On the Holy Forefathers, the Righteous of the Old Testament

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! Brothers and sisters! Today we celebrate the memory of the Holy Forefathers, the righteous of the Old Testament, who lived before the coming of Jesus Christ. This day, this feast, as it were, takes our thought to the beginning of the creation of the world. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1). Thus begins the most majestic, wondrous and intimate of all books – the Bible. There are so many words in the Bible, so many mysteries in it! The Holy Fathers revealed to us that the word "heaven" refers to the spiritual realms, the angelic worlds. Instantly, according to the word of God, from non-existence and darkness were summoned to life, wondrous radiant spirits were created, which reflected in themselves the light, grace and beauty of the Holy Trinity. Primordial earth refers to a chaotic substance, like molten metal, which the craftsman pours into precise molds that have already been prepared. The ground was formless. An impenetrable haze stood over it, it was empty, there were no signs of life, only a vast, boundless ocean stretched, where there was neither shore nor island, only darkness over the abyss, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters (Gen. 1:2). As an eagle under its wings warms a still helpless chick, so the grace of God gradually gave life to the world. The Lord said: Let there be light (Gen. 1:3), and the abyss of darkness turned into an abyss of light, which clothed the earth, in the words of the Psalmist, like a wondrous robe. It was not sunlight – the luminaries had not yet been created. The mysterious cosmic light faded and then flared up again. And the Prophet Moses wrote: "And there was evening and there was morning, one day" (Gen. 1:5). And the Lord divided between light and darkness. Biblical creation begins in the evening. And in ancient times, the day began in the evening, and now the church, temple service begins in the evening, as if in the same rhythm with the creation of the world. Brothers and sisters! Some of the Holy Fathers, including Athanasius, Clement of Alexandria, and Basil the Great, understood the "day" as follows: in the Bible, it means a period of time, but does not specify its duration. This is the so-called period theory. Other Fathers, including John Chrysostom, taught that the creation of the world was given by revelation, either to Adam, who told his descendants about it, or to the prophet Moses. In a few moments, the entire history of the universe was revealed to man. And that is why he named the main phenomena of creation, its main stages, by days. Still others said that the mystery of creation was revealed by an angel to Adam's son Seth. The angel told him in human language about something that cannot be fully expressed even in angelic tongues. Thus, when we talk about some great events with a small child, we choose words and expressions that are accessible to him. And here the word "day" means a certain stage, a certain cycle of creation. It was the first evening and the morning of the first day. The second day was marked by the creation of heaven, which in the Bible is called the firmament. The prophet David says: You... stretch out the heavens as a tent" (Psalm 103:2). In the Bible, the word "heaven" is used in several meanings. The first sky visible to our eyes is the Earth's atmosphere. The second is interstellar space. The third is the spiritual, not the material heaven, the center of God's grace, the sphere where the angels and the souls of the saints dwell. It is said about him in the prayer: Our Father who art in heaven! (Matt. 6:9). The Apostle Paul was ascended to the third heaven in the Holy Spirit. On the second day, the first heaven and atmosphere were created. On the third day, the Lord separated the dry land from the water. Water has gathered in the oceans and seas, as in huge reservoirs. Dry land appeared, mountains, hills and plains were formed on it, and streams of water flowed over them. As the Psalmist says: "They ascend the mountains, they descend into the valleys, to the place which Thou hast appointed for them" (Psalm 103:8). The ground was covered with a wonderful carpet of trees and shrubs, grasses and flowers. At that time, the world was still young and full of energy. The trunks of giant trees were twined with ivy and vines, the flowers were unusually bright. Everything spoke of the youth of the land. Then, on the fourth day, the Lord creates the heavenly bodies. And here, in this act of creation, is the great mystery of God's wisdom. The earth is not just a part of the world – the earth was created first. The rest of the world, the rest of the cosmos was created for its sake. If in its size the Earth is only a small particle of the universe, then in its significance it is the spiritual center of the entire Universe, because here, on Earth, the Lord, the Creator of the world, descended. From this earth He took on His human flesh; here on Earth, He crushed the power and power of the devil. Brothers and sisters, how little the human heart is, but in it passes, in it all spiritual life is concentrated! No matter how small the Earth is in comparison with the vast Universe, it is mystically its center. The Lord created the Sun and other luminaries, created the times: years, months, days, time passed in a certain rhythm for him. What a wonderful picture the sky was, sparkling with billions of stars! These stars looked like precious diamonds, heavenly lamps, and wondrous flowers. This heaven was supposed to teach people the greatness, beauty and wisdom of God, according to what is written in the Psalms: "The heavens proclaim the glory of God" (Psalm 18:2). According to legend, some of the saints (the holy forefather Abraham and the Great Martyr Barbara) came to the knowledge of God, contemplating the starry sky. On the fifth day, the Lord creates living flesh, living creatures: reptiles, fish, and birds. And here there is its own consistency, its own gradualness. And on the sixth day, according to the word of the Lord, the earth brings forth a living creature after its kind, cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth... (Gen. 1:24). Brothers and sisters! Plants have life, but their soul is only a force capable of nourishment and growth. Animals have a soul, but it is completely different from the human soul. Animals are guided by instincts, they have only feelings and ideas – the rudiments of thought, but they cannot rise from this earth with their thoughts, they are completely attached to it, they are mortal, just as matter is mortal. And then the Lord creates man – the crown of the universe. He prepares the universe for man, as if it were a kind of house. The Lord creates man from the earth and breathes into him the spirit of life. And therefore, being in body close to other creatures living on earth, in his spirit man is like the Angels. The Bible begins with the words: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1). And in the human being himself, heaven and earth are united. Through man, the transformation and spiritualization of the entire Cosmos, the entire Universe must take place. Of the creatures created by God, only man is His image and likeness. God is a great Wisdom, and man is given reason. God is Spirit, and the soul of man is not material. God is Love, and man is given the opportunity to develop in himself this feeling, which likens him to God. For the more he is able to love, the closer he is to God, the fuller his life, the happier he is here on earth, in the midst of adversity and vicissitude. God is eternal, and the soul of man is immortal. Man is not only the image, but also the likeness of God, that is, he can be like God in his life. He is given free will, he is given a choice: how to act. This is the great dignity of man, but it is also the great responsibility and danger for him. In freedom of will lies the beginning of man's eternal salvation, in freedom of will and the possibility of eternal perdition. Brothers and sisters! Today the Church celebrates the memory of the righteous of the Old Testament, commemorates the creation of the world: the bliss of paradise, the Fall, and then the painful search for the lost paradise, or, on the contrary, the insane enjoyment of sin. The Holy Fathers divided the entire history of mankind into periods of human life. They said that the time from Adam to Noah was the childhood of mankind, its infancy. After the flood, Noah received a new covenant from God. Humanity has entered a different age, a different period of its life. The time from Noah to Abraham is the adolescence of mankind. To Abraham the Lord gave greater promises. The time from Abraham to Moses is youth. The Lord gave the Prophet Moses the Ten Commandments – the basis of the Old Testament. The time from Moses to Christ the Savior is a time of maturity and courage for mankind. Christ brought the Gospel, and this, brothers and sisters, is the last revelation. In the Apocalypse it is said: the everlasting gospel (Rev. 14:6). There will be no other revelations. That is why the New Testament says: Children! (1 John 2:18). Some people misunderstand these words. But "the end time" means the last period when everything has been fulfilled, when everything has already been revealed to humanity. And when the end will be, only the Lord Himself knows. To the disciples' question about the time of the end of the world, the Savior did not give an answer... So, brothers and sisters, today the Church remembers the Holy Forefathers. They did not see Christ, but they believed in His coming, they did not have the Holy Gospel in their hands, but obeyed the law of their conscience, the unwritten book inscribed in their hearts. The Holy Fathers say: "Our conscience is like a spring. If we clear this spring, listen to our conscience, then our conscience will speak louder and clearer about what we should do. If we silence our conscience, it will dry up like a spring that has been covered with mud, sand and stones." Brothers and sisters, forefathers, saw Christ with the eyes of their faith, and some – in prophetic insight. They fulfilled the will of Christ, doing deeds of kindness, love, and forgiveness. In the Bible there are the words: "Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who did no evil" (the prayer of Manasseh, king of Judah, the rite of singing the 12 Psalms). St. Demetrius of Rostov asks: "How can it be that all people do evil, why is it said of them: 'They have not done evil?'" And he explains these words as follows: "In their lives they did not wish any harm to anyone, in their lives they did not want to offend or offend a single person." Thus, brothers and sisters, the holy forefathers are Christians who lived before Christ. Amen.

