1. God's omnipotence and wisdom. Without God, light is not worth it. "The God of Light has had everything ripe since the beginning of the world. — Divine things are not from man, but man from God. "God's water runs across God's land. "God's dew sprinkles God's earth. Everything in the world is created not by our minds, but by God's Judgment. God blows — everything will be. "God does what He wants, and man does what He can. "None like God!" "God builds everything, and what God does not build, everything is for the best. "In the morning God and in the evening God, and at noon and midnight there is no one but Him. "The Lord will not preserve the city, nor will he preserve the guard, nor the fence. "God will give you the day, God will give you food, you will give you life, and you will give you health. "God knows best what to give and what not to give. Someone else's secret is revealed to God. Clever head, sort out God's works!

2. God's providence for people. We all walk under God. "And what is our lot if not God's will! "Man walks, God leads. "It's not the horse that carries it, God does. (That is why they ask on the road: where is God carrying?) Go with God. "You will follow Christ, you will find a good path. "God will carry the menacing cloud. "No one can, God will help you. "If it weren't for God, who would help us?" "Whoever goes to God, God goes to him." "With God, even across the sea, but without God, not to the threshold. "No one has seen how God nourished me. "God gives enough bread from heaven. "God gives both the Jew and the Gypsy, the Lord fed the Jews with manna. "We are floating along the river, and our lives are in God's hand. "A ship is set in the water, and it is handed over to God. "It would be bad, but God did not command it. "The enemy is strong, but God be merciful. "Man sinned, but God interceded.

3. The mercy of God. God is rich in mercy. "God is not wretched, God has much mercy. God's love is boundless. God's love is not human. Everyone is about himself, and the Lord is about everyone. Human love loves itself, and Divine love loves a friend. "People are brave, but God is merciful. For every portion God provides. "For the widow and God with the purse (in other places, on Sundays, after mass, the villagers go to the widows' fields to work). Behind the orphan is God with a kalita. "Neither a father nor a father to his children, as God to men. (The prophet Isaiah has an even stronger expression: "Shall a woman forget her suckling child? But if she forgot, I would not forget.") Where does the goal get? God gives it to her. "Naked—oh! And God is behind the naked one! "The child falls, and God lays a feather bed. It does not know God, but God loves it. "God is the guardian of simpletons. "God will find it and bring it to people. "Whomever the Lord seeks, He will exalt. "God will love, so He will not destroy."

4. The soul of man. The soul is God's. "The soul is the most precious thing. "If you break an arm or a leg, it will get along, but if you break your soul, it will not get along. "Don't lie to me: you'll go to the other world. "The soul knows the soul, the heart gives tidings to the heart. The soul is faith, conscience is a guarantee. "Though the stomach is empty, but the soul is pure. Even though the hut is spruce, but the soul is healthy! "God won't take a soul, she won't come out on her own. "Someone else's soul is in the dark.

5. Faith. With faith, you will not be lost anywhere. "Vera is good, but my grandfather has. "Apply faith to work, and deed to faith. "Without faith the Lord will not deliver, without truth He will not correct. "Without faith one lives in this world, and one cannot live in the next. "Whoever is without crosses (without a baptismal cross or without sorrows) is not Christ's. — To refuse God — to cling to Satan. "The demon of faith fell away, not knowing his measure. - Poor is the devil that he does not have God!

6. Prayer. By vespers to the bell – all the work on the corner! "Do not live by bread, but by prayer. — Prayer is halfway to God. "The Lord's Prayer is short, may it save. "Prayer is not for God, but for our misery. "Praying to God is always useful. "The light in the temple is from a candle, and in the soul from prayer. "Whatever comes, all pray. "One cane: Lord, forgive me! To follow God is God's and to create. "God is one, but the worshippers are not the same. Everyone is baptized, but not everyone prays. — Prayer without love is not heard. "Pray, and beware of evil deeds. - Save yourself at home, and go to church. Prayer does not look for a place (that is, do not crowd forward in church). The Church's acquisition is God's. "Will he go to the balalaika, to the tavern, but not to the candle?" "The day is holy, and things are asleep. Every soul rejoices in the holiday. "A fool does not understand God's days. Whoever is pleasing to God is also pleasing to people. "That is not salvation for those who are drunk on Sunday. "Ask Nicholas, and He will tell the Savior." Call upon God for help, and St. Nicholas on his way. "When the alarm comes, you will involuntarily grasp God. "Need will teach God to pray. "Whoever has not been to the sea has not prayed to God to his heart's content. "There is nothing more difficult: to pray to God, to feed your parents, and to pay your debts. — Obedience is more important than fasting and prayer.

