That is why we also introduce the word children into the name of the most beautiful and highest of the blessings of life and call them "the teaching of the child" p a i d e i a and "the education of children" p a i d a g w g i a. We consider the education of children to be their friendship with virtue from infancy.

The meaning of the name children was revealed to us more clearly by the Lord in connection with the dispute that took place between the apostles, which of them was greater (i.e., more powerful). Then the Lord placed a child among them and said: "Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same shall be greater in the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matt. 18:3). The name children was not used by Him, therefore, to denote a minor, as some have supposed; and His words: Except ye be as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven, except as nonsense, which is to be understood; for we are not little children who tend to lie on the ground; and we do not crawl on it like snakes, as we once did, wriggling with our whole bodies to achieve the goal of foolish desires; on the contrary, with a feeling turned forward, turning away from the world and sins, touching the earth only with the edges of our garments, as if we only visibly belonged to the earthly world, we strive for sacred wisdom, which seems foolishness only to those who are sophisticated in evil (Psalm 51:4) (1 Corinthians 2:14). In truth, therefore, children are those who recognize the one God as Father, being simple, innocent, and pure worshippers of the Unicorn. To those who move forward in the Logos (the Word) He calls and says that they should not be concerned about earthly things, and invites them only to turn to the Father, in imitation of children. That is why He says in the following: "Do not be anxious about tomorrow two: for tomorrow will take care of its own" (Matt. 6:34). Thus putting away from ourselves the cares of life, we must, in accordance with His commandment, gravitate only to the (heavenly) Father. And whoever fulfills this commandment, both before God and before the world, is truly like a little child; before the world he appears like this because here he is considered a fool; before God - because he is loved by God. But if there is one Teacher, the Heavenly Teacher, as the Scriptures affirm (Matt. 23:8), then with consistency all people on earth can be called disciples, for in reality the matter is as follows: perfection is contained in God, the Constant Teacher; but the childish and imperfect is characteristic of us, who are constantly in the position of disciples. Therefore, in many places of the prophetic writings, the perfect is denoted by the word man. David speaks of the devil: "The Lord abhors a man of blood" (Psalm 5:6). He calls the devil a man, because he is perfect in evil. And the Lord is called a man, because He is perfect in righteousness. Thus the Apostle in his Epistle to the Corinthians says: "I have betrothed you to one man, that I might present you to Christ as a pure virgin" (2 Corinthians 11:2), i.e. as children and consecrated to the one Lord. But most beautifully he explains the essential concept in the Epistle to the Ephesians, saying: "Until we all come to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: that we may no longer be babes, tossed about and carried about by every wind of doctrine, because of the cunning of men, because of the cunning art of deception, but by true love we return all things to Him, who is the head, Christ (Ephesians 4:13-15).

This is what the Apostle says for the edification of the body of Christ, which is (his) head and man, the only one who is perfect in righteousness. But we are little children, who must guard against the haughty winds of false doctrine (Col. 2:18; Eph. 4:14) and have no right to believe those who want to impress upon us something other than what our fathers taught us; we attain perfection by forming the Church, and acknowledging Christ as its head.

Here it will be appropriate to explain the word n h p i o V baby. It is not at all identical with the word "stupid"; this meaning is characteristic of the word n h p u t i o V; n h p i o V is equal to n e h p i o V, and h p i o V means subtly sensitive; n h p i o V, this word means, therefore, a newborn, meek, quiet, gentle in soul.

Blessed Paul explained this word especially clearly in this way, saying: We could appear as Apostles of Christ; but they were quiet among you, as a nurse tenderly treats her children (1 Thess. 2:7).