Manifestations of demonic forces in our days

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! Brothers and sisters! The Holy Church celebrates today the memory of the forefathers, the saints who lived before the coming of Christ the Savior into the world, in the times of the Old Testament. The Bible – this Book of Books, as well as the Holy Tradition of the Church, tell us about the creation of the world, about the fall of man, about the life of people on earth – in the land of exile, about the great feats of faith and about the depths of the fall of mankind. The Bible is a book of Truth, so it shows both the light and the shadows of human history. Blessed Augustine divided the history of mankind into several stages, similar to the age of man. The first period: from Adam to Noah – the infancy of mankind; from Noah to Abraham – the adolescence of mankind; from Abraham to Moses, youth; from Moses to Christ, courage; from Christ to the end of the world – the last period – the old age of mankind. Old age seems to sum up the entire life that has passed. Often the very old age is similar to infancy: so the end is similar to the beginning. That is why the Lord warned: "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it also be in the coming of the Son of Man" (Matt. 24:37). What happened in the days of Noah, brothers and sisters? The Lord says: "All flesh has perverted its way on earth" (Gen. 6:12), that is, faith has disappeared. All the feelings, all the interests, all the strivings of man have acquired a crudely sensual character. Man has forgotten about his homeland – heaven, man has clung to the earth with his heart. So also the Lord said about the end of the world: "When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?" (Luke 18:8). What faith? Living faith, which becomes the basis of a person's entire life. The Lord is not speaking here about dead faith – demons also believe in God, not about dead, empty, cold faith, which can be in the soul of a person, but he still remains spiritually barren – an empty flower. As the Bible and Holy Tradition relate, the Earth was stained with human blood in antediluvian times: brother rose up against brother and killed him. And speaking of the last times, the Lord foretold: "Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold" (Matt. 24:12). In one synaxarion (a summary of the event of a feast or the life of a saint) of the Ethiopian Church, there are these words: "People will be so angry, so insensitive, that a mother will regret giving the breast to her own child." Brothers and sisters, the Lord spoke of a time of spiritual estrangement, when a brother will be indifferent to his brother in trouble and misfortune, when parents will be insensitive to their children, and children will be cruel to their parents. Then, as St. Demetrius of Rostov writes in the "Holy Chronicle", the whole earth in antediluvian times was desecrated by depravity, poisoned by sorcery and magic. So, before the flood, in the days of Noah's life, satanic cults, witchcraft, sorcery, idolatry, or, what is the same thing, demon worship, modern occultism flourished – all this led mankind to extreme corruption. The Lord said: "My Spirit shall not dwell in these men for ever, for they are not flesh" (Gen. 6:3). What is the Spirit of God? The Spirit of God is the grace of God: thus, brothers and sisters, when you approach a monastery, you feel that there is a completely different atmosphere, it is as if you breathe more easily, and peace and tranquility reign in your heart. And vice versa, if you are in places where sin and debauchery are committed, then it is difficult for you there, as if the very air, the very walls of buildings are stained and defiled with impurity. And so, the spiritual atmosphere that surrounds our earth depends on our choice – good or evil. One can often hear the question: when will the end of the world come? This is a great secret, it is not revealed to people. But we know the signs of its approach: at the end of the world love will be lost (Matt. 24:12); at the end of the world faith will dry up, fade and die (Luke 18:8). Therefore, we must take special care of these two virtues. As long as love is alive, the world will exist, but when it disappears, the world will perish, decay like a corpse. Brothers and sisters! I have already said that we ourselves create a spiritual atmosphere – good or evil, and in it are found the manifestations of holiness and, conversely, the phenomena of spiritual fall. Now we see that the spiritual atmosphere is becoming more and more infected with sin, with various passions. I will give examples from our modern life: you, of course, have heard the name "jazz music", but what is it, where did it come from? - it was brought by blacks from the central regions of Africa; There, this music was ritual, to its sounds sacrifices to idols, magical dances and rituals were performed. Then it came to other peoples in a slightly modified form, and now, listening to this strange music, people, without realizing it, at the level of the subconscious find themselves included in the rhythm of these occult dances and singing. And here is another music that originated from the same jazz, the so-called "rock music". It also has a deep occult character and affects people in such a way that they lose their will, sometimes fall into convulsions, hysterics, and so on; Sometimes after concerts of this music there are mass massacres, murders, people act as if under the influence of some kind of hypnosis. All this creates the satanic, dark spiritual background of the world in which we live today. Then, drug addiction is now very common. But this is not just a purely physical or mental phenomenon: it also has deep occult roots. The Greek priests of the temples of Apollo, the shamans of the northern peoples, the idolaters of the African deserts, the fortune-tellers – all of them brought themselves to a state in which they could really communicate with the dark force by inhaling the incense of herbs like hashish or using other drugs. In other words, drugs were one of the means to communicate with the demonic world. And today the spread of drug addiction is also an offensive of the occult satanic world on humanity, it is the creation of a terrible black background over the earth. And it would seem that such a common habit as smoking has anything to do with occultism and magic! But do you know where this custom came from? It originated from the ritual, magical actions of the North American Indians. When they had any difficult problems to solve, they summoned the spirits: they sat in a circle, as spiritualists do, took a pipe and, pronouncing magical incantations, smoked from it, then passed it to a neighbor and so smoked in turn, then sat in silence until one of them "felt" the answer of the spirit they were summoning and told them its will. Thus, even such a widespread custom as smoking has its occult, its sorcery, its demonic connections and sources. It is not for nothing that people who lived before, without knowing it, nevertheless guessed, saw in smoking some hidden, very dark and vile meaning. The Bible says that when the Lord commanded Aaron to perform the duties of high priest, He was especially strict in indicating the order of incense – how to light the censer and how to put incense into it (Exodus 30:7-10). Other offerings were not so strictly spoken of as of this great sacred rite. Even the sons of Aaron were struck by God and died because they put someone else's fire into the censer before the sacrament, taken not from the altar, but outside the sanctuary. And ordinary smoking is also a form of incense, incense to dark spirits, although, of course, people do not know, do not understand this. And this widespread custom further thickens the satanic atmosphere, the clouds of satanic darkness that hang more and more tightly over the world. The Lord foretold that there would be signs in heaven in the end time. There were signs when Jerusalem fell, when a comet was seen in the sky and around it the ghosts of people were seen dispersing, then coming together again, it seemed that these were two armies fighting against each other, and voices were heard from the temple: "Let us depart from here..." When Constantinople, the stronghold of Orthodoxy, fell, bloody fires were also seen in the sky in the east. When Jesus Christ was born, the star announced this as well. And at the end of the world various signs must appear in heaven (Matt. 24:29-30; Mk. 13:24; Lk. 21:25). However, the Lord warned not only about them. The Lord also said that in the last days many false prophets would come, they would work false miracles, and these miracles would amaze the imagination of people. And those who do not have the grace of the Holy Spirit in themselves will easily follow liars as their saviors (Matt. 24:5; Mk. 