abridged from the sacred books of the Old and New Testaments

About The Author

Bazarov Ioann Ioannovich – confessor of Her Majesty the Queen of Württemberg; was born on June 21, 1819 in Tula, where his father was an archpriest, studied at the Tula Seminary and the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, from which he graduated in 1843. In 1844, he was ordained a priest of the Russian Church in Frankfurt am Main, and at the same time was sent to Wiesbaden to serve as a confessor to the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Mikhailovna, who died soon after (1844). In 1845, the Holy Synod elevated Father John to the rank of Master of Theology. In 1851, he was transferred to Stuttgart, in accordance with the desire of the Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna (then Crown Princess of Württemberg) to have him as her confessor. Since then, Father John, elevated to the rank of archpriest in 1853, has been at the head of the Russian court church in Stuttgart. But he repeatedly happened to conduct divine services in other German cities, for example, Kissingen, Friedrichshafen, when the royal family stayed in them.

Living abroad, Father John, through his numerous labors, greatly contributed to the dissemination among the Western clergy of accurate information about the Russian Church. He died in 1895.

From the Old Testament

1. On Creation

At first, there was nothing but God. He willed to create the world, and the world appeared out of nothing, according to His word. God could have created everything in an instant, but it pleased Him that heaven and earth should appear in all their splendor not suddenly, but gradually. The Lord God used six days for creation, and this is the order in which this creation took place.

First, God created the heavens and the earth. But it was not the heaven we see now, nor the earth on which we now live. It was an unsettled mixture of everything, and darkness lay over this mixture. Then God said: "Let there be light!" God separated the light from the darkness, and after the first evening came the first morning; And it was the first day of peace. The second creation of God was the firmament of heaven, which now surrounds our earth. God divided the waters that are above the firmament from the waters under the firmament; and the very firmament He called heaven. And again after the evening came the morning – the second day. Then God separated the water from the dry land on the earth itself and commanded grass, plants, and fruitful trees to grow out of the earth. It was on the third day. On the fourth day God created the lights of the heavens, which were to serve us to determine the time, days, and years, namely, the great light that shines during the day, and the small light that shines at night, that is, the sun and the moon, and also the stars. On the fifth day, God created fish and everything that moves in the water, as well as all kinds of birds that fly in the air and live on the earth, and blessed them, saying: "Be fruitful and multiply." On the sixth day God created the beasts of the earth, each according to his kind. Finally, God said, "Let us make man in our image and likeness, and let him possess the fish of the sea, and the fowl of the air, and the beasts, and all the earth." And God created man in His own image, taking a finger from the earth and breathing into it the breath of life. Then, during Adam's deep sleep, the Lord took out one of his ribs and created a woman for man from it. Blessing Adam and Eve, the Lord said to them: "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it." And the Lord looked upon all that He had made, and it was all very good. The seventh day came. This day was appointed for joy and rest, for the Lord Himself blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because He rested on this day from all His works that He did.

2. The Fall

For the habitation of man, God planted a paradise of sweetness or a garden on earth and brought Adam there, ordering him to cultivate and preserve it. In Paradise there were many trees of all kinds, which were fun to look at, and all the more pleasant it was to eat the fruit from them. But especially remarkable were the two trees that stood in the midst of this garden of God: they were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eating of the fruits of the first, a person could live and never fear death. And about the second tree, the Lord God said to Adam: "You may eat of the fruit of all the trees in the garden, only of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you must not eat of the fruit: for in the day that you eat of it you will die." But the enemy of the human race, the devil, found a means to lead man into sin; For this purpose he chose as an instrument the wisest of all animals on earth – the serpent. Entering it, he addressed his wife with these cunning words: "What did God say, You shall not eat of any tree in Paradise?" Eve answered: "We eat of the fruit of the trees of Paradise, but God said to us about the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of Paradise: Do not eat of it, nor touch it, lest you die!" "No, you're not going to die! But God knows that from the day you eat of the fruit of this tree, your eyes will be opened, and you yourselves will be like gods, you will know what is good and what is evil." The wife looked at the tree and was tempted. "How good must be the fruit of this tree," she thought to herself, "when it can make you so sensible!" then she gave it to her husband, and he ate it. Then their eyes were opened, and the first thing they realized was that they were naked. An involuntary feeling of shame took possession of them, which they had not known before, and they tied up a few fig leaves and girded themselves with them. The day was already leaning towards evening. And behold, they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden. Out of fear and shame, Adam hid with his wife from the Face of God behind a tree in the middle of Paradise.

And the Lord God called Adam and said, "Adam, where art thou?" Adam answered, "I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I am naked; and therefore hid." And God said to him, "Who would have told thee that thou wast naked, if thou hadst not eaten of the tree of which alone have I commanded thee, that thou shouldst not eat of the fruit thereof?" Then God said to the woman: "Why did you do this?" The woman answered: "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." Then the Lord God says to the serpent: "Because you have done this, be cursed among the beasts! In thy womb thou shalt crawl and eat the earth all thy life! And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise Him in the heel." And he said to his wife: "I will send many sorrows upon you: in sickness you will bear your children, your will will will be subject to your husband, and he will rule over you." And he said to Adam: "Because thou hast listened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, and said, Thou shalt not eat of it, let the earth be cursed for thy sake, and in sorrow thou shalt eat of it all thy life. She will bring forth thorns and thistles for you. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread until thou returnest to the ground whence thou wast taken: for thou art the earth, and unto the earth shalt thou depart!" And he set a cherub, which with a flaming sword barred his way to the tree of life.

3. Fratricide