Our

For the first time in my life, I felt this word when I was ordained a bishop. On the next day of consecration, the newly-ordained bishop is obliged to serve his first episcopal liturgy. Everything went as usual. And now we have come to the Lord's Prayer. According to my former habit, delving into the words of the prayer, I wanted to pray (also without thinking about the "Father") for myself personally: My God... "Give me bread"... "Forsake my sins"... and so on - everything is only about himself... And suddenly, at the beginning of the prayer, at the word "our," I felt that I had no right to pray only for myself, but had to pray for everyone. It is not easy to explain. But I remember that the following thoughts flashed through me: "You are now a bishop: you no longer belong to yourself, but to everyone, you are a representative of Christ the Savior and His apostles, and they were intercessors not for themselves, but for the whole world. And from now on you must intercede for everyone, as for the brothers and children of God..."These thoughts then seemed to me very new, unprecedented. And so I began to pray then. But then, alas, again out of habit he prayed more for himself: me, mine, me, and not us, ours, us... And therefore, in the address "Our Father" I did not hear this word "our" in my soul, but meant "my", although I said "our". And most often I do not feel either one or the other meaning: neither ours nor mine, but only "God" in general! And now, almost for the first time in my life, I have to think about this "new" word. And of course, not only bishops or priests, like spiritual fathers, are obliged to feel and pray in this way, but all people: the Lord taught this prayer to the entire human race, and not only to bishops. Why is that? Why not mine, but ours? What meaning did the Savior want to give when He taught us to pray in this way? We, modern people, have become so selfish, selfish, that we do not even think about praying for everyone. Everyone lives on their own and for themselves. This "self" of ours is the main evil in the world. Everything is from her. The first former angel fell with her. She is the mother of all other sins. She is the main opponent of God. It divides humanity. It introduces enmity not only between relatives, but also between societies and peoples. So - now.But it was not so. And this is not how it should be and will be in the Father's Kingdom. Humanity was created to live in extraordinary love for each other. Mankind was to be like one tree, one family, "one body," as the Apostle Paul puts it... We, modern sinners and self-lovers, cannot even imagine to what degree of unity and love humanity was intended! They are given by Christ the Lord Himself in His last, dying prayer to the Father at the Last Supper: "I pray not only for them (the apostles), but also for (all) those who believe in Me according to their word, that they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, so that they also may be one in Us... that they may be one, even as we are one" (John 17:20-22).This is the purpose of the coming of Christ the Savior: to reunite people into unity with each other and with God... And at the same time, it should be noted that the unity of people here is established in the likeness of God, in the unity of the Holy Trinity: "As We are one." In these words lies a profound revelation of the extraordinary unity of mankind. Why is that? After all, man is created in the image of God. And God, as we have already seen in the word "Father," is Eternal Love Itself: "God is Love." And, consequently, by virtue of the unity of the Persons in the Most Holy Trinity, and by virtue of the fact that God is Love, people created in the image of God were also destined to live in the most extraordinary unity and love... We, divided and silent, cannot even imagine such love now. Only holy people, who have become like God ("venerable" to Him) in their lives, can partially understand what people were called to at their creation and to which they were restored again by Christ the Lord. There is complete unity in essence - both in will and in actions. It is even impossible to understand it in its entirety! And only partially does a person try to bring this closer to his understanding. There is a famous icon of the glorious iconographer Andrei Rublev, an icon of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius - "Trinity", the appearance of the Trinity to Abraham in the form of three wanderers. I don't know what idea the great artist Rublev wanted to put [into his icon], but the following meaning was immediately revealed to me. God the Father sits in the center. On the right is the Son. On the left is the Holy Spirit. The question is being resolved: what to do with the sinful Sodom and Gomorrah and with the childlessness of Abraham... And so God the Father Himself does not predestine, but turns His face to the right and asks: "How will He will?" The Son, answering nothing, humbly raises His face to the Holy Spirit sitting on the opposite side and transfers His will to Him: "This is how He is, the Spirit!" and as if in spite of any of the other Persons, he is silent, bowing his head a little to the right: "What am I? How - you!" I think that it was not sinful boldness that guided me in perceiving this meaning: it expresses the idea of unity in the Trinity. They have no selfishness, and self-will, and self-thinking; on the contrary, each Person renounces His will in favor of others, His thought in favor of others. This is how people should live: not for me, but for us; not by my will, but by the desire of others; Not me, but how - you, like you. But God, God! How far we are from this! We have everywhere, always, first of all - me, me, me! But it was not so, it should not be so. And so the Restorer of mankind Himself deigned to revive the lost unity in love: the Son of God became man and included Himself in humanity, calling Himself the "Son of Man," a member of the human family. And He merged with it in such a way that He took upon Himself the sins of the whole world and suffered for them, as if for His own. And then He sent the Holy Spirit to people, Who began to unite mankind in love. The Church of Christ was born as His Body, and He is its Head. And when we are baptized, then this inclusion of us in Christ is accomplished, and through Christ in the Trinity: "If you are baptized into Christ, put on Christ," sing the words of the Apostle Paul. We, like a new branch, are "grafted in" to the tree of Christ (cf. John 15:4: "I am the seven vines, and you are the branches"). And if we had preserved the holiness of baptism, we would have been like angels: in love and unity... Alas, we sin! And again we destroy our grace-filled perfection. After that, repentance is needed in order to restore the lost holiness of baptism... Repentance is the second baptism. This is the root of the word "our": humanity, created and recreated, should live in complete unity and love. To a certain extent, this is realized in the Church of Christ, where all peoples, all classes, all mankind are united, as it never was before Christ. And humanity will be fully united after the universal resurrection in the Kingdom of the Most Holy Trinity: "Let all be one, as We are one." But for all our isolation, the idea of the unity of the human race has always lived in humanity. Everyone cherishes this dream. Everyone suffers from the struggle. There are always people who try to bring this idea to life. Kings, philosophers, politicians seek to unite humanity... But alas! To this day, this dream remains a dream for them... And only in the true Church of Christ did unity begin: "No one called anything his own; and everyone had everything in common." And then not for long (Acts, chs. 2 and 4). However, there is no other place in the world and no other way to unity than through the Church in the Holy Spirit. All other attempts have been and will be in vain. Only by unity in the Holy Trinity is it possible to cultivate unity. And then with what difficulty! What a struggle! Even from the one Church the parts have been divided, and all are divided more and more... Poor humanity, but all this will seem too "sublime"? If God is the Father, and the Father, of course, is not mine, but a common one, then it is clear that we are all brothers according to the Father. We must remember that God does not love "me" alone, not only the Father, but all of us... What a new and extraordinary idea this was for the Jewish people. After all, the Jews were brought up in a completely different view: they alone were the only people loved by God and chosen by Him. They divided the whole world into only two camps: we and others, Jews and pagans... And suddenly the Lord said: pray: not my Father, but our Father... True, it is not yet possible to discern the unity of the Jewish and non-Jewish worlds at once, but it is already undoubtedly obvious that with this word "our" the selfish, egoistic barrier is torn apart, which before Christ separated "me" from "not me," from "them." From now