The child, therefore, is quiet; and, especially, gently, softly and simply, guilelessly and unhypocritically, straightforward and sincere, and these traits are the foundations of simplicity and truthfulness. On whom, it is said, shall I look: the humble and the contrite in spirit (Isaiah 66:2)? Such is virginal speech; it is gentle and unfeigned. That is why the bride is usually called "tender" and the child "soft-hearted" (Ill. VI, 400). We are soft-hearted if we do not persist in refusing to obey persuasion, if we show a willingness to do good, if we do not harbor hatred in our hearts, if we do not stain our feelings with malice and deceit. The ancient generation was deceitful and hard-hearted (Acts 2:40; Phil. 2:15; Matt. 12:39; Mark 8:38), but the choir of children, i.e. we, the new people (2 Corinthians 3:17), are tender as a child. The Apostle admires pure-hearted children in his Epistle to the Romans; and he gives a definition, so to speak, of children in the words: "But I desire that you should be wise in good, and simple and evil" (Romans 16:19). For we associate the meaning with the word n h p i o V not negatively, although boys, under the guidance of grammarians, speak of n h privatium, although the detractors of childhood call us madmen. But you see how by this they insult the Lord, considering those who seek refuge in God as fools. And when they—this is worth listening to—consider children to be simple-minded, then we rejoice at this definition. Simple-minded are newborn souls, having only recently become rational after ancient madness, having appeared in a young form in accordance with the New Testament; only recently have we learned to know God after the coming of Christ. For no one knows the Father except the Son, and to whom the Son wants to reveal (Matt. 11:27; Lk. 10:22). Yun is a new people in contrast to the ancient; he learned to learn new blessings. And we're reaching the full age, the never-aging virtue. Constantly our knowledge is mature, constantly we are young, constantly tender, constantly new. Those people who have joined the new Logos tend to be new. But that which takes part in the eternal is also characteristic of being immortal. Therefore, the expression "childhood" for us is equal to the spring of life, for the truth in us does not grow old and our morals are saturated (breathed) with truth. Truth blossoms forever, it is always equal to itself, it never changes. It is said: Children! They will carry you in their arms and caress you on their knees. As his mother comforts someone, so will I comfort you, and you will be comforted in Jerusalem (Isaiah 66:12-13). The mother calls the children to her: in the same way we seek out our mother, the church. Every weak and tender creature, because of its weakness, in need of help, is something pleasant, worthy and beautiful; and usually everyone readily helps such a small creature. As (earthly) parents look with special joy at their pets: a horse at his foal, a cow at his calf, lions at their lion cubs, deer at their fawns, a man at his little child; in the same way, the Heavenly Father of all receives those who come to Him, and as a result of their regeneration by the Holy Spirit, sees in them His reverent children, loves them, supports them, protects them, and for this reason calls each of them a child. In my opinion, the name Isaac is also related to childhood. Isaac means "laughter." The curious king saw him playing with his wife and helper, Rebekah (Gen. 26:7). The king, his name was Abimelech, I think, signifies the heavenly wisdom that descends upon the mysterious play of children. Rebekah is interpreted to mean "patience." This is a truly reasonable game for children: laughter is supported by patience! And the tsar looks at this game as the spirit of the children of Christ, who spend their lives in patience, rejoices. In a similar way, Heraclitus imagines his Zeus, who is engaged in games. For what is more fitting for a perfect sage than to play and remain joyful with patience and a good way of life, celebrating his life as if he were celebrating a festive celebration together with God (and like Him)? The prophet's hint can also be understood in another way, namely, that we, like Isaac, rejoice and greet our salvation with laughter. And he laughed when he was saved from death (Gen. 26:7 ff.); He joked and rejoiced with the savior, his bride. The bride is our helper in achieving salvation: the church. She is given a name meaning firmness; it is called "patience," Rebekah, either because she alone is eternal with constant joy, or because she is composed of the patient faithful—these are of us, the members of Christ. It is a living testimony to the existence of people who endure to the end, and represents in their person a joyful gratitude to God (for life). The Church, therefore, is a mysterious play of children and a helper in salvation that gives sacred consolation. - The King, furthermore, is Christ, who looks down on our laughter. And looking through the window, as the Scripture says, He draws into gratitude and praise, into joy and triumph, and also looks at patience and then at the union of all these things in His own. Only belonging to the church. He shows her his face, which is necessary for her, for through her royal Head she also attains perfection. And what is this window through which the Lord appears? This is the flesh in which He appeared. — The Lord Himself is Isaac (because it is possible to understand the matter in this way). Isaac was a type of the Lord; being a child of men, he was the son of Abraham, as Christ was the Son of God. As Lord, He is a sacrifice; but, being the Lord, He did not perish at the same time. Isaac carried wood for the sacrifice: in the same way the Lord carried the tree of the cross. But He laughed mysteriously, prophesying that He would fill us with joy, saved from destruction by His blood. (Only in the dissimilarity is that) Isaac did not suffer, yielding the beginnings of suffering to the Lord, and through the fact that he was not sacrificed, symbolically depicting the Divinity of the Lord, for after the burial the Lord arose, as if He had not suffered, remaining, like Isaac, untouched by death.

