyed, monasteries were closed, and the clergy was destroyed. Why did this happen? There is probably no other explanation, except that the Lord allowed everything to happen for the sins of the Russian people.
I also remember the years of imprisonment of our compatriots in camps. When you read about the conditions in which the exiles were, you invariably ask the question: “How was it possible to endure all this?” But strengthened by Divine power, often innocent of anything, they endured to the end, and upon returning to freedom, they found themselves in a world where they had to continue the feat of confession and fidelity to Christ.
Little comforting is happening in modern Russian society. Perhaps, for the life of previous generations, for the indifferent attitude of parents to the fate of their children, for complete external and internal de-churching, the Lord allows suffering for very young people. Today our entire society is suffering: politics, economics, morality. As a priest, it is especially painful for me to realize the latter. According to confidential data, about one hundred thousand women are engaged in prostitution in Moscow. There are about one hundred thousand women who are the source of temptation, sin, passions, illnesses, destroyers of families, in other words, doers of the devil’s will. Why does the Lord allow all this? Is it possible to combat the propaganda of fornication in the media? I'm afraid that our strengths are unequal. Today, efforts must be made to ensure that all this dirt does not penetrate our families. After all, we are not responsible for the media and the content of advertising posters on city streets; we are forced to reckon with the fact that all this is God’s permission. But we will be responsible for the moral education of our children, for the negligence from which our loved ones could suffer.
What is misfortune?
The Christian worldview helps us understand the depth of meaning of many concepts. Above we talked about what God's Providence and God's permission are. Both are easy to see when we are talking about the fate of some people or state in a distant historical period of time. But is it possible to understand the meaning of misfortune at the moment when it happens to us? What is “misfortune” anyway? A person has lost his health, suffered a setback at work - what is this: evil or good?
A Christian must understand every situation in life spiritually. Our so-called misfortunes are a feature and a necessary component of human life. In this case, loss of health and troubles at work are all neutral things, and real misfortune is a sin. Unhappy is the person who lives in sin. However, we often mean something completely different by the word “misfortune.” If the so-called misfortune is temporary and does not affect our spiritual life, then, of course, this event is worthy of a different definition.
It’s a misfortune when someone in the family commits suicide. You cannot pray for a suicide, you cannot perform a funeral service for him, you cannot bury him in a Christian cemetery, you cannot even put a cross on his grave. Someone close to you went to a sect, where there is a danger of the death of the soul already on earth. This is also a misfortune. You should always try to understand that there is true misfortune and there is apparent misfortune.
The incomprehensibility of God's Providence lies in the fact that the evil that is committed in the world is wisely turned by the Lord into good. The most striking example of this in all of human history is the betrayal of Christ by Judas. Here it is - the pinnacle of deceit, cunning, and indeed all the vices that were concentrated in one person. But it was through this betrayal that people became partakers of great blessings. The Calvary sacrifice was accomplished: man’s deliverance from sin, curse and death. The Lord turned evil itself into great good. Likewise, we, imitating Christ, must have a Christian, prudent attitude towards evil people and even towards the very evil that happens in the world. Propaganda of injustice and violence should push us to strengthen ourselves in prayer, practice abstinence, remain faithful to our families and teach this to our children. If there were no temptations, we might become lazy and stop living a spiritual life. After all, evil, sorrow, and difficult circumstances are all just so that we turn to the grace-filled Sacraments of the Church.
The path of heroism and prayer is not easy. But the Lord gives strength to bear these labors. If a person leaves the spiritual path, then, as a rule, he does not get rid of sorrows, but only bears them without God’s help. The Lord Himself visibly showed His help to those who labored, who already here on earth lived as in the Kingdom of Heaven. So may God grant us all to take up our cross, prepared by the Lord, and never try to get rid of it. After all, it is this cross, despite its apparent heaviness, that is most comfortable and light, because the Lord carries it with us.
“Thank the Lord for everything” ()
Eat rare people, to whom it is given to see how the Lord from His generous treasury gives every person everything they need. For such people, gratitude to God is a guarantee that in the future they will not be left without His help. Conversely, ingratitude is the obstacle that blocks the entrance of Divine grace. After all, not to see, not to understand, or not to want to understand Who bestows upon us all the best means to become spiritually blind, to withdraw into oneself and, thus, to become like the rich man of the Gospel, who did nothing but tear down barns and build new ones.
But I would like to say not so much about a prosperous state (in which a person, like a grateful son, constantly glorifies God, and from this his internal structure becomes correct), but about another state - a sorrowful one and about gratitude to the Lord for these sorrows. Examples of such wisdom are rarer. It is easy to thank God for good, for joy, and it is a completely different matter to find the strength to thank Him for suffering.
We often come into contact with human grief. Mothers lose children, husbands leave their wives, hardworking people are deceived, robbed... There is a lot of injustice in the world, and in confession the priest is often asked: “Why, if there is a God, does He allow all this? "What's really happening? By posing the question in this way, a person seems to call God to an answer, demanding that the Lord reveal to him why He allowed the misfortune to happen. But the truth is precisely that if we, without demanding any explanation, approach the icon, light the lamp, kneel down and say: “Lord, I thank you for everything that happened to me. Not my will, but Yours be done,” the Lord will definitely reveal everything to us in due time, and we will understand why what happened happened. The person will find out everything and will thank the Lord more than once for the fact that everything happened exactly this way. And perhaps not only will we thank God with our lips, but our hearts will also be warmed by the fact that even in suffering we trusted Him. Therefore, answering the question: “How to find out the will of God?”, we can say: “We need to find the courage (it’s not easy) to thank God for everything that happens to us.” For this, the Lord will certainly give a person joy, inner peace, and peace of mind.
About the fruits acquired by fulfilling the Divine will
Let's now talk about the fruits that a person acquires by fulfilling the Divine will. Let us remind you that you must always do the will of God willingly. Work for the Lord with fear, and rejoice in Him with trembling (), says the psalmist David. The flame of faith must constantly burn in our hearts, because we work for our own salvation. And the labors that we endure on earth are insignificant compared to the reward that the Lord has prepared for us in Heaven. But even on earth, the Lord never abandons those who work. The best reward for striving to live according to the will of God is a person’s special internal state, about which the Savior said: The Kingdom of God is within you (). The state of righteousness, the state of true piety is determined not so much by external well-being (although this also happens), but by internal well-being: by those virtues that a person has acquired in his heart. For a righteous life and for submission to the will of God, the Lord gives peace to a person’s heart.
Peace is a broad and multi-valued concept. We are talking about the peace (from the Greek word “irine”) that Christ brought to earth, about the Christian world as a state of soul. At divine services we often hear the exclamation: “Peace to all,” pronounced by the priest. As if on behalf of Christ, he teaches believers a peaceful state of soul. In the soul of a person deprived of Divine help, there is a war and passions are boiling. Often the state of “unpeace” is reflected even on people’s faces. A person who is mired in sins lives immorally, unspiritually, and shows hostility towards others, and this is a quality that is not characteristic of a peaceful state. Thus, a person’s external behavior is always determined by his internal state. If outwardly he is restless and angry, then his soul is like an overflowing cauldron from which a boiling mass is splashing out. The inside is usually even worse, even more, so to speak, “unpeaceful” than the outside. In order to overcome this hostility, human achievement and the assistance of God's grace are required. For a submissive, humble, patient state, expectation and desire to fulfill the will of God, the Lord sends peace to a person’s soul. When passions calm down and we stop considering our virtues to be our own, and sincerely attribute everything to God, an internal state of peace sets in, which is valuable because it no longer depends on external circumstances.
Let us remember the Christian saints who endured terrible torment for Christ. Being truly wise, they understood that any suffering would not take away from them the most important thing - the peace that is in the soul. This inner world, if we recall the words of Christ that “the Kingdom of Heaven is within,” is a certain harbinger of that special state of holiness in which the inhabitants of heaven reside.
People who were tortured in the camps said that at some point they stopped feeling pain when they endured for the sake of Christ. The Lord covers pain when the soul is cleansed and sanctified in suffering. Every person is called to such peace, peace with his own conscience, with God and his neighbors. And we turn to our readers with a wish - to pray that peace will gradually establish itself in our souls. If there is peace in the soul, then our life will become peaceful.
About the feat
We have already said that to subordinate your will to the Divine will means to perform a feat, to make a sacrifice for eternal life. But our condition is distorted by sin, sin in a sense enslaves us (in Scripture a person is called a captive of the law of sin ()), and therefore it is not so easy to do this. And yet, in our soul there are those grace-filled forces with the help of which we can break the bonds of sin and become free. Let us remember the words of Christ that everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin (). The danger of a sinful state lies mainly in the fact that being in it, being blinded by it, a person falls into the most terrible captivity, the most terrible slavery - slavery to sin, slavery to the devil himself. And getting out of this vicious circle, this cage is not so easy: the enemy of our salvation is not interested in letting the prey out of his clutches. Years of prayer and great penitential work are required in order to truly realize one’s fall and free oneself from sinful captivity.
