Confessor. Yes. He had to, if he wanted good, if he wanted to have a life without evil, but he was completely free in his choice, and if he wanted evil, that is, if he wanted to oppose the Divine will, he could choose this path, and he chose it.

You do not like references to the Holy Fathers, but listen to how beautifully St. Irenaeus of Lyons says about it: "Believers believe by their own choice, in the same way those who disagree with His teaching disagree by their own choice... To those who abide in their love for God, He grants fellowship with Him. But communion with God is life and light, and the enjoyment of all the good things that He has. On those who by their own choice distance themselves from God, He imposes that separation from Himself which they have chosen by their own agreement. But separation from God is death and... deprivation of all the good things that He has. Therefore those who, through apostasy, lose these above-mentioned things, being deprived of all good, suffer all kinds of punishments. However, God does not punish them directly, but this punishment falls on them because they are deprived of all that is good" (Against Heresies, Book 4, Ch. 39, 4).

Life outside of God "of one's own will" immediately gave power over man to those elements that were in complete harmony only when man was connected with God. When this bond was severed by the Fall and the self-assertion of the human will, everything fell into a state of disorder, struggle, division, suffering appeared as the opposite of blessedness and death as the opposite of life. The question of suffering is most closely connected with the question of evil, because suffering is its direct consequence. Therefore, the answer to the question will be the same. Who created suffering? It was created not by God, but by the free will of man who has fallen away from God. Therefore, to destroy suffering means to destroy evil and restore absolute good. But it is impossible to "make" people good by the power of God, as has already been shown before.

Unknown. Don't understand. After all, one person committed a sin, and all living things suffer and die?

Confessor. In the Christian worldview, as in a perfect building, it is impossible to pull out one brick without damaging the whole. This universe cannot be taken in parts. Your question is again based on a misunderstanding. You take what God created not as a single whole, but as a collection of some independent parts, where the fate of one part has no relation to the other. God entrusted all living things to man not only in the sense that He gave him power over this living kingdom, but as the most perfect, as the bearer in nature of the image of God, as the head uniting all living things with the Divine, and thus entrusted him with the responsibility for the fate of all life. Therefore, the fall of man was the fall of all life, its falling away from God in the person of man. Therefore, as you will see later, the restoration of this unity through the "new Adam" was at the same time the salvation not only of humanity, but of all life.

Unknown. Yet you have not answered my main question: why did the omniscient God, knowing what the freedom He had given him lead to, create the world? And what is the point of creating a person, knowing in advance that he will fall away from God and turn his whole life into continuous suffering, and not only here, but also beyond the grave.

Confessor. I have not yet considered this question because it concerns not so much the existence of God as the fate of man. We have talked so far about what evil and suffering are and who created them. Now you pose a completely different question, about God's attitude to sin and suffering. This question leads us to the great mystery of the Atonement. Only faith in the Atonement gives a complete answer to the question of the fate of fallen man and God's attitude towards him. But it is better to speak of this at another time, so that we may consider in detail such an important question.

Unknown. Well done. But have you said everything about God? You wanted to show the truth, didn't you?

Confessor. I have answered your questions, and in these answers I have expressed it to you. So far, this is not the whole truth, but only its main foundation. Set aside all your questions for a few moments and look at this truth as it is, without distorting it with your doubts.

Неизвестный. Ты хочешь показать положительное содержание веры в Бога?

Духовник. Да.

Неизвестный. Говори. Я постараюсь слушать тебя так, как ты этого хочешь.

Духовник. Мы веруем, что Бог по существу есть Любовь. Что в нём содержится совершенный всеведущий Разум и совершенная всемогущая Воля. Всегда был Бог, и жизнь Божия, от века бывшая, до создания мира во времени, -- неведома нам. Разум Божий, помысливший о вселенной, Любовь Божия, возлюбившая её, и Воля Божия, решившая быть ей, создали мир. Мир -- это творческое создание Божественного Разума, Любви и Воли. Каждое дыхание жизни имеет источник в Божественном начале. И каждая частица вещества имеет в основе своей разум, любовь и волю -- как в Боге пребывающая. Всё существует -- и видимое, и невидимое -- Божественной силой. И всё имеет жизнь и нетленную основу, ибо всё пребывает в Божественном Разуме, в Божественной Любви и Его святой Воле. Всё живёт по неизменным законам, которые дал Господь видимому миру, но всё имеет, кроме этих механических законов, высший разумный смысл, ибо всё соединено с Божеством и стремится к своему первоисточнику. Мир -- это не разрозненный, бессмысленный, мёртвый хаос, имеющий лишь видимость порядка и закономерности, а разумное, живым Духом Божиим одухотворяемое, единой жизнью живущее, для вечного нетленного бытия приуготовленное создание Божие. Высшее в нём -- человек. Образ и подобие Божие, носитель сознания, которое есть отблеск Божественного Разума, любви, которая есть искра Любви Божественной, и свободы воли, которая есть таинственное начало, подобное непостижимой Воле Божией. Через него, в союзе любви человека с Богом как с Отцом и создателем, -- утверждается и свободный союз всей вселенной. Эту истину о Боге мы познаём и в своём духе, когда погружаемся в духовное самопознание, и во всей вселенной, когда подымаемся до молитвенного созерцания.

Неизвестный. Сказка, сказка. Изумительная, великолепная сказка, неведомо кем и неведомо для чего созданная.