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.

These self-willed people do not obey the hierarchs, the bishops of the Church and the presbyters ordained by them: doing all the blessings and commands of the hierarchs, they have no part with them in God. And therefore they have all kinds of evil instead of God's blessings: neither the Holy Mysteries, nor the sacred teaching, for without shepherds they feed like lost sheep. And therefore they will not be saved. Truly the word of Christ is attached to our spiritually poor, graceless schismatics: "The Kingdom of God shall be taken away from you" (Matt. 21:43). "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate" (Matt. 23:38). In fact, they are a collection of only ordinary people, without a head, not controlled by anyone. "The Church of Christ cannot exist without bishops, and has never been anywhere," says the old handwritten "Polydonium" by Archimandrite Zachary Kopytensky of Kiev, respected by the schismatics, but directly accusing them of lawless apostasy from the Holy Church, although they all shout, not ashamed of anyone, not fearing God: "We are also a church.."

The "Great Catechism" teaches: "Where there are no priests, it is possible for Christianity to be inferior." Thus, all schismatics, remaining without bishops, without priests, remain without the Church, and consequently go to perdition. It is evident that none of them has the shadow of the Church! It remains for them to humbly listen to the truth, to submit to the Holy Church of Christ of Russia! If they do not believe again that it is true, then let them ask the four ecumenical patriarchs. They will say and assure those who separate themselves that the Russian Church is true of Christ, a part of the universal, completely of one mind with them in the holy faith. God is faithful and true and said: "I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." It means that there is His true Church somewhere. It is Greek-Russian, with full hierarchy and Sacraments.

(From the "Tambov Diocesan Gazette")

481. The Blessed Youth

In our time, it is not uncommon to encounter examples of fervent childish piety, prolonged fervent prayers with tears, love for the Divine services, and a zealous striving to imitate the feats of the Holy Fathers; this happens in those pious families in which children are brought up in the fear of God, on the reading of the lives of the saints, under the shadow of the temple of God. And this feeling, these pure, holy aspirations do not bring sorrow and darkness into the young soul, but a joyful silence, clarity and tranquility. The child draws spiritual strength and strength from them; in his soul there are formed bright images (ideals) of a holy life, a life according to the Gospel of Christ, images that become akin to his young heart and become for him for the rest of his life a cherished sacred object, to which a person then turns with warm feeling, even in extreme old age. And the stronger these holy aspirations are in childhood, the more they subsequently illuminate the darkness of life in this earthly vale—they reconcile the stranger of earth, weary of the adversity of life, with his joyless lot, and support, encourage, and console him in his arduous pilgrimage to the heavenly fatherland.

Such was St. Sergius in childhood. Early in his soul, nurtured by examples and lessons of piety, there was revealed a feeling of love for prayer and a readiness for ascetic deeds to please God. The simple, kind heart of a child is an open door to the grace of God, and that is why the Lord said of children: "For of such is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 19:14). Early the grace of God descended into the innocent heart of the lad Bartholomew (the secular name of St. Sergius) and reigned there. With all his soul, Bartholomew fell in love with church services and did not omit a single church service. At home he spent all his time reading spiritual books and, in part, in home studies at the direction of his parents. Drawing lessons of spiritual wisdom from books, he immediately tried to apply them to his life: "Not so," remarks St. Philaret, "like many long-time scholars, whose teaching blossoms in words, but does not ripen in deeds." He soon realized that even in adolescence the passions already begin to manifest their destructive power, which costs no small difficulty to restrain; and whoever succumbs to their attraction even once in his youth and allows himself to be bound by vicious inclinations, it is even more difficult for him to overcome them. And so the prudent lad takes all measures to cut off all the ways by which they have become accustomed to finding access to the heart of man. Thus, first of all, he completely avoids childish games, jokes, laughter and idle talk, remembering that with the "obstinate" one can easily "become depraved" (Psalm 17:27). Then, realizing that to abstain oneself in everything is the best means of restraining the passions, the holy lad imposes upon himself a strict fast: on Wednesdays and Fridays he does not allow himself to eat anything, and on other days he eats only bread and water. He did not allow himself to think about any other drinks, not to mention wine, all his life.

His caring mother tried to moderate the severity of his fasting: "Do not exhaust yourself with excessive abstinence, my son," she said, "so that you do not fall ill from exhaustion; then you will cause us no small sorrow. You are still a child, your body is still growing; other children will eat seven times a day, but you, my child, eat only once a day, or even every other day; Stop doing this, it is beyond your power: every good thing is good in moderation and in due time. Eat food, at least with us." But the prudent lad meekly answered these admonitions of his loving mother: "Do not hinder me in this, my dear, so that I do not have to act contrary to your will. Do not turn me away from abstinence, which is so sweet to my soul; Why do you advise your son that which is unprofitable? For you told me that I fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays when I was still in my cradle; how can I not compel myself to please God, that He may deliver me from my sins?" — "You are not yet twelve years old," his mother objected to him, "and you speak of your sins! You have chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from you — what are your sins?" — "Stop, mother," the son answered her with restrained grief, "what are you saying? listen to what the Holy Scriptures say: "No one... pure" before God, "if his life be one day on earth" (Job. 14; 5). The mother was amazed at her son's rational speeches and, not wishing to interfere with his good will about God, used to say to him: "If you reason like this, then do as you wish; The Lord is with you, I do not want to hinder you in good, my child." And the holy lad never allowed himself even to taste any sweet dishes or drinks, following the wise instruction of St. Basil the Great: "If thou wilt enter into paradise, restrain thy belly, flee from drunkenness." Thus, taming his young flesh by abstinence and labors for the preservation of purity of soul and body, he did not deviate from the will of his parents in any way; As a meek and obedient son, he was a true consolation to them.