As soon as a person begins to work for God, he gradually comes to the need to arrange everything in his life as the Lord pleases. But to do this, you need to overcome the habit of living according to your own will. We can call the work spent on overcoming the evil habit of self-will a spiritual sacrifice. If the skill for goodness, for righteousness, for piety is formed by correct upbringing, then a person confidently follows the spiritual path, overcoming minor obstacles. But if life is distorted, if he has already known all the consequences of sin, of this imaginary freedom, then, of course, in order to rise from the state of spiritual fall, colossal efforts and a fairly long period of time will be required. But nothing is impossible for the Lord. The All-merciful God is able to correct any person and make him worthy of His Kingdom. Let us only recall that this process is arduous and often painful for the soul and body.
A righteous life, life according to the will of God - this is the greatest reward to man from the Lord for all his labors and exploits. Those who have tasted it no longer envy people who have succeeded in something material. Let's ask the rich man: is he happy? If he is frank enough, he will most likely answer in the negative. After all, happiness is something completely different. This is, rather, a kind of internal blissful state, which should become for us Christians the meaning and purpose of earthly life. To live according to the will of God, to strive for this with all your heart - this means to be filled with joy, to feel God. And this bliss, or at least a glimpse of it, can begin for many of us already here on earth, if we strive to organize our lives correctly.
Conclusion
So our conversations about life according to the will of God have ended, although this topic is truly immense. The angelic forces humbly bow before the mystery of the incomprehensibility of the Lord and His holy will. But God was pleased to reveal Himself not only to the Angels, but also to sinful people. The event of the Incarnation established completely new, hitherto unknown laws of communication between man and God. Christ is born into the world to introduce people to the lost Communion with God, to return to man the lost paradise and to restore the image of God darkened by sin in his soul. The preaching of Christ begins with words of repentance, without which it is impossible to do anything spiritually useful. Repentance, purifying hearts, opens up a completely new perspective for people in the development of life. The feeling of God in the soul, the feeling of His closeness and the effect of Divine Love on a person - all these are experiences that, having cognized which, people always want to have them in their hearts. But any careless, thoughtless step in spiritual life leads to loss of grace. And again my soul is sad and gloomy.
What's the problem? Why can't we always live happily? This is what we tried to talk about in our book. Violation of God's will, even in a small, seemingly insignificant matter, sometimes leads to real tragedy, and its fulfillment always gives the heart long-awaited peace and quiet. But the path to inner peace is thorny and difficult. He demands from Christians a real feat of faith. Man's work, his faith and the assistance of Divine grace - this is the formula for a successful march along the path of salvation. But there are many obstacles on this path, the main one of which is self-will. Fulfilling our own desires is what has become commonplace for us. Sometimes it seems that it is impossible to give up what you really want. But there is no other way. Anyone who wants to know the Divine will must make appropriate efforts to do so - learn to renounce their own will.
We also wish all of us to constantly remain in a state of spiritual vigor, because human life is a dynamic process. Every day new events happen, new experiences fill the soul. How not to go astray, how to learn to accept right decisions? The answer is simple: always seek the will of God, pray about it, strive with all your heart to know it, and you will definitely get what you want. Let's just not lie. You need to trust yourself completely to Christ, otherwise mistakes cannot be avoided.
Let our book help you find peace of mind through turning to the Lord. And for those who have already found their way to God and are working to correct their own shortcomings, let us not forget that the Lord is always there and that His holy will is always aimed at good and good.
Anyone who has embarked on this path will succeed if only he has learned from experience how the grace of the Holy Spirit works in a person, and if angry self-denial has taken root in his heart, i.e. a decisive renunciation of one’s small “individual” will, for the sake of achieving and fulfilling the holy will of God. To such a person the true meaning of the question asked by Elder Silouan to Father Stratonik will be revealed: “What do the perfect say?”; the words of the holy fathers will become familiar to him: “It pleased the Holy Spirit and us”; he will more clearly understand those places in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments where such direct conversation of the soul with God is spoken of; he will come closer to a true understanding of what the Apostles and Prophets spoke.
Man was created in the image and likeness of God and called to the fullness of direct communion with God, and therefore all people, without exception, should follow this path, but in the experience of life it turns out to be accessible “not to everyone.” This is because most people do not hear the voice of God in their hearts, do not understand it and follow the voice of passion that lives in the soul and drowns out the meek voice of God with its noise.
In the Church, the outcome from such a deplorable situation is another path, namely, asking the spiritual father and obeying him. The elder himself loved this path, walked it, pointed to it and wrote about it. He considered the humble path of obedience generally the most reliable. He firmly believed that for the sake of the faith of the questioner, the confessor’s answer would always be kind, useful, and pleasing to God. His faith in the effectiveness of the Sacraments of the Church and the grace of the Priesthood was especially strengthened after he saw his spiritual father, Elder Abraham, at Vespers in Old Russia during Great Lent, transfigured, “in the image of Christ,” “inexpressibly radiant.”
Full of grace-filled faith, he lived in the reality of the Sacraments of the Church, but we remember that he found that “humanly”, i.e. psychologically, it is not difficult to see the advantage of obedience to the spiritual father; he said that the confessor, performing his ministry, gives an answer to the question, being free at that moment from the action of passion, under the influence of which the questioner is, and because of this he sees things more clearly and is more easily accessible to the influence of God's grace.
The confessor's answer in most cases will bear the stamp of imperfection; but this is not because the confessor is deprived of the grace of knowledge, but because the completed action exceeds the strength of the questioner and is inaccessible to him. Despite the imperfection of spiritual guidance, if it is received with faith and truly fulfilled, it will always lead to growth in goodness. This path is usually perverted by the fact that the questioner, seeing a “man” in front of him, hesitates in his faith and therefore does not accept the first word of the spiritual father and objects to him, opposing his opinions and doubts.
Elder Silouan talked about this important subject with the abbot, Archimandrite Misail (born January 22, 1840), a spiritual man whom God favored and clearly patronized.
Father Silouan asked the abbot:
How can a monk know the will of God?
“He must accept my first word as the will of God,” said the abbot. - Whoever does this, the grace of God rests on him, and if anyone opposes me, then I, as a person, will retreat.
Abbot Misail's word has the following meaning.
A spiritual father, when asked, seeks admonition from God through prayer, but as a person he answers according to the measure of his faith, according to the words of the Apostle Paul: We believe, that's why we speak(), But we know in part and we prophesy in part(). In his desire not to sin, he himself, giving advice or making instructions, remains at the judgment of God and therefore, as soon as he encounters an objection or at least internal resistance from the questioner, he does not dare to insist on his word, does not dare to affirm it as an expression of the will of God and "like a man retreats."
This consciousness was very clearly expressed in the life of Abbot Misail. One day he summoned a new monk, Fr. S. and entrusted him with complex and difficult obedience. The novice readily accepted it and, making the required bow, headed to the door. Suddenly the abbot called him. The novice stopped. Bowing his head to his chest, the abbot calmly but significantly said:
Father S., remember: God does not judge twice, therefore, when you do something for obedience to me, then I will be judged by God, and you are free from answer.
When someone objected to the instructions or instructions of Abbot Misail, even in the slightest, this generally courageous ascetic, despite the post of administrator, usually answered: “Well, do as you want” - and then did not repeat his words . And Elder Silouan, meeting resistance, also immediately fell silent.
Why is this so? Because, on the one hand, the Spirit of God does not tolerate violence or dispute, on the other hand, the will of God is too great a matter. In the word of the spiritual father, which always bears the stamp of relativity, it cannot be contained, cannot receive perfect expression, and only the one who perceives the word as pleasing to God, without subjecting it to his judgment, or, as is often said, “without reasoning” ", only he found the right path, for he really believes that With God everything is possible().
This is the path of faith, known and confirmed by the thousand-year experience of the Church. It is always not safe to talk about these subjects, which constitute the unsecret mystery of Christian life, but which go beyond the boundaries of lazy everyday life and usually little spiritual experience, because many may misunderstand the word and incorrectly apply it in practice, and then instead of benefit, harm is possible, especially if a person begins the feat with proud self-confidence.
When anyone sought the elder’s advice, he did not like and did not want to give an answer “from his own mind.” He remembered the words of the monk: “When I spoke from my mind, there were mistakes” - and added that the mistakes could be small, but they could also be big.
The state about which he spoke to Father Stratonik, namely, that “those who are perfect say nothing of themselves... They say only what the Spirit gives them,” is not always given even to those who have approached perfection, like the Apostles and other saints did not always perform miracles, and the prophetic Spirit did not act equally in the prophets, but sometimes with great power, and sometimes departed from them.
The elder clearly distinguished the “word from experience” from direct inspiration from above, that is, from the word that “is given by the Spirit.” The first is also valuable, but the second is higher and more reliable (cf.). Sometimes he confidently and definitely told the questioner that it was God’s will for him to do such and such, and sometimes he answered that he did not know God’s will for him. He said that the Lord sometimes does not reveal His will even to the saints, because the one who turned to them turned to them with an unfaithful and wicked heart.
According to the elder, those who pray diligently experience many changes in prayer: a struggle with the enemy, a struggle with oneself, with passions, a struggle with people, with the imagination, and in such cases the mind is not pure and everything is not clear. But when pure prayer comes, when the mind, united with the heart, silently stands before God, when the soul tangibly has grace within itself and has surrendered to the will of God, free from the darkening effects of passions and imagination, then the one praying hears the inspiration of grace.
