Sermons and Instructions of the Holy Fathers. Brief Teachings of the Holy Fathers

Rev. Anthony the Great.

God the Father, in His goodness, did not spare His Only Begotten Son, but betrayed Him to deliver us from our sins and unrighteousness. And the Son of God, having humbled Himself for us, healed us of our mental illnesses and provided us with salvation from our sins. Therefore, it is necessary for us to recognize and always keep in our thoughts this great dispensation of God - that God the Word for our sake has become like us in everything, except for sin. Everyone should remember this and diligently try to actually get rid of sins with the help of the Lord.

Whoever fears the Lord and keeps His commandments is the servant of God. But this slavery, in which we also find ourselves, is not really slavery, but righteousness that leads to adoption. Our Lord chose the Apostles and entrusted them with the gospel of the Gospel. The commandments He has given us have set up a beautiful bondage for us, so that we could rule over our passions and adorn ourselves with virtues. When we come closer to grace, our Lord Jesus Christ will also say to us, as he said to his disciples: "I no longer call you servants, but my friends and brothers: because everything that I heard from my Father, I have told you."

The eye sees the visible, but the mind perceives the invisible. A God-loving mind is the light of the soul. Whoever has a God-loving mind is enlightened in heart and sees God with his mind.

If you start any work and do not see in it the permission of the will of God, in no case do it.

Those who spend their lives in small and low deeds, on the one hand, get rid of dangers, and on the other, they do not need special precautions. By conquering various sinful desires, they conveniently find the path leading to God.

People who do not have natural dispositions for good should not give up in despair and neglect the God-loving and virtuous life, no matter how difficult it may be for them. But they should think and apply all possible care for themselves. For, although they will not be able to reach the height of virtue and perfection, yet, by trying, they will either become better, or at least not become worse, which in itself is a great benefit to the soul.

The more moderate life a person leads, the calmer he becomes, because he does not care about many things - about servants and the acquisition of things. If we cling to this [earthly], then we are subject to the tribulations that happen because of this and come to murmuring against God. Thus, the desire for many things fills us with confusion, and we wander in the darkness of a sinful life, not knowing ourselves.

There should not be any rudeness in our conversations, for modesty and chastity usually adorn smart people more than virgins. A God-loving mind is a light that illuminates the soul, just as the sun is a body.

People are commonly referred to as smart by the misuse of the word. Not those smart who have studied the sayings and writings of the ancient sages, but those whose soul is smart, who can distinguish good from evil; and everything that is evil and harmful to the soul they avoid, but about the good and useful it is reasonablethey are glad and do it with great gratitude to God. Only they alone should truly be called smart people.

He who is gentle is perfect and god-like, he is full of joy and the Spirit of God. But how the fire burns the great forest A when you do not follow him, so malice, if you allow it into your heart, will destroy your soul, defile your body and cause in you a lot bad thoughts. It will arouse in you unrest, envy, strife, hatred, and similar fierce passions, which will weigh you down and cause you great sorrow. Therefore, let us try to acquire the gentleness and simple-heartedness of the saints, so that the Lord Jesus Christ would accept us to Himself and each of us could say with joy: “He accepted me for gentleness and established me before You forever” (Ps. 40:13)

Just as the body, having prematurely left the mother's womb, cannot live, so the soul, which has left the body, has not reached the gods. e through a virtuous life, cannot be saved or live in fellowship with God (Ant. Vel.)

Like the body, while the soul is in it, three ages pass, namely: youth, mature age and old age; so the soul also passes through three ages, namely: the beginning of faith, prosperity in it, and perfection. In the first, when the soul begins to believe, it is born in Christ, as the Gospel says. The apostle John gave us signs of this new birth, as well as of the middle state and perfection, saying, "I wrote to you young men; I wrote to you children; I wrote to you fathers" (1 John 2:12-14). So he wrote not to his fleshly friends, but to believers, revealing the three states that those who aspire to the spiritual realm go through in order to achieve perfection and be rewarded with complete grace.

When sin ceases to reign in a person, then God appears to the soul and purifies it along with the body. If sin continues to reign in the body, then a person cannot see God: for the soul is still in a sinful body, but it does not allow the light, which is the vision of God, to enter itself. David says, "In your light we shall see light" (Psalm 35:10). What is this light in which man sees light? This is the light that our Lord Jesus Christ speaks about in the Gospel, that the whole person must become bright, so that there would not be a single dark part in him (Luke 11:36). The Lord also said, "No one knows the Father but the Son, and no one knows the Son but the Father and to whom the Son wishes to reveal" (Matt. 11:27). The Son does not reveal His Father to the sons of darkness, but only to those who are in the light and are the sons of light, whose heart eyes He has enlightened with the knowledge of the commandments.

Rev. Macarius the Great.

