A Time of Repentance

On the Sufferings of the Savior (2)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the Holy Church, zealous for the spiritual progress of her children, during the days of Great Lent deliberately offers us the remembrance of the salvific passions of Christ, in order, on the one hand, to induce us to a living awareness of the criminality and perniciousness of sin, which raised the God-Man to the Cross, and, on the other hand, to proclaim to us the boundless mercy of God to people, of the infinite love of God the Father for us, Who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16). In the Gospel narrative that we have just heard, there is a terrible, stunning picture of the terrible, grievous sufferings of the God-Man, which He took upon Himself for the sake of His love for the human race. Before our eyes is the very image of the Life-Giving Cross, on which hangs the crucified Divine Sufferer, with drooping meek eyes and a loving heart. What cruel human heart will not shudder and be moved by such love of God for fallen man! Indeed, notice the purpose of the Savior's coming from heaven. He came to earth to give life to people, to bring the fire of love from Heaven, in order to ignite the hearts of people with this fire and, on the basis of self-sacrificing mutual love, to create on earth the Kingdom of God, a single flock, with Him, the Only Shepherd, at the head, and through this Kingdom to lead people into the Kingdom of Heaven. "I give you a new commandment," He said, "that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. I am the good shepherd; and I lay down My life for the sheep" (John 13:34; 10:14, 15). But, alas, the world did not accept Him: He came to His own, and His own not only did not receive Him (cf. John 1:11), but also crucified Him, gave Him over to the most grievous torment. Let us turn our gaze to the image of the Divine Sufferer, let us gaze intently at His head wounded by the crown of thorns, at His wounds and ribs pierced by the spear, let us weigh the severity of the bodily sufferings on the Cross, and especially spiritual sufferings, and with a sigh let us say to ourselves: "Yes, there is no greater suffering, and there will never be, greater than the sufferings of Christ the Savior." Everything that can make the sufferings unbearably cruel and impart to them an unbearable severity - all were united together in the torments of the Golgotha Sufferer. The most reproachful and cruel bodily sufferings, combined with the most terrible spiritual sufferings – this is what made up that Cross, the only one in terms of heaviness, which only the Incarnate Lord of Glory could lift on His shoulders. He was subjected to the greatest humiliation, reproach and disgrace, and was proclaimed a flatterer. The Judge of the universe, the greatest Benefactor of the human race, stands as a transgressor before the unrighteous judges, His servants, and is subjected to condemnation. A crown of thorns is placed on His head, they dress Him in a false scarlet robe, they give Him a royal reed into His hands for ridicule, and with this same reed He accepts the beating on the head from His created creation. He before Whom the six-winged Seraphim cover their faces in trembling, Whom the ranks of angels dare not gaze upon, endures bruising, beating, and spitting from foul walls. The King of glory, praised and exalted forever, glorified by the Heavenly hosts, hanging on the Cross, endures blasphemy, reproach, and ridicule from His treacherous and rebellious servants. Was it possible to invent for Him a mockery and humiliation greater than that which He suffered, although all the forces of hell strained their minds to invent measures for mockery! But the severity of the sufferings endured by the Lord our Saviour was not limited to the fact that these sufferings were humiliating and most shameful. No, His sufferings combined in themselves everything that could make them terrible, cruel to the body. Almost every member of His holy body was subjected to its own special suffering. His most holy head was wounded with thorns and reeds, His most holy face suffered from spitting and spitting. His shoulders were covered with wounds from scourging. Wounds of nails burned on His hands and feet (John 20:25). His taste suffered from the bitterness of the ozt. His side was pierced with a spear. But however grievous were the sufferings from the wounds covering His holy body, they were almost nothing in comparison with the most terrible suffering of the whole body that occurred from the crucifixion. By the force of its gravity the body of the Divine Sufferer was drawn to the earth, and the wounds of the nails (John 20:25), constantly stirring up and expanding, did not