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The time of earthly life - a short segment on the way to Eternity - is given to man for repentance. But human memory is weak, and man himself is weak and changeable, and therefore often needs to be reminded: for what purpose he was created, whence he fell, to what he was called. His soul sleeps more and more, while the days pass like raindrops disappearing without a trace, and the end of the long journey is inevitably approaching. It is for this reason that the Church has established a special period from the general flow of days, unlike anything else, the time of Great Lent, the time of the awakening of the soul, weeping over sins, when, thinking about the imminent and terrible judgment and as if in vain before the Almighty Judge, a person comes to heartfelt contrition and repentance. But even this, however, holy time can be stolen from us by the vanity of life and concern for transient things, if we do not take care to dispose our souls to listen to good and salvific thoughts, which touch and enliven the heart. In the days of Great Lent, pious and God-pleasing reflections are needed, forcing us to forget about the perishable and direct our gaze to the incorruptible, the Eternal Heavenly Kingdom. An example of such reflections is in the sermons of the fraternal spiritual father of the monastery of St. Sergius, Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov), from which this small collection was compiled. The preacher's speech is unspeakable, the words are quiet and benevolent, but you read them carefully, and gradually slows down, the fleeting time stops, it is resolved from the weight of insensibility, as if a frozen soul is warmed up, and tears are shed from a contrite and humble heart...

Homily on Forgiveness SundayOn the Forgiveness of Offenses

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord, from tomorrow we enter upon the great feat of Holy Lent. What and how is the best way to begin this great feat? The Holy Church guides us to the holy field of fasting and repentance with the Gospel commandment to be reconciled with all our brethren in Christ Jesus, to forgive and forgive them all their sins before us. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will forgive you also, – says the Lord Himself in the Gospel now read, – if ye do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses (Matt. 6:14 and 15). This is the first and necessary condition for our reconciliation with God, cleansing and justification from sins. Without this all-hearted reconciliation with all, without this extinguishment of mutual sorrows and enmity, it is impossible to approach the Lord, and it is impossible to begin the very field of fasting and repentance. Why? Because, firstly, the Lord our God Himself is a God of peace, and not of disorder (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:33). How then can one appear before His face who harbors enmity and malice in his heart, who does not have peace, love, and holiness with all? Have peace and holiness with all, without which no one will see the Lord (cf. Heb. 12:14). Secondly, because the Kingdom of God is a bright society of the sons of God. The Holy Family of the Heavenly Father is the kingdom of peace, love and unanimity, the kingdom of goodness, mercy, meekness, humility and longsuffering; Can he belong to it who harbors in his heart bitterness, vexation and rancor against his brother, who does not have unanimity and peace with his neighbors - co-heirs of this Kingdom? Peace is the highest good, which the Lord Jesus Christ bequeathed as a precious inheritance to His disciples, when He departed from them to suffering: "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you" (John 14:27). Peace is the highest happiness, which He first of all gave to His friends, greeting them after His Resurrection from the dead, standing in their midst and saying to them: Peace be unto you! (John 20:19). Whoever deprives himself of this spiritual treasure through enmity and rancor, deprives himself of the eternal inheritance – the Kingdom of God, which the Lord bequeathed to those who love Him. The world is a grace-filled gift of the Holy Spirit, and therefore its presence or absence in the heart of man testifies to who dwells in it: whether it is the Spirit of God or the evil spirit. And since the latter is primarily a spirit of malice and enmity, so the place for a man who harbors malice and ill-will towards his brother is not in the Kingdom of Peace, but with all the spirits that are outcast. It is obvious that without a sincere all-hearted reconciliation with all our brethren in Christ, the grace-filled course of holy Lent will pass fruitless for us, even if we try to spend the fast according to the rules of the Church Ustav. What is the use of fasting, when we, strictly abstaining from bodily food, by our anger and obstinacy devour the souls and hearts of our neighbors; when, fearing to defile our lips with some forbidden food, we do not fear, however, that from these same lips continue to proceed, like stinking smoke from the furnace, words of condemnation, slander and backbiting, sarcastic mockery, full of infection and temptation of the soul. "I have not chosen such a fast," says the Lord through the prophet Isaiah, "but loose every covenant of unrighteousness, take away evil from your souls, cease from your wickedness, learn to do good (cf. Isaiah 58:6; 1:16-17). Not only no fast, but even the most martyric feat can replace true love for one's neighbor, that love which is longsuffering, merciful, not envious, not arrogant, not proud, not disorderly, not irritated, not thinking evil, but loves everyone and endures everything (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7). If we come to church for prayer not with a reconciled heart, then what will we hear from the