on, this word gives the consciousness that humanity, people are one; first - among one society, tribe, people, and then - among all mankind. From now on, no one is a stranger to me, and I am no stranger to anyone. There is no longer an "I", but there is a "we". This consciousness of unity in the Russian common people is worthy of note. If we, the intellectuals, always speak of ourselves in terms of "I", "me", "mine", and if the peasant people also speak of the upper classes ("you", "master"), then the peasants often speak of themselves as of a single, like-minded collective. Is this not the result of the Christian education of the Church? What should I feel when I pronounce the word "our" now?I know now that I must pray for everyone: first at least for those who are closest to me - relatives, acquaintances. But this is not yet high: they are still "mine" again. Therefore, I am obliged to pray for "strangers", for those whom we are accustomed to call by this cold name and consider them as such, and indeed not to carry them in our hearts. From now on, "strangers" are not strangers to me, but my own. Moreover, now I have to pray for my enemies. After all, they are also people, God and their Father, just like me. The Heavenly Father "maketh His sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust" (Matt. 5:45). Therefore, if we, in a pagan and Jewish way, love only those who "love us," then this is not lofty. But when we "love our enemies", "pray for those who offend us", only then do we begin to love truly. And thus the Saviour said: "That ye may be sons of your Father which is in heaven" (Matt. 5:45). God is Love, and from us, especially in prayer, He demands love for one another. Otherwise, our prayer will be displeasing to Him. "If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath anything against thee... go first and be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and bring thy gift" (Matt. 5:23-24). And vice versa: the Lord loves very much when we pray not only for ourselves, but also for others. And the most pleasing prayer to Him is when we pray for our enemies: then we become like Him in love. As soon as a person begins to pray for someone, immediately this person will no longer become a "stranger" to him. Experience shows this to each of us. As soon as we begin to mention, even if only to mention with our mind and language, the name of a person, he begins to be close to us. Moreover, if we want to throw out of our hearts the poison of malice towards our "enemy," then we must pray for him. And almost at the same time, and at any rate soon, we will see the enmity disappear. And if you pray more, then not only will you feel peace towards the "enemy", but he will also change towards you. But even if the "enemy" had not changed towards you, then upon you, on each of us, lies this holy duty to pray for him, and leave it to God's Providence. Think about yourself first, about your disposition towards him, or at least "remember" him in prayer, and it will be good for you. And you will undoubtedly receive mercy from the Father for such a prayer. But pray sincerely. And if there is no disposition in the heart, then force yourself to commemorate it, and this will be pleasing to God, but enough for you. God Himself will give you the rest: you just start what you can.And if you are not a brother to others, then God is not your Father.Oh! how much this word obliges: "Ours"! It demands height from me - love! And we are so cold... So "alien" to each other... Even in so-called "love" we can be selfish: jealous, envious, irritable, demanding. True love, on the other hand, is sacrificial: it wants good for the other, and not for itself, and it renounces itself. Yes, true love is a very high thing! It is the end of perfection, as the Apostle Paul says. We very often play with this holy word: we imagine that we have love when it is not, or we take something else for true spiritual love... However, even with all our imperfection in love, we must still pray for others: and this very prayer - or God for our prayers - will lead to goodness and true love.

"Who art in heaven"

These words do not seem to require much thought... God always appears to man as living "in heaven." God is Heavenly, not living on earth, not earthly. But it is desirable for me to penetrate only into the thought: why the Savior mentioned this. It seems that this word is self-evident, and it was not necessary to say it. But if the Lord nevertheless said it in His prayer, then it was necessary and remains necessary for each of us even now. Perhaps it was necessary for the Jews because many times they fell into an inclination to idolatry, to the veneration of earthly idols, being carried away by pagan beliefs and notions. It is known that even in the time of Moses, in his absence, [when he was] on Mount Sinai, they poured out a golden calf; then many times sacrifices were made to the "gods" "silver", "cast". Therefore, it was constantly necessary to remind them that idols are not "gods" (Exodus 20:23; 23:13, 24; 32:31; 34:17, etc.). This name was needed even more for the pagan world, for which the Lord's Prayer was also intended.But in addition to this, the name "Heavenly" opened up a new concept of God as a holy, impassible, all-pure, spiritual, supermundane being. Before Christ the Savior, not only the pagans, but even the Jews suffered from materialistic views. The pagans imagined their gods in a human-like way, with the passions characteristic of sinful man. The Jews did not have this; but for themselves they often sought from God mainly earthly goods. And in such a mood, the name "Heavenly" not only tore the worshippers away from the idolatry of earthly idols, but raised their souls in general from any earthly addiction to spiritual good, pure, holy, "heavenly", as holy is the Heavenly God. For me, too, this name had previously been very pale, did not touch my heart's feelings, and did not arouse any special thoughts. The first thing that came to my soul from this word was, as it were, my spatial perception of God: while pronouncing it, I seemed to be mentally detached from the earth and... was carried far, far away to "heaven", "somewhere". This has been the case since childhood; But this truly childish concept remained and lived in my soul for a long, long time when I wanted to "delve into" the word "heavenly". But I don't think that's right; "heavenly" certainly does not mean "place": there is no place for God in our sense of the word. God is omnipresent and completely spiritual, not subject to the concepts of space and time. And therefore to carry Him in my mind "somewhere" far away was really a childish matter, although in age I was already very far from the childish state. Was there only one benefit from this childish "understanding": the "heavenly" God "somewhere" really exists, although I did not see Him, did not touch Him around me on this earth! And, on the other hand, this very "remoteness" of Him humbled me, as unworthy to see Him here, near, "around": God had to seem to me unattainable, incommensurable, incomprehensible. For the initial state, this view of God as "distant" was both more acceptable and even more useful: He seemed to be the Highest, the Limitless, so unlike our sinful earthly life. Namely: God, as omnipresent, should in no way be represented anywhere spatially, "far away": God is everywhere. He's here too... So I wrote this word "and here" - and it seemed to me again "new", like many other things in the Lord's Prayer... Reader! and how did you get used to imagining Him before? Did you understand and experience Him in this way? "Here", near? Or did you also think of Him as "somewhere far, far away"? If so, then you and I have very wrongly allowed ourselves to think about Him. And this was spiritually unhelpful to us. "He is not far from each of us!" said the Apostle Paul to the philosophers in the Areopagus of Athens (Acts 17:27). And to the Philippians He said directly: "The Lord is near" (Phil. 4:5). And the simple concept of omnipresence requires that the Lord be precisely near, everywhere "and here": here is near me... Such a perception of God is "near," both in mind and in heart, was felt by all the saints. And of our contemporaries, we see this especially vividly in Fr. John of Kronstadt. In his diary, and consequently in his soul, he constantly insists that we think of God, the Mother of God, and the saints not "somewhere far away", but precisely close... God is closer than the soul to the body... And such an idea - and it is true - would give our faith, and then prayer, an extraordinary vividness... God is "here" - through this he became more "alive" for me, more real... And this, in turn, is immediately reflected in all the experiences of the soul: prayer becomes more lively, as if spoken "in the ears" of the Lord, turns into a "conversation" with Him or into a fervent unrelenting supplication... It is as if a person grasps at the "hand" of God, or, like a bleeding Gospel woman, at the Lord's robe... In this sense, it seems