So, brothers and sisters, let us take the situation in which our country finds itself more seriously. Perhaps for the first time in many years, by God's mercy, we have a chance that Russia can become a religious state! These people seem to feel that the power, the only legitimate power in Russia, is the power of the Patriarch! All other forms of power are built on bloody coups, on the murder of the Anointed of God, on communist and democratic riots, revolts and robberies.And we, brothers and sisters, must decide for ourselves: either we recognize the authority of the Lord and the judgments of God, and only they have meaning for us, or we will sue the wicked, those who mean nothing in the Church. One young man was tried. He was a believer, but he committed a crime. And you should have seen, brothers and sisters, how these judges laughed at the fact that he was a believer! The judge even asked him: "Are you wearing a cross?!" These are wicked people! They cannot pass any sentences, because the courts belong only to God and the Holy Church. The judgments of God, truly legitimate, that is, lawful, we can find only in the Church. Therefore, ask the pastors more often for their blessing and the necessary explanations of what you should do in this or that situation. Thank God, now there are more and more employees of the prosecutor's office and other law enforcement agencies who consult with the Church on various issues. Not so long ago, an agreement on cooperation was even concluded between the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Church. Now the Church will, on legal grounds, spiritually nourish law enforcement officers, educate them, make them such ministers, about whom it is said in the Scriptures: "The ruler does not bear the sword in vain: he is God's servant, an avenger for the punishment of him who does evil" (Romans 13:4). Only His commandment is holy, only His law is binding on us. Someone may hear such words and ask, "Well, you don't recognize secular laws at all?" We will answer, "Yes, we don't recognize them!" But we are good citizens, because in the part where the laws of the world coincide with our laws (and many state laws are simply copied from the Bible), In the Scriptures it is said: to whom to give, to give; to whom a tribute, a tribute; to whom is fear, fear; to whom honor is honor" (Romans 13:7). But where the laws of men are at variance with the laws of God, we say: "No, only the judgments of God can decide disputes between believers and outsiders, between believers and believers, between outsiders and outsiders!" and we will dwell there one year, and we will trade and make a profit"; you who do not know what will happen tomorrow: for what is your life? a vapor that appears for a short time, and then disappears. Instead of saying to you: "If the Lord wills, and we live, we will do this or that," you, in your arrogance, are vain: all such vanity is evil (James 4:13-16). then with such words he tempts God. Or, for example, we say: "Now I'll go to the dacha, harvest the crop, then I'll preserve it all, put it in the basement and spend the winter somehow..." We tempt God with such words, because only this day belongs to us, and even then we are not sure whether we will live to see the evening! "If I am alive, I will be here and there"... For example, you are asked: "Will you come to visit?" — "With God's help!", "As the Lord wills!". This will be more reasonable and factually true, because our lives are entirely dependent on God.And now we are witnessing (especially in the world of politics, from which we need to move away) how politicians are constantly promising us prospects. They say: "Here, in two months there will be stabilization... Here, in six months there will be stabilization, in a year..." But maybe in a year there will be nothing at all! Perhaps there will be a nuclear catastrophe – after all, we know nothing, everything is in the power of the Lord.Therefore, we must always be attentive to our words, so that we do not offend the Lord, so that we do not tempt His patience. Let's learn to speak in a Christian way. From each of our words, from the very structure of our speech, those around us must guess that they are dealing with a Christian. Hope in God's Providence is the happiness of human life.Modern society means something else by human happiness. There is such a widespread opinion: "In life, you need to try everything. This is happiness!" But this is a completely false idea of life. True human happiness is when we suppress the base passions in ourselves, when we limit ourselves to the commandment of the Creator; when we are guided by those God's instructions that can really make our families, our homes, our people, our country happy.A modern person is a person who really wants to try everything in life, and has already tried a lot and has terribly stained himself with a variety of sins. Of course, brothers and sisters, we are not some special people: we also have many problems, many shortcomings. But we are the people who said to ourselves: "That's it! I return to my Father and leave the life of sin!" Do you remember, brothers and sisters, the Gospel parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32)? The prodigal son, realizing his sinfulness, then said: "I will go to my father!" In our religious life, we have also come to this path, to this path of the Church, to that narrow path that alone can lead us to the Heavenly Father. Some walk bashfully, somehow shifting from foot to foot... A woman recently said to me, "I go to church, but I am so ashamed of my sins! I do not even dare to take communion. I also read in Slavonic (she learned to read Church Slavonic), but I am somehow ashamed even to pray..."Brothers and sisters, we must understand that in Christ Jesus we can not only know the direction where we should go, but by walking along this path, of which it is said: Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we might follow in His footsteps (1 Pet. 2:11). 