When someone who does not have sufficient experience, who cannot “by taste” reliably distinguish the effect of grace from the manifestation of passions, especially pride, begins this work - seeking the will of God through prayer - then it is absolutely necessary to turn to the spiritual father, and when meeting with any spiritual phenomenon or suggestion, until the mentor’s decision, strictly adhere to the ascetic rule: “neither accept nor reject.”
By “not accepting,” a Christian protects himself from the danger of a demonic action or suggestion to consider it Divine and thus learn to “listen to seducing spirits and the teachings of demons” and render divine worship to demons.
“Without rejecting,” a person avoids another danger, namely: attributing the Divine action to demons and thereby falling into “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit,” just as the Pharisees attributed the casting out of demons by Christ to “the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons.”
The second danger is more terrible than the first, since the soul can get used to rejecting grace and hating it, and so acquire a state of resistance to God that it will be so determined in the eternal plan, thanks to which this sin will not be forgiven... neither in this century nor in the future(). Whereas at the first error the soul sooner recognizes its untruth and through repentance achieves salvation, because there is no unforgivable sin except unrepentant sin.
Much should be said about this extremely important ascetic rule - “neither accept nor reject” and how it is applied in the life of an ascetic, but since in this work we are faced with the task of presenting only the main provisions, and not details, then we will return to the previous topic.
In its more perfect form, knowledge of God's will through prayer is a rare phenomenon, possible only under the condition of long work, extensive experience in the struggle with passions, after many and difficult temptations from demons, on the one hand, and the great intercessions of God, on the other. But fervent prayer for help is a good deed and necessary for everyone: superiors and subordinates, elders and juniors, teachers and students, fathers and children. The elder insisted that everyone, without exception, regardless of their position, or condition, or age, always and in everything, everyone, as best they can, ask God for admonition, in order to thus gradually bring their path closer to the paths of the holy will of God, until they reach perfection .
About obedience
Closely connected with the question of knowing the will of God and surrendering oneself to the will of God is the question of obedience, to which the elder attached extreme importance not only in the personal life of every monk and Christian, but also in the life of the entire “body of the Church”, its entire “fulfillment” (plyroma). .
Elder Silouan had no students in the usual sense of the word and did not sit on the teaching chair, and he himself was not a student of any particular elder, but was brought up, like most Athonite monks, in the flow of common tradition: constant presence in the temple at divine services, hearing and by reading the Word of God and the works of the holy fathers, conversations with other ascetics of the Holy Mountain, strict observance of the prescribed fasts, obedience to the abbot, confessor and senior worker.
He gave absolutely exclusive attention to internal spiritual obedience to the abbot and confessor, considering it a Sacrament of the Church and a gift of grace. Turning to his confessor, he prayed that the Lord, through His servant, would have mercy on him and reveal to him His will and the path to salvation; and, knowing that the first thought that is born in the soul after prayer is an order from above, he caught the first word of the confessor, his first hint, and did not continue his conversation. This is the wisdom and mystery of true obedience, the purpose of which is knowledge and fulfillment of the will of God, and not of man. Such spiritual obedience, without objections and resistance, not only expressed, but also internal, unexpressed, is generally the only condition for the perception of living Tradition.
The living Tradition of the Church, flowing through the centuries from generation to generation, is one of the most significant and at the same time subtle aspects of its life. Where there is no resistance on the part of the student to the teacher, the latter’s soul, in response to faith and humility, opens easily and, perhaps, completely. But as soon as even the slightest resistance to the spiritual father enters, the thread of pure tradition is inevitably interrupted and the soul of the teacher is closed.
It is in vain that many people think that the confessor is “the same imperfect person”, that he “needs to explain everything in detail, otherwise he will not understand”, that he “can easily make mistakes” and therefore it is necessary to “correct” him. He who objects and corrects the confessor places himself above the latter and is no longer a disciple. Yes, no one is perfect, and there is no person who would dare to teach like Christ “who has power,” for the subject of teaching is “not from man” and “not according to man” (see: ), but in “mean vessels” the priceless is stored the treasure of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, not only priceless, but also in its nature undiscoverable, and only the one who follows the path of honest and complete obedience penetrates into this secret repository.
A prudent novice or confessor behaves like this with his confessor: in a few words he says his thoughts or the most essential things about his condition and then leaves the confessor free. The confessor, praying from the first moment of the conversation, waits for admonition from God, and if he feels a “notice” in his soul, then he gives his answer, which should be stopped at, because when the “first word” of the confessor is missed, then at the same time the effectiveness of Sacraments and confession can turn into simple human discussion.
If the novice (confessor) and confessor maintain a proper attitude towards the Sacrament, then notification from God is given quickly; if for some reason there is no notification, then the confessor can ask for further explanations, and only then are they appropriate. If the confessor, without paying due attention to the first word of the confessor, clutters it with his explanations, then he thereby reveals the lack of his faith and his understanding and follows a hidden desire to persuade the confessor to his thought. In this case, a psychological struggle begins, which the ap. Paul called it “unprofitable” (see:).
Faith in the power of the Sacrament, faith that the Lord loves a person and will never leave someone who has renounced his will and reasoning for the sake of His Name and His holy will, makes the novice unshakable and fearless. Having received a commandment or simply an instruction from his spiritual father, the novice, in his desire to fulfill it, despises death itself; and we think it is because he has “passed from death unto life.”
From the first days of his monasticism, Elder Silouan was such a perfect novice, and therefore for him every confessor was a good mentor. He said that if monks and Christian believers in general obey their spiritual fathers and pastors without judging them, without criticism and without internal resistance, then they themselves will not be deprived of salvation, and the entire Church will live a full life.
The elder’s path was such that those who follow this path quickly and easily receive the gift of God’s great mercy, while the self-willed and self-witted, no matter how learned and witty they are, can kill themselves with the most severe deeds, ascetic or scientific-theological, and only barely They will feed on the crumbs that fall from the Throne of Mercy, but they will live more, imagining themselves as possessors of wealth, without being such in reality.
The elder said: “It is another thing to believe in God, and another thing to know God.”
In the great sea of church life, the true and pure tradition of the Spirit flows in a thin stream, and whoever wants to fall into this thin stream must renounce “his” reasoning. Where “one’s own” reasoning has appeared, purity inevitably disappears, because the wisdom and truth of God are opposed to the wisdom and truth of man. To clever people this seems unbearably difficult and even madness, but the one who was not afraid of becoming “mad” (see:) has come to know true life and true wisdom.
Hieroschemamonk
It was from me
The spiritual testament of Hieroschemamonk Seraphim Vyritsky was written in 1937, during the most severe persecution of the state authorities against the Russian Church. It contains a reflection of the deepest prayer mystery, the great and eternal meaning of human communication with the Lord. Everything that happens to us is known to Him, He- always there, always ready to help. If only we ourselves do not reject the priceless gift of boundless Divine love.
D Have you ever realized that everything that concerns you concerns Me? For whatever touches you touches the apple of My eye. You are precious in My eyes, highly valuable, and I loved you, and therefore it is a special joy for Me to educate you. When temptations come upon you and the enemy comes like a river, I want you to know that it was from Me.
H then your weakness needs My strength and that your safety lies in giving Me the opportunity to protect you. Are you in difficult circumstances, among people who do not understand you, who do not take into account what pleases you, who push you away - it was from Me.
I- Your God, who has the circumstances, and it is no coincidence that you ended up in your place, this is the very place that I assigned to you. Have you asked Me to teach you humility? And so I put you in that very environment, in that school where this lesson is taught. Your environment and everyone living with you only fulfill My will. If you are in financial difficulties, it is difficult for you to make ends meet, know that it was from Me.
AND for I have your means and want you to resort to Me and know that you are dependent on Me. My supplies are inexhaustible. I want you to be convinced of the faithfulness of Mine and My promises. Let it never be said to you in your need: “You do not believe the Lord your God.” Have you ever experienced a night of grief? You are separated from those near and dear to your heart - This was sent to you from Me.
I- a man of sorrows who has experienced illness, I allowed this so that you could turn to Me and in Me you could find eternal consolation. Have you been deceived in your friend, in someone to whom you opened your heart - it was from Me.
I I allowed this disappointment to touch you so that you would know that your best friend is the Lord. I want you to bring everything to Me and tell Me. If anyone has slandered you, leave it to Me and cling closer to Me, I will be your refuge, with your soul to hide from the bickering of tongues. I will bring out your truth and your destiny like light, like the noonday. Your plans have collapsed, your soul has fallen and you are tired - it was from Me.
You You created a plan for yourself, had your own intentions, and you brought them to Me so that I could bless them. But I want you to allow Me to manage and direct the circumstances of your life, since you are only a tool, and not an actor. Have you experienced unexpected failures in life, and have despondency gripped your heart, know - it was from Me.
AND for I want your heart and soul to always be on fire before My eyes, and for you to overcome all cowardice in My Name. For a long time you do not receive news from people close to you, dear to you, due to your cowardice and lack of faith you fall into murmuring and despair, know - it was from Me.
