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1. The Lord said: "Repent, and believe in the Gospel" ( Mark 1:14-15 ). True repentance is not simply regret for the sins committed, but a complete conversion of one's soul from darkness to light, from earth to heaven, from oneself to God.
2. Without this complete conversion, repentance is nothing more than playing with God and one's soul. But one does not play with God. He has mercy on the repentant, but He severely punishes those who do not repent, or who repent incompletely and insincerely. And when He wounds, the wound is deep, and no one but He can heal it.
3. The pinnacle of repentance and faith in the Gospel is revealed by two passages of Holy Scripture . What is man? "I am a worm, and not a man" ( Psalm 22:7 ), says the prophet David. And what should man be? "You are gods and sons of God" ( Psalm 82:6 , John 10:34 )—these words came from the lips of Christ the Savior Himself. To turn a worm into a god and a son of God is the pinnacle of repentance and faith in the Gospel.
4. What does it mean to believe in the Gospel? It means to believe in the Good News that the heavenly messenger, the Son of God, brought to mankind. In other words, it means to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and His Revelation. And Christ's Revelation is the greatest discovery since the creation of the world. It alone can transform a worm into a man who is God and the Son of God.
5. Why did no one before Christ proclaim the Good News? None of so many sages, philosophers, teachers, lawyers, kings, and prophets? None of them could have known the Good News or proclaimed it. Because they were earthly and of the earth, and they spoke earthly things (cf. John 3:31 ). They spoke like sons of earth, not like sons of heaven. And they spoke of heaven—as far as they spoke—while looking at the earth and dragging themselves along the earth.
6. Therefore, all religions and philosophies before Christ were gloomy and pessimistic, wavering and vague. So it was in Hellas, and in India, and in Egypt, and in Persia. So it was in earthly, balanced China. So it was in ancient Mexico among the Incas, and indeed among all the peoples of that time who did not know God. None of those faiths and philosophies deserves to be called Good News. The most brilliant poet of antiquity, Homer, once said: "It is better to live as a shepherd in this world than as a king in Hades." As a man of earth, he could neither see clearly nor speak joyfully.
7. Only the "Son of Man who came down from heaven" ( John 3:13 ) could testify to what is in heaven—what God is like , what spiritual things are like in that world, what the spiritual world is like, and what happens to human souls after death. He testified to what He saw and heard. His testimony was entirely empirical on the spiritual plane. He did not testify according to earthly logic or the conclusions of the human mind, or according to the wisdom and philosophizing of earthly man, but according to what He saw and heard. He was a heavenly messenger of heavenly things. He came into the world to testify to the truth (see John 18:37 ), which no one born on earth could faithfully testify to. And He called His testimony the Good News.
8. The Heavenly Messenger testifies that God is one, in the eternal triune harmony of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; that God is not only the Creator, but also the Father, that is, the dearest and closest relative of all those who desire to be His sons; that God, as the Father, is Love itself , and out of love He sent His only-begotten Son into the world to save it; that the human soul is more valuable than the entire material world; that countless angelic hosts exist and that they continually, sometimes visibly and sometimes invisibly, influence people in the drama of this world. That the righteous after death shine in the next world like suns; that the Son of God, by the desire and mercy of the Father, descended into the world to make human worms into human gods. About the righteous Judgment of God, about the resurrection of the dead, about eternal life, and about many other most joyful things.
9. Christ called people to believe this Good News. "Repent ye, and believe the Gospel" ( Mark 1:14-15 ). That is, He called them to believe in Him and in Him, to believe His every word. For people have no other way to come to an understanding of the truth in the most fundamental questions of existence than by accepting on faith the words of the One who is a personal witness of heavenly and spiritual things. Either believe Christ, or continue to wander through the dark and stormy abyss of life; to wander, only guessing about the shores and lands located beyond the edge of this abyss. There is no third option.
10. From this it is clear that the Christian faith is not like other religions and faiths in the world. For other faiths [come] from people of the earth and from the earth, from people who spoke of the spiritual world either by their own natural reason or through the deception of evil spirits. None of the founders of other faiths said that he descended from heaven, nor that he was sent by the Father, nor that he testified about heaven what he saw and heard, nor that he would return to heaven again. Therefore, there can be no talk of reconciling or equating the testimony of Christ with other faiths and beliefs in the world.
11. Do not ask a Christian if he believes in God, but ask him if he believes in the Gospel, in the Good News of Christ. For if he says that he believes in God according to his own understanding, and not according to the Gospel, then he is rather a pagan, for he has arrived at a faith that people had two thousand years ago, like, for example, some Greek and Asian philosophers. Why then did Christ descend from heaven? And why did He seal His revelation to the world, His Good News, with His blood? Truly, such a Christian also takes upon himself the [guilt for] the blood of the Son of God, just like those who cried out: "Crucify, crucify Him!"
12. The Orthodox Church , the only Church of Christ in the world, has preserved the Gospel from the very beginning, without looking left or right, and without relying on other religions, pagan philosophy, or natural science. For when you walk with an experienced and clearly sighted guide, it is pointless and ridiculous to ask the blind about the path.
13. Having perfect faith in Christ and His Good News, the Fathers and Teachers of the Church energetically rejected both Hellenic philosophy and the Asian and African mysteries. Although they had studied philosophy in Athens, such as Chrysostom, Basil, and Gregory the Theologian , as well as those who were born Egyptians or Syrians, such as Saints Anthony, Macarius, Isaac the Syrian , Ephraim the Syrian , and others.
14. Although these holy fathers were well versed in pagan philosophies and religious mysteries, and did so firsthand and in their native language, they were resolute defenders of the one-saving faith in the Gospel. They permitted no compromise with anyone or anything, whether earthly or of the earth, human or according to human nature, or anything outside of Christ and His Gospel.