13:6). Some people ask: is it possible to be treated with suggestion sessions? The hypnotists who perform these sessions do not hide the fact that they studied according to the so-called Eastern systems. And what are these Eastern systems? What is, for example, yoga? All this is closely related to the occult. According to the word of the Lord, the devil will want to deceive all mankind with false miracles, and even the elect will hardly be saved (Matt. 24:4). The elect means Orthodox Christians, those who stand in the truth of the Gospel, those who receive the Mysteries of Christ, and the spirit of falsehood will try to deceive them: it will deceive them with visible blessings, healings, and the like. But these healings, like everything that is done by the dark force, are unstable, illusory. Even non-believers notice this: in Bulgaria, a study of such TV sessions was conducted, and so what? While these sessions were taking place, it was as if there were no calls to the ambulance, fewer doctors were called, but this lasted only a short time, and then the diseases flared up with renewed vigor, and what is most terrible - a wave of suicides swept over. There is no healing here, but only a dulling of painful sensations, a temporary slowing down of the course of the disease itself, as if, for example, a patient suffering from pain was given an injection of morphine and he ceased to feel pain; Subjectively, he feels healthy at that moment, but this does not mean that he has recovered, the effect of morphine will wear off, and the disease will return to him with even greater force. The same is true in cases of extrasensory perception: only imaginary healing will bring not imaginary, but real disintegration to the human soul. Perhaps someone is perplexed: why did all this not happen before, why did all this begin to spread now? I have already said: because a heavy spiritual background, a heavy spiritual atmosphere in which we live has been created. I will give you a simple example: perhaps you remember how you rejoiced in your childhood, how your soul rejoiced when the holidays came? And now we are completely insensitive, as if crushed to the ground by some terrible force, some spiritual pressure. Brothers and sisters! What does the demon want first of all? To stop praying. When prayer ceases, then this restraining force, the veil that protects us from the dark forces of hell, will be taken away, and then the demon will be able to show his power: he will attract people to himself, imitating Christ in signs and wonders, and will amaze their imagination... But these miracles will not make anyone better, they will not resurrect human souls, they will only discourage and force those who reject Christ to follow the devil as their savior. Remember: the demon wants the prayer to be extinguished, this obstacle to his actions to disappear. Look at our lives – how little time prayer takes us! Remember, we used to pray more earnestly and longer, but now we are gradually shortening prayer more and more. Many of us even go to bed without the prayers that are obligatory for every Christian; when they wake up, they do not read the morning prayers, they have brought the prayer to a minimum, most often they read only the Lord's Prayer before going to bed, and then in a hurry, so quickly, as if they want to "get rid of" it too. It is the demon who tries to bring us into such a state of eternal haste – as if we always have no time, and he makes sure that we abandon prayer. This is how the barrier to the dark forces is destroyed. But remember, remember, brothers and sisters, our lives, the fate of the entire Earth and humanity depend on the prayer of each of us, on our prayers, which come together as a single stream. Amen.

On the Massacre of the Infants of Bethlehem

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! Brothers and sisters! Today the Holy Church celebrates the memory of the martyrs [1]. On the day of the Annunciation, a wondrous star shone in the east. According to the Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-bearer, the brilliance of this star was so bright that it was visible even on a clear day. St. St. John Chrysostom says that this extraordinary star was an angelic apparition, a living creature that showed the way to the Bethlehem cave, where Christ was born. Several centuries before the birth of Christ, the prophets Ezekiel and Daniel lived in Babylon. Daniel strikingly clearly indicated the time of the coming of the Son of God to earth. The wise men of Babylon were familiar with his prophecy, since Daniel himself was a confidant of the Babylonian king and the head of his wise men. His prophecies were passed down from generation to generation. By the time of the Nativity of Christ, it seems, the whole world was waiting for a light to shine from Judea, for the Savior of mankind to come. Even the pagan sibyl prophetesses spoke of this. Even the pagan poet Virgil wrote an ode about the birth of the Child, Who will reconcile heaven with earth and bring peace to earth. The Chinese chronicles mention that by this time the Chinese emperor was sending his envoys to Judea to find out if a great King had been born there... And so, when the Magi saw the extraordinary star, they understood that this was a sign that God's promises had been fulfilled, that the star was calling them to itself, to follow it. And leaving their homes, their families, they set out on a long and dangerous journey. On the way to Bethlehem, the Magi arrived in Jerusalem. There they asked the scribes and lawyers where the King of the Jews was to be born. They answered: "According to the prophecies, in Bethlehem." The Magi said, "We have seen His star." They thought that all Jerusalem would come out to greet their King. However, confusion began in the city. The streets were deserted, as if before a terrible storm. It was as if the inhabitants of Jerusalem were not expecting salvation, but some formidable punishment. Herod, king of Judea, summoned the Magi to him and began to ask them about the birth of a wondrous Child. Then said, "On the way back, tell me about Him, so that I too may go and worship Him." Who was Herod? One of the strangers, an Edomite, who, with the help of Rome, seized power over Judea. In him, the fury of a tiger was combined with the cunning of a snake. All his way to the throne, he strewn with the corpses of his opponents. Every step he took to the throne was marked by terrible crimes, even one of which would have made his name cursed for posterity. When Herod had not yet seized full power in his hands, the Sanhedrin, this supreme tribunal, tried to resist him. Herod was summoned to the Sanhedrin to give an account of his crimes. And so Herod appeared, not as the accused, who was obediently ready to answer the judge's questions, but in regal splendor, surrounded by soldiers with drawn swords. "What do you want?" he asked the members of the Sanhedrin, but they trembled with fear and were silent. "What do you want?" asked Herod a second time. The members of the Sanhedrin had enormous power. They could pronounce excommunication and curse on any person. And then Herod would have lost most of his adherents. A curse meant death during a person's lifetime: the ruler was deprived of his subjects, the son did not dare to call the excommunicated person his father, and the parents - their child. The doors of the temple and any house were closed to him. If the excommunicated person died of hunger, then, on pain of damnation, no one had the right to give him a piece of bread. But the members of the Sanhedrin were silent in fear. Only one of them, named Shamai, stood up and prophesied. He said, "You, the judges, who are supposed to protect your people, now give them up to be torn to pieces. Know that the family of Herod will eradicate the family of Hyrcanus, but it will perish itself!" [2] And Herod did remember after a while that the Sanhedrin had dared to summon him to trial: he had put to death the high priest and his sons, and had killed many of the members of the Sanhedrin. Some he executed openly, to others he sent hired killers. Human blood makes the killer insatiable and insane. And Herod, at the slightest suspicion, executed even those closest to him: he killed his brothers, on suspicion of treason, and killed his three sons. The only man still loved by this tyrant was his wife, Miriam by name, a woman of intelligence and virtue, who did her best to restrain her husband's fury. The people loved her and called her their mother. But the people's love for Miriam aroused Herod's suspicion. The love of the people is a crime for such tyrants, which they punish by the execution of those who have dared to attract it to themselves. And so he ordered to secretly poison Miriam. Then, as they say, he, not having yet eradicated his former love in his heart, often came to her