INTRODUCTION

The Highest Purpose of Man

It is characteristic and necessary for man, as a rational and free being, to act judiciously, deliberately, to assign to every deed a good end and the best means for the attainment of the intended end; This is especially necessary in important matters, so that otherwise you do not act recklessly, uselessly, even to the detriment of yourself and others. But all the particular goals of all our actions must be related to, subordinated to one main goal of life, just as the radii of a circle relate to their center, and it must always be borne in mind in every action, because "the main goal of man's life must be determined by every free action of his, and on its attainment depends both the inner dignity and perfection of each person and his blessedness. Whoever achieves the ultimate goal of his earthly existence has everything; and whoever deviates from it loses everything"[1]. If, deviating from the true goal, we strive for falsely invented goals, then all our actions and all our life will be only a constant wandering along crooked paths, an uninterrupted chain of mistakes, stumbling, falls, and their outcome will be eternal destruction. The same thing will happen to us as to the helmsman of a ship, who, without means of determining places (compass and sextant), without knowing the harbor, rushes with a fair wind over stormy waves, exerting his strength only to crash on underwater rocks. What is the ultimate goal of our life? And sound reason recognizes that the ultimate goal of all that exists is God. He is the first supreme cause of all beings, the Creator of the spiritual and material world and the Providence, on Whom all beings were completely dependent in the first minute of their existence, in creation, and in the course of their lives, completely dependent on Him. Therefore, everything treats Him as its ultimate goal (see Rev. 1:8). God, in His infinite perfection, being filled with goodness, love, and blessedness, deigned to make other beings partakers in the gifts of His goodness and bliss. For this purpose He created the spiritual and material worlds, poured out life, contentment and joy everywhere. But as nothing can be so pleasing to the Highest Being, God, as the image of His highest perfection, He has imprinted traces of His perfections on all the creatures of the visible world, and He has adorned man with His image and likeness in preference to other creatures, because they were created directly for the benefit of man, and man for God, so that in the rational and free revelation of his powers he may manifest in himself God-like perfections. thereby glorifying God, growing in God-like perfections, he drew closer and closer to God, and in communion with Him and in Him he enjoyed blessedness. This highest purpose of man is also revealed from the essential properties and needs of our spirit. An essential property of our spirit, as a being created in the image of the infinite God, is a continuous striving for the endless development of its powers, the expansion of the circle of activity, and the multiplication of the fullness of inner life. The cessation of vital discoveries, the cessation of striving for the highest perfection, immobility is death for the spirit. For in our soul there are three main powers or faculties: cognitive, desired, and feeling (or reason, will, and heart)

This is the highest purpose, the ultimate goal of every person's life. In the language of Holy Scripture, this is called pleasing God, seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and saving the soul.

The Need for Strenuous Labors to Attain Salvation

While the first man was in paradise in an innocent state, all his spiritual powers developed correctly, easily, quickly, strengthened, acted harmoniously, without hindering or weakening one another, and all together were concentrated in one main aspiration – love for God, as for the universal center of the beings of the spiritual and material world, from Whom everything came and proceeds – life, strength, laws, all the goods of all beings, so everything depends on Him as the supreme principle, and everything relates or strives for Him as for its final end, and only in communion with Him can it enjoy life and happiness. Even the body of the first man not only did not hinder the development and striving of the spirit towards God, but, serving as the best instrument for this, together with the elevation of the spirit, it could itself be purified, refined and passed from the animal to the spiritual state, that is, adapted to the exalted state of the spirit, in which the bodies of the righteous will be after the general resurrection.

This is where self-love was born. Having broken off his communion with God, having grown cold in love for Him, man has deviated from devotion, obedience to the will of God, and has violated the commandment of God. With each movement of self-will, self-love, becoming more and more intense, gave a perverse direction to the activity of the spiritual forces, instead of God it turned them to one's own self. But just as self-love and self-will, moving man further and further away from God, the source of life, light and bliss of all beings, produced in his soul disorder, confusion, remorse, darkening of the mind, coldness, dryness of heart, emptiness, then man wanted to fill this emptiness with earthly goods, sensual pleasures. From the intensification of the desire for these blessings and pleasures arose sinful passions — covetousness, voluptuousness; sensuality began to strengthen and enslave the spirit created in the image of God. From this began the confrontation, the irreconcilable struggle between the spirit and sensuality, or the flesh, which, gaining the upper hand over the spirit, enslaving man to sin, made him incapable of a paradisiacal life, and man, like a sinner, was expelled from the paradise of sweetness into the vale of sorrow.

This path for all the sons of Adam is now a field of trial, a continuous battle with internal and external enemies, that is, with their own passions and spirits of malice. Just as the ancient Jews, after freeing Jerusalem and the Temple from the captivity of the Babylonian system, performed the work with one hand, and held on to the sword with the other to repel the enemies who hindered the construction (see Neh. 4:1), so a Christian, building a spiritual home, must, on the one hand, arm himself with all spiritual weapons, acquire the art of fighting with enemies, and on the other hand, use all efforts. means and art for building a house of virtues, to know from what and how to build, elevate, decorate, so as not to work in vain. And in Holy Scripture our earthly life is presented under the image of a field in which there is inevitably a strong struggle with obstacles, a continuous battle with enemies who hinder the arrangement of our salvation, which is represented under the image of a building (see 1 Corinthians 3:9-17); and the most intense activity in the Holy Scriptures and in the Holy Fathers is called asceticism (see Luke 13:24; 1 Cor. 9:24-27; Phil. 3:12-14; 1 Tim. 1:18; 6:12; 2 Tim. 2:3, 5; Heb. 12:2, 4; Eph. 6:11-17).

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Thus, every Christian ascetic needs to know and observe the following: what are the prerequisites in general under which it would be possible to truly and constantly gain victory over the enemies of salvation; what natural and grace-filled means should be used in order not to weaken in battle; what is the main task of life, how to fulfill it—how to build a house of virtues, or how to walk the path of life in order to attain the highest degree of moral perfection and eternal salvation.

PART ONE

Section One

The prerequisites for successful warfare include: a sincere desire to strive in the field of piety, to constantly reach forward, to strive for the highest spiritual perfection; humility, lack of confidence in oneself and hope in God; the need for a spiritual guide.

Chapter One