Lord? When you stand in prayer, forgive if you have anything against anyone, that your Heavenly Father also may forgive you your trespasses (Mark 11:25). Otherwise, what is the use of prayer, when with the same lips with which we glorify the Lord, we curse our brother, when we call God our Father, and our neighbors, whom the Heavenly Father called His children, we slander, hate and trouble with rancor? What is the use of prayer, when outwardly we humble ourselves, calling ourselves the last, but inwardly we say, like the Pharisee: "Not like other people, predators, adulterers, or like this publican" (cf. Luke 18:11); when we pronounce the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian with our lips: Grant me to see my sins and not to condemn my brother, but in fact we set ourselves up as implacable judges of everyone and everything, we notice the mote in our brother's eye, not noticing the beam in our own eye? Of such men of prayer the Lord said long ago through the Prophet: "These people draw near to Me with their lips, and with their lips they worship Me, but their hearts are far from Me, they worship Me in vain" (cf. Isaiah 29:13). Lord!", will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven (Matt. 7:21). What is the use, finally, if we repent before the Throne of God, asking forgiveness of our sins, but with a hardened heart, without forgiving our neighbor and not being reconciled to him? If you forgive men their trespasses, says the Lord, your heavenly Father will forgive you also, but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses (cf. Matt. 6:14-15). What is the use of repentance, when some prostrate themselves in the church, asking for forgiveness of sins, and when they leave the church, they are ready to persecute their neighbors, bring repentance with their lips, and harbor malice and vengeance in their hearts? They ask forgiveness from the Lord, without humbling their pride, without trampling on their self-love and vanity, and without asking forgiveness from their offended brother! Whoever wants his repentance to be accepted as a sacrifice acceptable to God, must not only forgive the sins of his neighbor from the bottom of his heart, so that he does not remember them, but must also try to dispose this neighbor to the same forgiveness, to make him from an enemy his brother, of one mind and of one mind with himself. Without this, no matter how much our spiritual father allows us to go to confession, our spirit will not be resolved in enmity, and the Heavenly Father will not absolve us of our sins. The Lord says: "If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath something against thee, leave thy gift there before the altar, and go first and be reconciled with thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift" (Matt. 5:23-24). If we dare to approach the Sacrament of Holy Communion, the Sacrifice, which was offered primarily out of the love of the Only-begotten Son of God for the human race, without true love for one another, then would this not be an insult to the highest love of God? Having a spirit of malice, vengeance, enmity towards our neighbors, we trample on the Holy Things and impute the Blood of the Lord to nothing. Dear brothers and sisters, the ancient Christians had a good and pious custom on the present, Forgiveness, Sunday to ask forgiveness of each other. Let us follow this good custom at the call of our Mother Church, and we will ask forgiveness from each other, especially from those who have been offended in any way. Due to the weakness of our nature, due to the circumstances of life in our conditions, clashes and sorrows are inevitable, and therefore we will try to soften our souls and mutual relations through mutual forgiveness. Once upon a time in the Kievo-Pechersk monastery there lived two monks, bound together by close ties of mutual love and friendship. Through the envy of the devil, this friendship between them disappeared, and such enmity and hatred reigned in its place that they did not even want to look at each other: in church one did not burn incense for the other, but passed by. But then one of them, the presbyter Titus, fell grievously ill and, sensing the approach of death, through the messengers began to ask forgiveness from his brother, the deacon Evagrius, but he would not hear anything. Then he was forcibly brought to the bedside of the dying man. Titus got up from his bed and said: "Forgive me, my brother, perhaps I have offended you in some way as a person." But Evagrius answered: "I will not forgive you either in this life or in the Life to come." And with these words he fell down dead, and the brethren could not even bend his hands or straighten their mouths, so soon did his body become stiff. Titus immediately arose well. And to the question of the brethren how this event had happened, he replied that when Evagrius had said these words, the angel of the Lord struck the unfortunate man, and he, Titus, was raised from his bed of sickness. And so, dear brothers and sisters, let us forgive all from the bottom of our hearts, and with a reconciled heart let us enter the field of holy fasting, asking the Lord to forgive our sins. At the same time, let us always remember the words of the holy Apostle Paul: If it is possible on your part, be at peace with all people... and the God of love and peace will be with you (Romans 12:18; 2 Corinthians 13:11). Amen. 1963

Sermon on Tuesday of the 1st Week of Great Lent at Great ComplineOn Fasting and Its Benefits