In confirmation of the above, I can cite another important point. The Holy Spirit calls the Lord Himself a child, thus prophesying about Him through Isaiah: "Unto us a child is born; The Son is given unto us, dominion is upon His shoulders (Isaiah 6:9). Who is this baby? This is the one in whose image we are children. Through the same prophet, the Spirit thus declares His greatness: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God. The Eternal Father, the Prince of Peace. To the increase of His dominion and peace there is no limit (Isaiah 9:6). O great God! O perfect child! The Son in the Father and the Father in the Son! And should not the upbringing of children be perfect after this through this Infant, who, guiding us, His little children, is our common inheritance? He stretched out his arms to us. Of this Child and John, the greatest prophet of those born of women (Luke 7:28), testifies: "Behold the Lamb of God" (John 7:28). I, 29, 36). Since the Scriptures call little children lambs, then God the Logos (the Word), Who became man for our sake and willed to become like us in all things, called the Lamb of God, i.e. the Son of God, the Child of the Heavenly Father.

6. Against those who believe that the name "children" and "infants" means the initial stage of education.

In addition, let us be allowed to show the wrongness of those who degrade these names. The Scriptures call us "children" and "infants" with an attitude not to the childish state of our teaching and its low value, with which traits those who boast of their knowledge falsely characterize it (1 Cor. 8:1). With regeneration we immediately attain the perfection to which we aspire. For in baptism we receive into our souls the light of the knowledge of God. But he cannot be called imperfect who knows the perfect; and let no one blame me for claiming that I know God. This expression is pleasing to the Logos, and He is free (John 8:35-36). Immediately after the baptism, a voice from heaven sounded over the Lord, bearing witness to Him as beloved: Thou art My beloved Son; I have begotten you this day. Now let us ask these wise men: Christ, of whom the Scriptures say that He is now (born)born. Is he perfect or, which is very incongruous, is he not perfect? If He was imperfect, then He had to learn something. But He had nothing to learn, because He is God. There is no being greater than the Logos; for the only Teacher there is no teacher. Must they not, therefore, confess against their will that the Logos came perfect from the perfect Father, and that He was fully and perfectly regenerated by the disposition of our salvation? But being perfect, why did He, being perfect, receive baptism? They answer that He had to fully satisfy the form of life He took upon Himself in the form of a man. Exactly. I agree with this. Consequently, does baptism from John immediately make Him perfect? Obviously. Consequently, he had nothing to learn from John? Nothing. Does He attain perfection, therefore, in a simple washing and is sanctified through the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Him? So. The same thing happens to us, for whom Christ is the prototype. Through baptism we receive light into the soul, with light we receive the right to sonship, with sonship – perfection, with perfection – immortality. I said, it is said, "you are gods, and the sons of the Most High are all of you" (Psalm 81:6). This act is variously called grace, enlightenment, perfection, and ablution. It is called ablution because in baptism our sins are washed away; by grace, because in it we are freed from the punishment of sins; enlightenment - because in it we see the heavenly saving light, i.e. we come to know God. We call perfection the absence of any defect; but what is lacking for him who knows God? In truth, it would be senseless to call something that does not have the full degree of perfection a gift of God. Being perfect, God also squanders the gifts, of course, which are perfect (James 1:17). As everything happens according to His word, so His grace-filled will is followed by a perfect gift. What is yet to happen to us is preempted in baptism by the omnipotence of the Divine will. - Further: the forgiveness of sins for us is already the beginning of our salvation. Therefore, whoever achieves the goals of life is already perfect. And whoever escaped death is alive. Salvation, therefore, consists in following Christ. For what happened in Him is life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed from death unto life (John 5:24). Therefore, only faith and regeneration represent perfection in life. Because God doesn't do anything wrong. As His will is already an action and is seen by us in the form of this world, in the same way the will of God is the salvation of man, and it is called the Church. God knows those who are called by Him. Saved by him. But calling and salvation for God are one and the same. You yourselves are learned by God, says the Apostle (1 Thess. 4:9). But it is not permissible to consider what God Himself teaches imperfect. This teaching is the teaching of eternal salvation, mediated by the eternally existing Saviour, to whom be praise forever. Amen. Inseparably linked with the concept of man, regenerated and enlightened, is the concept of man brought out of darkness; This is already given by the literal meaning of those words: in the light those people walk from that very moment (enlightenment and rebirth). Like a dream, those who shake off their eyelids immediately become spiritually awake; Or rather, as those who try to clear their vision, which is weakened by a smudge, do not help the eye by attracting light from without, but remove the obstacle from the eye, thus freeing the pupil of the eye, so we, too, with the help of the Holy Spirit, having washed in baptism the eye of our spirit, which is covered with mists and covered with the darkness of sin, then have it pure, healthy, and bright. We know God only because (in baptism) the Holy Spirit is poured out upon us from heaven. A celestial ray enters our eye, giving it the ability to see heavenly light. Like is friends with like; The holy is friends with its original source, and this one is primarily called light. You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord (Ephesians 5:8). That is why man, I think, is called light, j w V.