Just as God created heaven and earth for human habitation, so He created man to inhabit the human body as His home, having his soul as His beautiful bride, created in His image. That's why the apostle Paul says, "We are His house" (Heb. 3:6)

Whoever aspires to God and really wants to become a follower of Christ must follow Him, trying to change, to become a better and new person, not retaining in himself anything characteristic of the old person, because it is said: "Whoever is in Christ, he is a new creation"

The soul that truly loves God, even if it has done thousands of righteous deeds, in its insatiable desire for the Lord, thinks of itself as if it has not yet achieved anything. And even though she exhausted her body with fasting and labor, she thinks that she has not yet begun to acquire virtues; even though she has been rewarded with attaining various spiritual gifts, or revelations, or heavenly mysteries, by her great love for the Lord, she considers that she has not yet acquired anything ...

She is wounded by the love of the heavenly Spirit. With the help of grace, she constantly arouses in herself a fiery desire for the heavenly Bridegroom; desires to fully attain the mysterious and inexpressible communion with Him in the sanctuary of the Spirit; with purified eyes of the soul, she looks at the heavenly Bridegroom face to face; in a spiritual and indelible light enters into union with Him, is conformed to His death, unceasingly awaits death for Christ with great lust; he undoubtedly believes that through the Spirit he will receive complete deliverance from sins and the darkness of passions, so that, having been cleansed by the Spirit, sanctified mentally and bodily, he will be worthy to become a pure vessel for receiving the heavenly world into himself and the abode of the heavenly and true King Christ. And then it becomes worthy of heavenly life, having become here still a pure habitation of the Holy Spirit.

Like a fetus in a mother's womb, it does not immediately become a man, but gradually takes on a human form; and he is not born as an adult, but grows and develops over many years, until he finally reaches maturity. And just as the seeds of barley or wheat do not immediately take root as soon as they are sown, but only after the cold and winds have passed, do they sprout at the right time ... So it is in the spiritual life, which requires so much wisdom and experience. , - a person grows gradually until he reaches perfection, becoming like Christ (Eph. 4:13)

Man is by nature changeable. Therefore, just as one who has fallen into the depths of vice and is enslaved by sins can turn to good, so one who is sealed with the Holy Spirit and filled with heavenly gifts is free to return to evil. Some who have tasted God's grace and become partakers of the Holy Spirit, when they lose their caution and vigilance, become spiritually extinguished and become worse than they were before. This happens not because God changes or the grace of the Spirit fades away, but because people themselves lose grace and therefore become corrupted and fall into many evils.

Sometimes seemingly good intentions are carried out for the sake of their own glory and people's praise. But before God it is the same as unrighteousness, theft and similar sins, for it is said: "Gods the bones of men-pleasers have fallen" (Ps. 52:7). The evil one, even in our good deeds, seeks his own benefit. He is very inventive to deceive people with worldly desires. When a person becomes attached to someone with carnal love, then sin catches him, binds him with fetters and it drags him down with a heavy burden, preventing him from gathering his strength and returning to God. passion struggles with us. This is how the whole human race and all Christians are tested... a house, another - wealth, another - polysyllabic worldly wisdom for the glory of man; another loves power, another wants to be famous; another loves entertainment meetings, another spends all the time in absent-mindedness and pleasures; another is deceived by idle thoughts; another - out of ambition seeks to teach; another enjoys laziness and carelessness, another is attached to beautiful clothes; another surrenders to earthly cares; another likes to sleep, or joke, or swear. What binds a person to the world, small or great, then holds him back and does not allow him to gather his strength.

If you see that someone is puffed up and puffed up by his talents, then know that even if he did signs and raised the dead, ... he is robbed by an evil force without his knowledge. Even if he performs miracles, do not believe him, because a sign of Christianity is that those who have been rewarded with gifts from God hide them from the eyes of others. Having the treasures of the king, the believer hides them, as if to say: "This treasure is not mine: another has put it here." If someone says: “It is enough for me what I have gained and I don’t need any more,” then such a person is no longer a Christian, but is in deceit and has become an instrument of the devil. For the enjoyment of God is insatiable, and to the extent that one eats and partakes of spiritual blessings, to that extent one becomes more hungry. Such people have an ardent and irrepressible love for God. The more they prosper and acquire, the more they feel they are beggars.

You say, "I love God and have the Holy Spirit." But examine carefully, is this really so? Are you devoted to the Lord day and night? And if you have such continuous love, then you are pure. But look, when earthly worries or various nasty and crafty thoughts come to you, are you really adamant to evil then, and does your soul then want to love God and be completely devoted to Him? After all, worldly thoughts, entertaining the mind with earthly and perishable objects, prevent a person from loving God and always thinking about Him. It happens that an ignorant person begins to pray, kneels down - and his mind reaches peace. And to the extent that he digs through the opposing wall of malice and goes deep under it, to that extent it collapses, so that a person gradually reaches the spiritual ine denia and wisdom. But neither the powerful of this world, nor scientists, nor writers reach this degree.

The spirits of malice bind the fallen soul with fetters of darkness, so she is not able to love the Lord as much as she wants, neither to believe, nor to pray as much as she wants. Indeed, since the fall of the first man, resistance to good has taken root in us both openly and secretly.

St. Mark the Ascetic.

If, according to Scripture, you always remember that “the judgments of the Lord [are being done] throughout the earth” (Psalm 104:7), then every chance will be a teacher of the knowledge of God for you.