Behold, now is the time of acceptance, behold, now are the days of salvation. (cf. 2 Corinthians 6:2) In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! Dear brothers and sisters, we have entered upon the podvig of the Great Salvific Lent, which was established by the Church in imitation of the example of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, for for the sake of our salvation He fasted for forty days, without eating any food or taking any drink during this time. In the same way, the Holy Orthodox Church has strictly commanded us, His followers, to preserve holy abstinence, spiritual and physical, for forty days, beginning yesterday, called Clean Monday, and until Friday of the sixth, or Palm Week. That is why this fast that has come is called by us the Holy and Great Forty Days. In these great days of repentance, the Holy Church has clothed herself in mourning garments, and by a special service, prayers, hymns, and the ringing of bells, she expresses that in these days she is grieving, lamenting, weeping for her children, calling upon us to do the same. Just as the Jews, who lost their homeland, wept on the rivers of Babylon, so we are called in these holy days to mourn the loss of our Heavenly Fatherland, which we have lost because of our sins and iniquities. The Church has combined the lamentation of sins with fasting, for it inspires our repentance and lifts it up to the Throne of God. The feat of fasting is a holy and very ancient deed. "Fasting is an ancient gift, unfading, ageless, but directly renewed, blossoming in all its beauty," says St. Basil the Great. Do you think that its antiquity is reckoned from the time of the origin of the Law? Fasting is older than the Law. Fasting is not a new invention, but a treasure of the Fathers. Everything that is distinguished by antiquity is venerable. Respect the gray hair of fasting, it is contemporary with humanity. Fasting is legalized in paradise. Adam accepted the first commandment: "But from the tree, if you understand good and evil, you shall not take away" (Gen. 2:17). And do not bear this, it is the legalization of fasting and abstinence. If Eve had fasted and had not eaten from the tree, then we would not have had need of this fast now. We, who are damaged by sin, will be healed by repentance, and repentance without fasting is not effective. Cursed is the earth: thorns and thistles shall grow up for thee (cf. Gen. 3:17-18) – it is commanded to be contrite in spirit, and not to indulge in luxury. By fasting be justified before God. But the very sojourn in paradise is an image of fasting, because, being content with little, those who lived in paradise did not consume either wine or animal flesh, which makes the human mind clouded. After the flood, people learned wine and meat, but before the flood this did not exist. When there was no hope of perfection, then pleasure was permitted. All the saints observed fasting as a kind of paternal inheritance, handed down from father to son and received in succession, so that this acquisition in the order of succession has been preserved to this day. Moses fasted for forty days on Sinai, and fasting made the holy Prophet a lawgiver, and he was vouchsafed to dwell with God and received from Him the Law for the people of Israel. But thanks to the intemperance, the insatiability of the belly of the Israelites, this same Law, written on tablets by God Himself, was crushed by the holy prophet Moses. Thanks to the insatiability of their belly, the people of Israel gave themselves over to idolatry, and thereby lost the favor of God. Esau's intemperance made him a slave to his brother, because he sold his primacy for one meal. The prayer of the Nun Anna, combined with fasting, gave her a grace-filled child: the holy Prophet Samuel. Fasting made Samson invincible, and until he was separated from him, the enemies fell by the thousands, the city gates were torn up, and the lions could not withstand the strength of his hands. But when drunkenness and fornication took possession of him, he was caught by the enemy and, deprived of eyes, exposed to the ridicule of the children of foreigners. Elijah, who fasted, shut up heaven for three years and six months. Since he saw that from satiety is born in the people much impudence and evil, then, out of necessity, in order to heal them from the vice of luxury and dissolute life, he imposed on them an involuntary fast - hunger, which stopped the sin that had already spread beyond measure; By fasting, as if by cauterization or cutting, he interrupted the further spread of evil. Fasting made the holy Prophet Elijah a spectator of a great vision, for, having cleansed his soul by fasting for forty days, he was vouchsafed to see the Lord on Horeb. Through fasting, the holy Prophet Elijah returned to the widow her dead son. "Fasting," says St. Basil the Great, "gives birth to prophets, strengthens the strong, fasting makes legislators wiser." Fasting is a good guardian of souls, a reliable cohabitant of the body, a school for ascetics. He repels temptations, he is a cohabitant of sobriety and chastity. Fasting precedes prayer to Heaven, becoming for it as if wings during the ascent of mountains!e. Fasting is the mother of health, the educator of youth, the adornment of the elderly, the good companion of travelers, a reliable cohabitant of spouses. The husband does not suspect adultery of marital fidelity, seeing that his wife has become accustomed to fasting. The wife is not consumed with jealousy, noticing that her husband has loved fasting. A man of desires, the holy Prophet Daniel, who did not eat bread or drink water for three weeks, stopped the mouths of lions with his fasting; they could not do him any harm when he was thrown into their pit. The benefits of fasting are open to every kind of life, to every state of the body: fasting is proper everywhere and at any time. Fasting protects infants, chastes the young, makes the elder venerable, for gray hair adorned with fasting is more worthy of respect. Fasting is the most decent adornment of women, a bridle in the flower of years, the protection of marriage, the educator of virginity. By fasting immodest speeches, songs, and ridicule are banished.