AND for by this yearning of your spirit I test the strength of your faith in the immutability of the promise and the power of the boldness of your prayer for these loved ones, for was it not you who entrusted the care of them to My providential love? Are you not now handing them over to the Protection of My Most Pure Mother? Have you suffered a serious illness, temporary or incurable, and you find yourself chained to your bed - it was from Me.
AND for I want you to know Me even more deeply in your bodily weaknesses, and not to grumble for this test sent down to you, and so that you do not try to penetrate into My plans for the salvation of human souls in various ways, but meekly and submissively bow your head to goodness Mine about you. Did you dream of doing some special thing for Me and instead you yourself lay down on the bed of illness and infirmity - it was from Me.
AND for then you would be immersed in your affairs, and I could not attract your thoughts to Me, and I want to teach you My deepest thoughts and lessons, so that you will be at My service. I want to teach you to realize that you are nothing without Me. Some of My best sons are those who are cut off from living activity so that they can learn to wield the weapon of unceasing prayer. Are you suddenly called to take a difficult and responsible position, relying on Me, I entrust these difficulties to you, and for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your affairs, in all your ways, in everything your Lord will be your Guide and Mentor. On this day, My child, I have given this vessel of consecrated oil into your hands, use it freely. Always remember that every difficulty that arises, every word that offends you, every falsehood and condemnation, every obstacle in your work that could cause a feeling of annoyance, disappointment, every revelation of your weakness and inability will be anointed with this oil - it was from Me.
P Remember that every hindrance is God’s instruction, and therefore put in your heart the word that I announced to you this day - it was from Me.
X wound them, know and remember - always, wherever you are - that every sting will become dull when you learn to see Me in everything. Everything was sent by Me for the perfection of your soul - everything from It was me.
Akathist of gratitude “Thank God for everything”
about the author
“It is good to be with the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration, but it is more precious to love the will of God among the dull everyday difficulties, and to go out to meet Christ in the midst of the storm, and to worship Him and thank Him when He is on the cross.”
The thanksgiving akathist “Glory to God for everything” was written by the Metropolitan in the post-revolutionary years. Vladyka Trifon (in the world Boris Petrovich Turkestanov) was born on November 29, 1861 into the family of the ancient princely family of the Turkestanovs, in Moscow. During the serious illness of baby Boris, when doctors lost hope of recovery, his mother Varvara Alexandrovna (née Naryshkina) went to the Church of the Holy Martyr Tryphon. She promised to dedicate the child to God if he remained alive. And if he is worthy of the monastic rank, give him the name Tryphon. When the boy recovered, Varvara Alexandrovna made a trip with him to Optina Pustyn to see Elder Ambrose, famous throughout Russia. Meeting them, the elder said to the people standing around: “Make way, the bishop is coming.” People made way in surprise for a woman holding a child in her arms.
Years have passed. The spiritual path of Metropolitan Tryphon was not an easy one. Vladyka died on June 14, 1934. He wrote the akathist “Thank God for everything” shortly before his death. This is a kind of testament, which reflects the spiritual experience of the Russian Orthodox Church during the times of the most severe persecution.
Akathist “Thank God for everything”
Kontakion 1
To the incorruptible King of the ages, who contains in His right hand all the paths of life through the human power of Your saving Providence, we thank You for all Your known and hidden blessings, for earthly life and for the heavenly joys of Your future Kingdom. Continue to extend Your mercies to us as we sing:
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Ikos 1
Glory to Thee for Thy secret and obvious mercies;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kontakion 2
Lord, how good it is to visit You: the fragrant wind, the mountains stretching into the sky, the waters like boundless mirrors, reflecting the gold of the rays and the lightness of the clouds. All nature whispers mysteriously, everything is full of affection, and birds and animals bear the stamp of Your love. Blessed is Mother Earth with her fleeting beauty, awakening longing for the eternal homeland, where in imperishable beauty it sounds: Hallelujah!
Ikos 2
You brought me into this life as into an enchanting paradise. We saw the sky, like a deep blue bowl, in the azure of which birds were ringing, we heard the soothing sound of the forest and the sweet music of the waters, we ate fragrant and sweet fruits and fragrant honey. It’s good with You on earth, it’s joyful to visit You.
Glory to Thee for the celebration of life;
Glory to Thee for the fragrance of lilies of the valley and roses;
Glory to Thee for the sweet variety of berries and fruits;
Glory to Thee for the diamond shine of the morning dew;
Glory to You for the smile of bright awakening;
Glory to Thee for earthly life, the harbinger of heavenly life;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kontakion 3
The power of the Holy Spirit smells every flower, the quiet wafting of aroma, the tenderness of color, the beauty of the Great in the small. Praise and honor to the Life-Giving God, who spreads out the meadows like a flowering carpet, who crowns the fields with the gold of ears of corn and the azure of cornflowers, and the souls with the joy of contemplation.
Rejoice and sing to Him: Hallelujah!
Ikos 3
How beautiful You are in the triumph of spring, when all creation is resurrected and joyfully calls out to You in a thousand ways: You are the source of life, You are the conqueror of death.
In the light of the moon and the song of the nightingale, valleys and forests stand in their snow-white wedding dresses. The whole earth is Your bride, she is waiting for the Imperishable Bridegroom. If You dress the grass like this, then how will You transform us into the future age of resurrection, how our bodies will be illuminated, how our souls will shine!
Glory to Thee, who brought forth from the darkness of the earth various colors, tastes and aroma;
Glory to Thee for the cordiality and affection of all nature;
Glory to You for having surrounded us with thousands of Your creatures;
Glory to Thee for the depth of Thy mind, imprinted throughout the world;
Glory to You, I reverently kiss the footprints of Your invisible feet;
Glory to You, who lit the bright light of eternal life ahead;
Glory to Thee for the hope of immortal ideal incorruptible beauty;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kontakion 4
How You delight those who think about You, how life-giving is Your holy Word, softer than oil and sweeter than a honeycomb is conversation with You. Prayer to You inspires and gives life; what trembling then fills the heart, and how majestic and reasonable then nature and all life become! Where You are not there, there is emptiness. Where You are, there is the wealth of the soul, there the song pours out like a living stream: Hallelujah!
Ikos 4
When sunset descends on the earth, when the peace of eternal sleep and the silence of the fading day reigns, I see Your palace under the image of shining chambers and cloudy canopies of dawn. Fire and purple, gold and azure prophetically speak of the indescribable beauty of Your villages, they solemnly call: let's go to the Father!
Glory to Thee in the quiet hour of the evening;
Glory to You, who has poured out great peace into the world;
Glory to Thee for the farewell ray of the setting sun;
Glory to Thee for the rest of blessed sleep;
Glory to Thee for Thy goodness in the darkness, when the whole world is far away;
Glory to Thee for the tender prayers of a touched soul;
Glory to Thee for the promised awakening to the joy of the eternal non-evening day;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kontakion 5
The storms of life are not terrible for those who have the lamp of Your fire shining in their hearts. All around there is bad weather and darkness, horror and the howling of the wind. And in his soul there is silence and light: Christ is there! And the heart sings: Hallelujah!
Ikos 5
I see Your sky shining with stars. Oh, how rich You are, how much light You have! Eternity looks at me with the rays of distant luminaries, I am so small and insignificant, but the Lord is with me, His loving right hand protects me.
Glory to You for your constant care for me;
Glory to Thee for providential meetings with people;
Glory to Thee for the love of relatives, for the devotion of friends;
Glory to Thee for the gentleness of the animals that serve me;
Glory to You for the bright moments of my life;
Glory to Thee for the clear joys of the heart;
Glory to You for the happiness of living, moving and contemplating;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kontakion 6
How great and close You are in the powerful movement of a thunderstorm, How Your mighty hand is visible in the bends of dazzling lightning, Your greatness is wondrous. The voice of the Lord over the fields and in the noise of the forests, the voice of the Lord in the birth of thunder and rain, the voice of the Lord over many waters. Praise be to You in the roar of the fire-breathing mountains. You shake the earth like a garment. You raise the waves of the sea to the sky. Praise to the one who humbles human pride, who emits a cry of repentance: Hallelujah!
Ikos 6
Like lightning, when it illuminates the halls of the feast, then after it the lights of the lamps seem pitiful, so You suddenly shone in my soul during the most intense joys of life. And after Your lightning light, how colorless, dark, and ghostly they seemed. My soul was chasing you.
Glory to You, the edge and limit of the highest human dream;
Glory to Thee for our unquenchable thirst for Communion with God;
Glory to You, who inspired in us dissatisfaction with earthly things;
Glory to Thee, who has clothed us with Thy subtlest rays;
Glory to You, who crushed the power of the spirits of darkness, doomed all evil to destruction;
Glory to You for Your revelations, for the happiness of feeling You and living with You;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kontakion 7
In a wondrous combination of sounds, Your call is heard. You reveal to us the threshold of the coming paradise and the melody of singing in harmonious tones, the height of musical colors, and the brilliance of artistic creativity. Everything truly beautiful with a powerful call carries the soul to You, makes you sing enthusiastically: Hallelujah!