7. Almsgiving. Alms are rusks for a long journey. "Cook food for the homemade, and then serve it to the beggar." "A wretched man asks, but you give it to God. "Alms will justify you before God." "Fasting leads to the gates of paradise, and alms open them. "When giving alms through the window, turn away and pray to the icons (do not look at whom you are giving). Give food, O Lord, to the poor brethren! "God forbid to give, God forbid to take it!" "The hand of the giver will not fail.

8. Life. Labour. Patience. Everything is new, and new, and when will it be good? "To live is to serve God. "Do not live as you want, but as God commands. "Live in such a way that there is no shame from the God of sin, nor from people. Get untied, you bad life, get attached to a good one! "For human stupidity there is God's wisdom. "Believe God, don't believe yourself. Be alive and dear to God. "Life is given for good deeds. "God's creation works for God. "Wake up early, and grasp at God. God gives to him who rises early. "Don't be in a hurry, pray to God first." "Whoever works with the sign of the cross, God help him!" "Begin with God and end with the Lord." "You will rely on God, you will not be taxed. "You are for the worse, and God is for the best. "God loves work. Trust in God, and do not be idle. "To live without work is only to smoke the sky. "The day is boring until the evening, when there is nothing to do. "A day for business, an hour for fun. "You're one step away from business, and it's ten steps away from you. "If you yourself are bad, God will not give you the same." "God gave us hands, but we weave the ropes myself. "Work, and you will be full; pray — you will be saved; endure — they will have mercy. "A labor kopeck lives for two centuries. A good start is half the battle. "With a prayer in my mouth, with work in my hands. "This, scatter it, and look up to heaven." "There is no refusal to come to the sky. "What is bad, run away, what is good, follow it. "God help you, but don't lie down yourself. "Trust in God, but don't be bad yourself. "Christ endured, and so did He commanded us. "Do not anger God with murmuring, but pray to Him in a whisper. "If you don't endure, you won't be saved. "For patience, God will give salvation. "Wait in time, God has something to give. "In this world we will suffer, in the next we will rejoice. "God grant me to live, otherwise there's no need to bother!" "And to live in sorrow is not a twist. "You think it is woe, but you think it is the power of the Lord!" "Do not lose heart in trouble, but trust in God. "Do not lose heart in sorrow, do not weaken in joy. "Here, joy is not eternal and sorrow is not infinite. — God imposes a cross according to his strength. "What will be, will be, and will be what God wills. "What God has not given, do not pursue. "Poverty teaches, but happiness spoils. "Whoever is satisfied with little is not forgotten by God. "O Lord, nourish your soul with a small bite!" "Better 'Glory to God' than 'Give, God?'