to me a very figurative and powerful fact of life that the dream-reality that the forefather Jacob saw near the stream of Jacob. I'll write it out." And Jacob was left alone. And Someone wrestled with him until the dawn; and when he saw (this Someone, i.e. God) that he could not overcome him (could not tear himself away from Jacob), he touched the composition of his thigh... And he said to him, Let me go, for the dawn has risen, and Jacob said, I will not let you go until you bless me... And blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of that place, Peniel (Form of God); for, he said, I have seen God face to face, and my soul has been preserved. And the sun rose as he passed by Penuel; and limped on his thigh. That is why even to this day the children of Israel (the descendants of Jacob-Israel) do not eat the sinews that are on the thigh" (Gen. 32:24-32). And one of them can be seen in the extraordinary persistence and reality of James's prayers: "they do not let go" of God from themselves. In the New Testament, the Savior Himself expressed the same idea in the parable of the persistent widow who "gave no rest" to the judge, asking him to protect her from her rival. The Lord said this parable because "one must always pray and not lose heart." And "Will not God protect His elect, who cry out to Him day and night, although He is slow (according to His wise and profitable plans) to protect them?" (Luke 18:1-7).And there is another benefit from such "seeing God at your right hand," as the Psalmist David says: "Firmness in hope in God, and hence joy of the soul." "I will bless the Lord, Who hath enlightened me... I always see the Lord before me: He is at my right hand; I will not waver. Therefore my heart rejoices, my spirit rejoices; even my flesh rests peacefully... Thou shalt show me the way of life: abundance of joy in the sight of Thee, joy in Thy right hand for ever" (Psalm 15:7-II).And about another forefather, Enoch, it is also said in the word of God: "And Enoch walked with God," and for this "God took him" to heaven alive (Gen. 5:24). Here a new thought is emphasized: the sanctity of life. "To walk before God" means to behave as if every step, every thought, and every movement of the heart were made in the face of the All-Seeing, as if He were standing here... And this "walking" involuntarily induces such a person to be in constant fear of the Lord, Who sees everything, to the last minute curves of our soul... And when "there is no fear of God before our eyes" (Psalm 35:2), then we sink into iniquity... These are the good consequences that we lose when we imagine God somewhere far away. Then our faith, as it were, also goes into the distance, cools down. And vice versa, when we see Him "near" us, then everything comes to life... That is why I said that our childish ideas about the "heavenliness" of God as remoteness are not entirely reasonable. But despite this our imperfection. The Saviour, however, was pleased to teach us in the Lord's Prayer to call God "heavenly." Consequently, we are obliged to see in this word the meaning that pleased Him to put into it. I allow myself to admit that by this He taught us not only the thought of God's transcendence, the pre-worldliness, not only as a spiritual being, not only as incomprehensible to the human mind, but also as a real Being, completely different from everything created, earthly, material - at least in the most subtle sense of the word... And if so, then it turns out that our so-called "childish," "simple" idea of God as a "distant" Being is no longer so far from the truth. But only we must not distance Him so far that the very faith and vividness of feeling Him are extinguished: God is peaceful, but also close. Premiren - in essence; it is close to us - by Divine grace-filled omnipresence; but He is very, very different from us, the creature. He is Heavenly, He is the Spirit.And from this immediately follows the consequence of which the Apostle Paul beautifully said to the morally weakened Colossians: "Seek ye the things above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, and not on earthly things... Put to death, therefore, your earthly members: fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil lust, and covetousness, which is idolatry, for which the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, into whom ye also were once converted... But now lay aside all things: wrath, wrath, malice, slander, foul language in your mouth; do not tell lies to one another, having cast off the old (passionate) man with his deeds and put on the new, who is renewed in knowledge in the image of Him who created him... Therefore, clothe yourselves, as God's elect, holy and beloved, in mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, bearing with one another and forgiving one another... as Christ has forgiven us, so have you. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which is the sum total of perfection. And let the peace of God reign in your hearts" (Col. 3:1-15). And further: "Wives, obey your husbands... Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Children, be obedient... Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, lest they lose heart. Servants, in all things obey your masters according to the flesh, not only in the eyes of serving them, as men pleasers, but in simplicity of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, do it from the heart, as for the Lord, and not for men" (Col. 3:18-23).I have deliberately copied so much from the words of the Apostle Paul, so that in our minds there remains not so much lofty theology, as a useful and correct spiritual mood and practical life holy conclusions from the word "Heavenly." As can be seen from the Epistle (Col., ch. 2), they liked to engage in philosophizing and empty deceptions, only in the form of wisdom; Meanwhile, in the life of their community, very low morals began to be observed: impurity, enmity, anger, love of money, and so on. And in order to humble them, the Apostle advises them to turn their attention to their lives instead of these pseudo-lofty "philosophies." As the foundation for a holy life, he pointed to Christ ascending to the Father. They (apparently under the influence of Gnostic fantasies) were engaged in discussions about exalted subjects, about the degrees of angels, about their relation to Christ (the doctrine of the aeons). The Apostle tells them that indeed everything is concentrated in Christ alone, about Whom it is proper to think. Christ ascended to heaven - about the heavenly, and not about the earthly, and it is proper for a Christian to think, abandoning all "empty philosophy". Christianity is given to us not for theories, but for life. And this life is in heaven, not on earth. Thus, this word "heavenly", so common to us, does not turn out to be lifeless at all, but on the contrary - the most vital: it immediately elevates our mind to where our Heavenly God is; it tears us away at once from the earthly; introduces into prayer at the very beginning a certain spirit of purity, sublimity, holiness; it tears us away from attachments to this passionate, perishable, temporary world; it elevates us to heaven, even if only by thought, attention, and aspiration there. And as it was said in the general review of the Lord's Prayer, it immediately separates us from the earth with its "world-renounced" spirit. Everything is to God, to Heaven, where the Heavenly Father lives.This word "heavenly" naturally leads to repentance: "What kind of "heavenly son" am I, the Truly Heavenly Father?!" How far I am from Him! And unwittingly, from this word "heavenly" creeps imperceptibly, but correctly, the spirit of humble contrition and repentance for one's "earthliness"... And after him, perhaps, an evil spirit can creep in; under the guise of contrition, he cunningly substitutes despondency and faint-heartedness: "Thou art as far from heaven as heaven is from earth, and therefore thy ascensions to heaven are fruitless; God is so high and far from you that you should not turn to Him, so as not to anger Him with your sins."But here comes the first word that the Savior uttered: "Our Father!" No, the Father will not abandon his children. The Father Himself will run out to meet the penitent child... And then the heart is again filled with hope, with which the word "Father" knocks so warmly at it... And now it seems to me that the word "Heavenly" and "Father" complement each other. The Father is love, tenderness, mercy, forgiveness, care, hope, joy... And the Heavenly is holiness, perfection, transcendence, transcendence, the exaltation of God above all creation... There is a kind of warmth; Here is coolness. And if we count them figuratively, then we get not a dissolute, not a relaxing earthly hotness, but a warm-cooling eternal dawn. Thus it is sung about the Saviour at Vespers - "Gentle Light" - in the evening light. And in ancient times, God appeared to the prophet Elijah in the form of a "thin voice of coldness", i.e. in the blowing of a gentle wind (3 Kings 19:12).