Ikos 7
With the influx of the Holy Spirit, You illuminate the thoughts of artists, poets, and geniuses of science. By the power of the Superconscious, they prophetically comprehend Your laws, revealing to us the abyss of Your creative wisdom. Their deeds involuntarily speak about You; Oh, how great You are in Your creatures, Oh, how great You are in man.
Glory to Thee, who has revealed incomprehensible power in the laws of the universe;
Glory to You, all nature is full of the laws of Your existence;
Glory to Thee for everything revealed to us through Thy goodness;
Glory to Thee for what Thou hast hidden according to Thy wisdom;
Glory to Thee for the genius of the human mind;
Glory to Thee for the life-giving power of labor;
Glory to Thee for the fiery tongues of inspiration;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kontakion 8
How close You are in the days of illness, You Yourself visit the sick, You Yourself bend over the suffering bed, and the heart talks with
You illuminate the soul with peace during times of severe sorrow and suffering, You send unexpected help. You console, You are testing and saving love, We sing a song to You: Hallelujah!
Ikos 8
When, as a child, I first consciously called upon You, You fulfilled my prayer, and a reverent peace overshadowed my soul. Then I realized that You are good and blessed are those who resort to You. I began to call on You again and again and now I call:
Glory to You, who fulfills my good desires;
Glory to You, who is watching over me
day and night;
Glory to Thee, who heals sorrow and loss with the healing passage of time;
Glory to You, with You there are no hopeless losses, You give everyone eternal life;
Glory to You, You have bestowed immortality on all that is good and lofty, You have promised the desired meeting with the dead;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kontakion 9
Why does all nature smile on holidays? Why then does a wondrous lightness spread in the heart, incomparable to anything earthly, and the very air of the altar and the temple becomes luminous? This is the breath of Your grace, this is the reflection of the Tabor light: then heaven and earth sing in praise: Hallelujah!
Ikos 9
When You inspire me to serve my neighbors and illuminate my soul with humility, then one of Your countless rays fell on my heart, and it became luminous, like iron in fire. I saw Your mysterious, elusive Face.
Glory to You, who has transformed our lives with deeds of good;
Glory to Thee, Who has imprinted unspeakable sweetness in every commandment of Thy;
Glory to You, who clearly dwells where mercy is fragrant;
Glory to You, who sends us failures and sorrows, so that we are sensitive to the suffering of others;
Glory to You, who has placed the great reward in the intrinsic value of good;
Glory to You, who accepts the high impulse;
Glory to Thee, who exalted love above all earthly and heavenly things;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kontakion 10
What is broken into dust cannot be restored, but You restore those whose conscience has decayed, You return their former beauty to souls who have hopelessly lost it. There is nothing irreparable with You. You are all love. You are the Creator and Restorer. We praise you with a song: Hallelujah!
Ikos 10
My God, knowing the falling away of the proud angel Dennitsa, save me by the power of grace, do not let me fall away from You, do not let me doubt You. Sharpen my hearing, so that at all moments of my life I hear Your mysterious voice and cry out to You, Omnipresent:
Glory to Thee for the providential coincidence of circumstances;
Glory to Thee for the gracious premonitions;
Glory to Thee for revelation in dreams and in reality;
Glory to Thee, who destroys our useless plans;
Glory to You, who sobers us from the intoxication of passions through suffering;
Glory to You, who saves the pride of the heart;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kontakion 11
Through the icy chain of centuries, I feel the warmth of Your Divine breath, I hear flowing blood. You are already close, part of the time has dissipated. I see Your Cross - it is for my sake. My spirit is in the dust before the Cross: here is the triumph of love and salvation, here praise does not cease forever: Hallelujah!
Ikos 11
Blessed is he who tastes supper in Your Kingdom, but You have already shared this bliss with me on earth. How many times have You extended Your Body and Blood to me with your Divine right hand, and I, a great sinner, accepted this shrine and felt Your love, unspeakable, supernatural.
Glory to Thee for the incomprehensible life-giving power of grace;
Glory to Thee, Who erected Thy Church as a quiet refuge for the tormented world;
Glory to You, who revives us with the life-giving waters of Baptism;
Glory to You, You restore to the repentant the purity of immaculate lilies;
Glory to Thee, inexhaustible abyss of forgiveness;
Glory to Thee for the cup of life, for the bread of everlasting joy;
Glory to Thee, who took us to heaven;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kontakion 12
I have seen many times the reflection of Your glory on the faces of the dead. With what unearthly beauty and joy they shone, how airy and immaterial their features were, it was a triumph of achieved happiness and peace; in silence they called to You. At the hour of my death, enlighten my soul, calling: Hallelujah!
Ikos 12
What is my praise before You! I have not heard the singing of the Cherubim, this is the lot of high souls, but I know how nature praises You. In the winter I contemplated how, in the silence of the moon, the whole earth quietly prayed to You, clothed in a white robe, shining with diamonds of snow. I saw how the rising sun rejoiced in You, and how the choirs of birds thundered in glory. I heard how mysteriously the forest rustles about You, the winds sing, the waters murmur, how the choirs of luminaries preach about You with their harmonious movement in endless space. What is my praise! Nature is obedient, but I am not, while I live, I see Your love, I want to thank, pray and cry:
Glory to Thee, who showed us the light;
Glory to Thee, who loved us with deep, immeasurable, Divine love;
Glory to Thee, who overshadows us with light, hosts of Angels and saints;
Glory to Thee, All-Holy Father, who commanded us His Kingdom;
Glory to Thee, the Redeemer Son, who has opened the path to salvation for us;
Glory to Thee, Holy Soul, Life-giving sun of the next century;
Glory to Thee for everything, O Trinity Divine, All-Good;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kontakion 13
O All-Good and Life-Giving Trinity, accept thanks for all Your mercies and show us worthy of Your benefits, so that, having multiplied the talents entrusted to us, we may enter into the eternal joy of our Lord with victorious praise:
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Ikos 1
I was born into the world as a weak, helpless child, but Your Angel spread bright wings, guarding my cradle. Since then, Your love has shone on all my paths, miraculously leading me to the light of eternity. The gloriously generous gifts of Your Providence have been revealed from the first day to this day. I thank and appeal to all who have known Thee:
Glory to You, who called me to life;
Glory to Thee, who showed me the beauty of the universe;
Glory to Thee, who opened heaven and earth before me as an eternal book of wisdom;
The glory of Your eternity in the midst of a temporary world;
Glory to Thee for secret and obvious mercies
Glory to Thee for every sigh of my sadness;
Glory to You for every step of life, for every moment of joy;
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Kontakion 1
To the incorruptible King of the ages, who contains in His right hand all the paths of life through the human power of Your saving Providence, we thank You for all Your known and hidden blessings, for earthly life and for the heavenly joys of Your future Kingdom. Continue to extend Your mercies to us as we sing:
Glory to Thee, O God, forever.
Hieromonk. Venerable Silouan of Athos. – Minsk, 2003.
Metropolitan. Akathist “Glory to God for everything.” – St. Petersburg, 1999.
Very often we have to deal with passive fatalism in people when they feel unable to resist the current circumstances. Then, without thinking about the content and meaning of their words, they seem to brush aside reality with the remark “everything is God’s will.”
Moreover, the most paradoxical thing is that this remark is heard most often by people who are either almost completely unbelievers, or even completely non-church. And it sounds - oh, labyrinths of hypocrisy and stupidity - like an attempt to justify one’s own reluctance to fight sin. So I had to hear from people who committed theft and even murder that “since this happened, it means everything is God’s will.” This statement, in the context of the sin they committed, is not only inappropriate, but also blasphemous: Here God Himself is declared to be the ultimate culprit of their sin.
What does Scripture say about the will of God?
So, how does the Christian worldview relate to this issue? Does it declare absolutely everything that happens in the world, in the history of mankind and of each individual person, to be an unconditional manifestation of the will of God? – The answer can only be absolutely negative! Yes, it cannot be otherwise in the plane of human freedom and in a world where there is still room (and, oh, so much space) for sin. After all, every sin is a deviation from God and His holy will! And here we will have to resort to careful reading of the Holy Scriptures, to hearing the Word of God. So!
1. (Rom. 2:24) “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles”
In the Lord's Prayer, we ask God “Thy will be done,” thereby we recognize that the fulfillment of God’s will is our desire, our goal (at least without a person’s real desire to fulfill God’s will, and not his own, these words lose meaning in the mouth praying). We express a desire, which means we also recognize that in the realities of our world, not everything is carried out according to God’s will. After all, the fact that in the same prayer we ask “hallowed your name”, does not exclude the fact that because of our wickedness and sins, “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles” (Rom. 2:24)! In words we ask “hallowed be the Lord,” but in deeds we bring blasphemy. The situation is similar with the will of God.
2. (Ezra 10:11) “Repent to the Lord and do His will.”
Denouncing the systematic violation of God's commandments, the priest Ezra concludes his speech to the people: “Repent therefore to the Lord God of your fathers, and do His will, and separate yourselves from the nations of the earth and from the foreign women” (Ezra 10:11). So, accordingly, before this, people who lived in sin did not fulfill the will of God?
3. (Isa.58:2-3) “On the day of your fast you do your will and require hard work from others.”