allow Him to experience peace and rest even for a single moment. The sufferings of Christ would have been terrible even if they had been limited only to bodily torments, but the most terrible torments of the soul were also combined with them. The Saviour grieved greatly, seeing the moral depravity of people, the blatant injustice and malice of His enemies. What sorrow did the Divine Sufferer feel, surveying His life, realizing His perfect sinlessness and holiness, remembering only the blessings of people! The severity of a person's suffering depends very much on who causes this suffering - friends or enemies? It is hard to suffer from strangers, enemies who have something against us, but it is much harder to endure persecution from people who have benefited us and are close to us. And it is even harder to suffer when enmity and hatred are dissolved by deceit and hypocrisy, take on the guise of friendship and affection, and are combined with betrayal. In all respects, the torments of the Divine Sufferer were especially severe. Who demanded His crucifixion? Not the pagans and not the Roman government, who did not know God at that time, but their fellow Jews, a people who enjoyed the innumerable blessings of Christ. They put to death Him Who Himself raised the dead of Israel. What injustice and ingratitude of the people blessed by Him! But not only that: one of the twelve disciples close to Him, who sold the Teacher for thirty pieces of silver, became a traitor to Him. And this is not enough! He betrayed Him with a kiss, the most tender expression of friendship and affection. How hard it was for Him to endure all this! At His Cross stood not those who had compassion for Him, but His enemies, who shouted furiously and rejoiced in His terrible torments. Only four courageous souls, close to Him, stood at the Cross: the Most Holy Virgin, Mary of Cleopas, Mary Magdalene, and His beloved confidant, St. John the Theologian. The disciples all fled for the fear of the Jews; the most ardent of them – the holy Apostle Peter – denied Him. The very Divinity of the Sufferer seems to leave Him, the Heavenly Father Himself hides His Face from His eyes... How difficult these spiritual anguish was for the Savior! Why does the Holy Gospel depict the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ with such piercing power, with such detail? Of course, not only to arouse in all of us a feeling of compassion for Him! No, for Jesus Christ, through His sufferings, brought satisfaction to the eternal righteousness of God for the sins we had committed, and at the same time left us an example so that we might follow in His footsteps. How can we follow Him? Jesus Christ, having taken upon Himself the great task of saving the human race, voluntarily condemned Himself to all the calamities to which He was inevitably to be subjected on this path. For the salvation of people, he endured all the insults, sufferings, even a shameful and painful death. Like Him, each of the believers must serve both his own good and salvation, and the good and salvation of his neighbors with complete self-denial. Only in this case will we follow the footsteps of the God-Man, Who stood for His cause unto the blood and was obedient to the Heavenly Father in the fulfillment of His purpose until death on the cross (Phil. 2:8). The Lord Jesus Christ, especially in His sufferings, showed complete obedience and devotion to the will of the Father and the greatest kindness. Although before His sufferings on the Cross His soul was sorrowful unto death, and although He prayed that the cup of suffering might pass from Him, He left it to His Heavenly Father to fulfill this prayer or not to fulfill it. In the time of sorrow and suffering, not a single word of murmuring came out of His mouth, only a cry for His abandonment by the Father seemed to burst out of His very soul: "My God, My God, Thou hast forsaken Me! (cf. Matt. 27:46). For His blasphemers, enemies, crucifiers, for all His ill-wishers, He not only did not harbor hatred, but even prayed for them, saying: "Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). With the same devotion to the will of God, which sends down to us the cross of misfortunes and sufferings, with the same kindness in relation to our enemies, we must endure our sufferings. The Saviour was crowned with glory in Heaven for His sufferings, and the sufferings of all true Christians, endured by them for truth and goodness, will have a similar end, if only they are endured with firmness, obedience, and forbearance to the glory of the Crucified Lord. And for these sufferings they will be vouchsafed to hear the most longed-for voice: "Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matt. 25:34). Amen. 1970