"But," they object, "the baptized man receives a gift that is not yet perfect." but he walketh in the light, and darkness hath not overtaken him (John 1:3); and between light and darkness there is no intermediate state.

"The faithful," they further object, "are to be perfected in the resurrection. But this perfection is not the attainment of any special good, but nothing else than the fulfillment of the promise received (in baptism). But it is impossible to admit that at one and the same time both the attainment of the goal and the hope of this can exist together. therefore, the goal cannot be identified with the aspiration." - Undoubtedly. In fact, it is a different matter for a person to strive for a goal and which he achieves, and another thing for a person who strives for it and achieves it. Striving is, so to speak, the faith of this life, and the goal is the fulfillment of the promise in eternity. But the Lord Himself clearly identifies both of these moments in salvation with the words: "The Leader of Him who sent Me is this, that whosoever seeth the Son and believeth in Him may have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:40). We therefore believe in our perfection as far as it is possible in this life. By this moment He means the last day, until which it will be preserved (cf. 2 Pet. 2:4, 9; 3:7, where to preserve means to exist) and at the onset of which it will be destroyed. Faith is the perfection of doctrine; therefore He says: He who believes in the Son has eternal life (John 3:36). If, therefore, life is characteristic of us as a result of faith, what else is to come to us in the time to come, if not the inheritance of life in its heavenly form? Faith is not something insufficient; it is by its very essence something perfect, and it is characterized by fullness (perfection). If faith is characterized by any defect, it means that it is not completely perfect; Faith has no faults, and it makes believers await (the fulfillment of the promise) not only after departing from this world, but already here on earth, endowing them all without distinction with pledges (the fulfillment of the promise). Of what through faith we know beforehand that in the future will become our inheritance, the same after the resurrection we will receive in our possession in reality; and then the word will be fulfilled over us: According to faith, let the plough be done unto you. (Matt. 9:29). Where there is faith, there is the promise; but the fulfillment of the promise is rest (in God). Gnosis, therefore, consists in enlightenment, and the goal of gnosis is peace, the ultimate limit of what is attainable. As a result of experience, inexperience disappears; As with abundance lack ceases, so darkness must disappear through enlightenment. And by darkness must be understood ignorance, as a result of which we fall into sin, remaining blind to the truth. Gnosis is, therefore, that enlightenment by which ignorance is banished, and in which we are granted the organ of sight. But even in the abandonment of the worst there is a knowledge of the best. For what is kept in a morbidly bound state by ignorance (Isaiah 58:6), is gloriously resolved by knowledge. These fetters are quickly broken by man's faith and Divine grace, which in baptism into the Logos, as if through some kind of Paeonian grass, heals us from sins. All our sins are washed away by baptism, and immediately we cease to walk in the ways of evil. The grace-filled effect of enlightenment consists, therefore, in the fact that we abandon our former morals after washing. But since the sun of gnosis rises over us with enlightenment, illuminating our spirit, we, who are (hitherto) ignorant, are immediately reputed to be "disciples" who are informed in the teaching. And if so, when did we listen to the teaching? Truly, it is impossible to determine these moments with precision. Catechetical catechesis only leads to faith; it means that in baptism itself the Holy Spirit teaches us. That faith is the means of salvation common to all mankind, and that God, who is just and loving men, is equally well pleased with all, the Apostle clearly teaches in the words: "And before the coming of faith we were imprisoned under the custody of the law, until the time when faith should have been revealed. Therefore the law was for us to guide children to Christ, that we might be justified by faith; but after the coming of faith we are no longer under the guidance of a tutor (Gal. 3:23-23). Do you hear? We are no longer under a law based on the principle of fear, but are guided by the Logos, the Teacher of freedom. Then the Apostle added a saying, in which there is nothing about the preference of certain persons: "For all of you," he says, "are sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus; all of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free; there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:26-28).

