to the unknown, that Christ had done miraculous things

You address me without naming yourself, but ask for a clear answer, signed with my name. Okay, I won't shy away from it. However, the very fact that you, Mr. or Mrs., do not know how to address you, are ashamed or afraid of your question, indicates that the question is unfounded. You mockingly ask: "What is so extraordinary that Christ has done that we should believe Him? He did not invent the telegraph, the locomotive, the gramophone, or the airplane. What has He done?"

Indeed, He did not reveal any of these "pieces of iron" to the world. If He had seen the salvation of men in them, He would undoubtedly have revealed them, and not only those you have listed, but hundreds of others. But the Lord thought differently than you did, and saw the salvation of people in a different way, and revealed to them a completely new and boundless world – the Kingdom of Heaven, and showed everyone living on this tiny earth the way to this Kingdom.

And, however, your question is not new. The Alexandrian atheists asked the same question to a certain Christian, who was reviled, ridiculed and given over to torture. They asked him, "What has your Christ done so special that you glorify Him so much?" And the heir of Christ answered them: "That I am not wounded by all your reproaches and mockery."

Letter 169

to the artist S. Z., about the common people

You have returned from a long expedition in which you studied folk art. And now you cannot hide your admiration for how the common people, unlearned and uneducated, could create such wonderful works.

You rightly admire.

The people could create all this only by Divine inspiration.

With their sublime creations, the people bore witness to the existence of God and His Providence. For without God's help, it is impossible to explain all this incomprehensible in beauty and wisdom work of the common people, peasants and peasant women, illiterate shepherds and millers. The answer to the mystery is that the people relied on God in everything and prayed to Him, and God gave His Holy Spirit, Who directed the thoughts, feelings, words and deeds of the people. And the educated man, who relies only on himself, is left by the Lord to himself, and he creates what man can create without God.

How could a Galilean fisherman, very simple and illiterate, write the fourth Gospel? How did Peter the fisherman write his divine messages? The earth cannot explain this; Without a doubt, Heaven intervened here. The holy people of God, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, did not speak from themselves, but spoke from God. And just as you are now amazed at the common people, so once the Jews were amazed at Christ, saying, "How does He know the Scriptures without studying?" Jesus, answering them, said: "My teaching is not mine, but Him who sent Me" (cf. John 7:15-16).

And although the person of Christ is exceptional in all respects, the same words can be said about the people: the wisdom of the people is not from the people, but from God. The people feel this and carry it in their hearts: they feel and believe that without God the song is not sung, without God the house is not built, without God lace is not woven, without God Glory is not celebrated.