In the meantime, we are not required to worship the speaking idol of the Antichrist – we should not look too much at all kinds of warnings and signs. This is not good for the soul. This is how a person is made: what he looks at enters him. If we search everywhere for the Antichrist and his traces, we will eventually find them, but in our own souls (or rather, we will create them there).

The rules of asceticism require: turn your mind to God and take nothing into your soul except God. For if your mind absorbs worldly impressions, all the details and separateness of worldly vanity, then the soul will lose its integrity, will lose its chastity, and will be reshaped from the image of God into the image and likeness of the fallen world. That is why the Apostle Paul says: "I determined to be... to those who know nothing but Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:2). It is not the Antichrist who should be sought, but Christ. It is not from the Antichrist that we must defend ourselves, but we must resort to Christ[301]. To seek Christ and live by Him[302]. After all, one is cured of a disease not by suspiciously looking for its signs, but by taking medicine and keeping oneself warm. And if Christ is in us, then what do we care about everything else?

That is why the holy fool Elder Nicholas from the island of Zalit is when he is asked about the INN: "– What is this? – About this individual number, which everyone is arguing about now. "And what is this number?" What's it? – This is a tax number that is given to every person now. "Oh, that's right?.. – They say that this is the seal of the Antichrist... – No, no, no, no. "What's 'no'?" – This is not the seal of the Antichrist. - Do you see any danger to the soul in this? –No. To drink, to be lazy, not to work – this is a sin. This is not necessary. And what is needed is to work. I don't know what it is - INN ... No, my precious I don't know anything... I don't know, I've never heard of it."

It is unlikely that these words of Fr. Nicholas should be taken literally. It is about spiritual admonition: strive to know Christ; Do not obscure your spiritual gaze by looking at darkness or empty rumors...

The original Christians were able to live so joyfully in the midst of persecution because they sought Christ, and did not seek out the intrigues of their enemies. That is why Clement of Alexandria testified: "For us all life is a holiday. We recognize God as existing everywhere... Joy is the main characteristic feature of the church" (Stromata 7, 7 and 16). And can you say something like this about us today? So are we Orthodox? Why is fear, sullenness, and anxiety today characteristic of the expression of our faces, and not at all joy? Is it not because we have forgotten how to rejoice in Christ (God, how boring Orthodox Russia was when the 2000th anniversary of the Nativity of Christ was celebrated!) that we have come to fear His enemy?

In the "Otechnik" it is narrated how once the elder John asked the demons: "What do you fear most of all among Christians?" – "Truly you have three great things," they answered. "You wear one around your neck; the other is the ablution that you receive in the temple; and the third is what you eat at the liturgy." John asked again: "But which of these three things do you fear the most?" – "If you were careful to preserve what you partake of in communion," they answered, "none of us would have the power to do any harm to a Christian." Thus, it is not we who should fear the demons, but they us, for we have that which frightens them.

Let us listen to the instructions of St. Anthony the Great, transmitted by St. Athanasius the Great: "Where there is the sign of the cross, there sorcery is exhausted, magic is ineffective." "The demons do everything, speak, make noise, pretend, make riots and confusion to the deception of the inexperienced, knock, laugh madly, whistle; and if anyone does not pay attention to them, they weep and shed tears, like the vanquished... nor should we be afraid of demons... because they are powerless and can do nothing more than threaten." "The demons, having no power, seem to amuse themselves at the spectacle, changing their guises and frightening children with a multitude of ghosts and ghosts. For this reason, above all, they should be despised as powerless"[308]. "The devil has no power even over swine. For, as it is written in the Gospel, the demons asked the Lord, saying: "Command us to go" (Matt. 8:31) into the swine. But if they have no power over swine, how much more do they not have power over man, who is created in the image of God"[309]. "Therefore <we> should fear only God, and despise the demons and not fear them in the least"[310].

There is no need to stare at the darkness. We should pay no more attention to the dark force than when we were born into the Church. "Blow and spit on him!" That's all: you declare war – and immediately you turn your back to the darkness, face the East and declare: "I am united to You, Christ!"

Throughout the Gospel narrative there is a call, which is most often heard from the lips of the Savior and His angels: "Do not be afraid!" With these words the angel appeared to Zacharias, the future father of Saint John the Baptist. With these words, the Archangel appeared to the Virgin Mary in the Annunciation. With these words, the Resurrected Savior revealed Himself to the Apostles. "To give courage to the fearful is none other than God alone, Who says to him who fears: 'Do not be afraid, I am with you' (Isaiah 41:10); Do not be in the least timid, as the prophet says of himself: "For if I walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me" (Psalm 22:4). And the Lord Himself says to those who fear: "Let not your heart be troubled, neither be afraid" (John 14:27) and "why are you afraid, have little faith" (Matt. 8:26), and "be of good cheer, I am, fear not" (Mark 6:50) and again: "Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world" (John 16:33)"[311].

Столь часто этот призыв звучит потому, что человека, который слишком всерьез отнесется к окружающим его угрозам, постигнет то, чего он боится. Ведь ум такого человека будет помышлять не о Боге, а о тех угрозах, которые исходят из внебожественного мира. Такая душа будет обращать внимание на умыслы и коварства своих земных недругов, а не на ту благодатную защиту, которую дает нам любящий Промысл Творца. Но если человек отвернулся от Бога и мыслит только о земном, пусть даже и боясь его, – то он и в самом деле остается один на один с тем, чего он боится. Своим недолжным страхом он закрывает свою душу от хранящей помощи Божией.

Поэтому «дал нам Бог духа не боязни, но силы» (2 Тим.1, 7). Поэтому апостол Павел утешает: «если Бог за нас, кто против нас?» (Рим.8, 31).

Бог – с нами?.. Тогда зачем же мы боимся чего бы то ни было?

Я по себе знаю, как разрушает душу неуместный страх. Когда я только начинал свою церковную жизнь, то носил в себе немалый страх: боялся, узнают, что я, тогда студент кафедры научного атеизма, крестился и хожу в храм. Боялся семейного скандала, боялся изгнания из университета. И в первые месяцы после крещения каждый раз, когда хлопала дверь в храме, я озирался: вдруг вошел какой-нибудь знакомый, который заметит меня, узнает, «настучит». Я даже для крещения специально выбрал такой храм, который был бы как можно дальше и от моего дома, и от университета… И по сю пору в этот храм я и езжу, потому что служу именно в нем. И нередко по дороге к нему ( полтора часа в один конец) думаю: «Эх, ну зачем же я тогда таким трусом был?!»… В том страхе я жил несколько месяцев, пока однажды я не внял сердцем (не ушами, а сердцем!) тому прокимену, который поется на водосвятном молебне: «Господь – просвещение мое и Спаситель мой, кого убоюся, Господь – защититель живота моего, кого устрашуся». Ах, как прав Александр Галич: «Неисповедимы дороги зла – но не надо, люди, бояться!»…

Не случайно заклинательные молитвы, читаемые священником при крещении, повелевают сатане: «Отступи, познай твою суетную силу, ниже на свиниях власть имущую». И в гадаринских свиней бесы не могли войти без соизволения Христа. Тем более не властны они над нами, христианами. «Православным должно быть стыдно бояться немощных дерзостей лукавого, забывая, что есть Всесильный Бог… Сети диавола подобны паутине; их разрывают церковные таинства, пост и молитва, а также решимость бороться с диаволом и готовность служить Богу»[312]