The words of God from the prophet Isaiah to the fasting people are very relevant: “They seek Me every day and want to know My ways, like a people who do righteousness and do not forsake the laws of their God; they ask Me about the judgments of righteousness, they want to get closer to God: “Why do we fast, but You don’t see? We humble our souls, but You don’t know?” “Behold, on the day of your fast you do your will and require hard labor from others” (Is. 58:2-3). This is the eternal spiritual problem of a person who has not yet really accepted the Light of Christ into his heart: we seem to be “looking” for God’s path, and we even convince ourselves that we are following this path, but real self-will ruins everything. “Behold, you ... take comfort in the law, and boast in God, and know [His] will, and understand the best, learning from the law, and are confident in yourself that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in darkness, a teacher of the ignorant, a teacher of babes, having in the law an example of knowledge and truth” (Rom. 2:17-20). “Confident,” and this self-confidence is deceptive.
4. (Matt. 7:21) “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’…”
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21). And again, clear and clear evidence that not everything we do in the world (and this constitutes events, the history of mankind) is the “will of God.”
5. (Luke 7:30) “But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law rejected the will of God for themselves.”
In speaking about the Pharisees, the Lord directly says: “But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law rejected the will of God for themselves” (Luke 7:30). Accordingly, a person still has the opportunity to reject the will of God and live “in his own way.” Some people incorrectly call this opportunity a “right.” A person does not have the “right” to sin, but there is a real opportunity to commit any sin and thereby reject the will of God.
6. (2 Timothy 2:26) “The devil has ensnared them to his will.”
The Apostle Paul, listing the duties of a bishop, says that he must also take care of those who today still resist the gospel, “so that they may be freed from the snare of the devil, who has ensnared them into his own will” (2 Tim. 2:26). Those. “at the moment” these people are still fulfilling the will of the enemy of God and man.
7. (Matt. 23:37) “How often have I wanted to gather your children... and you did not want to!”
The Savior’s speech addressed to Jerusalem is also very significant: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to you! How often have I wanted to gather your children together, as a bird gathers its chicks under its wings, and you did not want to!” (Matt. 23:37). How much pain there is in the words of Christ! But He speaks here not only as a man, but as the very God who over the centuries sent prophets and righteous people to Jerusalem. But the desires of God and the citizens of this city did not coincide: “I wanted,” but “you did not want.” This is a very vivid example of a real conflict of two wills in historical reality - the will of the All-Good God, and the will of sinful man. And this conflict cannot be written off with remarks about the “omniscience and omnipotence” of God. The fact remains obvious that the actions of God (“behold, I leave your house empty”) are the result of the sinful actions of people.
8. (Matt. 10:29-30), (Matt. 10:1-42), (Matt. 10:19-20) Are the hairs of everyone’s head numbered and through whose mouth does the Holy Spirit speak?
And now you should especially read and think about the words of the Lord, which supporters of fatalism most often like to refer to: “Are not two small birds sold for an assarium? And not one of them will fall to the ground without the [will] of your Father; But even the hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matt. 10:29-30). Firstly, it is no coincidence that the Lord takes his example from nature, and not from human society. As Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) noted in his “Steps,” nature is inert, obedient to the Word of God, and man has the opportunity to say “no” to God. Neither birds nor the elements have this freedom, and therefore this example was not used by Christ by chance, because this is the only possible parallel.
Secondly, you should carefully read these words in context: to whom and when they were said. After all, these words were not the “gnomes” that ancient oracles gave out. They are part of Christ's speech addressed to the apostles before they went out to preach (Matthew 10:1-42). It is for them, people who have given themselves into the hands of God and gone obediently to do the will of God, whom they have come to know as their Heavenly Father, that they are promised such care from God for every hair. So, in the same speech, a few words above, it is said: “When they betray you, do not worry about how or what to say; For in that hour it will be given to you what to say, for it is not you who will speak, but the Spirit of your Father who will speak in you” (Matt. 10:19-20). It would probably be a manifestation of arrogance and pride to attempt to declare that through all people in general (or at least through all Christians) “the Spirit of the Heavenly Father always speaks.” Knowing our sins, everyone can say that very often a completely different “spirit” speaks through our lips.
So if we have enough sense to understand that this promise applies exclusively to preachers who have dedicated themselves to selfless service to the Gospel, why don’t we have enough common sense to understand that from the same speech of Christ the words about “hair on the head” also refer to these same preachers? I do not want to say that these words cannot apply to anyone else except those apostles who were their first and direct addressees. Of course no! In the history of the Church we know examples of holiness when the Spirit of God “spoke and acted” through the saints (not only the apostles). Thus, in the divine services of the Church, many fathers and teachers of the Church (Basily the Great, Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom, Gregory Palamas, Maximus the Confessor, etc.) are glorified as “divine organs” and “speakers of the words of the Holy Spirit.” But this does not mean that everyone who called themselves a Christian (and even took orders) spoke with the Holy Spirit.
And a few more words about vanity and cleanliness
Likewise, words about God’s exclusive care are not spoken about all people. The lesson from the Ancient Patericon may be relevant here, when the Abba said to the fussy monk: “This means that we no longer need God’s care for us as children, because we consider ourselves both wise and capable of taking care of ourselves.” Ashamed of these words, the monk stopped fussing. In the history of the Church there are many examples of this kind of holiness, when Christians really merged so much with the will of God that they were, in the words of the already mentioned Metropolitan Anthony, “transparent, like pure glass, which reflects the ray of God’s will, and does not distort it,” as it distorts ray of light glass is dirty. But can each of us say that he is so pure and transparent to God that his life is completely given (in reality, not in words) into the hands of the Almighty Creator and is no longer guided by human self-will?
So we can summarize:
1. The will of God is the source of life, holiness, purity.
2. Every sin is a deviation from the will of God.
3. Man - unlike inert nature - can both fulfill the will of God and reject it.
4. The unconditional and absolute triumph of the will of God is only the desired perspective, proclaimed by the ministry of the Church. This is the perspective of the “non-evening day” of the Kingdom of God. And in the time-spatial continuum, “through man there is death, and through man the resurrection of the dead” (1 Cor. 15:21).
5. In the Church, every member, every Christian is called to comprehend the will of God (through prayer, careful reading and study of the Holy Scriptures, participation in the Sacraments) and to implement it in their lives, through their behavior. To the embodiment of God's will in our deeds! But this is a task, not a given.
6. Only a very talented confessor and the person himself (as he grows spiritually) can understand what in his life was according to the will of God, and what was the result of his personal willfulness and self-deception. Thus, it is hardly worth attributing to the “will of God” those diseases that a person acquires as a result of conscious neglect of his health and violation of doctor’s orders. It is unlikely that failures or successes in scams and other “affairs of this world” are the subject of God’s care. These are the very “works of the flesh” and “the works of this world.” And a person, invading this area, must understand that both success and failure in these matters are the result of the processes themselves, in which a person has become a participant. Yes, of course, there were cases of special “intervention” of God in such matters, but they always had a soteriological (i.e., relating to the eternal salvation of a person) meaning: As a result of this “intervention” (assessed nothing less than a miracle), a person saved by God , as a rule, “left the way of lies and the works of the flesh,” and became a real Christian!
7. Alas, often a person passes off “wishful thinking” and declares the will of God to be what he himself would like to consider as such. It is known that during the religious wars, each of the warring (and often co-religious) parties considered itself a “bearer of the will of God”, and its “enemy” – the enemy of God.
8. The words of the biblical psalm are very relevant for us, which should become our prayer and the desire of our hearts (and not just words): “Teach me, O Lord, to do Thy will, for Thou art my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me into the land of righteousness” (Ps. 143:10). With this we will finish our work for the glory of God.
Venerable Macarius of Egypt:
God expects an ardent, to the best of our strength, aspiration towards Him, good from the will of faith and zeal, and He Himself produces every success in us.
Venerable Peter of Damascus:
There is no shortest progress for the soul than cutting off one’s desires and understandings, and there is nothing better than to present oneself before God day and night and ask Him that His will be done in everything. And there is nothing worse than loving freedom for soul or body.
No other virtue can so comprehend the will of God as humility and abandonment of all one’s understanding and will.
If the flesh is not mortified and a person is not completely led by the Spirit of God, then he cannot fulfill the will of God without forcing himself. When the grace of the Spirit reigns in us, then we will no longer have our own will, but everything that happens to us is acceptable as the will of God. Then we have peace and can be called sons of God, for we love the will of the Father, just as the Son of God and God do. But this cannot be achieved without observing the commandments, by which the ascetic cuts off all pleasures, that is, his desires, and endures all the grief that arises from this.
Reverend Abba Isaiah:
Prefer the will of God to all human wisdom and recognize it as more useful than all human reasoning.
Saint John Chrysostom:
If in human affairs we do not understand much, how things are done, and although much seems inappropriate to us, we nevertheless yield, then all the more should we act this way in relation to the will of God.
Let's not say: what is this for and what is it for? - when it all comes from God. We will not demand an account from Him - this is extremely wicked and insane.
The Lord often providentially hides His will from us, knowing that even if we knew it, we would not obey and thereby deserve greater punishment.
Venerable Abba Dorotheos:
God wants us to desire His good will... that is, the fulfillment of His commandments; so that we love each other, be compassionate, give alms and the like; This is the good will of God.