It is not so, therefore, that it is necessary to understand that some are in the Logos, the Gnostics (endowed with knowledge), and others remain natural people (who have only a common life with all animate beings), but in such a way that all of us, after abandoning carnal desires, have equal dignity before the Lord, all are spiritual. In another place the Apostle writes: For we are all baptized by one Spirit in one^ forehead. Jews or Greeks, slaves or free; and all are drunk with one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13).

It is not unseemly to use the own words of (our) opponents. "The thought of the best" they call "the product of the straining of the spirit" d i u l i s m o n, because the thought of the best is connected with the abandonment of the worst. "But the thought of the best necessarily follows the repentance of the bad. Our adversaries, then, must admit that the breath of the same Spirit also leads to repentance. But that's exactly how it is with us. Through baptism we are cleansed and return to the light, as children we draw closer to the Father, having previously repented of our sins and sworn to renounce their repetition. Wherefore, rejoicing in the spirit, Jesus says, "I will crush thee, Father, Lord" (Lk. X, 21; Mf. 11:25) of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes (Luke 10:21). The Pedagogue and Teacher call us "babes" because they are more inclined to salvation than the wise men of this world, who, imagining themselves to be wise, have gone mad (Romans 1:22). And He, rejoicing and triumphant, as if singing together with the children, says: Yes, Father! For such was Thy good pleasure (Luke 10:21). Therefore, that which is hidden from the wise and prudent of this world is revealed to babes. In justice we are called children of God, we who have put off the former way of life of the old man (Eph. 4:22), who have put off our garments which are defiled by the flesh (Jude 23:2; Corinthians 5:4), who have put on the immortality of Christ (1 Corinthians 13:33), so that we who have been reborn into a new holy nation may preserve in ourselves the unblemished man (Eph. 4:24). And this child, as the nurturer of God, is pure from debauchery and wickedness.

But let us leave the further exposition of this subject better to Paul, who exempts us from this exposition, because in the First Epistle to the Corinthians he writes thus: "Brethren, be not children of mind: you shall be babes of evil, but of course in mind be of full age" (1 Cor. 14:20). And the word: "When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child" (1 Corinthians 13:11) means his life under the law, when he, not wanting to be a simpleton, recklessly persecuted the Church of God, thinking like a child. Speaking recklessly, he acted impiously against the Logos. The word "baby" has a double meaning. And because the flock was a man, says Paul again, he forsook the things of infancy (1 Corinthians 13:11). He does not mean here an imperfect age or a definite period of time in general, nor does he mean the highest mysterious teaching appointed for men, because he extends the state of childhood beyond its boundaries, he who asserts that he proclaims that he proclaims God's recognition of us as children, but by infants he means those who were subject to the law, fearing as scarecrow children fear; and by men he means those who obey the Logos, who have the right to self-determination. We, believers, attain salvation by choosing it freely; Fear is distinguished in us by a rational character, and not by an irrational one. The Apostle himself bears witness to this, calling the Jews heirs according to the Old Testament, and us heirs of the promise. I will also say, he writes, that the heir, as long as in childhood, does not differ in any way from a slave, although he is the master of all: he is subject to the trustees and stewards until the time appointed by the father. In the same way, while we were in childhood, we were enslaved to the material principles of the world. But when the fullness of time came. God sent His Only-begotten Son, Who was born of a woman, and was under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might learn adoption as sons (Gal. 4:1-5). Notice that the Apostle here called the slaves of fear and sin children, but the believers he called sons and recognized them as adults, in contrast to the children who are under the law. Therefore you are no longer a slave, he says, but a son; and if a son, then also an heir of God through Jesus Christ (Gal. 4:7). (But what else does the son lack after entering into the inheritance rights?) This passage: When I was a child, it is best, therefore, to explain thus: "When I was a Jew"; Previously, the apostle was a Jew. Then I thought like a child, because I followed the law; but when I became a man, I forsook the things of a child, that is, what the law says, but I think of what a man says, that is, Christ, whom the Scriptures, as we have shown above, call one man; I have left the things of my infancy. - Childhood in Christ, in comparison with the law, is perfection. We must take our childhood under protection here.