grave at night and, sending the guards, remained alone for a long time. Some have asserted that Herod even wept at the grave of his murdered wife, but in such a way that no one could see the tears, for he considered tears and pity for anyone a disgrace to himself. At the end of his life, Herod fell ill with a terrible disease. Worms began to eat away at his entrails, like a corpse lying in a grave. He screamed and moaned in pain day and night. From the unimaginable stench, no one could approach him. But the demon gnawed at his heart even more strongly than the worms. As he lay dying, he called his servants and said: "These ungrateful Jews will rejoice when I die. Therefore, from each clan, from each family, take one person and keep them tied up in the hippodrome, and when I die, execute them all, then the country will unwittingly put on mourning. This will be the best funeral feast for me!" And that is why, when the inhabitants of Jerusalem heard from the Magi that the King of the Jews was being born, they were horrified, expecting new executions, new investigations, and new murders. The Magi, having bowed down to the Divine Infant, received a revelation from God, without entering Jerusalem, to depart to their own country by another way. Some of the Holy Fathers say that the Magi were Persians, inhabitants of Babylon. There is another legend that one sorcerer came from Babylon, another from Arabia, and the third from Ethiopia. The Persians are the descendants of Japheth, the Arabs are the descendants of Shem, the Ethiopians are the descendants of Ham. In their person, as it were, representatives of all mankind worshipped God, Who came to earth in the form of a Man. When, in the course of time, Herod saw that his treacherous design had been discovered, he flew into a terrible rage and sent troops to destroy all infants under the age of two in Bethlehem and in its environs. And then the army came out in full armor, shining with armor, with swords and spears in their hands. It came out not against the enemies of its homeland, but against defenseless babies. Bethlehem was surrounded by troops like a besieged city. A terrible beating of children began. The warriors threw them into the air and cut them with sword blows, trying to cut them in half. They were lifted on spears, as a banner is raised on a pole. It was not a banner of military glory, but a banner of terrible cruelty and shame. Mothers pressed their children to their breasts, offered a ransom, everything they had for the life of the baby, but the soldiers were merciless. In addition, they feared Herod's wrath, because Herod could execute them for their compassion. One feared the denunciation of the other, and therefore each tried to surpass his comrade in cruelty. The warriors snatched the children from their mothers' arms, threw them to the ground, trampled them underfoot, and beat their heads against stones. Then they rushed to neighboring villages. In vain did the parents want to hide their children in secret rooms, in cellars or wells. Children's crying betrayed them. Some, hugging the child, wanted to run to the mountains to take refuge there. But the warriors chased them as prey, and their arrows nailed the corpse of the mother to the corpse of the daughter or son. In the Gospel it is written: "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and weeping, and a great cry; Rachel weeps for her children and does not want to be comforted, for they are not there (Matt. 2:18). What do these prophetic words mean? Rama is the place of the tomb of Rachel, the wife of the patriarch Jacob. When her son Joseph was being led into Egypt as a captive and slave, he passed by the tomb of Rachel and wept, cried out: "My mother, do you hear me? My mother, do you see where your son is being taken?" Then, when the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar crushed and destroyed the kingdom of Judah, he ordered its inhabitants to be resettled in Babylonia, and Rama was the city where the captives of Judah were gathered to be taken to a distant country. But here a more terrible tragedy occurred. It was no longer the enemies who took captivity, but their fellow tribesmen killed innocent children, irrigated the land with their blood. They, like wolves, have gone mad with blood and have become worse than wolves, because, as they say, even a wild beast does not touch a defenseless infant - two brothers, Remus and Romulus, the founders of Rome, were suckled by a she-wolf with her milk. And here was some kind of satanic. Some of you may ask the question, if not out loud, then at least somewhere in the depths of your souls: "Why did the Lord allow the death and torment of innocent children? After all, they did not commit sin and evil?" But St. John Chrysostom said this: "If someone took a few copper coins from you, and gave you gold coins in return, would you really consider yourself offended or destitute? On the contrary, would you not say that this man is your benefactor?" A few copper coins represent our earthly life, which sooner or later ends in death, and gold is eternal life. Thus, in a few moments of suffering and torment, the infants found a blessed eternity, they found what the saints achieved through the feats and labors of their entire lives. They left here, from the face of the earth, being plucked as if by flowers that had not yet blossomed. But they inherited eternal life in the circle of angels. Brothers and sisters! One priest, a well-known theologian, experienced much suffering in his life. He had throat cancer and had his vocal cords removed during surgery. He could no longer preach and minister. But he thanked God for everything, thanked for his illness, seeing in it the highest mercy of God to himself. But then there was a difficult time, there was a cruel war, and he saw how small children died of hunger and cold, how babies crawled over the corpses, the stiffened corpses of their parents, doomed to death themselves. And later he recalled: "I thanked God for my suffering, but I did not understand in my heart how it is possible to thank God for the suffering of children? And I was deeply depressed by this, more than by my illness!" "But once," the priest continues, "as if I were experiencing death myself, I felt that when each of these children suffers, Christ suffers with him, Christ stands beside him. When an innocent child, a victim of human evil, dies, he dies not abandoned, but on the breast of Christ Himself. Then I seemed to see the secret of suffering." There was another person who believed in God, but in his heart he did not experience love for God. He imposed upon himself many feats in order to awaken his heart, but he felt that it was cold. He prayed to God to grant him love, he prayed for many years. And then a typhus epidemic broke out. And this man, being a Christian, voluntarily went to look after the sick. He himself contracted typhus and was on the brink of death. And later he said: "I woke up in bed, I could not move my hand, I could not say a word. I was so weak that I couldn't even open my eyes. But suddenly in my heart I felt some kind of hot wave. That wave was a love for God that I had never experienced in my entire life. This love filled me with such joy that I began to cry from happiness. Tears flowed from under my closed eyelids, and this day was the happiest day of my life. The Lord gave me love for Him for my suffering." Thus, suffering and the cross are the mysterious door that leads us to the Kingdom of Heaven. The Lord said to the Apostles: "You will drink My cup, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized... (Matt. 20:23). This chalice, this baptism, is the martyric life of the apostles, which won them eternal glory. And so, brothers and sisters! If a cup of suffering is brought to your lips, a cup of humiliation, a cup burning like flame and bitter like wormwood, then do not think about what hand offered it to you, but know that this is the cup of Christ, that in it is your salvation. Amen. The memory of the infant martyrs of Bethlehem is celebrated by the Church on Dec. 29/Jan. 11. –Red. ^ John Hyrcanus was the famous high priest of the Jews, and his children were also customary to become high priests. – Auth. ^

On the Baptism of the Lord