If you want to protect yourself from hidden obstacles on the path to perfection, if you want to successfully establish yourself in a good mood, so that you can desire and do everything only for the sake of what God wants, only for His glory, and to please Him, and to serve Him one who wants Him to be both the beginning and the end in each of our deeds and in each of our thoughts, then act as follows. When some deed comes before you, in agreement with the will of God or good in itself, do not immediately incline your will towards it and do not desire it, unless you first raise your mind to God in order to understand that there is the direct will of God for that. to desire and do such things and that they are pleasing to God. And when you formulate it in your thoughts that the very will of God will determine the inclination of your will, then desire it and do it for the sake of what God desires, for the sole sake of pleasing Him and only for His glory.
When you want to deviate from something that is inconsistent with the will of God or is not good, do not immediately turn away from it, but first attach the eye of your mind to the will of God and understand for yourself that it is the direct will of God that you deviate from it to please God. For the flattery of our nature is extremely subtle and is recognized by few: it secretly seeks one of its own, and yet, apparently, it conducts business in such a way that it seems to us that its only goal is to please God, which in fact is not the case.
Just as everyone has his own type of activity, but he did not accept it from himself, but from all of us, of course, for the master of any work, whatever he desires, makes his own tool and skillfully uses it. Therefore, you cannot reap fields with a shovel, or carpenter with a sickle, or build with a knife, or dig with a saw, or sew with an ax, or chop wood with a stick, or saw with a spear, or throw with a sword, or cut with a bow, but each tool is adapted for a specific task. If you use them not for their intended purpose, but in a different way, then your life and all your actions will be completely lost. In the same way, understand me, God created us so that each faithful person would do his own deeds in life. He appointed some to teach, others to learn, some to rule over many, and others to obey them. And to some He gave wisdom, to others knowledge and the word, to others to prophesy, to others to speak in tongues, to others to perform miracles and produce powers, to others He showed them to be leaders - all these are spiritual gifts. But let us also name other gifts of the Creator, which He gave to people according to their dignity: He created one strong in body, another more beautiful, and another with a better voice than others. And in general, He bestowed on each of the people their own gift and advantage, as He alone knows - God and the Creator of all, in an ineffable way, for useful activities in life. Therefore, everyone is suitable not for the craft that he himself desires, but for which he was created and for which he has a natural ability and properties. And you can see a swimmer skillfully crossing the depths of the sea and rejoicing in this much more than a rider galloping on a fast horse, and a farmer cutting furrows in the earth with a plow and a pair of working oxen considers it much better than four horses harnessed to the royal chariot, that’s why he rejoices , comforted by good hopes. The warrior, on the contrary, considers himself superior to all farmers, sailors, and artisans and, as one possessing glory, is proud when going to the slaughter and untimely death. Therefore, it will be completely intolerable for him to either row an oar, or hold a spade, or become a carpenter; he will not want to be a shipbuilder, a farmer or a plowman. But everyone, as I said, will act in the kind of activity that he received from God. Otherwise, a person absolutely cannot do anything in this life, or even wish to start a business. For behold, I tell you again, as I said before, it is just as impossible as ever for any of all the tools mentioned to move by itself for action or to act without the hand of a person taking and making something with it, so also a person without the hand of the Divine he cannot think or do anything good. For the Artist, the Word, also arranged me as He Himself desired, and placed me in the world.
So, tell me, how can I think anything, or do anything, or act at all without Divine power? Who gave me intelligence, of course. He wished. He Himself gives me to think about what He knows to be useful and gives me the strength to act as He pleases. So, if I do this (the latter), then He will, of course, give more and philanthropically give us wisdom about something more perfect. If I neglect even this very little, then I will truly righteously lose what was entrusted to me from God the Giver and will become an ineffective and useless instrument, as someone who did not want to fulfill the commandments of the Creator, but gave in to laziness and negligence. That is why I am rejected from the hands of the Master, for, having tasted disobedience to Him and disobedience, I am expelled from the true paradise, removed from God and from the hands of the saints.
So, having found me lying and given over to complete inaction in good, the evil serpent, by cunning, made me obscene through all sorts of dishonorable deeds, in which I delighted, and seemed to rejoice. Instead, I should have grieved, cried and sobbed, since I voluntarily, unfortunate, retreated from what I was created for, and of my own free will gave myself up to everything unnatural, falling most miserably into the nasty hands of the enemy, who I am completely in control of. , and we are driven, not being able, pathetic, to resist him. For how could I resist if I was dead? Cunningly deceived, I, the unfortunate one, became the organ of all vice, all lawlessness and a skillful instrument of evil deeds. For, holding me in his hand and strongly attracting me, he, the serpent, defiled me with atrocities and all kinds of uncleanness, plunging me into a sharp stench and forcing me - oh, insensibility! - to have fun with them: theft, envy and unjust murders, curses, anger and, in short, he found me guilty of every vice, or better yet, he took advantage of me himself, although I did not want to. Since then, as I voluntarily rejected the hands of God and His saints, the terrible prince-strangler kidnapped me and held me in his hand and, despite the fact that I wanted, I could no longer not do his deeds, but acted according to all his desires . For the sword cannot contradict the one who holds it, but wherever the one who holds it wishes, he uses it there.
God, who created me, looking down from above and seeing me held in the hand of a tyrant, took pity on me, snatched me from his hand, and again brought me into the Divine Paradise, into His vineyard. And he gave me into the hands of the holy farmers, so that I would perform divine works, cultivate virtues, keep the commandments and not move without the hand of the saints, so that the worker of evil, again finding me to be outside the holy hand of God, would not kidnap me and again force me to do his works . So, those kind and compassionate farmers, having received me and taken all my will into their hands, ordered me to immediately practice humility and repentance and cry unceasingly. For those who keep these three virtues and remain in their good deeds are soon, as if without noticing, elevated to glory, purification, dispassion and Divine contemplation and are no longer caught by the hands of a hater, but receive forgiveness from God of all sins and transgressions and thus become sons The Most High and gods by grace and worthy instruments who accomplish all good, or better yet, divine farmers instruct others in truly good deeds, in deeds of salvation.
Having believed them, listened to everything, and having created, and having given up all of myself into the hands of these farmers and servants of God at His command, I found all this immutably fulfilled on me, and I was amazed, and I shout to everyone, loudly calling, and admonishing, and saying, for I cannot bury this in silence: those who feel that they are outside the hands of God and His saints, run, hasten and cleave to them indissolubly, with faith and ardent love and complete will, throw away all wisdom and your will and commit your souls into their hands their own, like soulless instruments, besides them, creating absolutely nothing, not moving and not acting. Let their wisdom be your wisdom, and let their holy will be fulfilled by you as the will of God. And thus, having walked a short path and completely unhindered, you will be friends of the Most High God and in a few days you will become heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven and unspeakable blessings. For at the same time as you ascend to this right path, you will be numbered among all the saints and He will make you all blessed.
And for me, who has sinned more than all mortals and walked this hard, narrow, short and safe path, leading to the breadth of Eternal Life, as I showed it to you, pray, all of you who voluntarily wished to walk along it and zealously follow in the footsteps of Christ, so that I too, and you were found to walk in them blamelessly until the end of your life; and those also who wish to see Christ, so that together, joyfully leaving our bodies, we may go to the unearthly peace and heavenly expanse and become heirs of that life. And inseparable from God and all the saints in Christ, the Only Begotten Son and God the Word with the Divine Spirit, we will abide with the Holy Trinity now and always and to all ages of ages. Amen.
Venerable Nicodemus the Holy Mountain:
You must control your will so as not to allow it to bend to your wishes, but, on the contrary, to lead it to be completely one with the will of God. At the same time, remember well that it is not enough for you to desire and always seek what is pleasing to God, you must desire this as moved by God Himself, and for the sole purpose of pleasing Him from a pure heart. To resist this, we must endure a stronger struggle with our nature... For our nature is so inclined to please itself that in all matters, even the kindest and most spiritual, it seeks peace and pleasure and this secretly and imperceptibly feeds on lust, like food. This is why it happens that when spiritual things are before us, we immediately desire them and rush towards them, however, not as moved by the will of God or for the sole purpose of pleasing God, but for the sake of the consolation and joy that is generated in us when we desire and we seek what God wants from us. This charm is all the more hidden, the higher in itself and more spiritual is what we desire.
In all cases, do not give free rein to your desires, but keep them in your power, directing everything towards one goal - standing in the will of God and walking according to the will of God. Then your desires will be right and pious, and in any unpleasant event you will remain at peace, relying on the will of God.
Beware of yourself, as your worst enemy, and do not follow your will, nor your mind, nor your taste and feeling, if you do not want to get lost. Therefore, always keep a weapon ready against yourself and, when your desire leans towards something, even a holy one, place it alone, naked from everything extraneous, before God and with the deepest humility beg Him that it may be His, and not yours. will. And do this with a sincere heartfelt surrender of yourself to the will of God, without any admixture of pride, knowing that you have nothing in yourself and on your own cannot do anything for salvation.