Every good providence comes from the Lord. But it departs secretly from the ungrateful, insensitive and inactive.

Everyone who is baptized in the Orthodox Church mysteriously receives all grace. Perceptibly, he becomes convinced of it [feels its action] as he fulfills the commandments.

He who does not know the truth cannot truly believe, for knowledge by nature precedes faith..

Do not refuse to learn, even if you are very wise. For God's dispensation is more profitable than our wisdom.

Whoever voluntarily does not accept labors for the truth [in defense of it], will be punished involuntarily much harder.

While you remember God, multiply your prayer so that the Lord will remember you when you forget about Him.

Pray that temptation does not come to you, and when it does, accept it as your own, and not as someone else's.

Being inquisitive, be also industrious, for bare knowledge makes a person arrogant (Mark Podv.).

Often knowledge is darkened from negligence about the matter. For what deeds are completely neglected, about those the remembrance will gradually disappear.

Do the good that you remember: then the good that you do not remember will be revealed to you; and do not recklessly betray your thoughts to oblivion.

He who does good and seeks reward does not work for God, but for his own desire.

Do not say how a poor man can indulge in sweets without means, for one can indulge in voluptuousness in thoughts even more bitterly than in deed.

The devil presents small sins in our eyes as insignificant, because otherwise he cannot lead us into sin.O greater sins.

Having admitted the beginning of sin in yourself [having accepted the thought], do not say: he will not defeat me, for as far as you have allowed him, you have already been defeated by him (Mark Podv.).

Don't say, "What should I do? I don't want to, but it [forgetfulness] comes." - This is for the fact that you neglected the due when you remembered him.

When the mind, strengthened in the Lord, distracts the soul from a long-term bad habit, then the heart, like executioners, is executed by the mind and passion, which drag it here and there.

Whoever enjoys bodily pleasures in excess of what is due, will repay this surplus a hundredfold with various sufferings.

It is difficult for a person who sins out of necessity to repent, for it is impossible to hide from God's truth.

If someone, clearly sinning and not repenting, was not subjected to any sorrows until the very exodus [from this life], then know that judgment on him will be without mercy.

The truly penitent is mocked by the foolish. But this is for him a sign of pleasing God of his repentance.

If someone falls into any sin, and does not mourn for it to the extent of the crime, he will easily again fall into the same network of the enemy.

If you see that someone is extremely sick of heart because of dishonor, then know that he is vain, and now he is reaping with displeasure the fruits of the seeds that he himself sowed in his heart..

Peace [of the soul] is deliverance from the passions, which cannot be obtained without the influence of the Holy Spirit.

It is better to pray kindly for your neighbor than to convict him of every sin.

Do not want to hear about other people's cunning, because at the same time the features of those cunning are imprinted in us.

A listener to evil is also a bad herald.

Rev. Evagrius Monk

Do not give much food to your body, and then you will not see bad dreams in a dream; because as water extinguishes fire, so hunger is bad dreams.

Eat bread in moderation and drink water in moderation, and the spirit of fornication will flee from you.

From a long sleep, the heart becomes coarse, but cheerfulness refines the mind.

Do not listen to speeches against your confessor and do not stir up against him those who do not respect him, so that the Lord would not be angry with your actions and blot you out of the book of life.

If your neighbor offends you, invite him to your house, and do not be too lazy to go to him and eat food with him. By doing this, you will save yourself from confusion and you will not be stumped during prayer.

Demons don't know our hearts, as some people think. There is only one heart-seeker - God, who knows the human mind, because He created people (Ps. 32:15). But partly by our words and partly by our movements, the demons guess the intentions of our heart. For example, when we quarrel with someone who has slandered us, the demons conclude from our angry words that we are unfriendly to him. Then, realizing our weakness, they inspire us with hostile thoughts. Having accepted these thoughts, we fall under the yoke of the demon of vindictiveness, which from that time begins to inflate more and more revenge in us against this offender. For the evil demons observe with curiosity our every movement and leave nothing unattended from what could be used against us: neither getting up, nor sitting, nor standing, nor walking, nor a word, nor a look - they carefully notice everything. Every day they plot various temptations against us in order to confuse our humble mind during prayer and extinguish the blessed light in it.

Rev. John of Karpathy.

Just as iron, in contact with fire, becomes inviolable, so frequent prayers strengthen the mind to fight the enemy. Therefore, demons try with all their might to weaken our desire for prayer, knowing that prayer overcomes them.

First, the keys [of the Kingdom of Heaven] are handed over to the Apostle Peter, and then he is allowed to renounce Christ the Lord in order to chaste his opinion of himself by such a fall. So also you, if, having received the keys of knowledge and understanding, you fall into various temptations, do not marvel at this, but glorify the only wise Lord, who curbs your conceit by your fall. Because temptation is a bridle that, according to God's providence, curbs people's conceit.

Blzh. Diadochus, Bishop of Photiki.

