My brethren, the fig tree cannot bring olives, or the vine figs. Likewise, even one spring cannot pour out salt and sweet water (James 3:12). He says that those of us who trust in princes, in the son of man (Psalm 145:3), should not forget that no matter how high a position a person occupies, he still remains only a man. And the Scriptures tell us that every man is a lie (Psalm 115:2). And the Psalmist exclaims: "Do not put your trust in princes, in the son of man, in whom there is no salvation" (Psalm 145:3). This means that any person is also a gate of perdition: after all, there is no salvation in people. So, if we, relying on people, want to build our life correctly – family, civil, state, public – we will inevitably come to a dead end, because every person is a lie. If we follow a sinner, how will our journey end? The Gospel says: "If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit" (Matt. 15:14). We must follow only the Lord! The Apostle Peter says: "Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we might follow in His footsteps" (1 Pet. 2:21). And when we wait for salvation from people, it is like waiting for olives from a fig tree. What kind of olive tree can there be from a fig tree? And can the vine bring figs? Michurin crossed apple trees with pears and, they say, almost watermelons with apples... But human fantasies do not lead to anything good! I recently visited the Tambov diocese, where I once served, and asked the local residents: "Well, what has Michurin done here?" - "Yes, he ruined all sorts of things! Before the revolution, there were such good varieties, but he mixed everything and it is not clear what happened!" This is what happens to us, brothers and sisters, when we leave our fate at the mercy of other people – let them, they say, solve our problems. This should not be the case! We must follow only the natural path, recognizing only the authority of God over us. Only the power of God! And if we live by worldly ideas about power, then we will inevitably get all sorts of hybrids: not a pear or an apple; No taste or appearance. If we are talking about the authority of God, let's see what the Holy Scriptures say about it. We often return to this topic, but it is so multifaceted that we can discuss it endlessly.The Holy Scriptures tell us that God's authority is manifested, first of all, in His creation. In the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, it is said about the authority of God as follows: He created the earth by His power, He established the universe with His wisdom, and with His understanding He stretched out the heavens. At His voice the waters in the heavens roar, and He raises up clouds from the ends of the earth, He creates lightning in the midst of the rain, and brings forth the wind out of His storehouses (Jeremiah 51:15-16). This is how God's authority is manifested in His creation, the natural world. The Lord established the universe, He stretched out the heavens, at His command the waters in the heavens roared, He summoned lightnings to the earth in the midst of the rain. You remember, brothers and sisters, how during the celebration of the next day of the city, the Moscow government spent millions of rubles to disperse the clouds over the city. And what came of it? So that people would not be proud, the Lord thickened the clouds even more! Do you know, brothers and sisters, what the Olympic Games are? They are clearly from the devil! What is this Olympic flame? In Greece, on Mount Olympus, where in ancient times there was an idolatrous temple, a female priestess reads pagan prayers, calls the demonic names of these idols and lights a fire. And then the athletes run with this fire, causing a curse: where they run with it, something always happens, problems always arise, both spiritual and material.The Holy Scriptures forbid to bring "strange fire" – a strange fire, which He did not command them (Lev. 10:1). They would light it in the chapel, serve a prayer service. If a prayer service was served before the competition, it would be Orthodox, brothers and sisters! And here they bring fire from Olympus, lit with occult and magical spells, then carefully preserve it, and then it blazes over our Moscow! Because a person is just a person. And only our God is the One Who is above all, we must obey Him in everything. We speak, for example, about sports: the Holy Scriptures do not say that sports are harmful. The Bible says: bodily exercise is of little use (1 Tim. 4:8), but it is absolutely not forbidden. Everything must be done in accordance with the commandments of the Creator! See how it is said in the Psalms: "Come and behold the works of God, who is terrible in the dealings of the children of men" (Psalm 65:5). It turns out that our Lord is terrible when He executes judgment on human affairs! But always—even when we don't think about it—if we turn away from God, God's judgment is invisibly carried out on our deeds! Someone thinks that he has hidden from people, that he is doing evil unnoticed – but the Lord sees everything! In the 65th Psalm we read: He turned the sea into dry land; we crossed the river with our feet, there we rejoiced in Him. In His power He reigns eternally; His eyes behold the nations, lest rebels be lifted up (Psalm 65:6-7).This is what the Holy Scriptures tell us about the authority of God — that He reigns forever; that to Him alone our God belongs all power; that He watches that the rebels are not exalted.What rebels are we talking about, what kind of rebels are they? These are the ones who oppose God's authority! Those who say, like the devil, when he whispered to Adam and Eve in paradise: "Ye also shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" (Gen. 3:5). And it continues to this day: every time we put the laws of men above the laws of God, we play along with the rebels and become rebels ourselves. But the psalmist testifies that the Lord watches over the rebels, so His punishment will not be delayed! God's judgment is always carried out on human affairs.Further, the Prophet David exclaims: Bless our God, O nations, and proclaim His praise. He preserved our soul's life, and did not allow our foot to be shaken (Psalm 65:8-9). All nations must bless God! And the Scripture tells us that such a time will come. This will be the time when all people – all nations, all peoples, all languages – will gather to worship the Lord on His Holy Mountain (Ezekiel 20:40). But the Lord's mercy to the righteous – to believers, to those who fulfill His commandments – will not be shaken [1].Everything will shake, everything will collapse, everything will change, everything will be devalued, but believers must be firm! We have the foundation, the rock on which we stand, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And if our house is based on a solid foundation – on a rock, as it is said in the Sermon on the Mount – then let the winds blow, let it rain, let the thunder roar, the lightning blazes and the rivers overflow – the house founded on the stone will stand unshakable! Like, for example, in China: half of the country is already in the water, and they all can't understand why this is happening. They try to hold back the water, put sandbags, but the water rises and rises. But we, the Orthodox, should not be proud: if we do not repent, God's justice can also befall us. The Russian people have already experienced the power of the punishing hand of God for the fact that many supported the revolution in their time. And the Lord still continues to punish for this.So, the Lord looks at all nations, at all nations. And He judges everyone equally, but He asks us more strictly than the rest. This is indeed so, because the Scriptures say: first, to the Jews, then to the Greeks (Romans 1:16); That is, first the believer, the Orthodox, will be punished, and then all the rest.And we all know, brothers and sisters, how the Russian people have already been punished – we really got the most! Because for God we are our own, not strangers. When parents see that their children are naughty, hooligans, who will they punish? A neighbor's child? Moreover, the Scriptures say that believers are judged here on earth (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:32). And thank God that we receive recompense for our sins on earth, so that we may not be judged there, at God's judgment. Let us not be surprised, therefore, that among the faithful there are many who are sick, and poor, and needy. It is the Lord who cleanses us so that we may appear worthy of His eternal city, the Heavenly Jerusalem. Thus, the power of God extends over all creation.If any of you is wise and prudent, prove it in fact by good behavior with wise meekness (James 3:13).Thus, we see that the Apostle James first puts everything in its place, so that we may understand and understand what God's truth is and how it should be held; Everything that is of the evil one, we must sweep aside. And in this verse he addresses the believers with an appeal: "If any of you is wise and prudent, prove it in fact by good behavior with wise meekness. This means the need to comply with it. And moreover, we must observe the laws of God in such a way that those people who live according to their own written laws would look at us and wonder: "What an amazing people you are, Orthodox! Everything is so unanimous with you... What are these laws that govern you? Teach us these laws too!" This is what the Apostle James calls for: that we may have all things with wise meekness, that we may not boast and say, "We have received more than all others!" Yes, we have received the most, but perhaps we have fulfilled the least. This must also be remembered. The Gospel says: "And from everyone to whom much is given, much will be required, and from whom much is entrusted, from him will be required more" (Luke 12:48). This is not wisdom descending from above, but earthly, soulful, demonic... (James 3:14-15).Here the Apostle James continues the theme that we touched upon in previous discourses. If we have knowledge of the Divine laws, if we have knowledge of the will of the Creator, of His power over us, then we must unquestionably obey these laws, this authority. But if we only accumulate this knowledge in ourselves, but do not implement any of it in our lives, this is not wisdom. This is what will serve as a greater condemnation for us, this is earthly, spiritual, demonic wisdom. Remember what we said about demons: they believe and tremble, but this faith of theirs is a dead faith, because they have no good works! And the Apostle James worries about those who seem to have figured out that the Lord is above all, but at the same time still do not live according to the commandments of God... for where there is envy and quarrelsomeness, there is disorder and all evil (James 3:16). What is envy? If one person envies another, it means that he has already stolen something in his heart, he has already appropriated what he did not deserve; something that does not belong to him. Older people very often suffer from quarrelsomeness. Often, not being able to influence the interlocutor with personal authority, they begin to influence with words: they talk, they say... Day and night say the same thing! This must be avoided, it is not from the Lord. This is the irritation of your loved ones. Some people have already become so proficient in this grumpiness that they know for sure: "Now I'm going to say this to this one and he's going to explode! I will tell this to another - he will also lose his temper!" And in this way they play on the nerves of their neighbors. But the wisdom that comes down from above is first pure, then peaceful, modest, obedient, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and without hypocrisy. But the fruit of righteousness in the world is sown among those who keep peace (James 3:17-18). And what wisdom can be said to have come down from heaven? The entire word of God came down from heaven, was written at the behest of the Holy Spirit and addressed to us. Although the Holy Scriptures were written by people, they were people moved by the Holy Spirit [2]. Therefore, it is wisdom that came down from heaven for you and me. We must cling to this wisdom, we must study day and night what is written in the Holy Scriptures. And then many things will change for the better in our lives.But now people are ready to study anything, but not the commandments of God. Blessed Augustine writes about this in a very interesting way in his work, which is called "On Faith, Hope and Love"