Homily on the Passion on the 4th Sunday of Great Lent

Our sins are a cause for tears

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! Daughters of Jerusalem! weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children (Luke 23:28). These words were spoken by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the difficult moments of His sufferings, the sorrowful story of which you have just heard from the Holy Gospel of Luke. Delivered into the hands of enemies through the treachery of one of His close disciples, the Divine Sufferer was dragged from court to court, from one judgment seat to another, and He Who did not commit the slightest sin was everywhere greeted as a notorious villain, worthy of the most cruel and shameful execution. Neither in the courts of Annas and Caiaphas, nor in Pilate's praetorium, nor in Herod's house, nowhere does He see any just attention, greeting, or compassionate sympathy. His appearance is dishonorable, like the appearance of a terrible criminal imprisoned in chains. The menacing cries of the excited and enraged crowd are heard all around, there is no end to unrighteous and cruel insults and a word to express. They mock Him and laugh evilly; He is beaten in the face; a crown of thorns is placed on Him, from which blood flows in streams from His head and falls to the ground in hot drops. Everyone, everyone left Him, even those with whom He constantly shared His labors and conversations. He has nowhere to turn His gaze to meet His sorrowful soul with consolation and consolation. But now the sentence has been pronounced and sealed by the authorities. An innocent man is sentenced to death. Exhausted, exhausted, He is led to the place of execution, where, in the midst of severe suffering, He must accept a painful death. In spite of the apparent exhaustion of bodily strength, the Sufferer Himself bears the instrument of the impending execution, until, by chance meeting, this burden is lightened by a certain Simon of Cyrene. The crowd accompanying the sad procession grows and increases, gathering hundreds and thousands of curious people. In the same crowd, agitated by various feelings, there were women. The sad sight of the sorrowful sight, the vision of the imminent terrible execution, gave birth to a spark of compassion in sensitive and soft hearts, and the women of Jerusalem with sighs, tears and sobs responded to the grief of the Condemned, who was being led to the Place of the Skull. Wet tears were apparently intended to soften at least a little the cruel situation that surrounded the Innocent Sufferer, and bring Him a small share of comfort in His difficult situation. It seemed natural for Him to expect words of gratitude for such sympathetic concern. But our Lord and Saviour did not suffer for Himself, nor did He seek consolation and consolation for Himself. In His soul the sorrow of the whole world and our sufferings, our illnesses were combined, and our sins, past, present and future, weighed down His loving heart. Therefore, the Lord rejects inappropriate tears. On the contrary, with all the intensity of His immeasurable sufferings, He looks with sadness at those who, in a deceptive sense of their contentment, considered it possible for themselves to feel compassion for the Almighty Redeemer of the world. Therefore, the Lord forbids them to weep for Him, pointing out the objects of weeping and weeping that are more worthy of attention. Turning to them, He inspires them to weep for themselves and for their children: Daughters of Jerusalem! weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children (Luke 23:28). Dear brothers and sisters, of course, our hearts are agitated and trembling at the remembrance of the salvific sufferings of our Lord. This very remembrance fills our soul with sorrowful feelings and thoughts of compassion, ready in soft and tender hearts to burst out of the soul and pour out into sorrowful sighs and tears of tenderness. And of course, the Lord does not look upon tears without favor when He sees that they serve as evidence of a good spiritual mood that disposes the soul to a new, grace-filled life. But still, when listening to the touching Gospel story, we should not limit our sorrowful feelings to aimless and superfluous compassion alone. The innocent Sufferer has already risen and sits at the right hand of God the Father, and His wounds have wrought our salvation and healing. And if we sigh and regret anything, then, of course, not about the fate of the God-Man, Who sacrificed Himself to infinite truth. For the Lord would have said to us what He said to the women of Jerusalem: "Weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children" (Lk. 23, 28). Do not regret My sufferings for your good: I have voluntarily borne and endured them; they have revealed the triumph of God's love for man and have opened to you the doors of paradise. Pity yourselves and your children; for your sins you must weep, which nail Me to the Cross." "But what should we regret and weep about, looking at our children?" – so we seem to ask (a similar question was assumed among the women of Jerusalem, when the Lord, in moments of His extreme humiliation, turned His compassionate gaze upon them). And we hear in response: "For the days are coming, in which they will say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not begotten, and the breasts that have not suckled! Then they will begin to say to the mountains: Fall on us! and to the hills: cover us! For if this is done with a verdant tree, then what will happen to a dry one? (Luke 23:29-31). Do you grieve for Me? In vain! Look better at yourself and around you. A terrible and formidable force weighs upon you, and if not today, then tomorrow it will burst out over you or your sons with devastating blows. You will not rejoice in your life, you will seek death to end your sufferings, and the mountains and hills, from which you will ask for protection or an instant end to your hard days, will not cover you with their weight and will not save you from that terrible force that will have such a destructive and painful effect on your soul and your well-being. In the destinies of God your days are numbered, and before you have time to notice, the cloud of Heavenly wrath and higher truth will come upon you. See how the green, blossoming tree dies, what will happen to you, a dry and barren tree?" Dear brothers and sisters, these words were spoken directly to the Jewish people, but they have power in our times and for us, Christians. Sinful ulcers, evil inclinations and desires that disturb the peace and tranquility of the soul prevail over us, and we have not been freed from them. The Lord has brought us the Atonement—a cure for a long-standing disease—but it works only under the condition of our own activity.