15. It is well known, for example, with what zeal Chrysostom criticized Socrates and Plato, the Stoics and Epicureans, and other famous Greek philosophers. Not only did he not cite them as support for even a single Gospel teaching, although some of their individual sayings were similar to those of the Gospel, but he despised them and rejected them as harmful and pernicious to the soul.
16. But the non-Orthodox church teachers did not act thus. Instead, fearing the world and having weak faith in the Gospel, they began to call upon Hellenic philosophy, Asian-African mysteries, and natural science to prove the truth of Christ's Revelation. Thus, various opposing schools arose within the heretical churches. Some relied on Plato, others on Aristotle, others on the Stoics, others on Plotinus, others on Syrian, Iranian, and Egyptian mythical mysteries, others on Indian theosophy and other forms of occultism, and so on. In modern times, some of these schools began to rely entirely on natural science, which they considered less mythologized than the Eastern religious mysteries.
17. Thus Beelzebub is called upon to aid Christ, and thus demonology is drawn into heretical Christian theology as its support and foundation! The result was that Christ, in the eyes of the heretics, appeared less and less like God and more and more like a man, until finally the impious Arius achieved triumph in these heretical gatherings.
18. However, one should not speak untruthfully about the demons in this regard. For even they recognized in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ a higher, heavenly, and divine being, and recognized him far more than many heretical theologians of the non-Orthodox churches. Consider, did not the demons cry out, "Jesus, Son of God!" or, "Son of the Most High God!"? Did they not acknowledge him, saying, "I know who you are, the Holy One of God" ( Mark 1:24 )? Is it not written, "And the unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, crying out, 'You are the Son of God!' And he rebuked the demons, 'No,' they should not make him known" ( Mark 3:11-12 ).
19. O beautiful world, are you not also indignant? Will you not shake off the starry crown from your head in torment at the sight of how people have become blinder than demons and more foolish than the sons of hell?
20. Why did Jesus forbid demons from proclaiming to people that He was the Christ, that is, the Messiah and the Son of God? Because our wise and philanthropic Lord did not want demons to be people's teachers, nor did He want demons to introduce Him to people. Rather, He wanted and desired that people themselves would recognize and acknowledge Him as God and Savior by His words, deeds, love, and spirit. So that evil demons could not boast that they had aided Christ's work, and that without them He could not enlighten and save the human race.
21. Heretical theologians of the early period competed to see who could incorporate the more powerful Hellenic philosopher into their theology. Thus, Roman Catholics called upon Aristotle for help, and Lutherans, Plato; other groups of Protestant thinkers drew on Plotinus and other Neoplatonists. They confused these with the Good News of Christ, thereby weakening and darkening it.
22. In modern times, all heretical churches have once again begun to create props for the Gospel—now from scientific theories. They have accepted many scientific theories as absolute, even though the greatest scientists of our time have ceased to regard positive knowledge (not to mention [individual] theories) as absolute.
23. Just as Pilate's soldiers dressed the Lord Christ in cheap purple, and Herod in white, so too the heretical theologians clothed the Savior in the cheap garments of pagan philosophy and false science. To better clothe and adorn Him! But in both cases, Christ is mocked and humiliated.
24. The Orthodox Church is the only one in the world that has preserved faith in the Gospel as the sole absolute truth, requiring no support or props from any philosophy or secular science. Therefore, when we read the ninth article of the Creed— "I believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church"—we understand this one Church to be the Orthodox Church.
25. Heretical theologians have called the Orthodox Church the offensive name "Petrified Church" (A. Harnack, "The Essence of Christianity"). Why? Because this Church "does not keep up with the times," "does not adapt to the times"! However, this is the glory of Orthodoxy, that it lives according to the commandment of the Apostle Paul: "Do not be conformed to this world" ( Rom. 12:2 ).
26. How would eternity keep pace with time? How would the absolute adapt to the fleeting? How would the Kingdom of Heaven reconcile with the earthly kingdom? If the whole world, as it is said, "lies in wickedness" ( 1 John 5:19 ), why should we try to protect and support eternal goodness with evil, and try to brighten the heavenly light with the smoky fires of burning coal and oil?
27. There are, admittedly, some theologians within the Orthodox Church who follow the path of heretical theologians, believing that the Gospel is not strong enough to support itself and defend itself from worldly storms. They sympathize with heretical thoughts and heretical methods. With all their souls, they are with the heretics, but outwardly they adhere to the Orthodox Church, so to speak, for support. These are the Bayaganis of the Balkans and the Ivanushki of Kiev, for whom everything on the other side of the fence seems better and wiser, even borrowed mixed theology (paganochristology).
28. The Orthodox Church as a whole rejects such theologians and does not recognize them as its own, but tolerates them for two reasons: first, in the expectation that they will repent and change; second, lest, by rejecting them, it cause further harm by directing them under the wing of heretics, thereby increasing the number of heretics and destroying their souls. These theologians are not bearers of Orthodox consciousness and Orthodox conscience, but are diseased organs of the Church body. The bearers of Orthodox consciousness and conscience are the people, monastics, and parish clergy.
29. Our glorious Lord said, "I do not accept glory from men" ( John 5:41 ). The position of heretics is the direct opposite of this position of the Savior of the world. They seek glory from men. They fear men. Because of this, they seize upon so-called "famous figures" from human history to "support" the Gospel and become more pleasing to the people of this world. Justifying themselves, they say, "This is to attract them [to the Church]!" But how sadly mistaken they are! The more they flatter the world—ostensibly to attract the world to the Church—the further the world flees from the Church. The more they try to present themselves as "enlightened," "modern," "unspiritual," the more the world despises them. Truly, it is impossible to please God and the world. However, every experienced Christian knows that God can be pleased with truth and righteousness, but the world cannot be pleased at all—neither with truth nor with lies, neither with righteousness nor with unrighteousness. For God is eternal and unchanging, while the world is temporary and changeable.