For it is not they themselves, who are distinguished by such intelligence, who are aflame with zeal, who have free time in abundance, who now study human assumptions, now investigate historical experience. And in those discoveries of which they are proud, there are many who rather assume than know all these things invented by them. Further, Blessed Augustine writes: For a Christian, it is sufficient to believe that the cause of the creatures in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, lies only in the goodness of the Creator, Who is the One and True God; to believe that there is no nature that is not of Himself or of Him; that He is the Trinity, namely, the Father and the Son, begotten of the Father; and the Holy Spirit, proceeding from the same Father, but one and the same Spirit of the Father and the Son [3].Blessed Augustine says that some people want to know everything: why the clouds move, why the species of animals change... And they are trying to comprehend it in a human way. But the believer, he says, does not need to know the natural essence of these things; you only need to know the main thing – that the Lord does everything! The main thing is to believe that there is a Holy Trinity! The main thing is to have faith and obey the will of the Holy Spirit, recognizing God's authority over you. And this is what the last verse of the third chapter of the Epistle of the Apostle James speaks of: "The fruit of righteousness in the world is sown among those who keep peace. The fruit of righteousness is true knowledge of God. In those people who have this fruit, it increases. This means – have faith in God, acknowledge His authority over you, submit other people to this power, and then you will see how your own life and the life around you will change. ^For prophecy was never uttered by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke it, being moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21). ^Blzh. Augustin. Creation. St. Petersburg, Aleteya Publ., 1998. T. 2. P. 7. ^

Seventh Discourse

My brethren, the fig tree cannot bring olives, or the vine figs. Likewise, even one spring cannot pour out salt and sweet water (James 3:12). He says that those of us who trust in princes, in the son of man (Psalm 145:3), should not forget that no matter how high a position a person occupies, he still remains only a man. And the Scriptures tell us that every man is a lie (Psalm 115:2). And the Psalmist exclaims: "Do not put your trust in princes, in the son of man, in whom there is no salvation" (Psalm 145:3). This means that any person is also a gate of perdition: after all, there is no salvation in people. So, if we, relying on people, want to build our life correctly – family, civil, state, public – we will inevitably come to a dead end, because every person is a lie. If we follow a sinner, how will our journey end? The Gospel says: "If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit" (Matt. 15:14). We must follow only the Lord! The Apostle Peter says: "Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we might follow in His footsteps" (1 Pet. 2:21). And when we wait for salvation from people, it is like waiting for olives from a fig tree. What kind of olive tree can there be from a fig tree? And can the vine bring figs? Michurin crossed apple trees with pears and, they say, almost watermelons with apples... But human fantasies do not lead to anything good! I recently visited the Tambov diocese, where I once served, and asked the local residents: "Well, what has Michurin done here?" - "Yes, he ruined all sorts of things! Before the revolution, there were such good varieties, but he mixed everything and it is not clear what happened!" This is what happens to us, brothers and sisters, when we leave our fate at the mercy of other people – let them, they say, solve our problems. This should not be the case! We must follow only the natural path, recognizing only the authority of God over us. Only the power of God! And if we live by worldly ideas about power, then we will inevitably get all sorts of hybrids: not a pear or an apple; No taste or appearance. If we are talking about the authority of God, let's see what the Holy Scriptures say about it. We often return to this topic, but it is so multifaceted that we can discuss it endlessly.The Holy Scriptures tell us that God's authority is manifested, first of all, in His creation. In the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, it is said about the authority of God as follows: He created the earth by His power, He established the universe with His wisdom, and with His understanding He stretched out the heavens. At His voice the waters in the heavens roar, and He raises up clouds from the ends of the earth, He creates lightning in the midst of the rain, and brings forth the wind out of His storehouses (Jeremiah 51:15-16). This is how God's authority is manifested in His creation, the natural world. The Lord established the universe, He stretched out the heavens, at His command the waters in the heavens roared, He summoned lightnings to the earth in the midst of the rain. You remember, brothers and sisters, how during the celebration of the next day of the city, the Moscow government spent millions of rubles to disperse the clouds over the city. And what came of it? So that people would not be proud, the Lord thickened the clouds even more! Do you know, brothers and sisters, what the Olympic Games are? They are clearly from the devil! What is this Olympic flame? In Greece, on Mount Olympus, where in ancient times there was an idolatrous temple, a female priestess reads pagan prayers, calls the demonic names of these idols and lights a fire. And then the athletes run with this fire, causing a curse: where they run with it, something always happens, problems always arise, both spiritual and material.The Holy Scriptures forbid to bring "strange fire" – a strange fire, which He did not command them (Lev. 10:1). They would light it in the chapel, serve a prayer service. If a prayer service was served before the competition, it would be Orthodox, brothers and sisters! And here they bring fire from Olympus, lit with occult and magical spells, then carefully preserve it, and then it blazes over our Moscow! Because a person is just a person. And only our God is the One Who is above all, we must obey Him in everything. We speak, for example, about sports: the Holy Scriptures do not say that sports are harmful. The Bible says: bodily exercise is of little use (1 Tim. 4:8), but it is absolutely not forbidden. Everything must be done in accordance with the commandments of the Creator! See how it is said in the Psalms: "Come and behold the works of God, who is terrible in the dealings of the children of men" (Psalm 65:5). It turns out that our Lord is terrible when He executes judgment on human affairs! But always—even when we don't think about it—if we turn away from God, God's judgment is invisibly carried out on our deeds! Someone thinks that he has hidden from people, that he is doing evil unnoticed – but the Lord sees everything! In the 65th Psalm we read: He turned the sea into dry land; we crossed the river with our feet, there we rejoiced in Him. In His power He reigns eternally; His eyes behold the nations, lest rebels be lifted up (Psalm 65:6-7).This is what the Holy Scriptures tell us about the authority of God — that He reigns forever; that to Him alone our God belongs all power; that He watches that the rebels are not exalted.What rebels are we talking about, what kind of rebels are they? These are the ones who oppose God's authority! Those who say, like the devil, when he whispered to Adam and Eve in paradise: "Ye also shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" (Gen. 3:5). And it continues to this day: every time we put the laws of men above the laws of God, we play along with the rebels and become rebels ourselves. But the psalmist testifies that the Lord watches over the rebels, so His punishment will not be delayed! God's judgment is always carried out on human affairs.Further, the Prophet David exclaims: Bless our God, O nations, and proclaim His praise. He preserved our soul's life, and did not allow our foot to be shaken (Psalm 65:8-9). All nations must bless God! And the Scripture tells us that such a time will come. This will be the time when all people – all nations, all peoples, all languages – will gather to worship the Lord on His Holy Mountain (Ezekiel 20:40). But the Lord's mercy to the righteous – to believers, to those who fulfill His commandments – will not be shaken [1].Everything will shake, everything will collapse, everything will change, everything will be devalued, but believers must be firm! We have the foundation, the rock on which we stand, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And if our house is based on a solid foundation – on a rock, as it is said in the Sermon on the Mount – then let the winds blow, let it rain, let the thunder roar, the lightning blazes and the rivers overflow – the house founded on the stone will stand unshakable! Like, for example, in China: half of the country is already in the water, and they all can't understand why this is happening. They try to hold back the water, put sandbags, but the water rises and rises. But we, the Orthodox, should not be