9. Attitude to people. Where there is love, there is God, there is peace and quiet, and God's grace. "Where it's simple, there are a hundred angels, and where it's cunning, there isn't a single one. "God Himself rests in simple hearts. "Live more quietly, so you will be nicer to everyone. "Humility is a necklace for a girl (and a young man). "God resists the proud, He gives grace to the humble. "The devil was proud, but he fell from heaven. "Fear no one but God alone. "Do good and fear no one. "This is good, sprinkle with good, reap good, endow with good. "God helps the good. "Whoever does good, God will bless him. "You will spend an hour in goodness, you will forget all your sorrows. "To do good is to amuse yourself. "It's good to live with good people. "Hurry up to do good, you won't have time. "God will add to the age of a good man. "A good deed for two centuries: for this and for this one. "Whoever does good, God will pay him. "God gives thanks for the ungrateful. "A man is not born for himself. "Every layman is a family man to his brother. "Grant, God, that there be more love among people!" "It is bad for him who does no good to anyone. "Don't dig holes for someone else, you'll get into it yourself." "Trade the truth, there will be more profit." "Seek profit for yourself, and do not wish death on another. "Be friends with a friend, and do not harm an enemy. "Remember friendship, and forget evil. "Don't feel sorry for your own 'thank you', and don't ask for someone else's. "Someone else's money will burn your ruble. "An unrighteous assembly is dust. "An honest man is more valuable than a stone bridge. "Don't offend the naked: the naked has the same soul." "To offend a poor person is not to wish yourself any good. "It is the mercy of the sick to speak with the Lord God." "Do not build a church, but adopt an orphan. "Because of the orphans, the sun shines. "An orphan's tear will not sink on your chest for nothing. "Fear not the storm of the rich, be afraid of the tears of the wretched." "You won't be satisfied with someone else's misfortune. "Don't get away with it, God will take away your sweetheart. "An evil man is not afraid of God and is not ashamed of people.

480. Without a hierarchy, there is no Church

That not everyone can be a pastor and teacher of the Church, but only the elect, called by God Himself, the Apostle directly says: "No one receives honor (church authority) for himself, but he who is called of God, even as Aaron was" (Heb. 5:4). The canon of the holy Apostles states the same: "Those who take away what is not given to them provoke God to anger, even as the sons of Korah, and Uzziah the king..." (Canon of the Saints, Apostles 2). Let all their self-styled teachers and rulers heed this from those who call themselves "Old Believers": "He who corrupts the order of enlightenment, as he dares to do so, fights not with the Apostles, but with the Great Bishop Christ (ibid.). Food ecu Apostles, food ecu Prophets, food ecu teachers" (1 Cor. 12:29). No, but only those, "God hath placed them in the Church..." (1 Corinthians 12:28), that is, whom God has called and will call. Thus, for example, by the will of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles separated the Apostle Paul himself from the Apostle Barnabas to serve the Church (Acts 13:2). Barnabas and Paul ordained presbyters for them in the cities where they built churches (Acts 14:2). The Apostle Paul, as is evident from his Epistles, had many co-workers in the preaching of the Gospel, who remained bishops of the various Churches established by him. He made his disciple, the Apostle Timothy, bishop of the Church of Ephesus (1 Tim. 1:3). Another disciple, the Apostle Titus, was appointed bishop of the Church of Crete, commanding him: "Leave thee in Crete, that thou mayest correct that which is not finished (in the order of the Church, in order, and in order), and establish (ordain as a bishop) presbyters throughout all the city" (Titus 1:5). He also gave Bishops Timothy and Titus instructions as to what ministers and builders of the Mysteries of God should be chosen and ordained for the Holy Church (1 Tim. 2; 8, 3, Titus 1; 5-9), and he inspired St. Timothy: "That thou mayest weigh as it behooveth to dwell in the house of God, which is the living Church of God, the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15). The holy Apostle John the Theologian acted in the same way in the churches of Asia Minor (Rev. 1:4, etc.), the holy Apostle Peter in Antioch (Eusebius' History of the Church, chs. 2, 1, 3, 23), the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called in Byzantium, whence through his successors, the patriarchs of Constantinople, the hierarchy was communicated to our Holy Russian Church.

Following the order of Christ and the Apostles, in the Orthodox Church of Russia, the Holy Synod, as a permanent local Council of pastors, elects and ordains, in accordance with the canon of the First Ecumenical Council and the canon of the Seventh Council, to the places of bishops persons who are truly worthy of the lofty title of hierarchy. Three persons are always elected. Instead of the lot of three persons, one is confirmed by the most pious sovereign, whose heart, like the lot, is in the hand of God, according to the teaching of the Word of God (Proverbs 21:1). The confirmed one is solemnly named, then solemnly ordained in the church by bishops... In his diocese, such a bishop is not only the successor of the Apostles, but, in the words of St. Ambrose of Milan, "represents the face of Christ and is the vicar of the Lord" (St. Ambrose, Epistle 25). Those who call themselves "Old Believers" did not and do not have anything of the kind, and cannot continue to have them, for they do not have bishops, which means that they do not have the Church. "If they do not have a bishop, the Holy Spirit is not given to them," according to the words of the Church Fathers. "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of Him" (Romans 8:9). This means that all of them, who call themselves "Old Believers of ancient piety," are not Christ's, not His holy flock, but someone else's.