More about the name "Father"

The mind and heart still revolve around "our Father".A. I thought: even if instead of the whole prayer there remained only one word - "Father" - and then everything else would be said in it, the rest of the words and petitions could be included in this holy name. How? The "father" (or mother in life more often) knows everything that we need. Thus it is said in the Gospel: "Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things" (Matt. 6:32). And even more directly: "Your Father knows... before your petition" (Matt. 6:8). And immediately after this, the Savior said the Lord's Prayer. It is brief. But the word "Father" contains everything that follows. In the same way, children often (especially in infancy, when they do not yet know how to babble) say only one word - "ma-ma", and she already knows what the child needs... And you can turn to God with one word - "Father!" ... And I had to turn when my heart was suffering and I had no strength to promise or even ask. Then this one reliable word bursts out - "Father"... And you give everything to His good and almighty power and love... I remember in St. Petersburg one old woman stumbled near the academy, and this word immediately burst out of her: "Oh, Lord!" B. Father... So he loves... And then it is easy to ask Him for everything. If He is the Father, then I cry and hope in Him... And I cry even because He is the Father to me... And I pour out my sorrow and trouble to the Father. When I say "Father", the thought comes to mind: not only you, but the Father to all. And then others become closer. And you don't judge them harshly... And you love them... E. Sometimes the word "Father" makes you more aware of your sinfulness. I won't even understand: why is this? Perhaps it is shameful that you grieve the Merciful Father?.. E. The Father... Therefore, I can ask and ask... No matter how bad it is... G. Father... And I am lazy in prayer and good deeds: you are broken... The Gospel says: before the end of the world there will be "days of vengeance"... consequently, there can be not only one pardon for me, but "vengeance"... Have mercy on me. Father!I. Love, love - how not to sink even lower from such mercy to me... To. Remember: God is always the Father to you and to us. Otherwise you keep forgetting about it. Father... How unworthy I am... But still - forgive me! He pours out mercy on both the good and the bad... That is why the Father... N. Cherubic... "Like cherubim": it is difficult in the soul before God... but "Father" - you can... Fr. Father... Each time it is "spacious" to pray to the heart... What a mercy of God, Father!P. Yet it is said at the Liturgy before the Lord's Prayer: "And vouchsafe... O Lord, with boldness, without condemnation, dare (dare) to call." It is frightful. But they sing... R. Father... Therefore, You want to save us... And you can. Passed.. Pray... As you know, "by them weigh the destinies" (prayer at the end of the 3rd hour). If I do not want to do what is holy, I want a sinner. And then, nevertheless, with my tongue or mind, I repeat to the Father: I do not want it, but save me... There are these words at the morning prayer: "But if I will, if I do not will, save me"... I think that for the most part we do not want to get rid of the sin that entails us. And therefore, it remains to ask: I do not want, but save. Father!T. Father... How this word brings God closer... He is close to us... It occurred to me that this glorious name should precede all other petitions each time. Any address remains as long as we are talking to someone or asking for it. But I draw attention to this because, despite all the excessive value of this blessed name "Father," we forget it even after we have pronounced it with feeling and understanding. While I am still saying this word and lingering on it with my attention, I feel the joy and grace of the "Fatherland" of God towards me, but as soon as I move on to further requests, I am already immersed in their meaning detached from the name "Father." In other words, I am again standing simply before "God," but no longer "the Father." And this is completely wrong in essence and can significantly change the spirit of further prayers. Conversely, when I am constantly in the memory of my "Father" and ours, this is reflected in the tone of my petitions. How? We will see now, when explaining them. In the meantime, I dare to remember and feel this holy name throughout the entire prayer unceasingly. Let the "Father" pass through all of it, and this leads me to the thought and feeling that in the Lord's Prayer this word and this spirit (of the Fatherland) will be dominant, dominant. And to what I have said in the general review of prayer (about God, hope, renunciation of the world), it is necessary not only to add this concept of the Father, but also to place it even in the first place in terms of the meaning and spirit of prayer... And then it turns out that its main idea lies not simply in the word and being "God", but necessarily - "God is our Father". This gives us that spirit of immense hope, which we feel in all prayer. For clarity, I will cite some of the experiences of the last days at the Liturgy. And you turn to the Father... He knows all my past and present... And I see (by many signs) that he has not left me. And he does not want to leave: He is the Father... And it will be calm again... Or I see my helplessness. The heart falls into faint-heartedness and despondency. Again I turn to Him as to the Father. And again, hope returns to my soul: He will help!And many, many such comforting hopes enter my consciousness when I begin to feel this wonderful word. I read my explanations to a simple woman - a praying mantis. She listened with deep attention. Then I asked her: "What impressions have remained in your soul?" At first she was embarrassed to speak out, and then, at my request, she answered: "Comforting!"- And does not my explanation give rise to the thought: well, God is merciful - you can sin: He will forgive everything?- No! And contrition remains in the soul. I was very pleased with this perception: it means that I have not gone too far in any direction, but still I myself stand and want to stand on the mercy of God. God is Love. This gives me life and support, but often you forget about it again. And you need to remind yourself: God is the Father.And this gives liveliness in faith, and prayer, and salvation.No less often I forget - and now - the word "our", and not only mine. Meanwhile, all this is inseparable. The following combination of the first three words came to my mind: "Father" - this speaks of God's love for us; "our" - speaks of people's love for each other; "heavenly" speaks of the [place] where these two loves are united, of the unity of all with God and of all people: not here, in this world, but there, in another world... There is bliss and the triumph of true Love.