From the very moment of baptism, grace dwells invisibly in the depths of the soul, hiding, however, its presence from the feelings of the newly baptized. When he begins to love God with all his heart, then grace, through the feeling of the mind, begins to talk in a mysterious way with the soul, partially introducing it to its blessings. Therefore, when a person decides to keep this acquisition in himself forever, then he joyfully renounces all earthly goods in order to fully acquire the field in which he found the hidden treasure of life (Matt. 13:44). Because a person finds in himself a place in which the grace of God has taken refuge, only after he renounces all worldly blessings. Then, as a person progresses in virtue, the gift of Divine grace reveals its beneficence in his soul. But then the Lord allows the demons to disturb the soul more in order to teach it a reasonable distinction between good and evil and make it humble.

No one can love God with all his heart without first warming the fear of God in his heart, for the soul comes into active love only after it has been cleansed and softened by the action of the fear of God.

We are all created in the image of God. But likeness to God is available only to those who, out of their great love, have enslaved themselves to Him. For the more we deny ourselves, the more we become like Him Who, in His great love, reconciled us to Himself. No one can reach this state unless he first convinces himself not to be carried away by the charms of a self-pleasing life.

To people who are just beginning to love piety, the path of virtue seems hard and scary. And this is not because it is essentially such, but because people from childhood get used to living spaciously and in pleasures. For the one who piously lived a certain part of his life, the path of virtue seems to be good and gratifying. Because when we suppress unkind aspirations with good habits, then at the same time the very addiction to carnal pleasures also goes away. After that, the soul already willingly follows the virtuous path. Therefore, the Lord, calling us to begin our salvation, says that the path that leads to life is narrow and sad, and those who follow it are few (Matt. 7:14). To those who earnestly desire to live according to His holy commandments, He says: "My yoke is easy, and My burden is light" (Mat. 11:30). At the beginning of our ascetic endeavor, we should force ourselves to fulfill the holy commandments. Then the merciful Lord, seeing our good intention and work, will give us readiness and free will to obey his holy commands with pleasure for the rest of our lives.

Just as when we are burdened with food, our body becomes lethargic and clumsy, so when we are exhausted from excessive abstinence, it makes the contemplative part of the soul dull and incapable of reasoning. Therefore, we need to balance the amount of food with the state of our physical strength. So, when the body is healthy, it is necessary to restrict it as necessary, and when it is weak, to slightly weaken the abstinence. The ascetic should not fall into slackness, but he must preserve the strength necessary for the ascetic effort, in order to purify his soul through bodily labors.

Just as in a bathhouse doors that are frequently opened let out inner warmth, so also a person who talks a lot, even if it is all useful, loses spiritual composure through the door of conversation. This deprives his mind of the purity of thought, and then a person begins to conduct a disorderly conversation by the chaotic influx of thoughts. In such a state, a person no longer has the Holy Spirit, which keeps his thought in concentration, because the good Spirit, being a stranger to any rebellion and daydreaming, withdraws from verbosity.

He who loves himself cannot fully love God, and he who does not love himself because of a strong love for God, only he truly loves God. Such a person will never desire glory for himself, but only for God alone... It is natural for a God-loving soul, filled with the feeling of God, to seek the only glory of God, but to delight in humility in regard to itself. Because God, for the sake of His greatness, deserves glory, but man - humility.

When a person begins to feel a strong love for God, then he begins to love his neighbor, and once he starts, he does not stop. This is how the Scriptures teach to love. And while carnal love evaporates for the slightest reason, spiritual love remains. In a God-loving soul, which is under God's action, the union of love does not stop, even when someone upsets it. This is because the God-loving soul, warmed by love for God, although it has suffered some kind of grief from its neighbor, quickly returns to its former good mood and willingly restores in itself a feeling of love for its neighbor. In it, the bitterness of discord is completely absorbed by God's sweetness.

† "There is only one way to love your neighbor - through God; love God - with all your heart, mind, thought - and you will love your neighbor"

† "A vain world! A false light! There is nothing good in you! A perfect lie! A perfect deceit! You deceive us, laugh at us, mock us. You show us years, and pleasures, and long health, but suddenly death overtakes us. And it all bursts like bubbles, tears like cobwebs. Such, my beloved child, such is the joy of the world!"
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "Where obedience, humility and achievement, demons can never captivate a person. Bitterness, disobedience and pride give rise to despondency and negligence, and then all demons come and turn a person's soul into a dung pit and a stable. And they do not calm down until they will not make him guilty of new and old sins and completely captivated"
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "The way to acquire love for God is to join oneself in the sacrifice. God loves insofar as a person begins to sacrifice everything for the sake of God"
Schiegumen Savva of Pskov-Pechersk

† "Do not learn to fall easily. For with each fall the fortress wall of the soul collapses, and the entrance for the enemy becomes more and more free, until he finally makes the defeated prisoner"
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "without [humility] this great virtue, no one could acquire salvation, and there is no other door than the door of humility through which anyone could enter the Kingdom of Heaven"
Elder Cleopas (Elijah)