All these voluntary sins of ours crucify the Lord for the second time, causing us to weep and feel sorry for ourselves. Therefore, the touching Gospel narrative calls us first of all to pay more and more attention to ourselves and to the fate that we build for ourselves by our own deeds, and not to be carried away to the point of self-forgetfulness by sympathy for other people's deeds and situations. We must be true Christians, we must kindle in ourselves the spirit of faith and love, we must learn to look at our own sins, and not condemn our neighbor; and it is by this, as nothing else, that we will show our love for the Lord, and then the Lord, in response to our love for Him, will love us also, and will lead us into His Eternal Kingdom of goodness, truth, peace and love, and will make us heirs of endless bliss. Amen. 1961

On the Sufferings of the Savior (3)

The word about the cross is foolishness for those who are perishing, but for us, who are being saved, it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18) In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, the Holy Gospel has now revealed before our mind's eye a stunning picture of the terrible sufferings and death of the God-Man – Christ the Savior. What Christian heart will not shudder and be moved when it hears of such painful sufferings of our Lord? All the more must we be crushed in our hearts by the realization that each of those standing here is in some degree guilty of the Divine Sufferer's torments on Golgotha. Mankind raised Christ the Savior to the Cross. Before His Coming, the human race dwelt in darkness and in the shadow of death, sinking into the abyss of sin. Nothing could bring peace out of this abyss, except the descent from Heaven of the Only-begotten Son of God, who offered Himself as a Sacrifice for his salvation. Before the Coming of the Saviour, the world descended into the very depths of wickedness and sin. Rivers of lawlessness spilled over the whole earth, pride raised its head to the heavens, people served the devil, forgetting and forsaking their Creator. The Chalice, dissolved by the sins of the whole world, would have drowned this world if the Lord had not accepted it. Before His all-seeing gaze there was constantly presented this terrible cup - the cup of God's wrath, the inevitable curse, rejection and eternal destruction, ready to fall upon the criminal human race. For more than thirty years He carried within Himself the thought that He must suffer grievously for the salvation of the world. The predestined time was approaching. And this time was a time of sorrows and deprivations of the God-Man. But then the night came, the night when the fate of the whole world for all time was being decided. How many inner torments and what dying exhaustion He had to experience here at that time in order to finally decide to accomplish the great work that the Father had given Him to do!