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! Brothers and sisters! Today is the great feast of the Epiphany of the Lord. This holiday is also called Epiphany and Enlightenment. Enlightenment because God is the eternal Light that enlightens the world. In ancient times, it was customary in the Church for catechumens, that is, those taught the truths of Christianity, to receive Baptism – the Sacrament through which the soul of a person becomes bright and angelically beautiful – on Pascha and on the day of Theophany. This feast is also called enlightenment because in antiquity there was a custom on the night before Epiphany to light bonfires and torches in the streets, squares, crossroads and courtyards, to sing wondrous songs to God all night, so that the capital of Byzantium, Constantinople, seemed to be engulfed in flames on these nights. This feast is called Epiphany because after Baptism the Lord went out to preach the Gospel, showed Himself to the world as the Savior and Messiah. In addition, at the time of Baptism, the Holy Trinity revealed Himself: the Father through a voice from heaven, testifying that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; The Holy Spirit descends on the head of Jesus Christ in the form of a snow-white, radiant dove. Brothers and sisters! At night, when only a few of his disciples remained near John the Baptist, Jesus Christ came from Galilee to the banks of the Jordan and ordered the Forerunner to baptize Him. The Lord said: "Thus must we fulfill all righteousness" (Matt. 3:15). What do these words mean – to fulfill the truth? First, to do first by deed what He will teach and preach. Jesus Christ fulfilled all the commandments Himself, then taught them to the people. Secondly, the Lord showed an example of humility – being the Son of God, He was baptized of the son of man. This means that the truth of God lies in the fact that we carry out our ministry in humility. Jesus Christ, together with John the Baptist, entered the waters of the Jordan. During the baptism, people confessed their sins to the great prophet, but Jesus Christ was sinless, so He entered the waters of the river at night. John the Baptist baptized people with the words: "I baptize you in the name of the coming Messiah!" – but the Messiah Himself stood before him, so John the Baptist did not utter a word. He only touched the head of Jesus Christ with his hand. And, as the Holy Fathers write, by this touch John himself was baptized by the Son of God. Then they went ashore. The Holy Fathers say that during Baptism the Lord sanctified the waters of the world, turning them into an element for the celebration of this Sacrament. The ancient world arose from water. The first life, with God's blessing at the time of the creation of the world, began in the seas and rivers. When wickedness spread so widely on earth that people's repentance was no longer possible, the Flood destroyed mankind, except for Noah's family. The waters, as it were, washed away, buried the sin of the earth in themselves. Brothers and sisters! As groundwater nourishes the roots of trees and plants, so the grace of the Holy Spirit, which Christians receive during baptism, never fails. Whatever sins they have committed, the grace of God always calls a person to repentance, calls a person to good. The Fathers of the Council of Carthage write: "Without grace we can not only do anything good, but we cannot even think of it!" Thus, today the first of the Sacraments of the Christian Church was established – the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. Therefore, I want to briefly tell you about its symbolism. Those who wish to be baptized enter the narthex of the church. He should stand dressed in one long shirt without a belt, with loose hair, as a sign that he renounces his past life, everything worldly, as if he does not have anything from the past on himself. He stands with his head bowed, bent, with his arms folded on his chest, facing the east. The East means the land of light, paradise and the Kingdom of Heaven. From the Lord, this man, standing as if condemned, seeks and waits for deliverance. The priest blows three times on his face and chest and puts his hand on his head. This means the breath of the Holy Spirit, Who casts out the evil spirit from the heart of man. Then the priest reads incantatory prayers. And so the one being baptized together with his godfather turns to the west. In church symbolism, the West means the land of darkness, the kingdom of the demon. Man now becomes a soldier of Christ, who must resist this dark kingdom with God's help. And he says: "I deny Satan, his works, his pride and service to him!" Spitting is a sign of disgust, a sign of hatred for sin and for the demon as the father of sin. Then he, together with his godfather, turns to the east and makes a solemn vow, takes an oath: "I am united with Christ," that is, I will not fulfill the will of the demon, not the will of my passions, but only the will of God. Thus, brothers and sisters, and all of us have made a vow, we have taken an oath to submit our will to the commandments of Jesus Christ. Then the godfather or the baptized reads the prayer The Symbol of Faith is a brief summary of the truths and dogmas of the Christian faith, outside of which there is no true communion with God, there is no fullness of salvation. Then the priest blesses the water, praying that it will gain the grace and power of the Jordanian waters. Then he anoints the person to be baptized with oil: forehead, chest, arms and legs. Here is the next symbol: when the flood ended, Noah let the dove out of the ark, and it returned, carrying an olive branch in its beak (Gen. 8:11) – evidence that the flood had stopped, that the wrath of God had ended. And in baptism, anointing with oil means the reconciliation of the sinner with God. Likewise, the Apostle Paul says: You, wild olive tree, have been grafted in... and became a partaker of the good root (Romans 11:17). In this case, the good root is the Church, of which the baptized person becomes a member. After that, the priest performs the great Sacrament of Baptism itself. At the same time, the font into which the baptized person is immersed signifies the cave, the burial cave of Jesus Christ. Water signifies the earth. Triple immersion in water means death and resurrection with Jesus Christ. Immersion three times – in honor of the Holy Trinity and in memory of the three-day stay of Jesus Christ in the tomb. Thus, baptism means that we have died to a life of flesh and sin and have been resurrected with Christ to spiritual life, to eternal life. Then the priest anoints the baptized person, who has already been baptized, with myrrh. Myrrh is prepared in a special way from many flowers and aromatic substances. During its preparation, the Gospel is constantly read. In the Sacrament of Chrismation, a person receives the strength to fulfill the Gospel commandments, the strength to struggle with his passions, the power to live according to the will of God. Then the baptized person goes around the font and the table on which the Cross and the Gospel lie three times. What does this rite mean? The circle means eternity. The threefold circumambulation of the font – by this the Church seems to say that baptism is the beginning of eternal life with God, that this life never ends, that it is all eternal abode, eternal communion of the soul with the Triune God, eternal approach to Him. Then the Epistle and the Gospel are read, which speaks of the command of Jesus Christ to the apostles to go to all corners of the world, to teach and baptize the people. The very reading of the Gospel symbolizes eternal life, which a person can enter only by fulfilling the Gospel commandments. Reading the Gospel means that a person must live worthy of the vows of baptism. This is followed by the last rite - cutting the hair. In ancient times, when the master bought a slave, he cut off his hair and kept it as proof that this person belonged to him. And here, when the hair of the person being baptized is cut, it is a sign that now his master and master alone is God, that he belongs completely to God, as a servant belongs to his master. But slavery to God – there is nothing humiliating in this word. Slavery to God is a voluntary submission to one's sinful will – the Divine will, the holy and good will. By giving himself over to slavery to God, a person receives freedom from his passions and becomes truly blissful and happy. Brothers and sisters! Great is the power of baptism. In the time of the emperor Julian the Apostate, there lived a certain actor named Genesius. He was engaged in ridiculing Christianity, ridiculing the Christian Sacraments and the Church. Julian the Apostate hated Christianity. He fought against it not only with fire and sword, but also with slander and sarcastic ridicule. And one day, when Genesius in front of a crowd of people, in the presence of the emperor, mocked the Christian faith, then, in the course of his vile comedy, he jokingly jumped into a vat of water with the words: "The servant of God is baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!" There was a roar of laughter in the crowd. The actor came out of the water and shouted: "I am a Christian!" The laughter continued, but the comedian made a sign for the people to be silent, and turning in the direction where the emperor was sitting, he said loudly: "Emperor, I am a Christian, these are the