So, how does Christianity teach about God? On the one hand, it says that God is Spirit and, as a simple Being, cannot be expressed by any human words and concepts, because any word is, if you like, a distortion. On the other hand, we are faced with the fact of God's Revelation given to us in Holy Scripture and the experience of many saints. That is, God speaks of Himself to man in his own language, and although these words are imperfect and incomplete in themselves, they are nevertheless necessary for man, since they indicate to him what he must do in order to come, at least partially, to the saving knowledge, the vision of God. And that the knowledge of God is partly possible, the Apostle writes about this: "Now we see as through a glass darkly, divinationly, then face to face; now I know in part, and then I will know, even as I am known" (1 Corinthians 13:12). And the Lord Himself says: "This is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent" (John 17:3). Earthly life is the beginning of this eternal life.

God the Lord condescends to our limited understanding and expresses the truth to us in our words. I think that when we die and free ourselves from this "conceptual" language, we will look with a smile at our ideas about God, the spiritual world, angels, eternity... that we had, even reading Revelation. Then, on the one hand, we will understand all the wretchedness of these ideas of ours, and on the other hand, we will see how good this hidden Revelation of God about Himself, about man, about the world was for us, for it showed us the way, the means, and the direction of the salvific life. That is, all this is directly related to the spiritual life of a Christian. We are all filled with passions, we are all proud, we are all selfish, but at the same time there is a huge difference between people. Which? One sees it in himself and fights with himself, and the other does not see and does not want to see. It turns out that the positive (cataphatic) teaching about God gives a person the right criteria, yardsticks, with the help of which he can correctly evaluate himself if he really wants to be a believer. Of course, he may hate his brother, calling himself a believer, but then, if his conscience is not yet completely burned and his mind is not completely darkened, he can understand in what demonic state he is.

You know, there are natural and supernatural religions. Natural religions are nothing but the expression in images and concepts, myths and legends of the direct, natural human sensation of God. Therefore, such ideas always have either a primitive anthropomorphic or an intellectually abstract character. Here are all kinds of images of gods, filled with all the passions and virtues of man, here is the divine Nothingness, here is the idea of Plato's Demiurge and Aristotle's Prime Mover, etc. But all the truths of these religions and religious-philosophical ideas have a pronounced human origin. Supernatural religions are distinguished by the fact that God Himself makes Himself known who He is. And we see what an amazing difference exists between the Christian understanding of God and that which is outside of it. At first glance, both here and there are the same or similar words, but the content of these religions is essentially different from each other. How strikingly this distinction was beautifully expressed by the Apostle Paul when he said: "But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling-block, but to the Greeks foolishness" (1 Corinthians 1:23). Indeed, all specifically Christian truths are fundamentally different from all their former analogues. This is not only Christ crucified, but also the teaching about the Triune God, about the Logos and His Incarnation, about the Resurrection, about Salvation, etc. But let's talk about one of these truths now. There is one more unique truth of the Christian teaching about God, which decisively distinguishes Christianity from all other religions, including even the religion of the Old Testament. Nowhere except in Christianity do we find that God is Love and only Love.

Outside of Christianity, we will encounter all kinds of ideas about God. At the same time, the highest understanding of Him, to which some religions and some ancient philosophers came, was reduced to the teaching of a just Judge, the highest Truth, the most perfect Reason. As for the fact that God is Love, no one knew before Christ. Here is an example. In our Church there is a commission for dialogue with the Muslims of Iran. At last summer's meeting, the question of the highest virtue and the highest attribute of God was raised. And it was interesting to hear Muslim theologians, one after another, say that justice is such a property. We answered: "If so, then the most fair is the computer. And do you not say to Allah, "O Most Merciful and Merciful?" They say, "Yes, merciful, but Judge. He judges justly and in this his mercy is manifested." Why did not the non-Christian consciousness (even if it calls itself Christian) know and does not know that God is precisely Love and nothing more? Because we, people, have distorted the very concept of love. In human language, love means: all-forgiveness, the absence of punishment, that is, freedom to arbitrariness. Do what you want, that's what "love" means in human terms. We forgive everything to a friend, and to someone who is unpleasant to us, we cling to every nonsense. We have perverted the concept of love. Christianity, on the other hand, returns to us its true understanding.

What is Christian love? "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Love is sacrifice. But sacrifice is not blind. Look at how Christ reacted to evil: "Serpents, the offspring of vipers." I remember one episode from the book of Archbishop Alexander Tien Shansky, when he was 14-15 years old. He wrote: "I took a book and began to look at a picture in which horses were mating. And suddenly my mother saw it. I had never seen such anger in her. She had always been very gentle and kind, but here she indignantly snatched this book from my hands. It was the wrath of love, which I remember with gratitude all my life."

