Big things start small. Moscow burned down from a small candle. A whole worm destroys an oak, a ship sinks from a small crack. From a sip of vodka, drunk with disgust, they move on to drunkenness. Seldom does anyone begin with gross sins, because conscience is indignant against such sins, but it willingly accepts small ones. Sinful aphids infect the soul gradually. A small thief crept in, unlocked the door to the big one. Both the disease and the fire must be destroyed first. "Learn to conquer the small if you want to conquer the great," teaches John Climacus.

When a Christian, before committing a sin, reassures himself that this is a small sin, then he increases the severity of the sin through this evil calming. Small sins... But they surround us every hour, day by day, year by year. Their name is legion. What joy is there to perish not from one Goliath, but from a multitude of Philistines? The locusts are neither great nor strong, but they bring calamity to the whole country by their multitude.

Attention to detail is usually a measure of a person's personality. This is a kind of barometer of the soul. The higher a person is spiritually, the more sensitive he is to trifles. A Russian writer tells of a man who, having forgotten to say good-bye to occasional companions whom he met on a steamer or in a railway car, sometimes returned half a mile away in order to fulfill this duty of politeness and not to offend people almost unknown to him. The late elder of the Optina Hermitage, Father Ambrose, wept loudly at confession, lamenting that due to physical infirmity he allowed himself to eat an egg: on Wednesday. The Monk Macarius of Egypt, already in extreme old age, still mourned his sin of early childhood, when he secretly ate a pod he had found on the road, dropped by one of his male peers.

Our insensitivity to such sins is a sure indicator of the defilement of the soul. The more attentive a person is to trifles, the higher the degree of moral development he is. A person who is able to offend someone in small things without noticing is unlikely to have cordiality.

In the naming of certain sins as minor, there is a misconception of righteousness, as if expressed in heroic deeds. Righteousness is not heroism, with which, under the influence of the moment, one sacrifices one's life and performs feats of extraordinary bravery. Righteousness is manifested daily in small things, although sometimes it reaches the level of heroism. In general, a righteous life, full of stubborn struggle with trifles, is higher than a major feat or a heroic deed. A hero can be a bad person, but a righteous man is always good. Heroism is often the result of nervous excitement of a momentary impulse; righteousness is a matter of moral conviction and a stubborn, prolonged struggle with oneself. Not to lie, not to condemn, to pity, to forgive, to abstain, to humble oneself – these are the small things in which a disciple of Christ must be faithful. Such is the will of God. Can a violation of this will, even a partial one, be called a minor sin? A counterfeiter is also guilty when he counterfeits a small coin. In a small sin there is sometimes a more criminal will than in a great one.

Chapter XIII, Verses 1-13

The temple in Jerusalem, which was visited by Jesus Christ, was once considered a miracle of architectural art, so that the rabbis of the Jewish people even made up a saying that whoever has not seen this temple does not know what beauty is. This was the third temple in Jerusalem. The first, the magnificent temple of Solomon, was razed to the ground by the Chaldeans when the Jews were taken into Babylonian captivity. The second, built by a handful of poor Jews who had returned from captivity under the leadership of Zerubbabel, was dismantled by Herod, the so-called Great, and in its place a new one was erected, under the arches of this Herod's temple the Savior of the world prayed and taught the people.

In the darkest life there are gaps, and such a gap in the villainous life of Herod was the attempt to crown the glory of his reign with a grandiose undertaking – the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. Various motives inclined him to do so. On the one hand, spurred on by his excessive ambition and love of glory, he sought to give his residence extraordinary splendor and splendor by the construction of numerous beautiful buildings.

On the other hand, there were purely political considerations, for this cruel, depraved Oriental despot thought that by such attention to the people's shrine he would be able to lessen the dark hatred of his subjects, against whom he had sinned so much, by insulting their religious feelings, by beating up the rabbis, by destroying the Sanhedrin, and by defiling the holy city with pagan games and theaters.

Для постройки храма прежде всего сделаны были все необходимые приготовления.

Полтора года потребовалось на постройку нового святилища и еще восемь лет на сооружение главных дворов и портиков. К 14-му году до Р.Х. новое здание было уже настолько закончено, что в нем можно было совершать богослужение. Хотя дополнительные и отделочные работы продолжались еще несколько десятков лет, но уже ко времени Спасителя вновь воздвигнутое здание поражало своим великолепием. Здесь было, кажется, все, чего требовала прихотливая роскошь и что изобрела архитектур­ная фантазия Востока.

Центральное здание, где устроены были святилище и Святое святых, охотно сравнивалось раввинами, по его виду, с лежащим львом: оно с своею мраморной белизной и золотыми крышами, унизанными острыми шпицами, чтоб не давать садиться птицам, выглядело подобно красивой горе, снежная вершина которой золотилась солнцем.

Назначение и расположение дворов и святилища были установлены законом Моисеевым. Во дворе священников было так называемое медное море для омовения, в середине был огромный жертвенник, сделанный из неполированных камней. На северной стороне находились мраморные столы для мяса жертвенных животных. В святилище стояли стол для хлебов предложения, жертвенник кадильный и семисвечный светильник — весь из литого золота. Святое святых было пусто: там, где некогда стоял ковчег завета, находился камень, на который первосвященник полагал свою кадильницу в день очищения. Он назывался "камнем основания" и считался "пупом земли".

Ввиду описанного великолепия неудивительно, что иудеи необычайно гордились своим храмом. Действительно, это было величественное здание с перемежающимися массами красного и белого пентеликинского мрамора, которые раввины сравнивали с переливами морских волн. Сверкая в знойный полдень своими золотыми шпицами, украшенный дорогими камнями и приношениями, храм, поистине, составлял гордость всей земли, и раввины не без основания говорили: "Мир подобен глазу; белок его есть океан; черная его часть есть земля; зрачок - это Иерусалим, а изображение внутри зрачка — святилище". Для них этот храм был обиталищем Невидимого.