true words, these are the only true words that I have said in many years of my life. My parents were Christians and wanted to raise me in their faith. But from childhood I hated Christ, hated Him as my enemy. I mocked my parents, I mocked them when they prayed, I denounced them when they went to church. I began to lead a depraved and dissolute life, and thus led my father and mother to the grave ahead of time. Not out of necessity, but solely out of hatred for Christianity, I became a street buffoon and actor in order to mock Christians, their faith, their Sacraments in front of crowds of people. This gave me satanic joy. It seemed to me that I was spitting on Christ and slapping Him in the face when I caused laughter in the crowd. Once I saw my parents in a dream. They wept for me, and I even laughed at their tears in my sleep. But now a miracle has happened. When I said "the servant of God is baptized," I suddenly saw my sins written on a huge charter, on a scroll of paper, and a fiery hand from heaven tore up this list. I saw black spirits, demons, surrounding me. When I was baptized, the light of heaven descended on me, and the demons disappeared. Emperor, I am a Christian, repent and you, and God will forgive you just as He forgave me!" The crowd was stunned in amazement, and the emperor was so terribly angry that he ordered this former jester, and now a martyr for Christ, to be burned alive. Brothers and sisters! Great is the grace of baptism, but so is the responsibility that a Christian bears. When St. Macarius the Great asked the soul of the deceased: "Who is in the depths of hell?" he heard the answer: "Not idolaters, but those Christians who, having accepted the vows of Christianity, rejected them, trampled on them. They are in the depths of hell, called Tartarus." During baptism we receive the grace of the Holy Spirit, which is more precious than all worldly treasures, and we must preserve it. Brothers and sisters! After baptism, the Lord Jesus Christ withdrew into the wilderness, where He was tempted by the devil, and conquered him by the word of God. And our life is a spiritual struggle, an invisible war with the dark forces of hell. This struggle is difficult, cruel and evil is the demon – our infernal enemy, but the Leader in this struggle for us is the Lord Himself, Jesus Christ Himself, the Conqueror of Satan, death and hell. Amen.

About Zacchaeus

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! Brothers and sisters! The Gospel is written for the whole world, for all times, for all peoples. But when we listen to or read it, we must listen to it as if it were addressed specifically to us, as if the Lord Himself were talking to us. The Gospel gives answers to all the questions that life poses to us and to the whole world, to all of humanity. The Gospel is a kind of light center from which innumerable rays emanate, and each of them touches the human heart. In addition to the literal and historical, the Gospel also contains spiritual, allegorical, symbolic, and moral meaning. And so I will try to explain to you today's Gospel (Luke 19:1-10). The Lord Jesus Christ entered Jericho. Often in the Holy Scriptures, Jerusalem means the spiritual world, the Heavenly Kingdom, and Jericho means our earthly life in sorrows and sins, for Jericho, according to the Holy Scriptures, is a cursed and rejected city. There lived in Jericho a certain publican, named Zacchaeus. As I have told you, the tax collectors, or tax collectors, who bought these offices for a time, drank the blood of the people like spiders. They were hated, despised, and at the same time feared. And here the publican means a sinful person, a person devoted to his passions (especially the love of money), a heartless person who does not know what love for one's neighbor is. Who is this person? The publican is each of us, everyone who is subject to his passions, sins and vices. Zacchaeus was the foreman of the tax collectors, he was rich. What are we, brothers and sisters, rich in? We are rich in sins and wickedness. And then Zacchaeus heard that Jesus Christ was walking through the streets of Jericho, and he wanted to see the Savior. Brothers and sisters, what is this mysterious passage of Christ near us? The Holy Fathers teach that there are two types of God's grace: the first grace is the grace that calls the sinner, it is called the initial, preceding grace. It touches the heart of a person, opens up a new life and spiritual world before him. And so, if a person responds to the call of this grace, then the Lord gives him a new grace, which is called working grace, which contributes to his salvation. Each of us, like this publican, has felt the breath of grace in our lives. The publican wants to see Christ, but He is obscured by a crowd of people. What does it mean – a crowd of people? These are our vain worries, our sins, passions, dreams, former habits. They are like a wall between us and God. They, like a dense crowd, stand between us and the Savior. Zacchaeus was small in stature, that is, short. What does that mean? That although we are Christians, we do not grow spiritually, we are spiritual dwarfs, and therefore cannot see Christ when we are overwhelmed by our sins. It is further said that the publican climbed a tree. What does it mean that he climbed a tree? He rose above the ground. This image is explained by the great ascetic, St. John Kolov. He says: "I am like a man who is being chased by a pack of wild beasts, ready to tear him to pieces, and he climbs a tree; the animals are standing, roaring and howling, but they cannot reach him." He was asked what this parable meant. He answered: "Wild animals are demons and my passions, and the tree is prayer. When I begin to pray and call on the name of God, they only stand at a distance and gnash their teeth, but they cannot seize me." And so, the sinner was lifted up above the earth in prayer in his spirit. And the Lord sees his heart – already renewed, thirsting for salvation. Christ sees the publican climbing a tree to get a better look at Him, clinging to the thin branches in order to keep from falling to the ground. And, approaching this tree, the Lord pronounced these mysterious words: Zacchaeus! come down quickly, for today I must be in your house (Luke 19:5). What do these words mean? We can only get in touch with the spiritual world through prayer, but in order for the Lord to enter our hearts, deep repentance is necessary. The publican descends from the tree. In bringing repentance, we must consider ourselves inferior to all: only he who humbles himself in repentance, considers himself the last sinner, will be exalted by God. The sinner brings ardent repentance, and the Lord enters his house. What is a house? His heart. There is an image in the Apocalypse – says Christ: "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me" (Rev. 3:20). Home is the heart; the doors that can be opened to the Lord are the doors of repentance. It happens, brothers and sisters, that in the Sacraments, especially in Communion, or at certain moments of our lives, we feel the presence of God, and then suddenly everything changes again – our heart becomes cold, dark and empty. The Lord has left him! Why? Because our repentance was not a change in our whole life, we repented, but remained the same. The Lord came to us, but, saddened, He left! But here is Zacchaeus, he wants to keep the Heavenly Guest, he says: Lord! I will give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have wronged anyone in any way, I will repay fourfold (Luke 19:8). To give half of one's fortune to the poor means to love one's neighbor as oneself. To give away is not only property, but also strength and time, and, mainly, our love, our heart. If I have offended anyone, I will repay him, so that I may be reconciled to God, forgive all people, and then ask forgiveness from those to whom we have been unjust. These are the necessary conditions for true repentance and salvation: to change one's life, to give alms, and to build peace. The Lord answers Zacchaeus, but also addresses the people present there. It must be said that many of the people grumbled why the Messiah entered the house of this outcast, unclean in their eyes, heartless, cruel sinner. Here we can symbolically see something else: not only the murmuring of people, but also the surprise of the angels, for the angels are amazed at how merciful the Lord is to us, sinners and fallen, who do the will of the demons. The angels are amazed at the depths of Divine love. And behold, Christ says: "Today salvation has come unto this house, for he also is the son of Abraham" (Luke 19:9). What does "son of Abraham" mean? The Jews considered themselves to be the descendants of Abraham, although, in addition to the Jews, other peoples were descendants of him, for example, the Ishmaelites, some Bedouin tribes...