† "Do not relax and do not accept thoughts. Call on Christ constantly. Before the tempter has time to form a thought in your mind, you destroy it with prayer. Do not leave it. And if you leave the impurity that the enemy throws into your soul, in a short time he will bury you in it"
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "In order to overcome the fornication battle, at whatever stage it may be, we must first of all ask the grace of the Good God. This is not a short-term battle, because we must achieve complete victory. At first, everyone sees that he is powerless to resist it, but with God all things are possible

† "Don't start your prayer at random, but first collect your mind and think a little about death and what will follow it"
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "If, against your will, you endure illness, cold, vexation, reproach, ridicule - remember the Tsar, without whose will and knowledge nothing happens. Since He allowed this, this is what is most necessary - the best for you. Your will." So reject your will, subordinating it to the will of God"
Archimandrite Seraphim (Rosenberg)

† "The divine fathers say: Pride goes before a fall, but humility goes before grace"
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "pride of the mind is a demonic disease, for a person afflicted with it believes that he is great, that he is smarter than others and no longer needs anyone's advice and help. May God save us from this passion and demonic disease!"
Elder Cleopas (Elijah)

† "Become firm with your mind in God, and the moment will come when the immortal Spirit will touch your heart"

† "God always hears prayer for everyone, while he always turns away from idle talk, even if it seems to be spiritual"
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "Torment and even death are not evil. Sin, ignorance of God, negligence - this is evil, the death of the soul"
Archimandrite Seraphim (Rosenberg)

† "Blows are necessary to save our souls, because they purify the soul. The more you beat and rub the clothes, the cleaner it becomes. So octopuses with cuttlefish are made softer with blows and cleared of the black liquid."
Elder Paisius Svyatogorets

† "The Lord wants us to become like Him in His love. And the love of God is humble love"
Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov)

† "The most reliable weapon against enemy thoughts is the Jesus Prayer"
Elder Paisius Svyatogorets

† "Of course, the devil, no matter how much he wishes it, will not be able to destroy us himself, if we ourselves do not contribute to his malice; but God himself will not save us either, if we do not cooperate with His grace in our salvation. God always helps , always anticipates, but wants us to work hard, do what we can"
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "everything that is from nature is neither honored nor dishonored: exploits and falls come from volition"
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "Carnal warfare should not serve as an obstacle for a young man who wants to become a monk; it is enough that he does not think about marriage. A small feat, fasting, vigil and prayer can subordinate the flesh to the spirit, of course, in the presence of humility. At the same time, a young man collects for his exploits vengeance in heaven"
Elder Paisius Svyatogorets

† "In accordance with the purity of the soul and the enlightenment that each of us has received here, he will see Christ there closer, more clearly, and will enjoy His fragrance more strongly, and more than others will rejoice and rejoice"
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "as far as a person avoids human comfort, so much the Divine approaches him"
Elder Paisius Svyatogorets

† "It is known that when one passionate person begins to teach another passionate person, then grace immediately departs from the first one and he falls into the same thing. For before "doing" such a privilege is not given to him."
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "Naive is the one who thinks that it is possible to follow the path of Christ without tears. Take a dry nut, put it under a heavy press and see how oil flows out of it. Something similar happens to our heart when the invisible fire of the word of God scorches it with all sides. Our heart has turned to stone in its animal egoism, and, what is worse, in its proud spasm. But truly there is such a Fire (Luke 12:49) that is capable of melting even the strongest metals and stones"
Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov)

† "In all your prayers, let him watch and understand what you are praying for and what you are saying. you're asking?"
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "In your feat, pay more attention to prayer, because it will maintain your connection with God. This connection should be constant. Prayer is oxygen, absolutely necessary for the soul. It should not be considered a burden"
Elder Paisius Svyatogorets

† "Prayer is the mother and queen of all virtues.
...
Love for God and love for our neighbor enter our souls only through prayer!
Elder Cleopas (Elijah)

† "outward good deeds do not soften the arrogance of the heart. But clever deeds, the pain of repentance, contrition and humility - this is what humbles the disorderly way of thinking"
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "one dark idea of ​​the tempter-devil is widespread: if a person reads the Jesus Prayer, everyone is afraid that he will fall into delusion, although just what they say is delusion"
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "Charity is above fasting and virginity"
Schiegumen Savva (Ostapenko)

† "The humble, if he falls a thousand times, rises again, and the fall is counted as victory for him. But the proud, when falling into sin, immediately falls into despair and, hardened, does not want to rise again. Despair is a mortal sin, and the devil rejoices in him more everything, but it immediately disappears during confession."
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "In all temptations and sorrows, patience is required, and it is victory over them"
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "from every battle with the enemy you need to come out victorious. Either die in the fight, or win with God. There is no other way"
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "Our God is Light, in which there is not a single darkness: He refuses to unite with our darkness. We must be cleansed of the filth that possesses us, otherwise we will not enter the Kingdom of Truth and Light (Rev. 21, 27)"
Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov)

† "In a dirty heart, God will never appear; in an evil heart, God will never show Himself. Only the pure in heart can see the glory of God"
Schema-Archimandrite Zosima (Sokur)