proud: if we do not repent, God's justice can also befall us. The Russian people have already experienced the power of the punishing hand of God for the fact that many supported the revolution in their time. And the Lord still continues to punish for this.So, the Lord looks at all nations, at all nations. And He judges everyone equally, but He asks us more strictly than the rest. This is indeed so, because the Scriptures say: first, to the Jews, then to the Greeks (Romans 1:16); That is, first the believer, the Orthodox, will be punished, and then all the rest.And we all know, brothers and sisters, how the Russian people have already been punished – we really got the most! Because for God we are our own, not strangers. When parents see that their children are naughty, hooligans, who will they punish? A neighbor's child? Moreover, the Scriptures say that believers are judged here on earth (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:32). And thank God that we receive recompense for our sins on earth, so that we may not be judged there, at God's judgment. Let us not be surprised, therefore, that among the faithful there are many who are sick, and poor, and needy. It is the Lord who cleanses us so that we may appear worthy of His eternal city, the Heavenly Jerusalem. Thus, the power of God extends over all creation.If any of you is wise and prudent, prove it in fact by good behavior with wise meekness (James 3:13).Thus, we see that the Apostle James first puts everything in its place, so that we may understand and understand what God's truth is and how it should be held; Everything that is of the evil one, we must sweep aside. And in this verse he addresses the believers with an appeal: "If any of you is wise and prudent, prove it in fact by good behavior with wise meekness. This means the need to comply with it. And moreover, we must observe the laws of God in such a way that those people who live according to their own written laws would look at us and wonder: "What an amazing people you are, Orthodox! Everything is so unanimous with you... What are these laws that govern you? Teach us these laws too!" This is what the Apostle James calls for: that we may have all things with wise meekness, that we may not boast and say, "We have received more than all others!" Yes, we have received the most, but perhaps we have fulfilled the least. This must also be remembered. The Gospel says: "And from everyone to whom much is given, much will be required, and from whom much is entrusted, from him will be required more" (Luke 12:48). This is not wisdom descending from above, but earthly, soulful, demonic... (James 3:14-15).Here the Apostle James continues the theme that we touched upon in previous discourses. If we have knowledge of the Divine laws, if we have knowledge of the will of the Creator, of His power over us, then we must unquestionably obey these laws, this authority. But if we only accumulate this knowledge in ourselves, but do not implement any of it in our lives, this is not wisdom. This is what will serve as a greater condemnation for us, this is earthly, spiritual, demonic wisdom. Remember what we said about demons: they believe and tremble, but this faith of theirs is a dead faith, because they have no good works! And the Apostle James worries about those who seem to have figured out that the Lord is above all, but at the same time still do not live according to the commandments of God... for where there is envy and quarrelsomeness, there is disorder and all evil (James 3:16). What is envy? If one person envies another, it means that he has already stolen something in his heart, he has already appropriated what he did not deserve; something that does not belong to him. Older people very often suffer from quarrelsomeness. Often, not being able to influence the interlocutor with personal authority, they begin to influence with words: they talk, they say... Day and night say the same thing! This must be avoided, it is not from the Lord. This is the irritation of your loved ones. Some people have already become so proficient in this grumpiness that they know for sure: "Now I'm going to say this to this one and he's going to explode! I will tell this to another - he will also lose his temper!" And in this way they play on the nerves of their neighbors. But the wisdom that comes down from above is first pure, then peaceful, modest, obedient, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and without hypocrisy. But the fruit of righteousness in the world is sown among those who keep peace (James 3:17-18). And what wisdom can be said to have come down from heaven? The entire word of God came down from heaven, was written at the behest of the Holy Spirit and addressed to us. Although the Holy Scriptures were written by people, they were people moved by the Holy Spirit [2]. Therefore, it is wisdom that came down from heaven for you and me. We must cling to this wisdom, we must study day and night what is written in the Holy Scriptures. And then many things will change for the better in our lives.But now people are ready to study anything, but not the commandments of God. Blessed Augustine writes about this in a very interesting way in his work, which is called "On Faith, Hope and Love"

For it is not they themselves, who are distinguished by such intelligence, who are aflame with zeal, who have free time in abundance, who now study human assumptions, now investigate historical experience. And in those discoveries of which they are proud, there are many who rather assume than know all these things invented by them. Further, Blessed Augustine writes: For a Christian, it is sufficient to believe that the cause of the creatures in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, lies only in the goodness of the Creator, Who is the One and True God; to believe that there is no nature that is not of Himself or of Him; that He is the Trinity, namely, the Father and the Son, begotten of the Father; and the Holy Spirit, proceeding from the same Father, but one and the same Spirit of the Father and the Son [3].Blessed Augustine says that some people want to know everything: why the clouds move, why the species of animals change... And they are trying to comprehend it in a human way. But the believer, he says, does not need to know the natural essence of these things; you only need to know the main thing – that the Lord does everything! The main thing is to believe that there is a Holy Trinity! The main thing is to have faith and obey the will of the Holy Spirit, recognizing God's authority over you. And this is what the last verse of the third chapter of the Epistle of the Apostle James speaks of: "The fruit of righteousness in the world is sown among those who keep peace. The fruit of righteousness is true knowledge of God. In those people who have this fruit, it increases. This means – have faith in God, acknowledge His authority over you, submit other people to this power, and then you will see how your own life and the life around you will change. ^For prophecy was never uttered by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke it, being moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21). ^Blzh. Augustin. Creation. St. Petersburg, Aleteya Publ., 1998. T. 2. P. 7. ^

Part 1

Let us begin the reading of the fourth chapter of the Conciliar Epistle of the Holy Apostle James.Where do you get your enmity and strife? Is it not from here, from your lusts, which are at war in your members? (James 4:1) Asking the question: Whence do you have enmity and strife? The Apostle James himself offers the answer: is it not from here, from your lusts, which are at war in your members? But aggression, enmity, strife, are always the fruit of lusts, of which it is said that they are warring in your members. That is, everything is much simpler than people are trying to imagine, deceiving both themselves and society.When a person shows aggression, enmity, sows discord and at the same time tries to justify it with some lofty matters, in fact, everything is much simpler: it is his feelings that are at war in the body, carnal passions, disorders related to the functions of his body, which spill out in this way. In other words, the Apostle James reminds all warring people that they are still very carnal. Their lives, their behavior (what they often call politics) are nothing more than a reaction to the different functions of their bodies. You see how simple everything is, brothers and sisters! A person becomes aggressive, but it turns out that he just has increased bile! A person declares war, launches missiles, but in fact this is his offended pride! A person wants to literally turn everything upside down – home, around him, in the country – and this is connected only with his physical defects, with his desires, with his passions – with what the Apostle James calls "the war of the members of our body." Politicians begin to make some strange statements, make demarches – but it turns out that they just have a "spring cycle", so they become more active! During the summer, they will take vitamins, rest - and in the fall they will begin to act weird again! All this is directly related to the physiological functions of the body, and the Apostle James speaks about this with all certainty. We must understand that carnal people live according to physiological laws. Let's read this text again: Where do you get your enmity and strife? Is it not from here, from your lusts, which are at war in your members? That is, enmity, political activity, social aggression manifest themselves because a person cannot control his body, cannot restrain it, cannot put the body in its proper place so that it obeys the spirit, and not vice versa. Hence the different ambitions.You, brothers and sisters, have probably noticed that as soon as the American president had problems with his secretary, he immediately started bombing something? Most recently, Operation Desert Storm was carried out - as soon as the scandal became public, the president immediately started a war! Then this process resumed again – and the American president again begins to throw bombs to divert attention from himself – or rather, he tries to drown out this pain of the warring members of his nature, the warring contradictions between his body and his soul.But do not think that you and I are better than the American president: if some of us were given power, we would also probably show ourselves in a very peculiar way. If some of us were to gain power, our bodily functions would manifest themselves more openly, thanks to social consequences. Thank God that we do not have such a government! There is a proverb: "God does not give horns to a butchered cow." you kill and envy — and cannot attain; you dispute and enmity — and you have not, because you do not resist (James 4:2).Here the Apostle James speaks of the inadequacy of our desires. Lusts will never bring a person