Духовник. Прекрасно. Ты понял меня совершенно верно. Но почему ты забываешь об этом, когда говоришь о таинствах?

Неизвестный. Не понимаю, что общего между тем и другим?

Духовник. Общего очень много. Ты спрашиваешь, зачем нужны вещественные, видимые, осязаемые формы для передачи человеку благодатной Божественной силы. Я отвечу тебе прямо: не знаю. Но так же не знаю, как не знаю, зачем Бог восхотел бытия вещественного мира и создал не один только мир духовный, но и мир телесный, вещественный, видимый и осязаемый.

Неизвестный. Я всё-таки не понимаю, что ты хочешь сказать?

Духовник. Непостижимая и неоткрытая людям тайна, почему восхотел Господь создать видимый мир и облёк человеческую душу в телесную форму, нисколько не лишает нас твёрдой уверенности, что цель жизни этого уже созданного мира и человека нам известна -- она лежит в достижении единства с Божеством. Если ты рассмотришь сущность того единства в Боге, которое составляет цель жизни человека и его спасение, ты увидишь, что оно не есть единство только души, а всего человека. Всеобщее воскресение не есть воскресение только душ. Тело и дух в человеке -- не какие-то два противоположные начала. Они составляют нечто целое, единую человеческую личность. Так вот, если ты назовёшь бессмыслицей и ненужностью соединение души человека с его телесностью -- только тогда ты вправе назвать ненужностью и телесность таинств, то есть некую внешнюю форму для передачи Божественной благодати.

Неизвестный. Я немного начинаю понимать тебя. Ты хочешь сказать, что внешняя сторона таинства необходима потому, что человек состоит из души и тела?

Духовник. Да. Но надо понять это не как формальное внешнее требование, а со стороны внутренней, и тогда таинства перестанут тебе казаться пустыми церемониями.

Unknown. How exactly should this be understood?

Confessor. Man is not only spirit, but also matter. What is the inner connection and internal relationship of the soul and body of man with that which constitutes his corporeality is unknown to us. But we know that the grace of God must penetrate the whole person, and not only souls, but the whole person must be watered with the Holy Spirit. "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?" (1 Corinthians 6:15). And again: "... are your bodies the temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price. Therefore glorify God both in your bodies and in your souls, which are God's" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). The sacraments give the whole person Divine grace. Through the sacraments, the Holy Spirit fills not only the soul of man as something separate or his body as something separate, but the whole person as a whole. Here the significance of matter is just as necessary and just as mysterious as it is in the personality of man. And here we do not know what is the connection and what is the relationship of the external material principle in the sacrament with its soul, the spiritual essence, but we know that this connection exists and that it is indissoluble. We do not know why one sacrament needs the substance of water, another oil, a third wine and bread, we do not know why it is necessary to pronounce certain words and perform certain actions, but we infallibly comprehend by faith that this is not something unnecessary and external, but as it were the corporeality of the sacrament, which is necessary for the grace being taught to fill the whole person with the Holy Spirit: and his soul, and his body, and the incomprehensible connection between them, which is contained in a single human personality.

In the sacraments we see the greatest manifestation of Divine love, which descends upon us, despite all our corruption, both spiritual and physical, and receives us into its bosom in the fullness of our human being. This love, condescension and mercy give us grace-filled power in material, tangible, external forms that encompass the whole person, and not just his spirit. The sacraments are the grace of God, which, like the human soul, is clothed in a mysterious corporeality. In this corporeality the Lord clothed His power, condescending to fallen and redeemed man, so that he might all become, in the words of Justin the Martyr, "the son of the Most High."

Unknown. Does this mean that without this external form, the direct action of grace and the rebirth of the human soul are impossible?

Confessor. Yes. But here it is necessary to make one reservation. It has to do with all the sacraments in general. A sacrament is a necessary external sacrament for the transmission of Divine grace -- such a general and immutable law. But we must always remember that where there is grace, there are exceptions by the will of God. In some cases, when it is pleasing to God, grace can be given without established external sacraments. In principle, this possibility applies to all sacraments. I'll give you a few examples.

As a general rule, it can be asserted that the baptism of water and the Spirit is obligatory for the believer to join the Church, but in some cases the martyrs became members of the Church without this external sacred action. In ancient times, the Gifts of the Holy Spirit were given to believers through the laying on of hands. But there was no laying on of hands on the 120 men upon whom the Holy Ghost fell in Jerusalem. Centurion Cornelius, before baptism and before the laying on of hands, was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Such exceptions, the possibility of which must be admitted in principle in each sacrament, should be considered as special actions of His grace-filled power performed by the will of God, and in no way shake the general teaching on the sacraments and the immutability of the law of the necessity for the transmission of God's grace of certain external sacred actions.