30. Our Lord also said to the Jews: "How can you believe in the Gospel, who receive glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?" ( John 5:44 ). The same is true of heretical theologians. This is both a completely correct explanation of their position and God's judgment upon them. If they sought glory from God, they would believe in the Gospel of God and would not deviate either to the right or to the left. But they desire glory and praise from men, so they try to confirm and strengthen God's testimony with human testimonies. This is both mistaken and sinful. It would be mistaken and sinful even if they sought glory from men not for themselves personally, but for their church. For they insult the Most High when they cite human testimonies as confirmation of His testimony. How can people confirm what God says?!
31. What are the consequences of such a heretical adaptation to the world? Emptiness. Truly, emptiness in the Gospel, emptiness in the entire life of heretical peoples—individual and social. Emptiness in faith, culture, economics, politics, morality, marriage—in everything and everyone. For our relationship to Christ determines our other relationships to everything and everyone.
32. While Christ said, "Without Me you can do nothing" ( John 15:5 ), the heretical world has expressed the thought in a hundred ways: "Without Christ we can do everything!" All modern culture is an argument against Christ. All modern sciences compete to see which of them can strike the hardest blow against the teachings of Christ. It is a rebellion of vulgar servants against their mistress—a rebellion of secular sciences against the science of Christ. But this entire rebellion in our day culminates in what was written: "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools" ( Rom. 1:22 ).
33. I truly don't know where the greatest folly lies in the modern world, which has fallen away from Christ: in personal life or in marriage, in school or in politics, in economic management or in legislation, in war or in peace. Everywhere, cruelty and vulgarity have reached their extreme expression. Where Christ is absent, cruelty and vulgarity are greatest, lies and violence are in full triumph.
34. Let the heretical theologians and the leaders of heretical nations be ashamed, for with Christ's help they have become rulers and leaders of all the nations on earth. They have reason to be ashamed. For like the foolish Galatians, they began with the spirit and ended with the flesh. They are the main culprits behind their nations' departure from the right path and their limping, sometimes worshiping God in Jerusalem, sometimes worshiping golden calves in Samaria.
35. For just as the unfaithful Jews trampled upon one commandment of God after another, following the desires of the world and their own hearts, so too did they deal with the teaching of Christ, the ruler of all sciences. They destroyed and discarded dogma after dogma, devalued the Gospel commandments one after another, rejected the apostolic and patristic canons one after another, ridiculed the words of the saints, and declared ascetic examples to be legends.
36. The most severe blow to the Gospel was dealt by heretical theologians when they doubted the divinity of the Messiah—some merely doubted it, while others rejected it entirely. This was quickly followed by a whole series of denials of spiritual realities—denial of the existence of angels and demons, denial of heaven and hell, denial of the immortal glory of saints and the righteous, denial of fasting, denial of the power of the cross and the value of prayer, and so on.
37. Of course, heretical theologians engaged in adaptation and equalization even before the West's separation from the East, but most intensively in the last 150 years. They adapted heaven to earth, Christ to other "founders of religions," and the Good News to other religions—Jewish, Muslim, and pagan. And all supposedly in the name of "tolerance" and in the interests of "peace among people and nations." Meanwhile, this is the greatest cause of wars and unheard-of revolutions in world history. For truth cannot reconcile with half-truths and lies.
38. The theosophical idea that truth is scattered throughout all religions, philosophies, and mysteries also prevailed among heretical theologians of the Western world. Accordingly, they say, there is some truth in Christianity, as well as in Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, in Plato and Aristotle, in the Zend-Avesta, as well as in the Tibetan tantras and mantras. If this were the case, the boat of humanity would be hopelessly tossed about on the dark ocean of life, without captain or compass.
39. Why did Christ utter this outrageous phrase: “I am the way and the truth” ( John 14:6 )? He did not say: “I am part of the truth,” but “I am the truth.” And again: “I am the light of the world” ( John 9:5 ). So, He is all truth and all light. And besides, He is, in His own words, the only way to eternal life. And He also declared that only He knows God – “you have not known Him,” He said to the Jews, “but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I shall be a liar like you” ( John 8:55 ). Was Christ deceiving us or Himself?
40. May the Lord forgive us for this question. We are not the ones asking it, but heretics have long since asked it, and they continually answer it: sometimes this way, sometimes that way, sometimes like the Jews, that Christ deceived others, sometimes like the theosophists, that Christ deceived Himself. For us, this question does not arise.
41. Orthodox peoples believe and confess that Christ is the one and only Messiah, the Savior of the world, the Redeemer of the human race from sin, the Son of God, incarnate of the Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit, God from God, the fullness of truth, the source of life, the conqueror of death, the cause of the resurrection, the only true path to the true goal, the Judge of the living and the dead.
42. There is something else, hitherto unexplained, that constitutes the fundamental difference between our Eastern Church and the heretical Western churches. But before explaining this difference, it must be explained that the new era of the heretical Western churches began not with the Reformation or the French Revolution, but in the eleventh century, with the falling away of the Christian West from the Christian East. From that time on, Western Christianity began to adapt and equalize. This is the essence of their new era, the modern age and the modernism they boast of. For the Eastern Church, there has been neither new nor old era since Christ came into the world, but everything is identical and true, and is independent of time, conditions, and circumstances.
43. The fundamental difference between the Eastern and Western Churches, from the Great Schism of 1054 to the present day, lies in their different understandings of the Gospel of Christ. The West at that time, and even a little earlier, began to understand the Gospel as a theory, and then as one of many theories about the world and life, while the East perceived it as a struggle and a practice. As a result, in the West, dogmatics became a purely theoretical science, that is, one of many philosophies, while in the East it was and remains to this day a practical science.