They will say: "In our country, Metropolitan Ambrose produced Austrian bishops for us." Ambrose, who was suspended and defrocked by his Patriarch and his Synod, can anything good be? A more grievous sin and violation of all the Canons of the Holy Apostles and Conciliar Canons cannot be found anywhere else than in the history of the false Metropolitan Ambrose and the schismatics of Bukovina. They committed a deed "more bitter than the most unclean demons. Such greatness and innumerable anguish (execution) will be raised: for below is the Divine voice from them (from Ambrose, his protégé Cyril and others), below are the Divine works: since they do not have the grace of ordination, but those ordained by them (see all of you, impostors of Austrian invention) are not consecrated, and are not baptized." (Nomocanon, Joseph's Consumer). St. Ignatius the God-Bearer wrote: "Without bishops, the Church cannot be called the Church. They are to be obeyed as Christ Himself (Epistle to the Trallians 2, 4, 7, 12). It is not permissible without a bishop to baptize, or to perform supper, or to perform the Sacraments of Communion. Whatever he approves is pleasing to God. Whoever does anything secretly from the bishop obeys the devil (Epistle to Philadel, ch. 52). "The bishop of God the Father is the image of all: the presbyters are like the assembly of God and the union of the Apostles of Christ: without them the Church is not chosen, below is the holy assembly, below is the assembly of the saints." (He is also Epistle to the Trallians. 10). "It behooves you to obey your bishop and not to contradict him in anything, for it is terrible to rebuke such a one... If some people call a bishop, and without him they do all things, such is He who is the true and first Bishop and the only Bishop by nature: "What do you call Me, Lord, Lord, — and do not, as I say, such is unscrupulousness, but be hypocrites and charmers." (Epistle to Magnesus, 2:3). St. Irenaeus: "We can enumerate those who were ordained bishops by the Apostles of the Churches and their successors before us." (On Heresies, Book 3, Ch. 3). St. Cyprian: "The consecration of bishops continues in succession... so that the Church is organized by bishops, and every ecclesiastical action is governed by those primates." (Epistle 27). "The Church is a flock that cleaves to the pastor, and therefore know that the bishop is in the Church, and the Church is in the bishop, and whoever is not with the bishop is not in the Church." (From a letter to Floretius Papianus).

What will those who call themselves "living according to the Scriptures and the Fathers", that is, the Old Believers, say against such testimonies? They are not the Church at all, but pastorless flocks, they have no hierarchy: no bishops, no presbyters – for more than two hundred years, which they themselves know well. This means that they, not listening to the lawful pastors of the Holy Orthodox Church of Russia, do not listen to the former Holy Fathers and Apostles, and therefore to the Head of the Church, Christ Himself. They are obsessed with obvious stubbornness, they tell a blatant lie, that they live according to the Scriptures and the Holy Fathers! Their leaders are godless impostors, going against the great God-established order in the Church, their teaching is a lie contrary to God... The God-bearing Ignatius teaches: "He who obeys bishops and priests, church servants (and not schismatic leaders, impostors), with them will be their fate in God. God is my witness, for for His bondage I have received, for I have not understood it from the mouth of men: for the Holy Spirit will tell me, saying, Without a bishop do not do anything: for where a bishop appears, there will be a multitude of good things... Not where sheep flock want and graze, but where I am provided for shepherds (in the Holy Church); but besides the flock and the shepherd, the sheep that remain will plunder the beast." Nor do the leaders of the "Old Believers" listen to the God-bearer Ignatius, although he is a hieromartyr, a prisoner for God's sake, and brings Him as a witness, assuring him that the Holy Spirit inspired him that no one should do anything ecclesiastical without the blessing of the bishop.