Daniil Sysoev/Catechetical Conversations/ Library Golden-Ship.ru Priest Daniel Sysoev CATECHETICAL CONVERSATIONS Publishing House of the Church of the Prophet Daniel on Kantemirovskaya, Moscow, 2007   Orthodox Library, Golden Ship, 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS On God and the Holy Scriptures On the Commandments of God On the Mystery of the Incarnation of God On Baptism and the Sacraments of the Church On Good and Evil. On the struggle with sin.

Because how are we going to look at the Bible? With the same fantasy. And therefore there will be as many Bibles as there are heads, or even more, because in one and the same head there can be several more absolutely mutually exclusive Bibles. And you need to look through the eyes of God. To do this, you need to connect with Him. It gives reason. But, on the other hand, we must remember that there are limits to our knowledge.

There are things that we simply cannot go further than because they are incomprehensible. For example, when Anthony the Great asked God: why some are rich, others are poor, why some live long, others little, he received the following answer: "Anthony, pay attention to yourself, and it is not useful for you to know about this, because it is incomprehensible." This is a very important principle. A Christian is humble, he knows to what limit one can know.

It used to be said in Soviet times that the human mind has no limits. Of course, there are limits to the human mind. None of us fully knows even the simplest thing. Can you fully describe this piece of wood? "We can. — Can you give its full state at all levels, for example, at the quantum level? "Well, in time..." Infinite time, right?

That is, it is almost unrealistic for the mind in its current state. It turns out that the human mind cannot comprehend everything and not always. This is what Christian humility consists of: there are things that we can and must comprehend, there are things that we can comprehend, but they are not necessary, there are things that we can comprehend, but we should not, and there are things that we cannot and should not comprehend. I have explained all the characteristics to you.

What we can and must do is that which concerns the salvation of our souls, the correction of our lives, life according to the will of God. It is clear that we can and must do what concerns union with God and the transformation of our lives. There are things that we can know, but we don't have to know them. This concerns knowledge about the nature of things. You can do science, or you can not do it.

There is no sin in this – please, if you are not trying to oppose science to God. This is not a bad thing, but it is not necessary either. You can listen to music, Bach, for example, or you can not listen to Bach, please, both are allowed. There are things that can be learned, but you should never do them. We are talking about evil – it is possible to know evil, but it is unacceptable to do it in any case.

And there are things that cannot be learned and are not worth trying. That is, these are incomprehensible things that reflect the nature, the essence of God Himself, the inner essence, how He lives in Himself. We cannot know this, and it is not worth trying. Now about the mind. You say that God knows everything. What does everything mean? A lot of people say that God knows, of course, everything, but you can hide from Him.

I read a story about how one girl wanted to steal sweets from her mother, and so that God would not notice this, she turned the icons to the wall. This model of behavior also exists in adults. But God really knows everything. The Bible says it very well. The book of Jesus, the son of Sirach, says this: "A man who sins against his bed says in his soul, 'Who sees me?

There is darkness around me, and the walls cover me, and no one sees me: what should I be afraid of? The Most High will not remember my sins." His fear is only the eyes of men, and he does not know that the eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter than the sun, and behold all the ways of men, and penetrate into hidden places" (Sir. 23:24-28). God knows all human affairs, absolutely everything, without exception.

Все нераскаянные грехи человеческие, которые не омыты Кровью Спасителя, предстанут перед лицом Господа и будут брошены Им в лицо грешникам. И все люди увидят. — А при крещении грехи смываются? — Да. — Все, даже смертные? — Да. Но, естественно, их нужно не повторять после крещения. Теперь о знании. Бог знает не только дела, но и мысли людей. Все тайны сердца.

Господь провидит все дела наши до того, как они были совершены. Он знает абсолютно всё. Именно поэтому мы не можем оценить до конца Его милосердия и не должны судить Его поступки. Бог обладает большим набором информации, чем люди. Мы говорим: какой хороший человек, как же он мог так пасть и почему Господь попустил ему это? Замечено, что чаще и сильнее впадают в грех те люди, которые считают себя очень хорошими. Самое страшное состояние — гордыня.

Помните, что самый страшный грех — гордость. Для Бога не так даже страшно убийство, как гордыня, потому что человек может убить в состоянии аффекта. А гордыня — если человек в ней останется, она его погубит, совершенно точно. Также совершенно недопустимо роптать на Бога. Ропот — тяжелый грех, вы не знаете о себе всего, что известно Богу. Не ведаете, что для вас лучше или хуже. — Что такое ропот? Критика? — Критика Бога.

Вообще-то, есть, конечно, существо, которое называется критиком или клеветником — по-гречески диаволом. — А, критика и дьявол — это одно и то же? — Ну, близко, скажем так. На самом деле, конечно, критика — немножко другое слово. «Критика» — от слова «судить». Критикую — значит, сужу, осуждаю. Но дьявол — клеветник. Мы можем о другом человеке узнать зло, это не будет никаким грехом.

Но мы не можем переносить осуждение на человека, потому что мы не знаем, что внутри человека, что в сердце человека. А Бог может судить человека, потому что Он знает всё об этом человеке. Теперь поговорим о воле Господа. Воля Его — благая и совершенная. — Что значит «благая»? — Бог есть добро. Он имеет высшую меру различение добра и зла. Он Сам благ.