It was a night of exhaustion and wailing, crowned with victory and triumph of the spirit over the flesh and unconditional devotion to the will of the Heavenly Father in the face of the terrifying ghosts of the torments of Golgotha. Who can measure the abyss of sorrows that then enveloped the most holy soul of the Savior of the world? They surpassed every human concept. Seeing around Him the disciples who were despondent and fearful, the Saviour Himself openly gave Himself over to the inner sorrow that devoured Him; He began to grieve, to grieve, to be terrified, saying: "My soul is sorrowful unto death" (Mark 14:34). Yes, at the sight of approaching death, He Himself is terrified and suffers as if He were mortal, for His pure and sinless human nature especially abhorred all kinds of violence and torment, and even more so death. The death of the Redeemer, which had to exude life and incorruption, is the mystery of the mysteries of God. It was not just death, but also a terrible slaughter on the altar of the cross, a sacrifice that combined in itself all possible horrors and torments, not only earthly, but also underground and hellish. Therefore, at the remembrance of them, the Savior comes to extreme exhaustion. His most pure hands were not yet nailed to the Cross, but His sufferings on Golgotha had already begun in the Garden of Gethsemane: His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground (Luke 22:44), and it was so abundant that it moistened His very garments. In the midst of these tormenting inner struggles, He remained alone, because His most faithful disciples, and those who were sorrowful, were burdened with sleep, and there was no one with whom He could share His heavy inner sorrows: He waited for him who sorrowed, and did not find them, and comforted them, and did not find them (Psalm 68:21). Then a painful cry burst out of His sorrowful soul: My Father! if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me (Matt. 26:39). The streams of human iniquity bent the Lord to the ground, He fell to the earth, protecting it from the punishing right hand of the Almighty, receiving into His heart the arrows of God's wrath. The horror, mortal anguish, and heavy sorrow that the Lord experienced at that time were aggravated by the fact that before His eyes there appeared before His eyes a gloomy picture of the terrible sins of mankind that He had taken upon Himself. What the whole world had to endure for its sins - all this burden - now fell on Him alone. He clearly saw all the crimes, all the iniquities and wickedness of people from Adam to the end of the world in all their ugliness and vileness; before His eyes appeared the coldness, the indifference and impenitence of many people, with which they would repay Him for His love; He foresaw the hardness of their hearts, in which they would not appreciate the greatest Sacrifice offered by Him as an Atonement for them, and would reject it. He also foresaw the terrible wrath of the Heavenly Father that would burst out upon them, and this more and more depressed the Divine Sufferer and added bitterness to bitterness. But bodily suffering is added to spiritual suffering. One of the twelve disciples of the Savior, Judas, comes to the Garden of Gethsemane and with a kiss betrays his Teacher to the soldiers and servants, who, having tightly bound Him, drag Him like a lamb to the slaughter, to the chief priests Anna and Caiaphas, where He meekly accepts innumerable insults and insults. And finally, He is led to the Place of the Skull for crucifixion. Exhausted, tormented and bloodied, He falls three times on His way to Golgotha. And then, sinless, he is nailed to the Cross, experiencing indescribable suffering. During His Way of the Cross, some Jerusalem women, moved by a sense of compassion for the grievous torments and impending death of the Redeemer of the world, wept for Him, but the Lord answered their tears: Daughters of Jerusalem! weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children, for the days are coming in which they will say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not begotten, and the breasts that have not suckled. Then they will begin to say to the mountains: Fall on us! and to the hills: cover us! For if this is done with a verdant tree, then what will happen to a dry one? (Luke 23:28-31). Beloved brothers and sisters, these words were spoken by the Lord to the Jewish people, but they are valid at all times for every nation and directly for every Christian. Let us examine ourselves, do not sinful inclinations and desires prevail over us, disturbing the peace and tranquility of the soul? The Lord brought us Redemption, granted His Divine grace for the healing of our vices and sinful wounds, but this saving grace works on the condition of our diligence, on the condition that we fulfill God's commandments. As is known, the main commandment bequeathed to us by the Savior is the commandment of love, about which He spoke so much with His disciples on the eve of His sufferings: "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another (John 13:34 and 35).

Today's touching Gospel reading about the sufferings of Christ first of all calls us to clothe ourselves with humility, meekness, longsuffering, kindness, and above all, with all-forgiving love for our neighbors. In this way we will show our love for the Lord, and He, in response to our love, will love us too, and will lead us into His Eternal Kingdom of goodness, truth, peace and love, and will make us heirs of eternal bliss. Amen. 1963

Homily on the Passion on the 5th Sunday of Great LentOn the Necessity of Prayer in the Midst of Temptations

