Satan does not immediately dwell in a person's heart, he does not have the power to enter it, especially if this heart is sanctified by the great sacraments of repentance and communion. Satan cannot directly, boldly, forcibly enter the heart if the Holy Spirit lives in it, for Satan cannot dwell together with the Holy Spirit: there is no place for Belial where God is. Satan did not immediately enter Judas's heart.

He had tempted Judas before to evil and betrayal, and he continued to tempt him for a long time, probably during all of Judas's apostolic years, and perhaps even earlier. For we read in the Evangelist John that Judas was a thief: he carried a box into which donations were dropped, and stole from it. This means that both before and before the apostolate he was a thief and a lover of money.

When did Satan completely take possession of Judas's heart? Then, when Judas finally made up his decision to betray the Savior, and the Holy Spirit left him, and he became the house of Satan. Remember this. But do not think that Judas alone was the dwelling place of Satan: there were many people who were so steeped in evil, in lies, in murder, and theft, that evil spirits entered into them.

With them was what the Lord Jesus Christ told us: "When an unclean spirit comes out of a man; then he walks in dry places, seeking rest, and does not find it. Then he says, I will return to my house from whence I came; and when he comes, he finds it unoccupied, swept and tidy. then he goes, and takes with him seven other spirits, more evil than himself, and having entered, they dwell there; and for that man the latter is worse than the first. So it will be with this evil generation" (Matt. 12:43-45).

The evil race becomes the plaything and abode of evil spirits. And we, Christians, what conclusion will we draw from all this? Let us think that this horror of the possession of an evil spirit threatens each of us, although we pray, although we partake of the Holy Mysteries, for the Body and Blood of Christ is not a talisman, it is not something mechanically protecting us from all evil, from all the slanders of the devil and his angels.

This is only God's great, immeasurable help in our struggle with temptations from evil spirits, if our hearts are pure, if we do not constantly, day after day, sin. Let us keep in our hearts the great word of the Saviour: "The Kingdom of God is taken by force, and only those who require effort take it away." Let us wage a constant struggle against our vices and passions and condemn no one, remembering that there are many traitors among us; of course, not as terrible as Judas, but still traitors.

In our efforts to take possession of the Kingdom of God, may our Lord and God Jesus Christ grant us His all-powerful help, to Whom be glory and dominion with His Father and the Most Holy Spirit forever. Amen. March 19, 1950 A WORD ON PASSION. TENTH: They began to beat our Lord Jesus Christ and Savior of the world in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Then they beat Him on the cheeks, pushed Him, dragged Him with beatings to Jerusalem. Thus was the beginning of the slaughter of the One who saved the world. And the continuation was with the high priest Caiaphas, there, in the assembly of the worst enemies of Christ, they mocked Him, beat Him, covering His face and boldly asking: "Who are the prophets who have struck Thee?" and spat on Him. The mockery continued all night, they beat the Lord all night, and early in the morning they took him to the praetorium to Pilate for trial.

You have heard about this unjust judgment in the Gospel reading, you have heard that Pilate, although he was convinced of the innocence of the Lord, even moreover, considered Him righteous, nevertheless, frightened by the cries of the angry crowd demanding His crucifixion, handed Him over to scourging. And something terrifying began, for you must know, you must imagine what this terrible Roman scourging is.

The whip with which the unfortunates were beaten had a short handle and a whole bundle of straps, tightly woven and intertwined with copper wire, and pieces of bone were tied into these whips in places. With this terrible whip, with a swing, from the shoulder, they beat the Lord Jesus. The scourging was so terrible that often those who were scourged died from it. During the scourging, the blood of the unfortunates flowed like a stream, pieces of skin and muscles were torn off.

And this our Redeemer endured from the power of the devil, and this He endured for all of us, accursed and sinners. The terrible scourging was over, they took off His purple robe, but probably they left the crown of thorns, which they beat with a stick, so that the thorns of the crown would pierce the holy head of the Lord, and large drops of blood would flow down His face. They led him, led him to execution, led him along a narrow street, for all the streets of the eastern cities are narrow.

This street still bears the name given to it by Roman Catholics: Via dolorosa – the path of sorrow. Along this sorrowful path they drove the Lord Jesus, placing a heavy cross on Him, for the condemned to crucifixion himself had to carry his terrible cross to the place of execution. The Lord Jesus Christ carried him for a short time and fell under the weight of the cross... They lifted Him up with beatings, again forced Him to carry the cross, but He fell and fell.

Then, seeing that He could not bear the cross, they stopped a certain Simon of Cyrene, who was returning from his field, and they ordered him to carry the cross of Christ. Oh, blessed Simon, did you know what kind of cross you were carrying? Of course I didn't. And now he knows, for for bearing the cross of Christ, I have no doubt, he was worthy of the Kingdom of God. The Lord Jesus Christ was accompanied by a huge crowd of people, for it was the days of Passover, and on these days a great multitude of people gathered in Jerusalem, who came to the feast. About a hundred thousand people gathered.

A great crowd followed the Lord Jesus. There were men, there were women. Both had different attitudes to what they saw, to how they tormented and tormented the Lord Jesus. The women cried, wept bitter tears, they wept. they wept, for their hearts were soft and sensitive. They could not see such suffering, such a mockery of the Sinless One.