Addition. The first petition: "Hallowed be Thy name" (interpretation by the words of the Holy Fathers)

St. John Chrysostom. "Hallowed be Thy name," says in prayer the one adopted by grace to God. To ask nothing before the glory of the Heavenly Father, but to esteem everything below His praise – this is a prayer worthy of him who calls God Father. God has his own glory, full of all majesty and never changing. Contemplating it, the seraphim also glorify God, crying out: "Holy, holy, holy" (Isaiah 6:3). Let no one have the foolish thought that God is granted the addition of holiness with the words: Hallowed be Thy name. He is holy and all-holy, and holier than all the saints. And the seraphim bring Him this hymn, constantly crying out: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; fill heaven and earth with Thy glory" (Isaiah 6:3). Just as those who bring praise to kings and call them kings and autocrats, do not give them what they do not have, but glorify what they have, so we do not communicate to God the holiness that was not with Him, when we say: "Hallowed be Thy name," but glorify that which is with Him, for "let it be hallowed" is said here instead of "let it be glorified." "Hallowed be the name," i.e. let Thy name be glorified, saith Chrysostom. This means that we should seek nothing else but the glory of God. Worthy of the prayer, says Chrysostom, who calls God the Father, does not ask for anything before the glory of God, but prefers His praise to everything. The Name of God is holy and glorious without our glorification, but we must strive to glorify it in us as well. The second thought in the words "let it be sanctified" is - let it be reverently honored. For what is sacred, we surround with all reverence, we always revere it, we treat it with due fear. "Hallowed be Thy name" will be the same as "Plant Thy fear in the hearts of us who sing Thee!" And it is fitting for this petition to stand in the first place, for the reverent fear of God is the source of spiritual wisdom and God-pleasing life. Whoever has it has a guide, and a stimulator, and a sustainer. As long as it exists, the soul is filled with indestructible power against every sin and against every good. Since in this way he is the first in spiritual life, then the first prayer is for him. "Let him be sanctified" means - let him be glorified. That is, vouchsafe us to live so purely, so that through us all may glorify Thee, to manifest before all a life so irreproachable, that each of those who see it may give praise to the Lord. This is a sign of perfect wisdom.St. Tikhon of Zadonsk. The Name of God is glorified when His Word is preached purely, and we correct our life according to His Word, as Christ says: so let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and that they may glorify your Father who is in heaven. We cannot do this ourselves, without God's grace; for this reason we ask the Heavenly Father, that He may mercifully grant us this. From this is noted our weakness, that without God we cannot do any good, as Christ says: without Me you can do nothing. If we ask that the name of God be sanctified and glorified, then we should not seek glory for our name from good works. Whoever teaches or lives otherwise as the word of God teaches, does not glorify the name of God. For this reason, that God Himself may not allow us to do so, we pray to Him: "Hallowed be Thy name." Amen.In the manuscript of Metropolitan Benjamin there is no commentary on the first petition of the Lord's Prayer. In order to complete the necessary completeness, fragments from the book of St. Theophan the Recluse "Interpretation of the Lord's Prayer in the Words of the Holy Fathers" (Moscow, 1898) are placed here. -Red. ^

Second Petition: "Thy Kingdom Come"

"Thy kingdom come." This is the second petition.As we have seen, first of all we desire glory for God, that His name may be glorified. And now we pray that His kingdom will come to us. We do not say "to the earth," lest anyone think that the Kingdom of God is a prosperous life on this earth. No, this idea must first be resolutely rejected! Such a kingdom is not at all God's, but human, earthly. Meanwhile, some are inclined to understand the "Kingdom of God" in this way - as earthly well-being, which includes the moral state of society: love, purity, education, peace, economic contentment, the absence of wars, the improvement of culture, etc.; This means that then there will be no need for courts, prisons, or any other punishment, because there will be nothing to punish for - everyone will be good! There will be the Kingdom of God on earth! Faith in God will join this, but this is not the Kingdom of God at all. This is the kingdom of man, earthly, only prosperous and pious. God, in this understanding, will only be the means or organizer of such a blessed society, in fact, only an instrument for us, for our life on this earth. This means that God is not the goal of our striving, nor is it His communion with us, as we saw in the very first invocation of the Heavenly God the Father?.. From this it is already clear that such a kingdom is not God's, but ours, human, earthly. And not only non-religious people believed in this way, but also some believers, even learned clergymen... I knew such people personally. One of them, for example, said that there would be no prisons, but... Public libraries will remain... He, as a bookish man, was certainly interested in them, as others were interested in "daily bread". But such an understanding will satisfy no one: neither sincere believers, since their whole life is centered in God, nor non-religious people, since they do not need God at all, they hope to arrange this good without Him; and for them, God, faith in Him, even hinders such an arrangement, for He divides man and moreover humbles him, whereas for the earthly kingdom "new" people are needed: proud, confident, "strong" - as they think. No, of course, this is not what the Lord Jesus Christ understood when He commanded us to pray for the Kingdom of God... Let us not dwell on this any longer: it is clear to us that this is not what we are asking for! There is another understanding of the Kingdom of God, closer to the authentic, but not entirely clear: the Kingdom of God is called by many – the Kingdom of Heaven. Actually, this is true. But it remains unclear: what is the content of this concept - "Heavenly"? True, it is opposed to the "earthly" kingdom - and this is already good. But we want to know: what does it have to do with God? It is this ambiguity that needs to be revealed. I was the rector of the seminary in Tver. I was invited to serve in a parish church. It was painted everywhere. And at the top, under the dome, the Lord's Prayer was depicted in paintings. I look at the petition "Thy Kingdom come" and with joyful amazement I see how from above, from heaven, the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove (as He appeared at the baptism of the Savior). This, I was surprised, was how the "Kingdom of God" was understood! And how did our priests and home painters choose such originals to copy in church! Another fact is of all-church significance. On the 2nd week of Great Lent, our Orthodox Church honors the memory of St. Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessaloniki (Thessalonica). St. Gregory actually acted in the fourteenth century, therefore, it was too late for the service to him to enter the circle of the Lenten Triodion. And here was the reason for this. On Athos, some ascetics saw a special light above their heads and considered it not an earthly natural light, but a heavenly, everlasting, grace-filled, divine light. An opponent of this view was the monk (later Catholic bishop) Barlaam of Calabria. Against him, the monastic St. Gregory Palamas spoke out on behalf of the ascetics. In order to denounce Barlaam, the defenders of the light referred to the light in which the Lord appeared during the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, and therefore the light was called "Tabor." After long disputes and four Local Councils, this Orthodox teaching triumphed.In fact, two essential questions of Christian teaching were raised here: about the actual existence of the supernatural world; And the Church defended the supernaturalness of the light of Tabor and its reality. But at the same time it was established that the knowledge of it could not be the result of the mind, but was granted only by God's Revelation, or grace. That is why St. Gregory Palamas is called in divine services "a preacher of grace." Naturally, the question arises: why did the Church decide to celebrate the service to him on the 2nd week of Great Lent and precisely on the Sunday following the "Triumph of Orthodoxy"? It must be thought that this was not done by chance. A week before we glorified Orthodoxy, and now we affirm what it consists in and what is the path to it.The praise of St. Gregory Palamas has not only the particular significance of his victory over Barlaam - this would be unworthy for the celebration of the whole Church, but contains, as we see, an answer to the essential questions of all Orthodoxy. The struggle with all heretics ended (with the veneration of icons), and the Church overcame them. If we look closely at all the heresies, we can see that they sinned with two errors in their depths: they strove