44. Dogmatics is a practical science. This is something that heretical theologians either failed to understand or forgot. The apostles, saints, and ascetics of the Eastern Church knew this because they labored to realize each dogma within themselves, in their lives.
45. For example, the dogma of the Holy Trinity, of God, threefold in unity, is considered by many laypeople, as well as heretical theologians, to be the most abstract of all dogmas. Meanwhile, the Menaion of the Orthodox Church speaks of many saints who, through their struggle, made themselves "the dwelling place of the Holy Trinity." For they deified their mind, heart, and will, filling all three [of these parts] like vessels with the Holy Spirit, as in Christ's parable of the three measures of flour.
46. The Apostle Paul expressed this beautifully with these words: "Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?" ( 1 Cor. 6:19 ). And where God the Holy Spirit is, there are also God the Father and God the Son—the Holy Trinity, indivisible, unmerged, life-giving. Therefore, in the hymns of praise to individual saints it is said: "And you were the dwelling place of the Holy Trinity."
47. All services in the Orthodox Church, as well as many other services, begin with a prayer to the Holy Spirit: "Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth... come and dwell within us." We pray that the Holy Spirit will come and dwell within us. This does not happen immediately, but after many struggles in prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and labor. Only when all this, along with frequent tears and sighs, purifies the heart, does the Holy Spirit dwell within it, deifying the heart, mind, and will. Then God Almighty dwells within man and works all in all.
48. Mind, heart, and will represent a trinity in man. In a sinful and passionate soul, these three are not in unity and divine harmony, but in division and disharmony. In this state, a person is like a house divided within itself, unable to stand but destined to collapse. Nothing can save such a house of the soul from collapse except repentance and faith in the Gospel.
49. If a person once again recognizes the truth—that is, the true Lord and Savior, the Messiah of the world and the Heavenly Messenger—then he begins to surrender himself entirely to Him and open his heart to receive Him with the Father and the Spirit. Then Christ's teaching ceases to be theory or philosophy and becomes a practical method of healing, a font of transfiguration and a method of deification. Everything is real, like the blood from the cross, everything is necessary, like bread and water, and everything is practical, like building a new house.
50. To be forgiven of sin and cleansed of passion, to be freed from the world and wholly raised to God; to have a heart pure, open, and filled with love for God and a desire for direct union with Him—this is what it means to be ready to receive God within oneself. And when God , by His ineffable providence and incomprehensible love, abides in such a person, then He becomes the subject in the person, and the person—the object.
51. O gloomy epistemology of puny philosophers, how gloomy you are! It is clear that philosophy offers nothing to baptized people. Philosophy does not bestow itself upon those who have been given the Gospel. Therefore, pagan philosophers are superior to baptized philosophers. From those who despise God's greater gift, even the lesser will be taken away. Therefore, baptized philosophers cannot resolve the question of subject and object, which even pagan philosophers could not resolve. The darkness of philosophical epistemology, both ancient and modern, will forever remain unlit.
52. The Christian saints resolved this issue, resolved it practically, within themselves. God entered into them and became their subject. They denied themselves and allowed God to think for them, love for them, and act for them and through them. So where does their knowledge of truth come from? From God. Where does their such fiery words come from? From God. Where does their insight come from? From God. Everything comes from God, everything is God's, for God is the subject in them, and they are the object.
53. Is it not written in the Old Testament: "The Lord said to Moses, 'See, I have made you Pharaoh's God'" ( Ex. 7:1 )? Thus God chose a mortal man and appointed him as a god in His place to men. And were not God's angels called gods when they appeared to men and declared God's will? Read the story of the glorious Gideon, how an angel of God appeared to him and called himself Lord. And Gideon, although he knew it was an angel, called him Lord ( Judges 6:14-15 ). Likewise, in the story of Manoah, Samson's father, it is said how he saw an angel of God and said to his wife, "We shall surely die, for we have seen God" ( Judges 13:22 ).
54. Neither Moses is God, nor is an angel God, but both Moses and the angel are objects of God's power and activity, while God is the doer, the subject. Saint Onuphrius the Great was neither Moses nor an angel, yet he too is called a god in one verse: "And you were a god." But let us leave Onuphrius, Moses, and the angel aside, and take an example of examples.
55. Let us take as an example the One who said: “I and the Father are one” ( John 10:30 ). Let us listen to how He says: “I do nothing of Myself, but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things” ( John 8:28 ). “He who sent Me is with Me” ( John 8:29 ). “I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” ( John 5:30 ). “The word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me” ( John 14:24 ). “All things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you” ( John 15:15 ). “I live because of the Father” ( John 6:57 ).
56. Concerning the miraculous indwelling of God in man, the Lord spoke thus to His disciples: “If anyone loves Me… My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” ( John 14:23 ). This was fulfilled in the apostles and in all the saints. “By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit” ( 1 John 4:13 ). The Apostle Paul affirms: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” ( Gal. 2:20 ). What more can be said? Didn’t all the apostles have God within them, even from that historical day when God the Holy Spirit descended upon them at Pentecost? ( Acts 2:1–11 )
57. We know from the Acts of the Apostles and from the lives of God's holy men what happens to a man in whom God has taken up residence . His paths are guided by God, the words he utters are spoken not by him, but by God, the deeds he does are done by God. This occurs in accordance with the Lord's promise: "It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you" ( Matthew 10:20 ). Saint Paul testifies of himself: "And the Spirit spoke to me," or: "The Spirit did not suffer me to go." Saint Archdeacon Stephen, being filled with the Holy Spirit, saw the heavens opened and Jesus sitting on the throne of glory. When the Apostle Philip saw the Ethiopian, "the Spirit said to Philip, 'Go near and join yourself to this chariot'" ( Acts 8:29 ). And after baptizing him, the Spirit made the Apostle invisible and instantly transported him to the city of Azotus. All God's people spoke by the Spirit of God. And they performed miracles, just as Christ did, and sometimes even greater. Look: at Christ's word, the fig tree withered, and at Peter's word, Ananias and Sapphira breathed their last ( Acts 5:1–11 ). At Christ's word, the storm at sea subsided, and at the word of Saint Mark the Thracian, a mountain moved.