21), we change our nature — we put off the old Adam and put on the New Adam, that is, Christ. Following the path of churching, we constantly change our lives. It is like a spiritual school, in which a person, moving from one class to another, matures, matures: matures spiritually and changes internally. Remember what you were like twenty years ago? I am sure that in the life of every believer who regularly goes to church, prays, reads the Holy Scriptures, confesses, takes communion, important spiritual changes take place. This is happiness – to see how the grace of God changes us! This is the happiness of human life – to feel how well the Lord corrects each of us! I think: "How could I live like this?!" Probably, each of us, too, when recalling our youth, the frivolous years of youth, turns back with horror: "How did I live like this?!" But, brothers and sisters, even now we do not consider ourselves to be particularly righteous. We say: "I still have many sins!" Although the sins that burden us now are no longer the sins that we had before! If once a person considered murder and rape to be a sin, and turned a blind eye to everything else, now this is not the case. Years pass, a person goes to the temple of God, studies the Holy Scriptures, becomes a churchgoer, and for such a person pride is already a sin, a bad word about one's neighbor is a sin. And before? "You never know what he said, because he didn't hit me!" ... Spiritual growth, without a doubt, is present in the life of a Christian.This is happiness – to see how Christ saves us, how Christ transforms us. It transforms, changing our nature. After all, the Lord Jesus Christ was transfigured before the holy apostles precisely in order to show them what awaits them ahead – what heavenly and spiritual glory awaits every Christian, every Orthodox believer! when we do evil. Over time, when we grow spiritually, it is a sin for us if we can do good, but do not do it. It seems that he did not sin, but he did not do the good that he could have done. For example, you have the means to help poor relatives, and you understand that you should do it, but you don't do it – it's a sin! Do you have neighbors who need your help? Maybe these are lonely, sick people who need to be visited, talked, sat with them, communicated? But you don't do this, and sometimes you have the following thought: "Well, I didn't offend my neighbor, I just didn't come to him!" But this is also a sin! Because we, Christians, exist not only in order not to sin, not to do any actions against our neighbor, against ourselves and against God, but we also live in order to bring forth the fruit of repentance, to testify by spiritual changes in our lives that we are different. as bad debtors. Maybe we communicated with these people ten or fifteen, or even thirty years ago. Surely there are people who have been offended by some of us, and they remember us as evil people. Let's try to restore relations with those to whom we once inflicted some damage. After all, the Scriptures tell us: be at peace with all people (Romans 12:18). Try to testify in front of them, "Yes, I have become different! Yes, I used to drink, but now I don't drink as much as I used to! Yes, I have sinned, but now I am turning away from sin, because the Lord teaches me through His word to shun sin!" It is very important to collect the stones that we have scattered throughout our lives – the stones of sin.One woman, who also attended Sunday school, suddenly remembered her husband, from whom she had been divorced for ten years: "Maybe call him? Ask how he lives?" ... When they divorced, she was still an unbeliever. And so, she called and cautiously began to ask him: "Well, how are you, how are you?" ... — "Yes, I live alone." — "Where are you going?" — "I began to go to church." Suddenly everything inside her stirred: "And I also go to church - "Joy of All Who Sorrow". "And he said, 'And I'm going to Father Artemy Vladimirov.' And that's it! They met and began to live together again: they got together because they had become completely different people! This woman said that her husband's face had even changed: before he had dead eyes, constant drunkenness, debauchery, godlessness – all this leaves an imprint on his face, but now he has become a living person! As it is said in the Scriptures: "There is a time to scatter stones, and a time to gather up stones" (Ecclesiastes 3:5). The time to scatter is already over. That time of sin is a thing of the past. Now is the time to recover, to recover spiritually. And by changing, we will also change the people around us. Our spiritual healing will extend to our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren.So, brothers and sisters, the true happiness of human life is faithfulness to the law of God! The happiness of human life, disturbed by sins, can be restored through the judgments of God. Only with God and in God do we gain for ourselves everything that every person needs! Walking along this thorny path, we ascend higher and higher into that wondrous city, the holy city of Jerusalem, the new one, descending from God out of heaven (Rev. 21:2), in which all will be as one people. And if we are truly vouchsafed to enter this city, the Heavenly Jerusalem, then eternity will not be enough for us to worthily glorify God for what He has done to us in this earthly life, and for the life that He grants to every righteous person!