towards the human earthly ideal, reduced Christianity to an earthly goal, forgetting its heavenly origin, or, on the contrary, inappropriately (like Eutychianism) they tore it away from man, falsely teaching about the "absorption" in Christ of humanity by His Divinity; The second mistake was that the heretics wanted to "understand" everything with reason, to explain it naturally, or imaginarily understandable. Meanwhile, all our faith is divine, since all our salvation is accomplished by God, and it is incomprehensible to the mind, since the Grace of the Holy Spirit, sent for the redemptive feat of Christ, the Son of God, before the Heavenly Father (in the Trinity) acts at the heart of everything. And it was only for the sake of the real, immutable, inseparable union in Christ of these two natures – the Divinity and humanity – that redemption, the sending of the Holy Spirit, and the salvation of man in general were possible. God was united with man: in Christ - in essence, and with people - by grace. And all this cannot be understood or even believed by the human mind. As the Apostle Paul says: God has manifested "the abundant riches of His grace in goodness to us in Christ Jesus (or through Him); For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves, but the gift of God: not by works, lest any man should boast, for ye are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works" (Eph. 2:7-10). But now the question arises: what do all these considerations have to do with the question of the second petition of the Lord's Prayer – for the Kingdom of God? To answer this, we must turn to the light of Tabor, which appeared during the Transfiguration of the Lord.Before that there was a confession of the Divinity of Jesus Christ, and after that He revealed to His disciples about the cross - both His own and common Christian (Matt. 16:21-27). And immediately after this He said: "Verily I say unto you, there are some standing here that shall not taste death (that is, yet in this earthly life), till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom" (Matt. 16:28). And the Evangelist Mark says: "They shall see the Kingdom of God come in power" (Mark 9:1). The same is true of the Evangelist Luke: "The Kingdom of God" (Luke 9:27).And immediately it speaks of the Transfiguration of the Lord: and the disciples Peter, James and John standing here were vouchsafed to behold this glorious event and to hear the voice of the Father about Christ: "This is My Beloved Son, hear Him" (Luke 9:35). The Lord appeared in "His Kingdom," "come in power." And this glorification of Him was so blessed, so joyful, that Peter cried out to Jesus: "Rabbi (Teacher)! It's good for us to be here! Let us make three booths: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah!" (Mark 9:5). And yet it was only six days ago that they persuaded the Lord not to allow Himself to suffer (cf. Matt. 16:22). But in response he heard from the Lord a terrible rebuke: "Get thee behind me, Satan! And then He said to His disciples, and in their person to us, that it is necessary, inevitable, necessary for the followers of Christ to "take up their cross," and the reward for this will be when "the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He shall reward each one according to his works" (Matt. 16:23-27). And "some of those who stand here," with the Lord, even during His lifetime and their own, will see this blessed state in "the Son of Man coming in His kingdom," and not in suffering and not killed, as He foretold them about Himself. And this same Apostle Peter, who heard such an answer - "Satan" - now says: "It is good for us to be here!" I completely forgot myself and the other two students. He was so happy and frightened that "he did not know what to say... for they were afraid" (Mk. 9:6; Lk. 9:33). And even though Peter spoke out of foolishness and fear, he was raptured at that time and wanted to prolong this blissful state - it was so extraordinarily joyful that he forgot the rest of the world, all humanity, all relatives, all people... It is incomprehensible to us, but it was so in Peter's soul! This is what Christ promised: for the cross - the Kingdom of God! And although it came "in power" in the Transfiguration, it was not yet in all of it. Thus the Church sings on the feast day: "As far as I can" Thy disciples have seen, "Thy glory, O Christ God, having seen." The Lord Jesus Christ Himself, appearing to His disciples after the Resurrection, taught them "about the Kingdom of God" (Acts 1:3). And the book ends with the story that the Apostle Paul "lived two years on his own support... preaching the Kingdom of God, and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ, with all boldness, without hindrance" (Acts 28:30-31). And this definition is considered to be the main preaching of the Gospel (Matt. 4:23; 9:35; 24:14; Mp. 1:14). The goal to which we must strive is the Kingdom of God (Matt. 25:34; Lk. 12:23; 22:29). All the Gospels and the Epistles of the Apostles speak of this. In our time, we, all Christians, live by this. This does not require proof by texts, as we all know. The only difference is that the Evangelists Mark and Luke use the word Kingdom with the addition of "God's", while Matthew adds the word "Heavenly". This is because the Gospels of Mark and Luke were directed not to the Jewish world, but to the pagan world, for which the word "God" was more acceptable, and the Jews, to whom the Evangelist Matthew wrote, were more accustomed to the word "heavenly." But in the latter we also encounter the words "Kingdom of God" or simply "Kingdom" (Matt. 4:23). And the final goal of the world will be that "the kingdom of the world may become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ, and shall reign forever and ever," says the seer John the Theologian (Rev. II, 15; 22:5). Now we come to the question: what is the Kingdom of God? In general, we will say that the Kingdom of God is not something external, for example, some, even the most ideal, form of state or social structure (peace between nations, cessation of wars, diseases, complete universal contentment, culture, etc.). All this would be only an external, material-spiritual earthly kingdom, a kingdom "of this world," a kingdom of man, but not the Kingdom of God." "My kingdom," said its Founder, the Lord Jesus Christ, to Pilate, "is not of this world... My kingdom is not from here" (John 18:36).If the Kingdom of God is not earthly, then what is it? This is difficult for a spiritually inexperienced person to understand, because there is nothing to compare it with, to put it in analogy. For example, sweet food, excellent nutrition, and even peace in the soul and earthly joy, it seems, could be an analogy for the Kingdom of God. But the Apostle Paul directly says that the Kingdom of God is "no meat and drink." And what happened? "Righteousness, and peace, and joy." What? Again, not earthly, but "in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17). This is even wiser, and more incomprehensible to the inexperienced! And the Lord Himself says to His disciples at the Last Supper: "From now on I will not drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink new wine with you in the Kingdom of My Father" (Matt. 26:29). The Lord takes the comparison from the earth, but adds the "new," i.e. the other, than the earthly, wine. And it will be in the "Kingdom of the Father." Not even His, Christ's, but in the "Kingdom of the Father". This word "Father" is often used by the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. II, 10; Lux. 12, 23; 1 Cor. 15, 24; 1 Thess. 2, 12). The first is used as a comparison with the joy of wine (Psalm 103:15), but it is not at all earthly, but "new." The second word is much more incomprehensible: why is this Kingdom called the Kingdom of the Father? The Lord Jesus Christ spoke to His disciples as a Man, and He attributed all that is Divine and Heavenly to His Father; For the Jews, this was more acceptable, in contrast to the earthly one. Consequently, this "of My Father" is the same as "the Kingdom of God," not earthly, but Divine, eternal, supernatural. And all such things come from God the Father: from Him is born the Son Himself and proceeds the Holy Spirit. Especially for man: everything pours out from Him. By God, of course, the whole Trinity is understood, but first of all, God the Father: the source, the root of the Godhead and of all being. Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ, in the end, attributed everything to His Father, but even this does not clarify for us the content of the concept of the "Kingdom of God." So far, we have come to the point in a negative way that the Kingdom of God does not exist. The Kingdom of God, says St. Gregory Palamas, was not created. All creation is created, is created, and the Kingdom of God is not created, but is eternal, as being in God, as inseparable from Him, as light and warmth are inseparable from the sun. First of all, let us agree in our thoughts that this Kingdom really exists, truly exists. God exists. And therefore, His kingdom exists with Him. After the Last Judgment, the Lord will say to the righteous: "Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matt. 25:34). To this question we must answer ourselves that it is in no way simple, not scanty, not pale, as we can imagine it to ourselves, living on earth and not knowing it. On the contrary, it is extraordinarily complex, so to speak, extremely rich, incomprehensibly diverse. And it cannot be otherwise: if God created the world so diverse, then how much more must the Kingdom of God be diverse. What this diversity consists in, we cannot quite say, we do not know, but only partially. The Apostle Paul says, "We know in part, and prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect comes, then that which is in part shall cease" (1 Cor. 13:9-10). He even said of himself: "Now I know in part, and then I will know, even as I am known" (1 Corinthians 13:12). And about the best Christians, the Apostle John says: "Beloved! we are now children of God; but it has not yet been revealed that we will. We only know that when He is revealed, we will be like Him, because we shall see Him (the Father) as He is" (1 John 3:2). Thus, the Kingdom of God from the positive side is not yet fully revealed to us, we do not fully know it. And we should not be curious: what is it?D. Only we are revealed that it is extraordinarily blissful! "Blessed is he who eateth bread in the Kingdom of God!" said "one of them that sat at table with Him" (Christ) at a banquet "with one of the rulers of the Pharisees" (cf. Luke 14:1-15). And the Lord did not stop him in the least, but only led him to the question of who is worthy of this feast (cf. Luke 14:16-24). And this was especially true of the Jews, but it also applies to all of us. "We... we preach the wisdom of God, secret, hidden, which God predestined before the ages for our glory... as it is written, 'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor entered into the heart of man, what God will prepare for those who love Him' (1 Corinthians 2:7, 9; cf. Isaiah 64:4). "But to us God has revealed these things by His Spirit" (1 Corinthians 2:10). Thus, the things of God, although they surpass human knowledge, are revealed by the Holy Spirit to spiritual, grace-filled people. And can we, ordinary Christians, comprehend this? "Partially" we can. Sometimes our soul is sent down to experience such a spiritual state that no earthly happiness can be compared with it. St. Macarius the Great says that at such a time a person would want nothing but to sit in a corner of a cave and console himself with such spiritual pleasure. This is partly familiar to us from experience: then everything earthly seems almost non-existent. But this is only the beginning. And what should be said about the highest state that the saints of God have attained – and even attain – while still here on earth?! The Apostle Paul writes about himself (if I repeat, then for the glory of God!), although as if about someone else: "I know a man in Christ, who fourteen years ago (whether in the body I do not know, whether out of the body I do not know: God knows) was caught up to the third heaven. And I know of such a man (only I do not know whether in the body or out of the body: God knows), that he was caught up into paradise, and heard ineffable words, which cannot be told to man" (2 Corinthians 12:2-4). Such was the condition of the Apostle that it could not even be "recounted," for there were not even enough words in human language for this. And it really was! We conclude this with certainty from the fact that the Apostle Paul says of this revelation: "I know," and what he does not know, whether he is in the body or not in the body, he says without shame: this "I do not know" he affirms the greater, and the lesser he does not understand! 2) and was vouchsafed this; but when he was asked about them, he humbly said: if the Apostle Paul himself could not "retell" what he saw, then how could I, poor Seraphim, convey it? And I think it's best to make brief extracts from there. Here they are.

Addition. On the Purpose of Christian Life (from a Discourse by St. Seraphim of Sarov)

"It was," Motovilov wrote, "at four. The day was cloudy. There was a quarter of the snow on the ground, and a rather large, thick cereal was falling on top, when Father Seraphim began a conversation with me on his nearest page, near his nearest hermitage, opposite the Sarovka River near the mountain, which came close to its very banks. said the great elder, "that in your childishness you fervently wished to know what the purpose of the Christian life was, and you repeatedly asked many great personages about it-... But no one, Fr. Seraphim continues, has told you about this definitely. They told you: go to church, pray to God, do God's commandments, do good - this is the goal of the Christian life for you... Prayer, fasting, vigil and all other Christian deeds, however good they may be in themselves, are not the only goal of our Christian life, although they serve as the necessary means to achieve it. To do this, we must begin here with right faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who came into the world to save sinners, and with the acquisition for ourselves of the grace of the Holy Spirit, Who brings the Kingdom of God into our hearts and paves the way for us to acquire the blessedness of the life of the age to come. In the same way, in the acquisition of this Spirit of God lies the true goal of our Christian life, and prayer, vigil, fasting and almsgiving, and all virtues done for the sake of Christ, are the means to acquire the Spirit of God. I asked Father Seraphim. "Acquisition is like acquisition," he answered. "After all, you understand what it means to acquire money. So it is the same with the acquisition of the Spirit of God. After all, you, your love of God, understand what acquisition is in the worldly sense? The purpose of the worldly life of ordinary people is to acquire or make money, and for the nobility, in addition, to receive honors, distinctions and other awards for state services. The acquisition of the Spirit of God is also capital, but only grace-filled and eternal... God the Word, our Lord, the God-Man Jesus Christ, likens our life to a marketplace... Earthly goods are virtues done for Christ's sake and giving us the grace of the All-Holy Spirit..."Father," I said, "you all deign to talk about the acquisition of the grace of the Holy Spirit as the goal of the Christian life: but how and where can I do it

The words of the Holy Scriptures seem strange to us now, when the Spirit of God through the mouth of Moses says: "And Adam saw the Lord going into paradise," or when we read in the Apostle Paul: "We went to Achaia, and the Spirit of God did not go with us, let us turn to Macedonia, and the Spirit of God went with us".... Remember the Transfiguration of the Lord on Mount Tabor. A great light enveloped Him, and "His garments shone like snow, and His disciples fell on their faces for fear"... And in this way, the grace of the All-Holy Spirit of God appears in an ineffable light to all, to whom God is its action.- How, then, - I asked Father Seraphim, - to know to me that I am in the grace of the Holy Spirit?- This, your love of God, is very simple, - he answered me, - that is why the Lord says: "All is simple to those who gain understanding..." And the apostles always saw whether the Spirit of God dwelled in them or not. This explains why they decided at the Apostolic Council: "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us." And it was only on these foundations that they offered their epistles, as an immutable truth, for the benefit of all the faithful, that the holy apostles were sensibly aware of the presence of the Spirit of God in themselves. Father Seraphim answered, "I have already told you, your love of God, that it is very simple, and I have told you in detail how people are in the Spirit of God and how His manifestation in us should be understood... Then Fr. Seraphim took me very firmly by the shoulders and said to me, "Father, we are both with you in the Spirit of God now! Why don't you look at me?" I answered:"Father, I can't look, because lightning is falling from your eyes. Your face has become lighter than the sun, and my eyes ache with pain... Father Seraphim said: "Do not be afraid, your love of God, and now you have become as bright as I myself. You yourselves are now in the fullness of the Spirit of God, otherwise you would not be able to see me like this.And bowing his head to me, he quietly said in my ear:- Thank the Lord God for His ineffable mercy to you. You saw that I did not even cross myself, but only in my heart, in my mind, prayed to the Lord God and said within myself: "Lord, vouchsafe him to see clearly and with bodily eyes that descent of Thy Spirit, with which Thou vouchsafest Thy servants, when Thou deignest to appear in the light of Thy glorious glory. And so, father, the Lord instantly fulfilled the humble request of the wretched Seraphim... How can we not thank Him for this ineffable gift to both of us? Thus, father, the Lord God does not always show His mercy to the great desert dwellers. It was the grace of God that deigned to console your broken heart, as a loving mother, through the intercession of the Mother of God Herself... Well, father, don't look me in the eye? Look simply, do not be afraid: the Lord is with us.I looked into his face after these words and fell upon me with even greater awe. Imagine in the middle of the sun, in the most brilliant brightness of its noonday rays, the face of a person talking to you.