† "The physical peace that some seek is not some kind of stable state. Being in physical peace, people can only temporarily forget their mental anxiety. They have everything: lunch, dessert, shower, rest ... However, as soon as all this ends, they strive for even more peace. Thus, people are constantly missing something and therefore they are constantly upset. They feel emptiness, and their soul strives to fill this emptiness"
Elder Paisius Svyatogorets

† "When you sin again and fall, repent again. Do not despair. Arouse boldness and hope in yourself. Say: "Forgive me, my Christ," and again "I repent!"
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "Holy prayer must be accompanied by a holy life. If we depart from the spirit of God's love, then we are deprived of prayer that unites us with God. When we endure with love all the trials that fall on us from without and do not want to blame anyone and nothing but ourselves, then the prayer deepens, and a new strength of hope appears in the heart."
Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov)

† "A person's life, my child, is sorrow, for it passes in exile. Do not seek perfect peace. Our Christ raised the Cross, and we will lift it up. If we endure all sorrows, we will find the grace of the Lord. Therefore, the Lord allows us temptation in order to experience jealousy and love for Him. Therefore, patience is needed"
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† “Wealth, not being distributed to the poor for the health and salvation of our souls or for the repose of the souls of our deceased loved ones, brings destruction to a person. the deceased, those who receive her say: "God will forgive him. May his ashes be blessed."
Elder Paisius Svyatogorets

† "Humility has the power to deliver a person from the righteous wrath of God, for it is written: "God will not despise a contrite and humble heart" (Ps.50:19)"
Elder Cleopas (Elijah)

† "Do not reveal the sin of another for your own justification, for the grace that has covered you so far will immediately reveal your own sins. As much as you cover your brother out of love, so much grace warms and keeps you from human slander"
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "Through the Church, Christ grants believers immortality and eternity, making them "partakers of His divine nature" (cf. 2 Pet. 1:4).
... the normal state of the human personality is immortality and eternity, and not a temporary life here. Man is a wayfarer marching towards immortality, eternity and Divine promises"
Elder Joseph of Vatopedi

† "There is no salvation outside the Church"
Schiegumen Savva (Ostapenko)

† "The most important part of the daily routine of spiritual life is regular prayer. Prayer before going to bed and before starting any work is a necessary condition for Christian work, especially for those who live in the world"
Elder Joseph of Vatopedi

† "The truly faithful have nothing to fear. Having avoided vanity, having submitted themselves to the law of temperance, they in fact rejected the world "with passions and lusts" (Gal. when we believed," and fully apply their continuation to themselves: "Let us therefore put off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light" (Rom. 13, 11, 12). Knowing about the approach of the end, they are even more established in faith and works of salvation "
Elder Joseph of Vatopedi

† "No one has yet signed a contract with God about when to die. God takes every person at the most opportune moment of his life"
Elder Paisius Svyatogorets

† "Death does not come for you to make coffee for her. She comes to pick us up. She asks us a question of questions: why didn’t we love, why were we at enmity with each other? Death is a reality, not a horror story. She is not late"
Archimandrite Arseny (Papachok)

† "Humility has the power to carry our words to God and to bring down to us the remission of sins from Him"
Elder Cleopas (Elijah)

† "what do you have, proud man, what would you not get? And if you got it, what do you boast about as if you didn't receive it? Know, humble soul, your Benefactor and see not to appropriate someone else's - God's as your own achievement ... And if he gave you a sweet benefactor God, render unto Him in a pure conscience what is yours from yours, "yours from yours"
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "In all situations of life, prayer is the most real help to us"
Elder Paisius Svyatogorets

† "This is the property of Divine love: He gives us His life, we give Him ours"
Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov)

† "People want to sin and have a kind God. Such a God that He forgives us, and we continue to sin. That is, that we do whatever we want, and He forgives us, that He forgives us without ceasing, and we blow to his own tune. People do not believe, and because of this they insatiably rush into sin. "
Elder Paisius Svyatogorets

† "Read the lives to see what you don't have. Reading the lives - through the holy courage described in them - excites jealousy or through the shown all-holy humility leads you to a deep knowledge of your weakness"

† With God, everything happens on time, especially for those who know how to wait"
Archimandrite John (Krestyankin)

† "You do not need to desire to be a teacher; you want to say for admonition: do it with kindness, meekness and love, and most importantly - having asked God's help inwardly"
Archimandrite Seraphim (Rosenberg)

† "if we live in evil, raise our hand against our neighbor, and then God will raise his hand against us. The most important thing is patience and prayer. And this is the most powerful weapon against the devil"
Schema-Archimandrite Zosima (Sokur)

† "Almsgiving is a good deed, first of all, to the one who gives it. Almsgiving makes amends for sins, mortifies death, and quenches the eternal fire of torment"
Schiegumen Savva (Ostapenko)

† "The work of every believer, his work as a member of the Church, is always both personal and conciliar, even when it seems that he acts only for his own sake. Christ"
Elder Joseph of Vatopedi

† "Prayer builds the steps of knowledge. The more you pray, the more you know"
Elder Cleopas (Ilie)