58. No saint ever attributed a single miracle to himself, but to God, Who [worked] in him. This is the difference between Christian miracle workers and Indian yogis. For the quasi-miracles they perform, they attribute to themselves and seek their own glory; whereas Christian saints attributed all their great deeds to God, Who dwelt in them. The Acts of the Apostles shows a contrast between Simon Magus and the Apostle Peter ( Acts 8:9-24 ). The former wanted to be a miracle worker for his own benefit and glory, while the apostle did everything for the glory of God and attributed everything to God, not to himself.
59. The greater the deeds a saint performs, the more he humbles and abases himself before God, understanding that it is not he who performs these deeds, but God who dwells within him. He senses that God is the subject within him, and that he himself is God's weapon, the instrument of his fearsome and all-powerful Creator. Take, for example, the Apostle Paul, of whom it is written: "Now God did extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs from his body were brought to the sick, and their diseases were cured" ( Acts 19:11-12 ). Yet this same Paul called himself the most sinful of sinners ( 1 Tim. 1:15 ).
60. In the Orthodox Church, all miracles performed by any saint of God are attributed to God, not to man. Even today, countless miracles of healing and salvation from misfortune are performed through prayer. We, in our generation, like the apostles, attribute all these miracles to God, not to man. This is the trap of heretics who deny miracles. They cannot believe that man can perform miracles, for example, by prayer healing the sick, bringing down rain, or averting some obvious misfortune. We also do not believe that man as man can do such things, but we believe that Almighty God can do this through man. But heretics fail to understand what is at the very core of the Gospel: that God can indwell man and act as a subject within him.
61. Can a person stop the sun for an entire day? And can an illiterate person in the desert memorize Scripture without books or a teacher? The righteous Jesus Navin, in the name of God, stopped the sun over Gibeon ( Josh. 10:12 ). The Venerable Mary of Egypt, an illiterate woman who lived in the Transjordan desert for almost half a century without seeing another person, knew the Holy Scripture by heart , as her first and last visitor, Abba Zosima, testified. How is this possible for a mortal? It is impossible.
62. The Lord Jesus explained this: "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God" ( Luke 18:27 ). For the sake of the righteousness and faithfulness of Joshua, God stopped the sun over Gibeon until Israel had finished the battle. Who taught the desert-dweller Mary the Holy Scriptures ? The Spirit of God, as the Savior promised His disciples: "But the Helper, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things" ( John 14:26 ). He also taught blessed Mary, having entered into her and deified her. Mary also performed other terrifying miracles, again not from herself, but from God, who dwelt in her.
63. But heretics, like atheists, take as their standard not human gods, but human worms. And then they reason: what is impossible for one person is also impossible for another. That is, what is impossible for a human worm is supposedly impossible for a human god, and for the Son of God. Equating all people according to carnal wisdom is precisely their occupation. Equating people, equating faiths, equating nations, equating everything in the name of Darwin's forefather—the gorilla.
64. Meanwhile, since the creation of the world, no one has ever drawn such a vast distinction between man and man as the Gospel. Some people are called sons of light, others sons of darkness. Some acknowledge God as their father, others the devil. Some are mentioned as sons of the Kingdom of Heaven, others as sons of Gehenna. Some are with Christ, others with the Antichrist. Through some the Spirit of truth works, and through others the spirits of lies. As God the Son said: "The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know, for He dwells with you and will be in you" ( John 14:17 ).
65. European heretics, like insane atheists, want to see before they believe. Therefore, they do not know the Spirit of Truth and cannot recognize Him by some action within themselves. They do not have Him within themselves, and they do not believe those who do! And even when they see a miracle of God through a son or daughter of light, they still do not believe it, but suffer, trying to explain it away as psychopathy or neurasthenia! Thus, they do not allow the worm-man to rise to the level of either an ox or an eagle, much less a God.
66. The Orthodox Church, following the Gospel, strictly distinguishes the children of this age from the children of the Kingdom. Although the angels and the visible world share the same Creator, it is said that the whole world lies in wickedness. This means that it is defiled, removed from God, paganized, and defiled. It can be sanctified only through holy people in whom the Holy Spirit dwells. They have acquired Him through methods and means known to the Church: prayer, the sign of the cross, invocation of the name of the Holy Trinity, the name of Christ and the Mother of God, angels, and saints. For them (heretics and atheists), all this is nothing. But it is said that "God chose things that are not, that He might bring to nothing things that are (that is, things that appear to be)" ( 1 Cor. 1:28 ).
67. The Orthodox Church is founded on the faith that the Gospel is something entirely new, unlike anything revealed by people before or after it. It is founded on this faith, and it stands on it. The Gospel cannot be compared to other religious books in the world, nor to literature, nor to law, nor to philosophy, nor to human theories. Just as, say, electric light cannot be compared to any of the light sources known in earlier times—neither a candle, nor a torch, nor an oil lamp. The Gospel reveals the way, the truth, and life. It gives not only the word, but also power. It teaches not only through reading or listening, but rather through deeds, struggle, and effort.
68. And the words of the Gospel are not like ordinary human words, but mediators through which wisdom and power flow. For it is said of Christ that He is "the power of God and the wisdom of God" ( 1 Cor. 1:24 ). His words illuminate the path to life with truth.
69. The words of the Gospel are also medicine and food. Thousands of sinners, hearing the words of the Gospel, have converted to the path of eternal truth and immortal life. The words of the Gospel have helped thousands of repentant ascetics to be healed from passions. The Lord said, "I am the bread of life" ( John 6:48 ). And His words are solid and sweet food for the soul and a life-giving drink.