Watch and pray that you do not fall into temptation: the spirit is strong, but the flesh is weak. (Matt. 26:41) In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! Terrible was the night, beloved brothers and sisters, which began with the sorrows of our Lord Jesus Christ in Gethsemane. That night He endured an agonizing inner struggle with Himself, terrible spiritual sufferings, which were a foretaste of the torments of the cross. He grieved that night and was terrified of the mournful cup that He was about to drink. This night ended with the initial sufferings of the God-Man in the courtyard of the high priest Caiaphas. The morning and the day of Friday that came after the night were also terrible: it was the morning and the day of the most suffering and the terrible and at the same time humiliating death of the God-Man. But Christ the Savior was not the only one who was subjected to heavy temptations in this terrible time. Great temptations then awaited both the friends and enemies of Christ. The friends had to either overcome the temptation and share with their Divine Teacher the dangers that awaited Him, or, succumbing to cowardice, change their love for Him and leave Him alone in the midst of enemies and sufferings. His enemies were faced with another temptation: to take advantage of a favorable opportunity to carry out their evil plans and, having achieved their fulfillment, to commit the greatest crime in the history of mankind - murder of God. All who had been subjected to temptations needed the greatest vigilance and the protection of themselves with the most reliable shield against temptations - prayer. That is why the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, in anticipation of the coming temptations and sufferings that night, was more awake than ever, and prayed with an unusual intensity for Him, and inspired His disciples: Watch and pray, that ye may not enter into trouble: for the spirit is cheerful, but the flesh is weak (Matt. 26:41). But unfortunately, He alone was awake and praying that night, and repelled all temptations with glory. On the contrary, both His friends and enemies fell under the blows of temptation. Therefore, pray, my beloved, that you may not enter into the attack. In prayer, the Lord Himself shows us the most reliable means for repelling temptations and successfully struggling with them. And indeed, prayer is the surest weapon for repelling and overcoming temptations.

Like the Apostles, who in Gethsemane could not even watch and pray for one hour with the Lord, who was preparing for suffering and death, we are for the most part immersed in a heavy sleep – not in a bodily sleep, like the Apostles, but in a spiritual sleep, a heavy sleep of carelessness and negligence, so that, when faced with temptations, we find ourselves not at all able to pray. And therefore, when we meet temptation without prayerful preparation, without a prayerful spirit, we, like the Apostles, fall under the weight of the misfortune that has come upon us. From this we should understand how we should take care to acquire this most reliable means in the struggle against temptations, indicated by the Lord Himself – prayer – and how we should try to learn to pray fervently and constantly. There are many means and aids for arousing the spirit of prayer in oneself, and they are diverse, but the best of them is the remembrance of the sufferings and death of Christ. With this remembrance, zeal and fervor for prayer are aroused by itself, there arises an awareness of the need for prayer for us and confidence in its success. The need for supreme help, and at the same time prayer to ask for this help from God, is most strongly realized by the soul of a Christian, when he represents, with extreme clarity and vividness, on the one hand, the gravity and danger of temptations that befall him on the path of earthly life, especially in difficult moments of cross-bearing, and, on the other hand, the extreme weakness of our nature, which is doomed to this cross-bearing. In the remembrance of the sufferings and the Cross of Christ, the Christian's eyes are clearly revealed to the grave and danger of his temptations, and the impotence of human nature, doomed to struggle with them; and these temptations themselves speak with indisputable force about the need for higher help, as well as prayer to ask for it from God. During the earthly life of our Lord Jesus Christ, the spirit of prayer and fervent fervent prayer were never so strongly aroused in Him as at the thought of the sufferings of the Cross. When He thought about their heaviness, His prayer was so fervent that on Tabor it illumined His face like the sun; and in Gethsemane, preparing to drink the cup of the sufferings of the cross, He prayed until He perspired like drops of blood. Thus, the severity of the impending sufferings impelled Jesus Christ to fervent, fervent prayer. It is the same with every true Christian. With greater force than ever, a prayerful mood is aroused in the soul of a Christian at the remembrance of the sufferings and death of Christ. Only he learns to pray fervently and acquires the gift of constant fervent prayer who often and attentively fixes his mental gaze on the sufferings of Christ. And the reason for this phenomenon is clear. The Way of the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is the prototype of our Way of the Cross. The entire earthly life of the Savior is the prototype of life on earth of His Church and of every true Christian soul. Therefore, just as the Lord had especially difficult and sorrowful days, the days of His sufferings, from Gethsemane to Golgotha, so every Christian has and will have his own Gethsemane and his own Golgotha. As these sufferings were terrible and heavy for the Lord, so they will be severe for His follower. For every true Christian, sooner or later, whether in the middle or at the end of the race, but without fail, according to the determination of God's Providence, the time will come when everything will rise up against him: both heavy external temptations and painful internal temptations will unite together and fall with their force upon the crusader of Christ, and then his position will be especially difficult and dangerous.