† "any deviation of our intelligent consciousness from the correct understanding of Revelation will inevitably be reflected in everyday life. In other words: a truly righteous life is conditioned by correct concepts of God"
Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov)

† "Humility is so great that it alone, without any other virtue, can open the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven to us."
Archimandrite Cleopas (Ilie)

† "It is better for us to fall victorious in battle than to be defeated"
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "A person must know himself as he really is, and not as the enemy, the devil, represents him in his own eyes"
Elder Paisius Svyatogorets

† "What, in our time the title of professor of theology is a sign of holiness?"
Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov)

† "Repentance comes when you realize how much you grieve God, who is so kind, sweet, merciful and full of love, who crucified and suffered for each of us."
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "by sinning, a person fulfills the will of the enemy of God - the devil, he himself becomes an enemy of God, is deprived of the blessings of God, is subject to illness, sorrow, misfortune, becomes guilty of eternal torment."
Archimandrite Seraphim (Rosenberg)

† "In order to conquer the evil one, you must fight and conquer yourself - all your passions."
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "Repentance is that great gift of God, by means of which we are reconciled with God, again become children of God and heirs of heavenly bliss"
Archimandrite Seraphim (Rosenberg)

† "There is no greater sin than PRIDE. It is the basis of all other sins. The Lord commanded us to learn humility and meekness from Him. Humility is a property of God's love.
(...)
The deadly weapon of the enemy is pride; diametrically opposed to it is the life-giving humility of Christ. For the acquisition of this Divine humility we strive; it was given to us by Christ, who sent down the Holy Spirit to Earth. "
Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov)

† "Know that grace always precedes temptations as a kind of notice for preparation. And immediately, when you see grace, strain and say: "The declaration of war has come! Beware, clay, see where the evil one trumpets the battle. "Often he comes soon, and often after two or three days. In any case, he will come"
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "The world has lied. People become liars, they made themselves another conscience. But I cannot become a liar, I cannot change my "I" because society requires it. I'd rather suffer"
Elder Paisius Svyatogorets

† "Temptation is medicine and healing herbs that heal overt passions and our invisible sores.
So, have patience so that every day you gain, save your reward, rest and joy in the Kingdom of Heaven. For the night of death is approaching, when no one can do anything to anyone (John 9:4). So hurry up. Time is short."
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "Self-justification has nothing to do with spiritual life. It is necessary to understand that by justifying myself, I am in a false state. I break the connection with God and deprive myself of Divine Grace. After all, Divine Grace does not come to a person who is in a false state. From the moment a person justifies what has no justification, he separates, isolates himself from God.
Elder Paisius Svyatogorets

† "Truly great is the struggle against the passions, but by the grace of God everything is achieved, and with His help the impossible becomes possible"
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "The dignity of prayer surpasses the value of any other activity, whether in the field of social or political, scientific or art. He who knows this by experience easily sacrifices his material well-being for the sake of leisure for conversation with God"
Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov)

† "A carefree life helps a person to break his connection with God and move on to another ruler - the devil, who day by day darkens our mind and makes him powerless in the fight against sin. And if a person does not come to his senses and does not cry about his disastrous state, then for him and eternity will be hard and painful."
Schema-Archimandrite John (Maslov)

† Humility at the hour of our death can replace all the virtues and one thing can save a person.
Archimandrite Cleopas (Ilie)

† "The wise Solomon says:" The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, "and the fathers agree. And I say to you: blessed and tribless is the man who fears the Lord"
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "The gifts of the Holy Spirit are priceless. Every true gift is nothing but a flame of love. But in order to expand our hearts to the ability to perceive the love of Christ in its vivid manifestations, it is necessary for everyone, without exception, to go through many trials"
Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov)

† "The soul of the one who justifies himself does not find peace. Such a person is deprived of consolation. He himself justifies his "I", but does this "I" justify him? His "I", his conscience do not find him an excuse , and therefore the soul has no rest. This indicates that he is to blame"
Elder Paisius Svyatogorets

† "For a person who wants to approach the conditions and ways of his resurrection, a right and sound faith is an indispensable means"
Elder Joseph of Vatopedi

† "Do not look for consolation from people in your sorrows, and you will receive consolation from God"
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "Do not look at the mistakes of others and do not condemn anyone, so that you do not become an accomplice of the evil one."
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "According to the holy fathers, sorrows are our guides leading us to eternal life. And their absence is the surest proof that for a negligent life the Lord deprives us of His mercy."
Schema-Archimandrite John (Maslov)

† "People judge things and events according to what they have in themselves."
Elder Paisius Svyatogorets

† "When a person remembers his sins, with which he grieved God, and at this recollection, repentance and great sorrow come to him, and he begins to complain and weep with heartache before God, and from this great repentance and weeping his mind and heart are humbled ."
Archimandrite Cleopas (Ilie)

† "When helping all living neighbors, do not deprive the dead of your help. Remember them more often and give them possible alms for their salvation. Only we, the living, can help them."
Schiegumen Savva (Ostapenko)