70. "Never man spake like this Man" ( John 7:46 ). This is the testimony of those who personally heard and felt the words of Christ. For He spoke as one having authority, and through His words power flowed and touched people. Heretical critics of the Gospel devote much attention to so-called "comparative religion" and the history of other faiths and philosophies. Criticizing Christ's teaching, they claim to have found expressions identical to those used by Christ in other religious teachers and philosophers. On this basis, they seek to cast Jesus down from His heights into the valley of weeping and divination, thereby effecting "adjustment and equalization."
71. They are right when they say that the same words as the Savior's have been spoken by other lips. But these critics failed to see the incomparable difference in the effectiveness of these words. Many others had said to the dead child, "Maiden, arise!" ( Luke 8:54 ), but the girl did not rise. But when Jesus spoke these words, the girl came to life and stood up. Thousands of Pharisees could have said to the centurion of Capernaum, "As you have believed, be it done to you" ( Matt. 8:13 ), but the centurion's sick servant would not have recovered. But when the Son of God spoke these words, the servant was immediately healed. How many sailors have said to the storm, "Cease!" ( Mark 4:39 ), but the storm did not cease; and when this word came from His mouth, a great calm fell. Millions of mouths could say to the blind: "See!", to the paralyzed: "Arise and walk!", to the demons: "Come out!", to the leper: "Be clean!" and to the barren tree: "Wither!"
72. Look—these are all ordinary words, spoken by countless people in similar circumstances. Plato and Aristotle, Buddha and Confucius, as well as all the pagan philosophers, could have spoken these words, but without effect and without consequences. But when these words came from the lips of Christ, they were not without effect and without consequences, for with those words came power from Him. And the storm subsided, and the blind received their sight, the paralytic arose, the lame leaped, demons fled from people, lepers became cleansed, and the barren fig tree immediately withered. Many heretical adaptors and levelers fail to see this difference. Believe me, this difference [is as great] as the difference between life and death .
73. Heretical theologians also doubted or even rejected the power of touch, of contact . 2 Because of this, many of them rejected priestly ordination, the laying on of hands on the sick, the kissing of the cross and icons, the anointing with oil, the sprinkling with holy water... And they went even further: they declared Holy Communion to be invalid. By receiving the Body and Blood of Christ—that is, if they receive it at all—they do not recognize union with God. Therefore, Holy Communion for them is merely a remembrance of Christ's suffering, just as the Jews preserve many Passover customs as a reminder of their [exodus from] slavery in Egypt.
74. In the Orthodox Church, touch is considered the most important. Touch transmits the power that connects a person with heaven, expressing reverence and love for God, His angels, and saints. And in modern practical science, electrical, magnetic, and light contact are considered among the most important factors in natural changes. But heretical theologians, despite all their servility to modern science, failed to see in this a symbol of spiritual reality and a manifestation of the Gospel of Christ on the physical plane.
75. The Orthodox Church is faithful to its Founder, the Lord Jesus, in its view of touch. And in His work of saving the human race, touch plays a central role. He took Peter’s sick mother-in-law by the hand, and the fever left her ( Matt. 8:14–15 ). He took Jairus’s dead daughter by the hand, and the girl was resurrected ( Mark 5:35–43 ; Matt. 9:23–25 ; Luke 8:49–56 ). The woman with an issue of blood touched His garment, and the blood that had flowed for twelve years stopped ( Mark 5:25–34 ; Matt. 9:20–22 ; Luke 8:43–48 ). When the blind men came to Him, He touched their eyes, and they received their sight ( Matt. 9:27–30 ). He reached out to Peter as he was drowning and saved him ( Matthew 14:31 ). He also touched the leper, and he was cleansed. They brought the sick to Him so that they might touch Him, and by touching Him, they were healed.
76. The East has always believed in touch more than the West. This means that it believed more in the intimate contact of man with man, soul with soul, and God with man, than in mere words. The West is all words, all theory, without authority or power. That's why in the West everyone talks, everyone spouts words, but no one heals. Many, many words are spoken and written, but without power. The Easterners, however, brought their sick "and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment; and as many as touched it were healed" ( Matthew 14:36 ).
77. O Western heretics, with hearts hardened! Bring yourselves and touch with your forehead or lips His garment, or His cross, His icon, His temple, or anything else of His, and be healed of skepticism, lack of faith, and secret unbelief.
78. By His touch He heals all who believe and love Him; by His touch He accomplished the salvation of the human race. He did not disdain to touch a dead human body; He was not ashamed, as God and the Son of God, to clothe Himself in a body, to walk in the body, to communicate with people as a man in the body, to suffer and die in the body. A most wondrous and salvific contact of the eternal Divinity with the corporeal, material world! To illumine this pagan and defiled world, to make the human body a holy temple of God, to subvert the power of matter before the power of the spirit and to shatter the power of hell with the power of God.
79. And He left us a covenant that we would never cease to be in touch with Him. This is the New Covenant of His body and blood—let us partake of Him, to become a part of Him. Let us partake of Him, to be like Him, as His clairvoyant apostle, the beloved John, said: “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it does not yet appear what we will be. But we know that when He appears, we will be like Him” ( 1 John 3:2 ).
80. Let us be like Him, let us be like Him—like Christ God, the eternal Son of God—that is, let us be little Christs, little gods, little sons of God. Immortal and deified thanks to Him, His incarnation, His union through Body and Blood with us, sinners and impure, thanks to His unimaginable love and sacrifice. We, who were not men but worms, He made kings and priests of His God and Father ( Rev. 1:6 ), children of light, not darkness, partakers of His eternal glory and angelic hymns in the Heavenly Kingdom.