Even the pagan philosopher Seneca said that whom God chooses for service, He chooses for suffering. And so, brothers and sisters, the Lord reveals to us another, not blood kinship with the righteous, but a spiritual kinship. He who does works like Abraham's is a true son of Abraham in spirit. Once this great forefather took the Son of God under his roof, under the shade of the oak of Mamre, and received a promise – a notification that he would have a long-awaited child. And here Zacchaeus receives Jesus Christ, the Son of God, under the roof of his house and is vouchsafed great joy – he hears the news of his salvation. Church history knows striking examples of the repentance of sinners. In Alexandria there lived a certain publican named Peter, a collector of tribute, just like Zacchaeus, who was also distinguished by special severity, cruelty and inhumanity. One day he was walking down the street, carrying a few loaves of bread, and the beggars began to say that there was probably no person to whom he could give alms. One of them, a cripple, said: "And what will you give me if I beg him for any alms?" And then this crippled beggar approached Peter and began to insistently ask and beg him to give him at least something. Peter hated beggars and at the sight of the unfortunate cripple he became furious. He wanted to throw a stone at him, but there was no stone at hand, and in a rage he threw bread in his face. The beggar caught this bread and brought it to his friends. They were surprised. They divided the bread among themselves and began to eat, thanking God and praying for the soul of Peter, who, although unwittingly, gave them alms and fed them. Some time passed, and Peter fell ill. He was already at the point of death and saw his soul at the judgment of God, saw angels and demons. He saw how the demons put his evil, dark deeds and sins on one side of the scales, and this cup bowed to the very ground. The other, the cup of good deeds, was empty. But then one of the Angels put on her the only good thing that Peter did unwittingly for himself: a loaf of bread thrown in the face of a beggar. And the scales swayed, and this bowl began to outweigh the other. And the angel said, "Go back to earth, Peter, and add good works, so that your soul may not perish." After this vision, the publican changed completely. He distributed everything he had to the poor, set free his slaves, except for one servant, and went on a journey to the Holy Places. Venerating the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, he said to his servant: "I have nothing more to give to the poor, sell me into slavery, and distribute this money to the poor." The servant refused. Then said Peter: "If you do not listen to me, I will punish you and sell you myself into slavery in a distant country." The servant answered, "I will do as you command." Peter said: "I am still strong and can do any work, lead me and sell me in the market." He stripped him to the waist, tied a rope around his neck and led him to sell him to the market. A certain craftsman, a jeweler, paid the required amount for Peter, took him into his house, and a faithful servant distributed the money to the poor. Peter, who became a slave, served his master, was distinguished by honesty and intelligence; the craftsman felt that with the arrival of a new servant, God's blessing rested on his house and on all his affairs. After a while, he accidentally learned that Peter was one of the richest people in Alexandria, was even known to the emperor himself. The craftsman was frightened and immediately wanted to call Peter and grant him freedom. But Peter, learning of this and fleeing from the glory of men, decided to depart. The house was closed. At the door stood a dumb porter, Peter shouted to him: "Open the door!" and suddenly the dumb man spoke and said: "I will open it for you immediately, sir!" Peter hid and went into the wilderness. And when the doorkeeper was asked what had happened to him, why he suddenly spoke, he said: "It was as if fire came out of the mouth of this man and touched me, and after that I was healed." And so the former sinner and publican became a great saint and wonderworker. The Gospel that we have heard today ends with the words: "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). The Lord became the Son of Man so that we might become the sons of God by grace. The Lord came to save the lost. St. Ephraim the Syrian writes: "Our Church is the Church of the perishing, but the Church of the repentant." But if we, blinded by pride, do not see our sins, if we begin to speak or even only think about our righteousness, then we will become like the Pharisees, and then, brothers and sisters, the Lord will pass by our house. In order to lay the foundation for salvation, it is necessary to recognize oneself as the last sinner, but not only to realize, but also to change one's whole life, as happened with Zacchaeus. Brothers and sisters! Remember: even if we have fallen into the abysses of sin, but have repented sincerely, with all our hearts, the Lord will not abandon us, nor reject us, but will have mercy on us and save us. For it is as characteristic of Him to have mercy and to save as it is for the sun to radiate light and warmth! Amen.

About the Publican and the Pharisee

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! Brothers and sisters! Two men entered the Temple in Jerusalem, both praying to God. One came out enlightened and justified, the other burdened with new sins. One was a publican, a tax collector; this occupation was considered shameful in Judea, like the craft of an executioner. The other was a Pharisee, who belonged to a sect whose members called themselves pure, elect, and holy, and sought power over the Jewish people. Two men entered the Temple in Jerusalem. This temple was the only temple in the world of the True God, the Most High God. For its wondrous beauty, it was considered one of the wonders of the world. The first temple was built by the prophet Moses, this is the tabernacle. The second temple was built by King Solomon during his brilliant reign. The third was built by Zerubbabel in difficult and dangerous years, when each of the builders girded himself with a sword and placed a shield and a spear near him in case of an unexpected attack by enemies. The Book of Leviticus contains a detailed description of the temple that the Lord gave to Moses, all its utensils. Therefore, the church is not a product of the human mind or human genius, but a Revelation of God; for the temple itself is a great and mysterious icon of Heaven, a hidden book about the future eternal life. The temple is the voice of God, embodied not in words, but in stones. Brothers and sisters, the Jerusalem Temple, especially at sunrise and sunset, sparkling with the gold of its domes, seemed to be surrounded by flames, like an island floating in the air, a glittering ship sailing from earth to heaven. Jerusalem is surrounded by mountains. The ascent of the pilgrims to these mountains signified, as it were, the difficulties and dangers of the spiritual path. A number of steps led to the temple. At each of these steps, the pilgrims stopped, sang psalms, the so-called "Psalms of Ascent." These steps signified the ladder of virtues, the commandments of God, leading to the Heavenly Kingdom. When the pilgrims saw the Jerusalem temple from afar, they fell down on their faces with a feeling of reverence and repentance, kissed the ground and shed tears of joy that they had seen the cherished temple. ... Two men entered this temple. The publican, stopping at the threshold, shed tears of repentance, beating his chest. His lips were silent, but from his heart came a silent cry: God! be merciful to me, a sinner! (Luke 18:13). He saw his sins as numerous as the sand of the sea, he saw his sins rising like hills and mountains. He wept silently, and his tears, falling to the ground, reached the Throne of God and, like a fiery stream, washed away his sins. The Pharisee entered the temple, entered with self-confident arrogance, looking around, looking for signs of attention and respect from the people. The Pharisees, in order to spread their power among the people, refracted the pure light of the Old Testament through the prism of their interpretations. It is as if they wrapped the Holy Bible in a web of so-called "traditions", "commandments of the elders", believing the salvation of the people in the fulfillment of many petty rules. And these rules and laws were constantly multiplying and becoming more complicated. For example, how to spend the Sabbath – there were about seven or eight hundred decrees. Many decrees concerned how to clean dishes, how to cook food, how to behave on the road. However, all these laws were physically impossible to fulfill, and the same Pharisees began to invent rules on how to circumvent them. For