complete satisfaction. Because we, passionately desiring something, as a rule, do not possess the object of our desires. A person can commit terrible sins: kill, rob – but achieve nothing! Often we try to achieve something, but in the end we have nothing! Why? This is the conclusion of the Apostle James: if we want to achieve something with the help of our desires – our aggression, envy, bickering, enmity – we will still not achieve anything positive. Aggression will breed aggression, irritation will cause reciprocal irritation, and people who do not make concessions, cannot show humility, are doomed to the fact that their own evil will turn against them. In the Old Testament, the Book of Esther tells the story of Haman and Mordecai. Mordecai was a very religious man and recognized only the authority of God over him. Haman, a rich nobleman, was proud, haughty, and slanderous. Haman was always annoyed when Mordecai did not welcome him (and Mordecai recognized only the authority of God), and so Haman decided to build a gallows for him and put him to death. But how to condemn an innocent person to death? And Haman began to slander the righteous elder. However, it all ended with Haman himself hanging from a tree that he had prepared for Mordecai.Evil always returns to the person who creates it. Therefore, brothers and sisters, you and I must be wary of doing evil, remembering that it will certainly return to us! The Holy Scriptures say that as we treat other people, so will the Lord treat us [1]. How we treat others is a measure of how the Lord will treat us. Therefore, we have a very good mechanism for building the right relationship with God: if we want the Lord to be merciful to us, let's treat others well! Let's try to serve as an example for others! A Christian in general should be an affable, pleasant person, always joyful. He must radiate joy!I now remember Father Boris, our late rector. His cell was always open to a variety of people. And I remember how often rich and poor people came to him, and children from an orphanage, and some homeless people, and firefighters, police officers, doctors, priests from neighboring churches. In the corridor I could hear the footsteps of incessant visitors (my cell was next to Father Boris's, the door was constantly slamming, and sometimes it even annoyed me a little). Once I asked him: "Father Boris, are you tired?" He answered very interestingly: "I'm tired, but it doesn't matter: the main thing is that people don't get tired of me!" This is how this righteous man answered me, who tried to help a variety of people. And this good returned to him a hundredfold when, on his deathbed, he was vouchsafed to commune of Christ's Holy Mysteries five times! Five times in one week! And the last time he took communion was literally a moment before his death! As it is said in the Scriptures: "Let thy bread go upon the waters, for after many days thou shalt find it again" (Ecclesiastes 11:1). Let's reread the second verse again, think about it more carefully: You will, and you do not have; you kill and envy — and cannot attain; you dispute and enmity — and you have not, because you do not quarrel. That is, you have to ask. We must ask for good from the One Who is the Source of good, from God.Brothers and sisters, I have already given you the following example: let's think about it – where is the most money? In a church or in a bank? Of course, without a doubt, there is more money in the bank. There is little money in the church. In the church there are your donations, and many of you are pensioners or just poor people. But beggars begging, as a rule, do not stand next to the bank! Although, if you think logically, there is much more money there than, probably, in all the churches of Moscow. And it would be more logical for beggars to stand here and there begging: rich people go to the bank, you won't meet pensioners there! But beggars feel where there is more goodness, where there is more attention, where there is more mercy, and they go to church. They stand and beg for alms near our churches. And they ask because they receive!So, we have decided that the Source of all good is God. Those people who are connected with Him – parishioners of Orthodox churches, priests of God – they also radiate goodness. And those who seek good are drawn to the church. They want to find God, they want to experience an encounter with our Lord. It often happens that very rich people come to church to be helped here.Perhaps some of you remember an incident that once happened in our church. Shortly before confession, a tall man, well dressed, went straight to the lectern and began to speak loudly. People around him could hear what he was saying - this rich man. He literally shouted: "I want to lay hands on myself, I am broke! Bless me to pass away!" This man was really very rich. He told about himself that he helped the Church, helped orphanages, and carried out various charitable programs. But suddenly these financial changes took place in the life of our state – a financial crisis – and it went bankrupt! Now he is being hunted, he is being chased by creditors. And he came to church... Why? Any person feels, brothers and sisters, that true goodness, true strength and true protection come from God and from God's people, who radiate this God's mercy towards every person. We must ask God to help us with this! We must ask, and we ask, because the Lord really helps us.Last night on the radio station "Radonezh" there were many notes from pensioners - mainly from the elderly, who asked: "How should we live now, when everything has become so expensive? Not only that, we feel that everything will rise in price even more! And when I came to the radio, the studio staff who work there told me: "Believers call all day long and ask what to do, how to survive?" Yes, many are now broke. Orthodox Christians have always tried to work together: throughout the country they united in different artels, created various collectives, where they worked together, putting together their capital. But now even not very rich, medium-sized enterprises have gone bankrupt very quickly. And people think about what to feed their children. And children are getting ready to go to school, they need to buy clothes, textbooks. Our children and grandchildren have grown up over the summer, the old clothes no longer fit them. What can we do for them? Where to get a livelihood? But the Apostle James says: You do not have, because you do not have. And then we read: "Ask, and you do not receive, because you ask not for good, but to use for your desires" (James 4:3). Sometimes, brothers and sisters, we really begin to ask and even demand a lot – from life, from society, from relatives. Some people try to demand something even from the Church or from God. Often such people come to church and say: "You must help us!" We are constantly faced with this: Uzbeks have come, then Tajik refugees in robes and skullcaps come in whole groups and say: "You must help us!" The Church must help, the Church must feed, the Church must clothe... But the Church owes nothing to anyone, because the Church is the Kingdom of God here on earth. And all of us are bad subjects of this Kingdom, who are indebted to it, in the sense that you and I do little work in the fields of the Church, take little care of our churches, make little effort to make the life of our communities more religious. We should not ask God for help in order to use it for our lusts. Some, for example, ask God that the ruble begins to grow as quickly as possible and it would be possible to buy up as many dollars as possible. Others ask God that, on the contrary, the dollar would grow even more and it would be possible to sell currency and get rich on it. But ordinary people do not understand such problems: they have neither rubles nor dollars. Ordinary people do not have great material desires - they do not think about the exchange rate of the dollar and the ruble. Their problems are much simpler: they have a few trips to the subway left, they still have cereals at home... But in some incomprehensible way – just look! "The rich die out like mammoths (some were killed, some died, some went bankrupt, some died – we hear about it all the time!), and the poor who have nothing, who should have died of hunger five years ago – they live! They look good, dress well, especially when they go to church for the holidays. Who cares for these poor? That's right, the Lord cares for His poor! In the Gospel He Himself says to us: "But even the hairs of your head are numbered" (Matt. 10:30). That is, without the will of the Heavenly Father, not a single hair will fall from our head! The Lord cares for each of us, because we ask Him for help not for our own desires. What kind of desires are there... They gave me a few hundred rubles of pension - I went to the store, bought some food, and that's it, the money ran out! That's all the desires... The Apostle James speaks of those people who aspired to great wealth. Let us re-read this verse again: Pray, and you do not receive, because you do not ask for good, but to be used for your lusts. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity against God? Thus, whoever wants to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God (James 4:4).These words show us in what position we should be in relation to the world. The world lies in evil [2], it is hostile to the people of God. This enmity has existed since the very moment when Cain killed his brother Abel. From Cain came the people – the Cainites; the seed of the slain Abel was reborn in righteous Seth: from him came the Sethites, the children of God. The entire history of mankind is, as it were, the history of two peoples: the people of God and those who followed the devil. And we constantly observe how this battle continues: sometimes openly, sometimes invisibly; now it intensifies, then subsides. But this strife – between the children of God and the sons of this world – never ceases.The Apostle James gives the following characterization of people who want to be friends with the world: adulterers and adulterers. Thus, friendship with the world is a kind of spiritual fornication: when a person fornicates in his thoughts, fornicates, combining his Christian sentiments with false political concepts, philosophical ideas, with those passions that overwhelm modern humanity. But we should not be at one with this world, because the Apostle says: friendship with the world is enmity against God.There is a certain contradiction here: on the one hand, we must be open to all people living in the world; should be, as I have already said, friendly. On the other hand, we have no right to unite with this world, to merge with its sins. When this happens, the Lord immediately punishes us. Because God is very jealous: He immediately reacts to any of our contacts with the world of sin. So, we should not be friends for this world: friendship with the world is enmity against God.But now many people (among them there are Orthodox Christians) are trying to be friends with the world: they meet with politicians, talk with them... Of course, brothers and sisters, it is possible and necessary to communicate with any person in order to instruct him in the Orthodox faith. But when Orthodox Christians gather and talk not about God, not about the holiness of our religion, but about the general mood, about common business, about currency – this is spiritual fornication! ^We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in evil (1 John 5:19). ^