81. "This is thaumaturgy!" 3 – heretical leveling theologians might tell us, unable to believe the Good News because it is too joyful for them. Well, call it what you will, but do not equate the Gospel with other books, laws, religions, and philosophies. For it is not the same as them, and cannot be the same. And everything God does is a miracle, from one end to the other, from the beginning of time to the end. As it is written of the Most High: "You are a God who does wonders" ( Psalm 77:15 ).
82. Heretics claim that Paul misunderstood Christ and proclaimed his own Gospel, distinct from Christ's. What madness and slander! After all, Christ lived in Paul, and Paul was God and the Son of God. How could Christ speak against Christ, and God against God? Did he misunderstand Christ when he said: "But we all, with unveiled face... beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" ( 2 Cor. 3:18 ). What else did Christ want, if not to see that we, beholding His glory, are transformed from toadstools and worms into His face?
83. The same blessed Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians: "For we walk by faith, not by sight" ( 2 Cor. 5:7 ). Faith in what? In the Gospel. Faith in whom? Christ. To believe in Him and in Him is infinitely higher than to believe one's own eyes. For He is the One who came down from heaven and returned to heaven. The one and only guide and way. He knows mysteries that we can never comprehend either by sight or by any other sense. Therefore, we must believe in Him and Him alone. He has revealed to us as much as we can bear. Mortal man in the body cannot accept more.
84. But those who bear the Spirit know more than what Christ revealed to the apostles. They know more, not through observation and testing, not from themselves, but from God the Holy Spirit, who came to dwell within them after complete repentance and purification. These spirit-bearers have enriched the Orthodox Church with their experience, and will always do so. While heretical churches, renouncing the ancient spiritual experience of their Orthodox ancestors but receiving nothing new, became impoverished, the Orthodox Church became enriched by preserving the ancient experience of the saints and receiving new ones. "Whoever has, to him will be given, and whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him" ( Mark 4:25 ).
85. Orthodox Christians seek continuous union with God, and this is a direct contact. The two most important ways to achieve this union are Communion and inner prayer . By receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, we renew our entire being and Christify it. We clothe ourselves in Christ. Thus, Christ gradually takes our place within us, and lives and grows in us until He becomes the subject and we become the object, and until we, having renounced ourselves and become deified, are able to exclaim with the Apostle: "Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" ( 2 Cor. 5:17 ). In this rebirth of man, the dogma of the incarnation of the Son of God in the womb of the Virgin receives its practical significance, concerning each of us.
86. Any Christian can engage in inner prayer. But it is especially practiced by monks, crying out in their hearts: "Lord Jesus, have mercy on me, a sinner." These are the five words mentioned by the Apostle Paul. With this simple yet perfect prayer, one can fulfill the Lord's commandment: "Pray without ceasing" ( 1 Thessalonians 5:17 ). The beneficial fruits of this prayer are best known to those who practice it, then to those who are friends with monks and nuns who practice this prayer, and finally to those who have read the lives of St. Maximus the Kapsokalyvite, St. Andrew and Blessed Basil, the Fools-for-Christ, as well as countless other fathers and mothers throughout the long history of the Church to the present day.
87. The main fruit of this prayer is that the human soul finds a strong connection with God. This warms the heart with love for God. Dispassion and liberation from the world and all it offers are achieved. The desire to die quickly and dwell in the afterlife with the beloved Lord grows. When the day of death approached for Saint Paphnutius of Borovsk, he joyfully exclaimed: "Behold, the day of the Lord! Rejoice, people! My longed-for day has come!" Fearlessness before death, as well as the desire to quickly depart this world, made these spirit-bearers the greatest heroes in the history of the Earth.
88. They lived in the world, but were not of the world. Citizens of heaven and angels in the flesh. Lesser gods and sons of God and children of light. When Saint Simeon (commemorated on July 21), after many years of ascetic struggles in the desert with his friend John, wished to return from the desert to teach people, John gave him this advice: “Guard your heart from everything you see in the world. Whatever your hand touches, let not your heart touch. When your lips are filled with food, let not your heart be delighted. When your feet walk, maintain peace within yourself. Do not cease your connection with God for a moment.”
89. "When God," says the glorious Paul, "was pleased to reveal His Son in me" ( Gal. 1:15-16 ). And he understood this and watched attentively as Christ came into his being, until he was finally able to exclaim: " It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me!" ( Gal. 2:20 ). Paul! A thin and stooped man, bald and slow-speaking, poorly dressed and poorly fed, nearsighted and unsightly—and beneath such a deceptive appearance hid a minor god and son of God, a king and a priest. And thousands upon thousands of such followed him, millions upon millions of those who in appearance were the last, but in their inner disposition the first among mankind. This world was not worthy of them, according to the words of the same Paul. They are the conquerors of themselves and the world, who shine like the sun in the heavenly kingdom and rejoice with the angels near the Lord of Glory, the Lamb of God, the Savior of the world Jesus Christ.
90. For nearly two thousand years, Christ, the Master of the world, has been reaping His harvest. And His barns in heaven are almost full. His country is larger in population than all the countries on earth combined. His Kingdom is the most powerful and continues to grow in numbers and power. This is the fruit of His sweat, labor, tears, and blood. We, Orthodox Christians, are in contact with this Kingdom of Christ: with God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, with the archangels and angels and all the heavenly hosts, and also with all the righteous and saints of God, prophets and apostles, martyrs and confessors, God-bearing fathers and teachers, virgins, men and women, fasters, with all who have felt God in their bodies, carried God, rejoiced with God, and become little gods and children of God.
