Так что будем просто смотреть в лицо жизни со всем мужеством и всей решимостью, на которые мы способны, больше, чем мы способны, со всей возможной нам открытостью. Будем принимать мелкие и большие страдания до предела своих сил, чтобы отучиться от рабского страха перед тревогой и болью, который разрушает нас. Воспримем из душевной и физической боли, из причастности к гефсиманской муке, из ее понимания, воспримем от страдания и от смерти все, что они несут, и тогда увидим, что можем поистине быть на земле народом Божиим. То есть искупительным присутствием Христа, Который через страдание вошел до предела в полную солидарность с нами, Который довел ее до полноты в Своей смерти и Который через страдание, изнутри страдания, подобно тому человеку, о котором я упоминал, приобрел божественную власть уничтожить зло, победить, преодолеть зло, простить — и сделать реальностью Царство Божие: может быть, на мгновение и вместе с тем навсегда.

Я сознаю, что говорил о своей теме ограниченно и отрывочно. Но примите то, что я сказал, продумайте это, сопоставьте с тем, что сами знаете о страдании, знаете о жизни и борьбе, с собственным опытным знанием мужества и веры и тогда узнаете еще очень многое, чего я не знаю. И делитесь этим с другими! Потому что нам нужна взаимная поддержка, чтобы стоять перед лицом общей трагедии человечества, как и перед нашей собственной. А теперь я хотел бы призвать на вас Божие благословение, и напоследок произнесем вместе Молитву Господню.

Пастырь у постели больного

Пастырь у постели больного58

Владыка, ты работал врачом и после пострига. Насколько пастырь должен быть не только духовником, но и сиделкой, и врачом у постели больного, умирающего?

Whatever the priest thinks about his role, this role is as if prescribed to him and imposed by life, because if he is a pastor, that is, if he really cares about the those people whom God has entrusted to him, he will certainly be called when some kind of crisis has arisen, whether it is an illness, whether it is the impending death of someone in the family. And illness is one of the most serious crises because it confronts a person with a number of propositions, about which the healthy person is more He doesn't think part. Firstly, the illness clearly tells him that he is mortal. I I am not talking about a transient cold, but when a person falls ill at all seriously, then, rightly or wrongly, the thought creeps in: it means that I am I have no power over myself, I cannot prevent illness from taking possession of me, so I if she takes possession of me completely, I will not be able to escape death... This is the first question, which, perhaps, is not so vividly formulated, but something like this penetrates into the human consciousness.

That is, he not only needs a pastor then, but is also especially open?

He is especially open if the pastor is able to help him express these feelings. If the pastor comes up to him and says: "Look, you are sick now, you must understand that illness may be followed by death..." — then, of course, A person withdraws. I had experience in this regard.

During the war, there was a Catholic priest in our unit who believed that any wounded soldier or officer can die at any moment, and the only As a pastor, his task is to find the wounded and give him communion: since he communion, let him die in peace... He came to every wounded man, stood at the foot of the bed and looked at him for a long time. After a while, this the unfortunate man began to fidget, to worry: "What's the matter, why are you so at me Look?" – "You're wounded, did you look at your temperature?" – "Yes." "She's bad." "Doctors say it's natural." "Doctors always say this to calm the patient. You know that you can die from a small wound if it festers." And so he continued conversation, until he drove the unfortunate wounded man into a corner, confessed, He gave Communion and left, saying to me (then a doctor): Now it's up to you, I'm I have done everything of my own... Of course, if the priest approaches the unfortunate person in this way to the patient, he will only frighten him, he will close. And all too often, when The priest visits the sick person, this is seen as a warning: perhaps death at the doorstep.

But if the priest has experience of illness, either because he himself was sick, or because of the that he was able to see those people who were sick around him (to see - not to see It's as simple as that, it doesn't depend on the fact that you have eyes – you have to be able to look), then even then there is a whole — well, not science, but art. Our Relations with people should be such that our arrival in the house is perceived Simply and with joy. This means that pastoral care for the sick must to begin when people are healthy, to begin with the establishment of simple, friendly Relations.

In order to approach a person in this way, spiritually, one needs a tremendous inner chastity, one must be able to look at a person as an icon, as an icon of a living icon, which you approach with deep respect, with reverence and in relation to which you will act as you would act in the temple according to the attitude to the painted icon. That is, prayerfully, reverently, sensitively, humbly, reverently and listening with all his might to what a person has, that he can to say it himself, but also to what the Holy Spirit does in him. Inner silence priest, his ability to meet a person at some depth, very It is important because illness is the moment of an amazing meeting with a person.