Christ, the God who became man, sleeps peacefully with a pillow under His head, while His disciples struggle with the sea, trying to save their lives. And the disciples approach Him not only with fear, but with a kind of indignation: "Teacher, is there no need for Thee that we are perishing? And Christ stands up, and His answer to them: "Why are you so afraid? Do you have no faith? Do you not believe that God will not abandon you? Do you not yet believe, after all that you have seen, after all the miracles that I have performed, that I can help you?.." And turning to the wind and to the waves, He commanded them to be still. This is a picture not only about the storm on the Sea of Tiberias, which almost killed the disciples; Here we are talking about us, as it were. We swim across the sea of life, that is, we go through a life that is full of storms, difficulties, and problems. And sometimes we wish that these problems would just be solved, that God would stand up and command the problems to calm down, the sea to calm down, the wind to die down, and then it would be so good to sail on the azure sea. But this is not our calling. Our vocation is to go forward with faith, invincible, unwavering faith through all the difficulties, all the horrors that may present themselves to us. The apostles went through these horrors later. If we turn to the Apostle Paul, this is what he says in his Epistle to the Corinthians: "But we, as co-helpers, beseech you, that the grace of God may not be received by you in vain. For it is said, In the time of favor I heard thee, and in the day of salvation I helped thee. Behold, now is the time of favor, behold, now is the day of salvation (this is a passage from the 49th chapter of the prophet Isaiah, verse eight). We do not stumble over anyone in anything, so that the ministry may not be blamed, but in all things we show ourselves as servants of God, in great patience, in tribulations, in wants, in straits, under blows, in prisons, in vigils, in fasting, in purity, in prudence, in generosity, in goodness, in the Holy Spirit, in unfeigned love, in the word of truth, in the power of God, with the weapon of righteousness in the right hand and in the left hand, in honor and dishonor, in reproach and praise: we are considered deceivers, but we are faithful; we are unknown, but we are recognized; we are considered dead, but behold, we are alive; we are punished, but we do not die; we are grieved, but we always rejoice; we are poor, but we enrich many; we have nothing, but we possess everything. Our mouths are open to you, Corinthians, our hearts are enlarged. You are not cramped in us; but your hearts are cramped (2 Corinthians 6:1-12).

This is what the Apostle Paul says, who not only experienced this, but also fulfilled it. Nothing stopped him from preaching that God in Christ is indeed the Savior, and that we can trust Him, that we can go through all the most terrible trials, and that in spite of all trials, we can win—win in ourselves, win for others, and pay for this honor with our suffering, if necessary, with our blood, like the Savior Christ.

1 The introduction was published in the journal Alpha and Omega. 1995. № 3(6). Pp. 17-22.

2 The text retains the features of the author's style. (Editor's note)

3 Author's highlights (here and below).

4 The Holy Scriptures are quoted from the Bible. Moscow, Moscow Patriarchate Publ., 1988.

5 His Holiness Patriarch Alexy (Simansky) of Moscow and All Russia; + 1970

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