Part 2

In the Revelation of John the Theologian it is said about the end times, that then a harlot will arise, on whose forehead it is written: "Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth" (Rev. 17:5). This is a woman who has many men. The of Babylon is an attempt to unite all politicians into one, and different state interests into one international sin. Now they want to organize such a heaping sin in Europe: the unification of Europe is taking place. Then they will try to unite the whole world – and unite it by the coming of the Antichrist! Then all politics will be mixed, all borders will be destroyed, so that by the time the Antichrist comes, his power will be ubiquitous.But you and I, brothers and sisters, must avoid this spiritual fornication. You and I should not participate in any political rallies, demonstrations, because there are different people speaking there, sometimes those who are hostile to Christianity. Sometimes we are told: "There will be a patriotic meeting where all the patriots will gather!" Once I went to see what kind of meeting of "patriots" it was and also fell into spiritual fornication! How did it happen? I began to listen to their reports. And what did I hear? A man comes out and says loudly: "The true religion is Slavic paganism; Our ancestors were pagans, and the Jews made them Christians!" And these words entered into me, through my ears into my heart; I felt that this was spiritual fornication, and I quickly left this meeting.We must fight for our spiritual chastity, brothers and sisters! So that no pagan fables, no communist and democratic contagion would stick to us, so that we would be really alien to these political, pseudo-patriotic speculations. Because you and I have chosen God's authority over us! And we want to serve only Him, because we are His people and we have no alternative but the life of the Church.His Holiness the Patriarch often calls on the Orthodox not to enter into political skirmishes, does not bless priests to participate in modern politics – to become deputies or someone else, precisely because this is a world of fornication. And the Patriarch is our common Holy Father, who does not want his children to follow the path of fornication! We may not go to the rally, but we can turn on the wrong channel by mistake: we wanted to watch an Orthodox program (now there are good Orthodox programs), but we got to see a speech by Zyuganov or Zhirinovsky! And fornication begins – spiritual fornication, political fornication... Even politicians themselves often admit that politics is prostitution. So, brothers and sisters, let's make it clear that we will have nothing to do with the world of politics; we choose only the authority of the Lord over us. We had already chosen this power of the Lord over us when we were baptized, when we renounced the devil, his evil deeds, his angels, and his pride; when we were united to Christ in Holy Baptism. Therefore, let us try not to get involved with the world, not to be friends with it, because, as we have read, friendship with the world is enmity against God. We want to be with the Lord in peace, and this peace – the peace of God and with God – was brought to us by the Lord Jesus Christ, having cleansed our souls on the Cross of Golgotha with His precious Blood. (James 4:5).As we now know, brothers and sisters, our Lord is very jealous. And we cannot serve God and mammon at the same time—we cannot serve the Church and the world of modern politics together. We cannot sit on two chairs at once – to combine the path of righteousness and the path of sin.The Lord will forgive a Christian some of his sinful falls, if it happened unexpectedly, even involuntarily, and then the person repented. But He will treat us very zealously if we depart from His truth, if we, succumbing to various harmful (I would even say stinking) currents of fallen human thought, cease to defend the interests of His Holy Church. Our children go to school – I advise you to carefully look through their textbooks – are there any blasphemous statements? I will give one example here. The well-known sectarian Korean Moon not so long ago published a textbook for children called "My World and Me". And this rather voluminous textbook began to be distributed in all Russian schools! Many of our children studied for several years using this sectarian textbook! They were purposefully implanted with false ideas about God, about the Church, about the Holy Scriptures! Brothers and sisters, you must carefully consider how and what your children and grandchildren are taught, this is your duty.Recently I talked with a mathematician friend who told me that somewhere in the 70s and 80s, textbooks on mathematics were published, compiled in such a way that it was almost impossible to study with them! Then a special government commission found out what kind of textbooks they were, why they were compiled this way. They began to look for authors-compilers, but it turned out that all of them had already left for their historical homeland, Israel. We began to investigate the situation further, and it turned out that it was a real sabotage: if one generation of Russians stops studying mathematics, then in a few years the overall scientific potential in the country will decrease, and this is already of military-strategic importance! How? Right from childhood, promoting homosexuality, perversions, masturbation, contraceptives! In many schools, the so-called sex education has already been introduced: a teacher comes to the classroom with a whole box of rubber products, distributes them to children and teaches them how to use them correctly. And our girls and boys sit and study: they puff up, play... But this is the spirit of fornication, brothers and sisters! Parents should know about this, and the Church should sound the alarm! There has already been a statement by the Holy Synod about the need to stop the program of so-called sex education, because it is aimed precisely at reducing not only the population in general, but so that there are fewer Orthodox Christians in Russia! And the Lord is jealous, He will ask us for our children, for our grandchildren, for our loved ones: did we follow how they learned and what? Sometimes we do not even watch ourselves, our own thoughts. But in the spiritual life there are no trifles! That is why it is said: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).If we realize God's zeal and begin to pull ourselves up spiritually, if we do not mix with the world of politics, with the world of fornication, if we distance ourselves from all kinds of heresies and errors, then God's blessing comes to us, to our families and our loved ones. That is why it is said: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. That is, we need to humble ourselves before God's commandments. Yes, they are strict, but if we do not humble ourselves before them—before their strength, their strength and might—if we do not bow down before the holiness of the Creator's commandments—who will we serve? She sent her grandson to school, where a rather strange system of education was adopted. The teacher painted the whole class with huge five-pointed stars. Inside each star there is an inscription: "idol". On the edges of these stars, he put photographs of his students, suggesting to each of them that he should become an idol for the others. This teacher developed in children some vulgarity, some strange moods. And the woman was terrified: "What is my grandson being taught, what is it?!" At first, she turned to her daughter: "Where did you send your son?" But the daughter did not delve into anything: "Well, this is probably such a modern system of education..."A child is indoctrinated: "You must become an idol for everyone, and in order to become one, you must have other idols yourself!" The little idol will live for himself, the main holiday in his life will be his own birthday: not Christmas, not Easter, but a personal birthday! But this is a direct path to Satanism – when everything is turned upside down, when selfishness is welcomed, and pride is encouraged. We must be humble, we must be servants of the Lord. And only this path – humility, recognition of one's slavery to the Creator – will be the path of grace, the path of communion with the Lord. resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7).These words we must imprint in our hearts, brothers and sisters! Submit to God—that is, acknowledge His authority over you! Resist the devil – these false political systems, this deception, these heresies, schism, this propaganda of sin – and he will flee from you. When we live a truly church life, confess, take communion, the devil feels his defeat and flees from us in terror, because the servants of the Lord are inaccessible to the forces of evil! cleanse your hands, you sinners, correct your hearts, you double-minded. Lament, weep and weep; let your laughter be turned into weeping, and your joy into sorrow. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you (James 4:8-10).We must go to the glory of the Lord through repentance, through heartfelt contrition for our sins. We must ask the Lord for the gift of tears – a special, exceptional gift that not many have. And the Lord will lift us up. What do you mean – he will exalt you? This means that when His Coming comes, we will be torn from the earth and will be lifted up to meet the Lord! The Scriptures say that at His coming there will be two in the field: one is taken, and the other is left (Matt. 24:40); will lie on one bed - one will take it, and the other will remain... And what horror will grip us when our grandfathers, grandmothers, neighbors, with whom we constantly quarreled, ascend, and we ourselves will remain on earth! We will remain, unable to get off the ground. Because only those who have already submitted to God in this life, who have recognized His power over themselves, will be lifted up. Those who were not friends with this world will be lifted up, because they knew that friendship with the world is enmity with God. Be exalted and glorified, beloved children of Christ! And the path to this heavenly glory is only through tears of repentance, through spiritual warfare with the forces of evil, through resistance to the temptations of the evil one. The path to Heaven lies through the thorny path of life of a Christian.We know from the Holy Scriptures that even the ancient patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob – walked along this narrow path. All the saints of God followed this path. The Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews writes: "All these said of themselves that they were strangers and sojourners on the earth; they strove for the best, that is, for the heavenly (Heb. 11:13-16). We, too, dear brothers and sisters, must live in this world "as if we have not" [1], because everything in this world belongs only to God! We often hear the following words: "Recently I was very young. How the years fly by!" ... An acquaintance recently told me: "I think I served in the army quite recently - it seemed like yesterday, but I am already 60 years old!" But someone is already 70 years old, and someone is 80 ... Life flows very quickly. I remember my late grandmother saying: "I'm already many years old, and sometimes it seems that I'm still a girl: my mother has gone somewhere, and I'm waiting for her to come back..." Indeed, it is! We just don't notice how rapidly, day after day, time seems to curl up into a kind of ball! It seems to shrink: it feels as if you are rushing down a mountain.Many of our loved ones have already left this world. Many of those who were preparing for death asked me to bury them. When I see my former students lying in their coffins – students of Sunday school for adults – on the one hand, it is sad, but, on the other hand, there is also a kind of solemn feeling: these people have already prepared to meet the Lord – they have studied the Holy Scriptures, they have lived a full-blooded church life! Because very soon changes may take place – now atheists who hate Orthodoxy are openly striving for power.Recently I read that in Nizhny Novgorod the leader of the local communists made the following statement: "When we come to power, we will deal with the clergy! We will deal with the priests - they are completely impudent!" The enemies of Christ cannot calmly look at our freedom in the Lord. And, indeed, there will still be persecutions. We know from the Holy Scriptures that the most terrible persecutions are ahead, and they will be more terrible than the persecution of ancient Christians! Therefore, stock up on knowledge of the word of God, take spiritual instruction more seriously, and attend church more zealously! Visit the church library, Sunday school classes, invite friends and relatives to church. For the time will come, which is spoken of in the Book of the Prophet Amos: "And they shall go from sea to sea, and wander from north to east, seeking the word of the Lord, and they shall not find it" (Amos 8:12). You come to Sunday school classes and they will tell you: "Father Oleg has already been taken away, everyone else too!" And the temple is already being closed! Where to go, where to escape? You run to Pyatnitskaya Street, to the "Orthodox Word" - the store is already closed, and the books are being burned... All this can happen quite unexpectedly! Therefore, remember more often the admonition: "Take heed, walk carefully" (Ephesians 5:15). We are to live this life like the prudent virgins who gathered oil for the lamps: they expected the bridegroom to come soon, and their lamps were full of oil. What oil? Spiritual knowledge, the grace of the Holy Spirit! But the foolish, although they knew that the bridegroom was coming, had their vessels empty. And then at midnight they heard: "The bridegroom is coming!" Those who had oil were ready to meet, so they lit their lamps and went to meet their beloved bridegroom. Others, with empty vessels, were left with nothing (cf. Matt. 25:1-13).Once I asked my listeners: "Well, did you understand well what we were talking about today?" One grandmother answered: "Oh, it was so good, Father Oleg, so good!" – "And what was I talking about?" – "I don't remember!" Brothers and sisters, this probably also makes some sense: it is not necessary to perceive everything with the mind, with a rational consciousness. If the heart is open, that's enough! I also don't remember how my grandmother taught me as a child, but I remember her eyes, I hear her voice, her religiosity was passed on to me – my grandmother is still alive in my heart. So the main thing in any Christian fellowship is communion with the Lord. After all, the Gospel says: "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20). Let us remember these words of the Savior more often!I say to you, brethren: the time is short, so that those who have wives must be as those who have not (1 Corinthians 7:29). ^

Conversation Eight

In the Revelation of John the Theologian it is said about the end times, that then a harlot will arise, on whose forehead it is written: "Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth" (Rev. 17:5). This is a woman who has many men. The of Babylon is an attempt to unite all politicians into one, and different state interests into one international sin. Now they want to organize such a heaping sin in Europe: the unification of Europe is taking place. Then they will try to unite the whole world – and unite it by the coming of the Antichrist! Then all politics will be mixed, all borders will be destroyed, so that by the time the Antichrist comes, his power will be ubiquitous.But you and I, brothers and sisters, must avoid this spiritual fornication. You and I should not participate in any political rallies, demonstrations, because there are different people speaking there, sometimes those who are hostile to Christianity. Sometimes we are told: "There will be a patriotic meeting where all the patriots will gather!" Once I went to see what kind of meeting of "patriots" it was and also fell into spiritual fornication! How did it happen? I began to listen to their reports. And what did I hear? A man comes out and says loudly: "The true religion is Slavic paganism; Our ancestors were pagans, and the Jews made them Christians!" And these words entered into me, through my ears into my heart; I felt that this was spiritual fornication, and I quickly left this meeting.We must fight for our spiritual chastity, brothers and sisters! So that no pagan fables, no communist and democratic contagion would stick to us, so that we would be really alien to these political, pseudo-patriotic speculations. Because you and I have chosen God's authority over us! And we want to serve only Him, because we are His people and we have no alternative but the life of the Church.His Holiness the Patriarch often calls on the Orthodox not to enter into political skirmishes, does not bless priests to participate in modern politics – to become deputies or someone else, precisely because this is a world of fornication. And the Patriarch is our common Holy Father, who does not want his children to follow the path of fornication! We may not go to the rally, but we can turn on the wrong channel by mistake: we wanted to watch an Orthodox program (now there are good Orthodox programs), but we got to see a speech by Zyuganov or Zhirinovsky! And fornication begins – spiritual fornication, political fornication... Even politicians themselves often admit that politics is prostitution. So, brothers and sisters, let's make it clear that we will have nothing to do with the world of politics; we choose only the authority of the Lord over us. We had already chosen this power of the Lord over us when we were baptized, when we renounced the devil, his evil deeds, his angels, and his pride; when we were united to Christ in Holy Baptism. Therefore, let us try not to get involved with the world, not to be friends with it, because, as we have read, friendship with the world is enmity against God. We want to be with the Lord in peace, and this peace – the peace of God and with God – was brought to us by the Lord Jesus Christ, having cleansed our souls on the Cross of Golgotha with His precious Blood. (James 4:5).As we now know, brothers and sisters, our Lord is very jealous. And we cannot serve God and mammon at the same time—we cannot serve the Church and the world of modern politics together. We cannot sit on two chairs at once – to combine the path of righteousness and the path of sin.The Lord will forgive a Christian some of his sinful falls, if it happened unexpectedly, even involuntarily, and then the person repented. But He will treat us very zealously if we depart from His truth, if we, succumbing to various harmful (I would even say stinking) currents of fallen human thought, cease to defend the interests of His Holy Church. Our children go to school – I advise you to carefully look through their textbooks – are there any blasphemous statements? I will give one example here. The well-known sectarian Korean Moon not so long ago published a textbook for children called "My World and Me". And this rather voluminous textbook began to be distributed in all Russian schools! Many of our children studied for several years using this sectarian textbook! They were purposefully implanted with false ideas about God, about the Church, about the Holy Scriptures! Brothers and sisters, you must carefully consider how and what your children and grandchildren are taught, this is your duty.Recently I talked with a mathematician friend who told me that somewhere in the 70s and 80s, textbooks on mathematics were published, compiled in such a way that it was almost impossible to study with them! Then a special government commission found out what kind of textbooks they were, why they were compiled this way. They began to look for authors-compilers, but it turned out that all of them had already left for their historical homeland, Israel. We began to investigate the situation further, and it turned out that it was a real sabotage: if one generation of Russians stops studying mathematics, then in a few years the overall scientific potential in the country will decrease, and this is already of military-strategic importance! How? Right from childhood, promoting homosexuality, perversions, masturbation, contraceptives! In many schools, the so-called sex education has already been introduced: a teacher comes to the classroom with a whole box of rubber products, distributes them to children and teaches them how to use them correctly. And our girls and boys sit and study: they puff up, play... But this is the spirit of fornication, brothers and sisters! Parents should know about this, and the Church should sound the alarm! There has already been a statement by the Holy Synod about the need to stop the program of so-called sex education, because it is aimed precisely at reducing not only the population in general, but so that there are fewer Orthodox Christians in Russia! And the Lord is jealous, He will ask us for our children, for our grandchildren, for our loved ones: did we follow how they learned and what? Sometimes we do not even watch ourselves, our own thoughts. But in the