Is it possible to imagine the situation in which I was then?.. "What do you feel?" Fr. Seraphim asked me. "Extraordinarily good," I said. I answered:- I feel such silence and peace in my soul that I cannot express it in any words.- This, your love of God, - said Father Seraphim, - is the peace about which the Lord said to His disciples: "My peace I give unto you, not as peace gives, I give unto you" - peace, according to the words of the Apostle, "every mind that prevails." The Apostle calls it so, because it is impossible to express in any word the well-being of the soul that it produces in those people in whose hearts the Lord God implants it. Christ the Saviour calls it peace from His own mercies, and not from the world, for no temporal earthly well-being can give it to the human heart: it is given from above from the Lord God Himself, which is why it is called the peace of God... What else do you feel? Fr. Seraphim asked me. "An extraordinary sweetness," I answered. And he continued, "This is the sweetness about which it is said in the Holy Scriptures: 'From the fat of Thy house they shall be drunk, and with the stream of Thy sweetness I shall give (them) to drink.'" It is from this sweetness that our hearts seem to melt, and we are both filled with such bliss that no language can express... And Father Seraphim continued: "When the Spirit of God descends upon a person and overshadows him with the fullness of His inspiration, then the human soul is filled with ineffable joy, for the Spirit of God joyfully creates everything He touches..." But no matter how comforting this joy may be, which you now feel in your hearts, it is still insignificant in comparison with that of which the Lord Himself, through the mouth of His Apostle, said, that "that joy has not been seen by eye, nor ear heard, nor entered into the heart of man the good which God has prepared for them that love Him." The prerequisites for this joy are given to us now, and if they make our souls feel so sweet, good, and joyful, then what can we say about the joy that is prepared for us there, in heaven, weeping here on earth?.. What else do you feel, your love of God?I answered: - Extraordinary warmth.- How, father, warmth? Why, we are sitting in the forest! Now it's winter outside, and there is snow under our feet, and there is more than a lot of snow on us, and cereal is falling from above... I answered: "And the kind of warmth that is in a bathhouse, when you put it on the stove, and when the steam pours out of it like a column." When, during my mother's lifetime, I loved to dance and went to balls and dance evenings, my mother used to sprinkle me with perfume that she bought in the best stores in Kazan, but even those perfumes do not emit such a fragrance. Is this how you feel about it? It is true, your love of God: no pleasantness of earthly fragrance can be compared with the fragrance that we feel now, because we are now surrounded by the fragrance of the Holy Spirit of God. What earthly thing can be like him? Notice, then, your love of God, that you have told me that it is as warm as in a bathhouse all around us, but look, the snow does not melt on you or on me, and neither does it melt under us. Therefore, this warmth is not in the air, but in ourselves. It is precisely this warmth about which the Holy Spirit, through the words of prayer, makes us cry out to the Lord: "Warm me with the warmth of the Holy Spirit!" This is how it should be in reality, because the grace of God must dwell within us, in our hearts, for the Lord said: "The Kingdom of God is within you." By the Kingdom of God the Lord means the grace of the Holy Spirit.It is this Kingdom of God that is now within us, and the grace of the Holy Spirit illuminates and warms us from without, and, filling the air around us with many different fragrances, delights our senses with heavenly delight, filling our hearts with ineffable joy... It is about this state that the Lord said: "The essence of those who stand here (the 12 disciples of Christ: they alone were with the Lord), who have not tasted death, until they see the Kingdom of God come in power." This is what it means to be in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, about which St. Macarius of Egypt writes: "I was in the fullness of the Holy Spirit..." It is with this fullness of the Holy Spirit that the Lord has now filled us, the poor. Well, now it seems that there is nothing more to ask, your love of God, how people are in the grace of the Holy Spirit. "I don't know, father," I said, "whether the Lord will vouchsafe me to remember me forever as vividly and clearly as I now feel God's mercy."And I think," Fr. Seraphim replied, "that the Lord will help you to keep this in your memory forever: His goodness would not have so instantly bowed down to my humble prayer and would not have preceded me so soon to listen to the wretched Seraphim, Moreover, it is not for you alone that it has been given to you to understand this, but through you for the whole world, so that you, having established yourself in the work of God, may be useful to others."With this we will conclude the excerpts from the "Revelation on the Purpose of Christian Life" by St. Seraphim of Sarov.As we see from here, the Kingdom of God, or the Grace of the Holy Spirit, is one and the same. And now we can say that the Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of Grace (and not earthly). It is for this Kingdom that we pray in the second petition of the Lord's Prayer. Truly, it is "not of this world," but of God. But although the Kingdom of God, in its essence, is "not of this world," we all live in this earthly kingdom. And we must devote all the days of our lives to the search for the Kingdom of grace. This was clarified by St. Seraphim in his wondrous discourse on the goal of the Christian life: everything earthly is only a means to the basic Christian goal. That is why we are obliged to exercise all our strength to fulfill not only personal feats (prayer, fasting, almsgiving, etc.), but also to fulfill the duties of the state, society, family, etc., as the Apostle Paul says: "Whether you eat, drink, or do anything else you do, do all for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31); we must all turn to the acquisition of the grace of the Holy Spirit, to growth in Christ, to the acquisition of the Kingdom of God, to preparation for the Kingdom of God, for the Kingdom of Heaven. But it - as we have seen - begins here.