some theological topic and differed very violently. And one of them, Shammai,

exclaimed: "Lord, if I have found favor with Thee, let them fall upon us

the walls of this house!" — and the walls began to fall. His interlocutor, Hillel,

says: "If I have found favor with You, O Lord, let the walls

will stop!" And the walls stopped. And then Hillel said to Shammay:

"You see, a miracle proves nothing".166

For God did not perform a miracle to prove that someone's theology is correct

or incorrectly, but because the heart of man belonged entirely to God. And this

The general principle is that a miracle is not a proof. You cannot use a miracle as a

proof of theological calculation. A saint is not necessarily the best

A theologian of his time, but he is a saint.

There is a very interesting story about the old in the "Spiritual Meadow" by John Moschos

a priest who was very pure in heart, very holy in life, but was carried away by the

some heresy of his time. He had a godly man, and more than he,

educated deacon, who was very embarrassed by the fact that his rector had become

Heretic. But, on the other hand, he saw what a holy man he was, and

I wondered: what is this? After a while, he decided to do something after all

and said to the abbot: "You know, you are a heretic, and this confuses me." He said:

"How can I be a heretic? Every time I serve the liturgy, I

two angels are serving. They would not serve a heretic! I'll ask them." And

Here is a story describing how this priest serves, at some point angels