Saint Theophan the Recluse:
In the parable of the two sons, the second of them hastily said: “I am going... and did not go” (Matthew 21:30). This is an image of all hasty good intentions, which are then carried out without constancy, will and patience. A light heart is immediately ready for any good thing that presents itself to it, but an unsteady and unhardworking will refuses to do it at first. This weakness occurs in almost everyone. How can one avoid such failure before oneself and before others? Here's how: don't start anything without thinking it through and calculating that you have enough strength for what you undertake. This is what the Lord commanded in the parable of the one who starts a war and begins to build a house. What is this calculation? According to the same parable of the Lord, in order to arm ourselves in advance with selflessness and patience. See if you have these supports of all workers in goodness, and if you have them, start the business, and if not, then stock up on them first. If you stock up, then no matter what you encounter on the way to what you have planned, you will endure and overcome everything, and you will complete what you started. Calculation does not mean that if something is difficult, give up, but rather to inspire yourself to do any work. From here will come firmness of will and constancy of action. And it will never happen to you that you say, “I’m going,” and then don’t go.
Venerable John Cassian the Roman:
Remember the Cross, under the banner of which you must live, for it is no longer you who live, but Christ who was crucified for you lives in you (Gal. 2:20). Just as he hung on the Cross for us, so we, having nailed the flesh with the fear of the Lord, the will and all our desires, must not serve our passions, but constantly mortify them, in order to thus avoid the rejection of God: “Whoever does not take up his cross and follows by Me, he is not worthy of Me" (Matthew 10:38).
Venerable Simeon the New Theologian:
Whoever, for the sake of the fear of God, cuts off his will, God, unknown to him, so that he does not know how it happens, bestows His will and makes it indelible in his heart, at the same time opening the eyes of his heart so that he knows the will of God, and giving the power to fulfill it. This is done by the grace of the Holy Spirit, and without it nothing happens.
He who tries to mortify his own will must do the will of God: instead of his own will, introduce the will of God into himself, plant and implement it in his heart.
Venerable Ephraim the Syrian:
By not wanting to give up our own will for the sake of the Lord, we harm our own soul.
To the extent that someone cuts off and humbles his will, to the same extent he moves towards prosperity. And the more stubbornly he adheres to his own will, the more harm he causes himself. Therefore, do not want to be servile to your own will, but rather be obedient to the will of God.
Know that as long as you easily give in to your will, you are far from perfect.
Woe to the man who relies on his own strength, or his feat, or on his natural gifts, or on his will, and does not place all his hope in God, because strength and strength come from Him alone.
Saint Basil the Great:
Whoever recognizes that what he pleases as useful is an unreliable judge of what is fair - he looks like a blind man...
Reverend Abba Isaiah:
In any case, cut off your will. Do not rely on your own truth, but always have your sins before your eyes.
He who trusts in his own truth and follows his own will will not escape the enemy’s machinations, will not find peace for himself, and will not recognize his shortcomings. It is difficult for him to receive God's mercy at the hour of exodus.
Constantly force yourself to cut off your own will, for your own will destroys all virtues.
The cutting off of one's own will binds the virtues with a union of peace.
He who cuts off his will in front of his neighbor proves by this that his mind serves virtue. The one who insists on fulfilling his whim by insulting his neighbor reveals foolishness.
Venerable John Climacus:
Great is he who piously renounces his possessions, but holy is he who renounces his will. The first will be enriched a hundredfold in wealth or gifts, and the second will inherit eternal life.
One's own will puffs up the soul.
Venerable Abba Dorotheos:
Do you see the fallen one? Know that he followed himself. There is nothing more dangerous, nothing more destructive than this.
A person only sees the immaculate path of God when he abandons his own will. When he obeys his own will, he does not see that the ways of God are blameless, and if he is instructed on these paths, he resists, humiliates and denies them.
The devil loves those who rely on themselves because they help him and plot their own schemes.
Nothing brings such benefit to people as cutting off their will; truly, a person prospers from this more than from any other virtue.
Cutting off one's will is bloodshed, and to achieve this a person must work until death...
Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk:
To follow Christ means to renounce your will.
Ancient Patericon:
One brother, having assumed a monastic image, immediately shut himself up in his cell, saying: “I am a hermit.” The elders, hearing about this, took him out and forced him to go around the monks’ cells, repent and say: “Forgive me! I am not a hermit, but a novice monk.” The elders said: “If you see a young man ascending to heaven of his own free will, hold him by the leg and throw him out of there, for it is good for him.
Venerable Isaac the Syrian:
He who does not submit his will to God will submit to His enemy.
Reverend Abba Isaiah:
He becomes an enemy of God who follows his own will.
He who asserts himself on his own reason and follows his own will breeds in himself enmity towards others and is alien to the spirit from which contrition is born.
He who follows his own will has no peace even with pious people, for impatience, anger and irritability dwell in his heart.
Those who rely on their own truth and follow the will of their fallen being will not be able to avoid the demonic machinations, will not be able to acquire heartfelt silence... and after leaving the body it will be difficult for them to receive mercy from God.
He who clings to his fallen will cannot be at peace even with true Christians, because his heart is cowardly, angry and irritable.
If God wants to have mercy on a soul, but it persists and does not obey, but acts according to its damaged will, then God allows it sorrows that it would not want to have, so that in this way this soul would seek God.
He who asserts himself on his own reason and follows his own will becomes the dwelling place of an evil spirit and is deprived of that Spirit from which contrition of heart is born.
God does not help those who, although they have entered into His service, at the same time serve their passions. God leaves them to their own devices, since they arbitrarily wanted to follow themselves, and delivers them into the hands of their enemies, the demons...
In every action you take, pay the main attention to humility in order to constantly endure dishonor and cut off the will of fallen nature. He who clings to his own will damages and destroys all his virtues.
Saint John Chrysostom:
If you want to be with demons, if you strive for fiery Gehenna, then do what you want, live as you want...
Venerable Simeon the New Theologian:
It is impossible for someone who does his own will, even in small things, to follow the Lord and keep His commandments.
Venerable Mark the Ascetic:
An autocrat who walks without Gospel knowledge and guidance often stumbles and falls into many pits and snares of the evil one, often goes astray and is exposed to great troubles and does not know where he will finally arrive. Many have undergone great feats... and many have suffered toil and sweat for the sake of God, but self-will and recklessness... made such their labors unpleasant and futile.
Ava Isidore:
All demons are not as scary as following your own heart, that is, your own thoughts, and not the law of God.
Sayings of nameless elders:
There is nothing worse than holding on to your own will and living not according to the will of God. By being addicted to his own will, a person can hypocritically leave this world through wide gates, but through small doors, that is, through his will and his desires to be fulfilled, he can find himself again inside the world and will not be able to receive the Kingdom of Heaven.
Venerable Simeon the New Theologian:
Sin is committed both according to our will and not according to our will. For sin always appears to us only as a kind of deceptive bait. But as soon as a person’s soul mentally inclines toward sin, a tyrant and rapist of souls immediately jumps up to it, who always stands behind and vigilantly watches its movements, jumps up and drags it to commit sin by deed, and so it is obvious that sin also happens by the will of a person , and not according to his will: according to his will because the mind itself is inclined to sin; not according to his will because when he is inclined to commit a sin by deed, the devil attracts and forces him to do so.
That is why the Wisdom of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, cuts off the very roots and germs of sins when He commands in His Holy Gospel that no one should allow evil desires or even look with lust with their eyes, because when the soul reaches the lust of sin, then it it is difficult to go back, it is difficult to stay away from the matter, because the demons are pushing her towards it, doing it in the blink of an eye. Thus, the soul must try in every possible way to prevent demons from approaching itself, and it cannot achieve this in any other way than by not inclining to the desires of sin, with the assistance of Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever.
Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk:
A sign of self-love, when, having abandoned the will of God, a person fulfills his own and does not do what the will of God wants, and does what the will of God does not want, this results in the ruin of the entire law of God. This is called self-love because a person loves himself, and not God, and pleases himself, and not God. And love should please the beloved, and not oneself...
A person who lives according to his own evil will is dead to God.
Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov):
A person’s good will strengthens away from temptations... On the contrary, surrounded by temptations, it begins to weaken little by little and is finally completely perverted.
Those who allowed themselves to follow their desires and carnal wisdom became carried away by them, became enslaved by them, forgot God and eternity, spent their earthly life in vain, and perished forever.
There is no possibility of fulfilling your own will and the will of God at the same time. The execution of the first defiles the execution of the second...
From acting according to your own will and according to your own mind, self-care will immediately appear, various considerations will appear to the mind... will destroy attentive prayer.
A monk in any monastery, guided by the scriptures of the Fathers, will have the opportunity to acquire salvation. He who lives according to his own will and according to his own mind will lose it, even if he lived in the deepest desert.
Those who attempt... to arbitrarily invade what is hidden by God from us are recognized as tempters of God and are expelled from His face into pitch darkness in which the Light of God does not shine.
He who has not learned to conquer his own will will in no way be able to extinguish either anger, or sadness, or the spirit of fornication; he will not be able to acquire true humility of heart, or constant unity with the brethren, or even remain long in the community.
The ascetic himself should not willfully and impudently plunge into sorrow and tempt the Lord: this is madness, pride and fall.