Now, people who pursue luxury as the bliss of life have introduced this great swarm of evils. The rich man's luxurious life plunged him into hell of fire, and Lazarus ascended to Heaven through fasting, resting in the bosom of Abraham. The fasting person has a venerable complexion (it does not turn into shameless crimson), his gaze is meek, his gait is sedate, his face is meaningful, and his heart is pure. All the saints, glorified from time immemorial, loved fasting and observed it. The life of St. John the Baptist was one of continuous fasting. The holy Apostle Paul fasted, and fasting elevated him to the third Heaven. But for us the most important thing is that this fast was sanctified by the Lord Himself, Who fasted for forty days. Our spirit is constantly opposed to the flesh, they oppose each other, so if you want your spirit to be strong, restrain the flesh by fasting. The Apostle Paul says: "If our outer man decays, the inner one is renewed from day to day (2 Corinthians 4:16). No one, with abundant food and unceasing luxury, accepted a spiritual gift. If the Ninevites had not fasted, they would not have escaped the punishment that threatened them. The Jews, when they ate manna and water from the stone, defeated their enemies and were all healthy, but when their hearts longed for meat and they remembered the cauldrons of Egypt, they did not see the Promised Land. Fasting is a weapon for the militia against demons. But fasting should not be limited to abstinence from food alone, because true fasting is the removal from evil deeds. Forgive your neighbor's insults, refrain from offending your neighbor, refrain from irritation, from senseless sorrow, from fear, anger, etc. You will forgive others offenses, faults, annoyances, unnecessary worries, and your sins will be forgiven you. The Lord will forgive your faults, and you will be vouchsafed great mercies from Him. You will forgive a few sins of your neighbor, and God will forgive you countless sins. You will forgive a hundred denarii, and He will forgive you a thousand talents. Thus, let us not listen to the devil, who teaches us to hold evil against our neighbor in our souls, but let us in simplicity of heart forgive our neighbor the offenses that he also inflicts at the instigation of the devil. Let no one think evil against one another, let no one be carried away by evil suspicion of his brother, for this is the charm of the enemy of our salvation, who in every way tries to destroy in us the union of love and brotherhood and to implant demonic enmity and enmity. Let us remember the commandment of the Saviour: "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another" (John 13:34), and also that he who loves another has fulfilled the law; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:8, 10). We must, according to the Lord's commandment (cf. Matt. 6:16), enter upon the podvig of fasting, not with a gloomy face, but with vigorous faces, as true warriors of Christ, going out to fight sin and our flesh with the help and assistance of God's grace. Anoint thy head with the oil of almsgiving, and wash thy soul with the water of purity, and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly" (Matt. 6:17, 18). At the same time, the Lord teaches us to detach our hearts from earthly treasures and earthly attachments, and encourages us to desire and seek the treasures of Heaven. They are of heavenly origin and therefore immortal, and earthly goods, as coarse, perishable and transitory, are unworthy of us, created in the image and likeness of God and redeemed by the priceless Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ for the enjoyment of spiritual and eternal blessings. By clinging to earthly goods with our hearts, we thereby make our hearts earthly, coarse, lowly, passionate, and ourselves incapable of loving God and our neighbor, whereas in love lies the main goal and duty of our life. Amen. 1961