spiritual life there are no trifles! That is why it is said: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).If we realize God's zeal and begin to pull ourselves up spiritually, if we do not mix with the world of politics, with the world of fornication, if we distance ourselves from all kinds of heresies and errors, then God's blessing comes to us, to our families and our loved ones. That is why it is said: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. That is, we need to humble ourselves before God's commandments. Yes, they are strict, but if we do not humble ourselves before them—before their strength, their strength and might—if we do not bow down before the holiness of the Creator's commandments—who will we serve? She sent her grandson to school, where a rather strange system of education was adopted. The teacher painted the whole class with huge five-pointed stars. Inside each star there is an inscription: "idol". On the edges of these stars, he put photographs of his students, suggesting to each of them that he should become an idol for the others. This teacher developed in children some vulgarity, some strange moods. And the woman was terrified: "What is my grandson being taught, what is it?!" At first, she turned to her daughter: "Where did you send your son?" But the daughter did not delve into anything: "Well, this is probably such a modern system of education..."A child is indoctrinated: "You must become an idol for everyone, and in order to become one, you must have other idols yourself!" The little idol will live for himself, the main holiday in his life will be his own birthday: not Christmas, not Easter, but a personal birthday! But this is a direct path to Satanism – when everything is turned upside down, when selfishness is welcomed, and pride is encouraged. We must be humble, we must be servants of the Lord. And only this path – humility, recognition of one's slavery to the Creator – will be the path of grace, the path of communion with the Lord. resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7).These words we must imprint in our hearts, brothers and sisters! Submit to God—that is, acknowledge His authority over you! Resist the devil – these false political systems, this deception, these heresies, schism, this propaganda of sin – and he will flee from you. When we live a truly church life, confess, take communion, the devil feels his defeat and flees from us in terror, because the servants of the Lord are inaccessible to the forces of evil! cleanse your hands, you sinners, correct your hearts, you double-minded. Lament, weep and weep; let your laughter be turned into weeping, and your joy into sorrow. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you (James 4:8-10).We must go to the glory of the Lord through repentance, through heartfelt contrition for our sins. We must ask the Lord for the gift of tears – a special, exceptional gift that not many have. And the Lord will lift us up. What do you mean – he will exalt you? This means that when His Coming comes, we will be torn from the earth and will be lifted up to meet the Lord! The Scriptures say that at His coming there will be two in the field: one is taken, and the other is left (Matt. 24:40); will lie on one bed - one will take it, and the other will remain... And what horror will grip us when our grandfathers, grandmothers, neighbors, with whom we constantly quarreled, ascend, and we ourselves will remain on earth! We will remain, unable to get off the ground. Because only those who have already submitted to God in this life, who have recognized His power over themselves, will be lifted up. Those who were not friends with this world will be lifted up, because they knew that friendship with the world is enmity with God. Be exalted and glorified, beloved children of Christ! And the path to this heavenly glory is only through tears of repentance, through spiritual warfare with the forces of evil, through resistance to the temptations of the evil one. The path to Heaven lies through the thorny path of life of a Christian.We know from the Holy Scriptures that even the ancient patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob – walked along this narrow path. All the saints of God followed this path. The Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews writes: "All these said of themselves that they were strangers and sojourners on the earth; they strove for the best, that is, for the heavenly (Heb. 11:13-16). We, too, dear brothers and sisters, must live in this world "as if we have not" [1], because everything in this world belongs only to God! We often hear the following words: "Recently I was very young. How the years fly by!" ... An acquaintance recently told me: "I think I served in the army quite recently - it seemed like yesterday, but I am already 60 years old!" But someone is already 70 years old, and someone is 80 ... Life flows very quickly. I remember my late grandmother saying: "I'm already many years old, and sometimes it seems that I'm still a girl: my mother has gone somewhere, and I'm waiting for her to come back..." Indeed, it is! We just don't notice how rapidly, day after day, time seems to curl up into a kind of ball! It seems to shrink: it feels as if you are rushing down a mountain.Many of our loved ones have already left this world. Many of those who were preparing for death asked me to bury them. When I see my former students lying in their coffins – students of Sunday school for adults – on the one hand, it is sad, but, on the other hand, there is also a kind of solemn feeling: these people have already prepared to meet the Lord – they have studied the Holy Scriptures, they have lived a full-blooded church life! Because very soon changes may take place – now atheists who hate Orthodoxy are openly striving for power.Recently I read that in Nizhny Novgorod the leader of the local communists made the following statement: "When we come to power, we will deal with the clergy! We will deal with the priests - they are completely impudent!" The enemies of Christ cannot calmly look at our freedom in the Lord. And, indeed, there will still be persecutions. We know from the Holy Scriptures that the most terrible persecutions are ahead, and they will be more terrible than the persecution of ancient Christians! Therefore, stock up on knowledge of the word of God, take spiritual instruction more seriously, and attend church more zealously! Visit the church library, Sunday school classes, invite friends and relatives to church. For the time will come, which is spoken of in the Book of the Prophet Amos: "And they shall go from sea to sea, and wander from north to east, seeking the word of the Lord, and they shall not find it" (Amos 8:12). You come to Sunday school classes and they will tell you: "Father Oleg has already been taken away, everyone else too!" And the temple is already being closed! Where to go, where to escape? You run to Pyatnitskaya Street, to the "Orthodox Word" - the store is already closed, and the books are being burned... All this can happen quite unexpectedly! Therefore, remember more often the admonition: "Take heed, walk carefully" (Ephesians 5:15). We are to live this life like the prudent virgins who gathered oil for the lamps: they expected the bridegroom to come soon, and their lamps were full of oil. What oil? Spiritual knowledge, the grace of the Holy Spirit! But the foolish, although they knew that the bridegroom was coming, had their vessels empty. And then at midnight they heard: "The bridegroom is coming!" Those who had oil were ready to meet, so they lit their lamps and went to meet their beloved bridegroom. Others, with empty vessels, were left with nothing (cf. Matt. 25:1-13).Once I asked my listeners: "Well, did you understand well what we were talking about today?" One grandmother answered: "Oh, it was so good, Father Oleg, so good!" – "And what was I talking about?" – "I don't remember!" Brothers and sisters, this probably also makes some sense: it is not necessary to perceive everything with the mind, with a rational consciousness. If the heart is open, that's enough! I also don't remember how my grandmother taught me as a child, but I remember her eyes, I hear her voice, her religiosity was passed on to me – my grandmother is still alive in my heart. So the main thing in any Christian fellowship is communion with the Lord. After all, the Gospel says: "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20). Let us remember these words of the Savior more often!I say to you, brethren: the time is short, so that those who have wives must be as those who have not (1 Corinthians 7:29). ^

Part 1

Do not curse one another, brethren: whoever curses a brother or judges his brother curses the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not the doer of the law, but the judge. There is one Lawgiver and Judge, Who is able to save and to destroy; And who are you, who judge another? (James 4:11-12).Let us focus our attention on these two verses. It says that we Christians are not to speak evil of one another. But in life it often happens that all sorts of rumors, gossip, slander and even denunciations are spread precisely in Orthodox communities. This should not happen in any case! Without a doubt, the Lord Himself will take care of and cleanse our communities of such people who slander each other, engage in denunciation, and slander. But why can't one person judge another? Brothers and sisters, judging another person, we usurp God's authority: we arrogate to ourselves a right that belongs exclusively to God! Because only the Lord is the only Lawgiver and Judge. Only He can condemn, pronounce judgment, and carry it out. He has all the necessary powers to do so. And the main authority is the right of the Creator. The Lord created us and He has the right to decide the fate of each of us! Sometimes God's judgment comes upon us like a lightning strike. And even in the literal sense of the word. I remember hearing a story as a child about how a woman died when she was killed by lightning. I even remember the funeral of this woman, everyone then said: "She died because she had an abortion!" Small peoples value children very much and the birth of a child is always a joy. But this woman acted not only against the law of her people, but also against the law of God. And when all the troubles seemed to be over, then the misfortune happened. She was running across the field, it started to rain, and she was all wet. Peals of thunder, a lightning strike, and she falls dead! When I served in Siberia, I had to conduct a funeral service for two children: two twelve-year-old boys, classmates. It was raining heavily, a real storm, and the electric wires fell off the pole and fell into a puddle, where they hissed and sparkled. The children came up and decided to see: one of them immediately began to shake. The other decided to help his friend, grabbed him - and both were electrocuted to death. It is difficult to say what sins these two teenagers could have committed, but according to the spiritual law, even children are responsible for their actions... God's judgments are manifold — they are also manifested through the world of nature. You know how many problems there are with nature in the United States of America: typhoons, hurricanes, floods. You also know that in pagan countries, for example, in China, in Islamic countries, there are constant natural disasters. And people are dying in thousands, tens of thousands! God's judgments can also be manifested in diseases that befall people, especially when it comes to epidemics: entire tribes and nations often perish in them. This was the case, for example, in past centuries, when people did not know how to treat many diseases. Then epidemics destroyed entire cities, devastated entire countries. But there are incurable diseases that are beyond the control of modern medicine even now, for example, AIDS, cancer. These are also epidemics. An epidemic of leprosy snatches people from ordinary society and forces them to be outcasts. And all these illnesses are God's judgments.God's judgments are also realized through the Holy Church. The Church, as the Body of Christ on earth, has exclusive rights received from God. The Lord speaks of these rights to the Apostle Peter: "And I will give thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 16:19). Let us remember how judgment was carried out in ancient times, when the law of God was given to people. In the book of Exodus we read: The next day Moses sat down to judge the people, and the people stood before Moses from morning to evening. And [Jethro], the father-in-law of Moses, saw all that he was doing to the people, and said, What is this that you are doing to the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand before you from morning to evening? And Moses said to his father-in-law, "The people come to me to ask God's judgment; when they have any business, they come to me, and I judge between the one and the other, and declare [to them] the statutes of God and His laws (Exodus 18:13-16). This is how it was in the days of the God-seer and lawgiver Moses: he sat on a stone and judged the people.You, brothers and sisters, know that during the service in front of all the faithful, the bishop sits in the middle of the church. This is done as a sign that the bishop, as the spokesman for priestly authority, is a symbol of God's judgment. He symbolizes the God-seer Moses, who was given by God the right to decide all complex judicial issues.And the Church has the right to decide not only civil and criminal issues: the Church of God is said in the Scriptures that it will judge even angels [1] – what can we say about human crimes! And the task of Moses as a lawgiver was to judge people, declaring to them the statutes of God and His laws. To judge, guided not by human legal systems, which are vicious in their essence – for in the Scriptures it is said: "Every man is a lie" (Psalm 115:2), but to judge according to the laws of the Creator – according to those immutable laws, statutes and ordinances that are obligatory for all creation, both animate and inanimate! – says Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, – I will give you advice, and God will be with you: be thou a mediator with the people before God, and present to God [his] works; teach them [God's] statutes and [His] laws, show them [His] way in which they should walk, and the works they should do; And thou shalt see out of all the people men who are able, who fear God, who are righteous, and who hate covetousness, and appoint over them captains of thousands, and hundreds, and fifties, and tenths; let them judge the people at all times, and report to you every important matter, and judge all small things themselves: and it will be easier for you, and they will bear a burden with you; if you do this, and God commands you, then you will be able to stand, and all this people will depart to their place in peace (Exodus 18:19-23). Having received Divine permission for this, Moses followed this instruction and established the institution of judges in the Old Testament Church. For this purpose, proven pious people were singled out from the people, who shunned self-interest and were opponents of bribes. It was these people who carried out judgment on the people.God's judgments are also carried out when the book of God's law is opened—only in this case does judgment matter for Christians! When some other books are opened, those books that do not contain God's commandments, and they want to judge by these books, these are not God's judgments, but human ones! And how can a person judge a person if every person is a sinner? How can a person condemn another person if he does the same thing for which he condemns his neighbor? For, as we have found out, we are all guilty before the law, and the right of God's judgment belongs only to the servants of the Church, the servants of God.In the book of Deuteronomy we read about what judges should be like and how the ecclesiastical court should be carried out: "And I gave command to your judges at that time, saying, Hear your brethren, and judge justly, brother to brother, and to his stranger (Deuteronomy 1:1:1). It turns out that the Church has the right to judge not only believers (as brother and brother), but also unbelievers (and his stranger)! Further, we read: do not distinguish between persons in judgment, listen to both the small and the great: do not be afraid of the face of man, for judgment is the work of God; but bring the matter that is difficult for you, bring it to me, and I will hear it (Deuteronomy 1:17). Moses gave such instructions to the ancient judges. As we can see, the exclusive rights of God's judgment are given to the ministers of the people of God.Let us re-read the verses from the Epistle of the Apostle James: Do not curse one another, brethren: whoever curses a brother or judges his brother curses the law and judges the law.That is, if you want to say something to your brother, you must speak according to the law of God. And if you find some of your own words – sometimes very harsh (and some use abusive words to condemn each other) – then you ignore the law of God and become a judge and lawgiver yourself. And this is absolutely inadmissible, because there is one Lawgiver and Judge, Who can save and destroy; Let us look again at the book of Deuteronomy, here the following command is given: In all thy gates, which the Lord thy God shall give thee, thou shalt appoint judges and overseers according to thy tribes, that they may judge the people with righteous judgment (Deuteronomy 16:18). And they have the right to judge both believers and non-believers. Overseers are those people who, knowing the will of the Lord, shepherd the people. As a matter of fact, the word "overseer" means "bishop." A bishop is an overseer who oversees his sheep. As the guardian of faith and piety, he watches over how the sheep walk before the Lord: whether they do not turn aside, whether they do not go to other people's pastures.And then it is written: do not pervert the law, do not look at faces, and do not take gifts (that is, bribes. – Author), for gifts blind the eyes of the wise and turn the work of the righteous; Seek righteousness, righteousness, that thou mayest live, and possess the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee" (Deut. 16:19-20). Instead of the laws of the Creator, we have become content with the law of creation. We are already losing our land: we constantly hear that our lands are moving away from us. For example, in order to go to the Pukhtitsa Monastery, you already need to apply for a visa! Pochayiv, the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra is also abroad! And all this is only a consequence of the fact that we have replaced the truth of God with lies, we have replaced the laws of God with human godless fantasies, hallucinations, and human godless delirium.Radio Radonezh once broadcast a note in which the following wish was expressed: it would be good to appoint a priest to govern our state! This would actually correspond to the word of God.As we have read, the lawgiver and prophet Moses appointed believers as judges. Moreover, he appointed the Levites as overseers and shepherds who could govern the entire people.Now our country is in crisis: people are concerned about how to find a way out of this crisis. Some say: "I wish the Communists came to power sooner!" Brothers and sisters, what will happen if the Communists really come to power? This means that in every village, in every city, in every village, the main person will be a person with a red ticket – that is, an atheist with a party card in his pocket! Do you really want to have such pastors?But we know that today there is a priest in almost every Russian city. By God's mercy, pastors appear in almost all of our villages and villages. And if you want our land to be preserved (before we lose it completely), rely on God's judgments in everything: resolve all issues with the blessing of your spiritual fathers. In this way, you will stop the rampant ungodly laws and proclaim the supremacy of God's commandments.In addition, brothers and sisters, the Holy Scriptures forbid us to sue unbelievers: How dare any of you, when dealing with another, sue the wicked, and not the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? But if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge trivial matters? Do you not know that we will judge the angels, how much more the affairs of life? And you, – exclaims the Apostle Paul, – when you have worldly disputes, appoint as your judges those who do not mean anything in the church. To your shame I say, Is there not one prudent among you who can judge among his brethren? But brother to brother is suing, and that before the infidels. And it is already very humiliating for you that you have litigation among yourselves. Why would it be better for you not to be offended? Why would it be better for you not to endure deprivation? (1 Corinthians 6:1-7).In these words of the Apostle Paul it is directly stated that we cannot decide any lawsuits, any legal cases with the wicked: with those people who mean nothing in the Church.If a trial is being prepared, and you know that a sentence is about to be pronounced, you must have recourse to the right of the ecclesiastical court! We need to restore the order of things when divorces were carried out only by the decision of the church court: if the Church did not give consent, the divorce was considered invalid. It is necessary to restore the order of things when, without the participation of the Church, without the participation of a priest, any court session was considered illegal: a self-appointed assembly of the wicked, who mean nothing in the Holy Church. (1 Corinthians 6:3). ^

Part 2