example, on the Sabbath the Jews were forbidden to travel, but they were allowed to sail on a ship, and when a man who was to go on a journey of many days came to the Pharisee and asked him what he should do, the Pharisee decided the question approximately as follows: "Take a basin of water, tie it under the cart, and you will be above the water, so you will sail." Thus, spiritual lies and spiritual hypocrisy began here. Then, in order to gain popularity among the people, the Pharisees began to poison them with the spirit of national pride. They said that everything that other nations had, the Jews had given them. That Abraham taught the Egyptians mathematics, astronomy and other sciences. That even the first state laws of Greece and Rome were given to Lycurgus, one of the founders of Sparta, by the Jews. They extended their pride even to Heaven, claiming that God reads the Torah, that is, the Five Books of Moses, in the Hebrew language on certain days and hours, and He Himself learns from it. Here, brothers and sisters, are the two sins of the Pharisees, which Christ denounced: hypocrisy and pride. The publican stood in the temple with his head bowed. He saw neither the Pharisee nor the people in the temple. He contemplated only his sins, and the abyss of God's mercy opened up before him like a huge sea, the depths of which could swallow up the heavy stones of his sins. The Pharisee's gaze fell on the publican. He shuddered with disgust, as if he had touched an unclean animal. And he said: God! thank you... St. Andrew of Crete says: "I thank Thee – these are foolish words." Why crazy words? Because the Pharisee thanked God that other people were worse than him, that other people were sinners. He said: "I thank Thee, that I am not like other men, robbers, offenders, adulterers, or like this publican" (Luke 18:11). What a terrible hypocrisy: on the one hand, the Pharisee sought glory from the people in every possible way, and, on the other hand, in the depths of his soul he despised them.. The Pharisee said: I fast twice a week. What does that mean? In the Law of Moses it is said about a one-day fast of purification, and the Pharisee fasted more than is necessary according to the Law. He continued: "I give a tenth of all that I acquire" (Luke 18:12). In the Law of Moses, it was said about the sacrifice of a tenth of only fruits and cattle. This means that the Pharisee did more than what was commanded, and now he seems to remind God Himself of this in the temple, considering God to be his debtor. The publican stood at the threshold, not daring to raise his eyes to heaven. The Pharisee stood in a proud posture, considering himself the most worthy son of Abraham, as if all the virtues of the ancient prophets and heroes of the Maccabees were embodied in him, as if he had angelic wings behind him. But these wings turned out to be bat wings. The publican came out of the church, illumined by the grace of God. The Pharisee came out of the temple, surrounded by spiritual darkness, as if covered with a black, impenetrable veil. Brothers and sisters, the Gospel that you have heard today warns us against pride and against one of its most common manifestations – condemnation of one's neighbor; condemnation is a branch of the cursed tree of pride, rejected by God. The Holy Fathers considered condemnation and slander to be one sin. Already in the Old Testament, condemnation was forbidden. King Solomon said: "Drive away the accuser from you, and then the enmity will subside." The Lord said: "Judge not, that ye be not judged" (Matt. 7:1). The Apostle Paul forbids even associating with those who speak evil (1 Cor. 5:11), adding that such will not inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:10). No sin is so condemned in the Holy Scriptures as condemnation and slander, because the very word "devil" in Greek means slanderer. This means that the slanderer is likened to a demon. And on slanderers who condemn their neighbor, the curse that the Lord pronounced on the devil is fulfilled: "You shall walk on your belly, and you will eat dust all the days of your life... he shall bruise thee in the head, and thou shalt bruise his heel (Gen. 3:14-15). What do these words mean? The slanderer who condemns his brother, the one who spreads gossip, cannot spiritually rise to Heaven, cannot be in communion with God. Even in church, these people are looking for gossip, news, and are like a snake that has crawled into a beautiful flower garden. Many of us, in the most sacred moments of the Liturgy, heard the insinuating voice of these people near our ears: "Do you know what happened?.. only between us... I'll tell you a secret...", and so on. These people feed on the stench of other people's sins, like worms on dust and dirt. They imagine themselves as fighters for the truth, but in fact they experience a secret voluptuousness from participating in such conversations. Why? Because their hearts are corrupt and corrupted. A truly chaste person will not want not only to speak, but also to hear anything bad about his neighbor. The Most Holy Mother of God, before Her blessed death, prayed to Her Son for one thing – that He would deliver Her from the vile and shameless appearance of demons and slanderers. Brothers and sisters, what should we do when such people come up to us? The Prophet David directly said: "He who secretly slanders his sincere will I cast out" (Psalm 100:5). But what do we do when we don't have the courage to do the same? Then you need to say to this person: "What you say about something else applies to me, I am also guilty of these sins, perhaps you have read (or read) them in my soul? I am what you say." And then your humble words will immediately shut his mouth. Or say in another way: "You are indignant that your brother has committed a sin, let's stand up with you to pray and pray for this brother." But this person is not indignant at all, he is very happy that others are sinners, and therefore he will not pray for anyone, but will immediately answer: "I have no time," and will run away from you, and then he will not even come to the place where you are. The sin of condemnation is terrible, we have no right to judge anyone. A certain monk said to the Monk Pimen: "I must leave the monastery because there are temptations here." Abba Pimen asked: "Have you seen them?" He answered: "No, but my brother told me about it." Abba said, "Your brother is lying." He objected: "He is an honest man." But the monk did not agree: "An honest man would never pass on to you the sins of other people." And he added: "And our eyes should not be believed if they see evil." St. Demetrius of Rostov says about the sin of slander and condemnation: "He who condemns his brother is the Antichrist, because the Lord is the Judge of the living and the dead, and he wants to judge until the Last Judgment, which means to take the place of Jesus Christ." St. Demetrius of Rostov explains why it is written in the Gospel: "First take the beam out of your eye, and then you will see how to remove the mote from your brother's eye" (Luke 6:42). "Because," he writes, "all sins taken together are to the sin of condemnation what a mote is to a beam." Our judgment is always unjust because we see only the outside, and the heart of another person is hidden from us. Our judgment is always unfair because we do not know tomorrow. Here are striking examples – the thief and Judas. Judas was one of the closest disciples of Jesus Christ, he endured the sorrows and hardships of the earthly life of the Savior. He healed, like the other apostles, the sick, cast out demons by the grace of God. He, like the other apostles, preached the gospel. It seemed that he had already been saved. But Judas turned from an apostle into the most terrible traitor. His name remained a grim symbol of ingratitude and treachery. The name of Judas is an eternal shameful stain on the face of mankind. But the robber – all his life he robbed, killed, raped, hid in the caves of the Jericho desert, like a wild beast attacked people. He was covered in human blood. Being caught, condemned to death and nailed to the cross, he began to blaspheme the Saviour, and it seemed that he was already a faithful victim of hell, the prey of the demon. But in the last moment of his life he repented, confessed the crucified Christ as Lord, and repentance lifted him up to heaven with its powerful wings. So, brothers and sisters, today's Gospel warns us against the most terrible sin – pride. Pride shook the heavens, made demons out of angels, opened the depths of hell and lit flames in hell. Pride is also the beginning of all sin for us. Humility and pride are two paths. One is the path of light, the other is the path of eternal darkness. Humility and pride are two paths: life and death. Let us choose the path of humility in order to gain eternal life! Amen.

About the Last Judgment