91. Proskomedia! What is proskomedia? Heretics do not have one. Proskomedia is the introductory part of the Liturgy, its prologue. It is our union with the heavenly kingdom and heavenly citizenship. Near the Lamb of God, the priest removes a particle from the prosphora for the Theotokos—for Her first and foremost, since God was incarnate in Her—for St. John the Baptist and the other prophets, for the apostles, for the Church Fathers, for the martyrs and confessors, for the saints, for the unmercenaries and all the miracle workers. And for our departed fathers, mothers, and brothers, and for living Christians. Oh, what riches and what glory! Time and space are lost. Nationality and earthly origin are not taken into account. Only the Kingdom of the Lamb of God and its citizens. We place particles of all of them in the Chalice, in the most holy Chalice containing the heavenly drink, from which we partake. This is our contact with them and our unity with them. One kingdom, one citizenship, one faith, one family of God.
92. Heretics have none of this. To the extent that they still preserve the Liturgy, they do so without the proskomedia. Pride dictates this. They claim to want to know only about God, not about His saints. They desire a connection only with the Father, while despising His children. They want to revere Christ, while denying His harvest and the fruits of His labors and tears, torment, blood, and death. They desire no contact with the children of God, with the billions of saved saints. The question is: will the Father, whose children they despise, desire any contact with them? Or will He reject them in His wrath, just as they rejected His children?
93. Heretical theologians call the Church a community, and, being egalitarians, they place this community on a par with other communities and equate it with other communities: political, economic, social, and so on. Meanwhile, the Church is not a community, but a family, a family of the largest size, with a cradle that never ceases to rock. As Paul writes to the Galatians: "My little children, for whom I travail in birth again until Christ is formed in you" ( Gal. 4:19 ). Through the throes of birth, over the centuries, the Church gives birth to children of God, little gods, co-heirs with Christ in the kingdom of eternal life.
94. Mother Church! That's what the Orthodox call their Church. No one calls a state a mother, nor any other community. This name suits only the Church. And rightly so, the Church is called a mother. She gives birth to God's sons and daughters. The entire New Testament speaks of birth, rebirth, rebirth. Through the mouth of Christ and the mouths of His apostles, and later through the mouths of the holy fathers and mothers. Of course, we are talking about spiritual birth, something that the learned Nicodemus could not understand, but which millions upon millions of Christians subsequently understood and experienced.
95. Without contact there is no birth. Neither physical nor spiritual. Love is expressed by union—both physical and spiritual. Mother Church gives birth to spiritual children through union with God the Holy Spirit. How? Like the Messiah, born of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And Mary asked the angel of God, "How can this be, seeing I know not a man?" To which the angel replied, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God" ( Luke 1:34–35 ). True, this speaks of the physical birth of the Lord, while we are speaking of spiritual birth through the Church from the Spirit of God. In any case, God can do all that He says. Who first conceived of birth, if not God ? And, having conceived of physical birth, He also conceived of spiritual birth. The main thing is that the Church is the Mother, was, is, and will be until the end of time. Dear name: Mother Church!
96. When speaking of the connection between the Church on earth and the Church in heaven, heretical theologians deny and repudiate this connection. They direct their prayers neither to the Mother of God, nor to the angels, nor to the apostles, nor to the saints. They say that there are no intermediaries between God and people. They boast that they direct their prayers directly to the Lord God and only to Him. Meanwhile, they still name their churches after the Holy Mother of God, or angels, or apostles, and other saints . 4 But this is merely an empty title, preserved by tradition from the time when their Orthodox ancestors glorified all the saints, built churches in their honor, and through them directed prayers to God.
97. The word "mediation" arose during disputes between various heretical groups. The Orthodox Church explains the connection between the people of God on earth and the people of God in heaven through love , not mediation. The people of God in heaven possess life, power, and love to a greater degree than we, who are bound by the body. And out of love for us, they pray to God for us. And we, out of love for them, glorify them on earth, build churches for them, and offer them prayers as our great and glorious relatives, as nobles of the Lord King, so that they may help us with God's help.
98. The Orthodox Church has vast experience [testifying] that the saints of God are alive, that they see and hear us and help us. They help both when we know about it and when we do not. They are close to us, we feel their close presence, and they feel our breath. The Apostle Paul also sensed this in the early days of Christianity, which is why he said: “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect” ( Heb. 12:22-23 ). And [in those days] these were only those whom the Lord saved by descending into hell. What can we say now, nineteen centuries after St. Paul? How the heavenly people of God have multiplied and how the heavenly Jerusalem has been enriched with baptized people!
99. The heretical slander against the Orthodox Church, that it is supposedly polytheistic because it recognizes the saints of God, recognizes them as gods after God, and prays to them, is extremely foolish. In fact, it is not we who are polytheists, but all those atheists who do not believe in the Gospel, that is, in God as He was revealed by the Lord Jesus and revealed in His person. We know that all the saints are children of God, lesser gods by grace and adoption, and that all life, strength, and love that flows to us through them comes from the one and only eternal Source, from the one and only God, eternal, immortal, and triune in unity. Christ said to the Jews, "If you do not believe Me, believe My works" ( John 10:38 ). What are the saints, what are the countless people of God in the Jerusalem above, what are the billions saved and glorified over the past two thousand years, if not the work of Christ? Let us ask the heretics: how can you believe in Christ if you do not believe in this divine, gigantic, majestic work of His?
100. The Gospel, the Good News! Truly, this is the only great joyful news for all people on this planet, from the time Eve broke the commandment until our day and until the end of time. The Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed this joyful news to the world, and the Orthodox Church is the only one that has fully preserved faith in Him and His good news. She preserved this greatest treasure not without severe struggle, both external and internal, but with the help of God, the Mother of God, and the saints, she nevertheless preserved it. She did this not for her own glory, but for the glory of Christ, and for the salvation not only of her own peoples, but of all generations in all nations on earth, if they are willing to open their hearts and minds and see where salvation lies. The future of humanity is inevitably linked with Orthodoxy. Hear, all peoples, and submit, for God is with us!
Source: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Nikolaj_Serbskij/svjatitel-nikolaj-serbskij-sto-slov-o-lyubvi-k-istine/