People do not know what the wrath of love is, and by love they mean only indulgences. Therefore, if God is Love, then do what you will. Hence it becomes clear why justice has always been considered and is considered the highest virtue. We see how, even in the history of Christianity, this highest teaching was gradually belittled, distorted.

The Christian teaching about God the Love was deeply accepted and revealed by the Holy Fathers. However, this understanding turns out to be psychologically inaccessible to the old man. The most striking example is the Catholic teaching on salvation. It boils down, according to the correct words of A. S. Khomyakov, to a continuous litigation between God and man. What kind of relationship is it? A relationship of love? No, the court. If you have committed a sin, bring appropriate satisfaction to God's justice, for by sin you have offended the Divinity. They do not even understand that God cannot be offended, for otherwise He is not an all-blessed Being, but the most suffering Being. If God is constantly offended by human sins, constantly shudders with anger against sinners, then what all-bliss, what love is there! This is the judge. From this came the proud teaching about the merits and even super-due merits of man, which he can supposedly have before God. Hence the teaching about the Sacrifice of Christ as the satisfaction of God's justice, the teaching about purgatory, hence indulgences. All Catholic teaching is reduced to the Old Testament doctrine: "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." All of it follows directly from a deeply distorted understanding of God.

Well, if God is Love, then how can this Love be understood? Are there human sorrows? Yes. Is there no retribution for human sins? It happens, and what else. We can constantly see this from personal experience and the experience of others. Both the Holy Scriptures themselves speak of retribution, and the Holy Fathers. What, then, does all this mean, if not that God is Justice? It turns out not. When the facts of human misery and suffering are evaluated as God's punishment, that is, as God's vengeance for sins, then they make a great mistake. Who punishes a drug addict, who punishes someone who jumps out of the second or third floor and breaks his arms and legs? Who punishes a drunkard? Is it God's revenge that he becomes broken, crippled, sick physically and mentally? Of course not. These sufferings are the natural consequences of the violation of the laws of the external world. Exactly the same thing happens to a person when he violates spiritual laws, which are primary and even more significant in our life than physical, biological, psychic laws, etc. And what does God do? All the commandments of God are a revelation of spiritual laws and a kind of warning to man as much as the laws of the material world. If you like, you can even say this, God begs us, people: do not harm yourself, do not sin, do not jump from the fifth floor, go down the stairs; Do not envy, do not steal, do not be disingenuous, do not ... - you are crippling yourselves with this, for every sin carries in itself a punishment.

I remember when I was a child, one winter, my mother told me that in the cold you should not touch the iron door handle with your tongue. As soon as my mother turned away, I immediately licked her and there was a great scream. But I remember that incident well and since then, imagine, I have never repeated this "sin". This is how I understood what God's commandments are and that God is precisely Love, even when it is very painful. It was not my mother who punished me, she did not stick my tongue to an iron handle, but I did not want to recognize the laws and was punished. God "punishes" us in the same way. Our afflictions are not God's vengeance. God remains Love, and therefore He warns us beforehand, says, implores: "Do not do this, for it will certainly be followed by your sufferings, your sorrows."

Но идея, что Бог мстит, наказывает, является широко распространенным и глубоко укоренившимся заблуждением. А ложная идея порождает и соответствующие следствия. Сколько раз, думаю, вы слышали, как люди возмущаются... Богом. Бунтуют против Бога: "Что, я самый грешный? За что меня Бог наказал?" То дети рождаются плохими, то сгорело что-то, то дела идут не так. Только и слышно: "Что, я самый грешный? Вот хуже меня, и благоденствуют". Доходят до богохульства, до проклятий, до отвержения Бога. А откуда проистекает все это? Из превратного, языческо-иудейского понимания Бога. Никак не могут понять и принять, что Он никому не мстит, что Он есть величайший Врач, Который готов помочь всегда и каждому, искренне осознавшему свои грехи и принесшему сердечное покаяние. Он выше наших оскорблений. Помните, в Апокалипсисе замечательные слова: "Се, стою у двери и стучу: если кто услышит голос Мой и отворит дверь, войду к нему, и буду вечерять с ним, и он со Мною" (От. 3; 20).

Послушаем теперь, что говорит Священное Писание о Боге-Любви:

Он повелевает солнцу Своему восходить над злыми и добрыми и посылает дождь на праведных и неправедных (Мф. V;45).

Ибо Он благ и к неблагодарным и злым (Лук. VI;39).

Ибо так возлюбил Бог мир, что отдал Сына Своего Единородного, дабы всякий верующий в Него, не погиб, но имел жизнь вечную (Ин. 3;16).