† "Humility is a bridge that raises from earth to heaven, a bridge on which all ascetics of piety ascended...
Humility justifies us before God."
Schema-Archimandrite John (Maslov)

† "genuine faith, so that it is not considered dead, is that faith when someone, recognizing God as the cause of all things, believes in all His words, commandments in which His holy will is expressed, and strives with all his might to ensure that this fulfill the will."
Elder Joseph of Vatopedi

† "Injustice is a great sin. All sins have extenuating circumstances, but not injustice - it collects the wrath of God."
Elder Paisius Svyatogorets

† "When you want to know the will of God, forget yourself completely, all your intentions and thoughts, and with great humility ask in your prayer to know it. And whatever your heart is formed or to which it inclines, do it, and it will God."
Elder Joseph the Hesychast

† "Love your neighbor and the Lord will love you"
Archimandrite Modest (Potapov)

WORD FOR THE NEW YEAR. Saint John Chrysostom

The diabolical all-night festivities taking place today, jokes, abusive cries, night dances and funny amusements have captivated our city worse than any enemy; and then, as one should lament, cry, be ashamed, both by those who have sinned and those who have not sinned, looking at their sins with one, and looking at the outrage of the brethren with the other, our city rejoices, flaunts and is crowned; the square, like a dress-loving and luxurious woman, today is carefully decorated, dressed in golden and precious clothes, shoes and the like; every artisan, by parading his work, tries to outdo his comrade. Such a competition, although it shows a childish mind and a soul incapable of great and lofty thoughts, does not entail too much harm: there is only some kind of reckless zeal that draws ridicule on the competitors. If you want to decorate, then decorate not the workshop, but your soul - not the square, but the mind, so that the angels marvel, and the archangels approve of your work, and the Lord of the angels rewarded you with His gifts, and the boasting that is happening now excites both laughter and envy, - laughter in those who think a little higher, and envy and great hatred in those who are subject to the same diseases.

But, as I said above, such a competition deserves a little censure; And most of all, the competitions that take place today in hotels and are full of debauchery and great wickedness are most regrettable: wickedness because those who practice them notice the days, guess and think that if they spend the first day of this month in pleasure and fun, then the whole year will be Same; and debauchery, because at the very dawn both women and men, having filled their glasses and cups with wine, get drunk with great excess. It is inconsistent with our wisdom, whether you do it yourself or let others do it, servants or friends or neighbors. Have you not heard the words of Paul: you look at the days, and the months, and the seasons, and the years; I'm afraid about you, what kind of food do you work in vain (Gal. IV, 10, 11)? It is extremely crazy for one happy day to expect the same for the whole year; and not only from madness, but also from the influence of the devil comes the idea that in the affairs of your life you must rely not on your own zeal and activity, but on the daily circulation of time. A happy year will be for you in everything, not when you drink on the first day, but if on the first and every day you do what is pleasing to God. A day is bad or good, not by its nature, because it does not differ from day to day, but by our zeal or carelessness. If you have done good, then the day is good for you, but if you have sinned, then it is bad and inseparable from punishment. If you reason in this way and set yourself up in this way, performing prayers and alms every day, then the whole year will be happy for you; but if you, not worrying about virtue, expect joys for your soul from the beginning of the months and the number of days, then nothing good will come to you. The devil, knowing this and trying to turn us away from the exploits of virtue and suppress spiritual jealousy, taught people to attribute happiness and misfortune to days. Whoever is convinced that there are happy and unhappy days will not engage in good deeds on an unhappy day, thinking that all his work will remain vain and useless due to the fatal nature of the day; likewise, on a happy day he will not engage in those matters, thinking that his negligence will not harm him in the least, due to the good nature of the day itself, and thus he will lose his salvation in both cases, and considering his labors either useless or superfluous will lead an inactive and vicious life. Knowing this, we must avoid the wiles of the devil, pluck out such a conviction from the soul, not observe the days, not neglect one day and not be attached to another. The crafty demon contrives against us in this way, not only to plunge us into negligence, but also to slander the creatures of God, and to draw souls into negligence and together into impiety. We must move away from this, and clearly know that there is no evil but one sin, and there is no good, except one virtue and pleasing God in everything. Joy comes not from drunkenness, but from spiritual prayer, not from wine, but from a word of edification. Wine produces a storm, and a word produces silence; wine causes noise, but the word stops confusion; wine darkens the mind, but the word enlightens even the darkened; wine inspires sorrows that were not there, and the word drives away those that were. Nothing usually leads to peace and joy like the rules of wisdom - to despise the present, to strive for the future, not to consider anything human permanent - neither wealth, nor power, nor honors, nor patronage. If you have learned to be so philosophic, then envy will not torment you when you see a rich man, and when you fall into poverty, you will not stoop from poverty; and thus you will be able to celebrate constantly. It is common for a Christian to celebrate not in certain months, not on the first day of the month, not on Sundays, but to spend his whole life in a celebration appropriate to him. What kind of celebration is appropriate for him? Let us hear about this from Paul, who says: Let us celebrate the same way, not in kvass, nor in kvass of malice and deceit, but in kvass of purity and truth (1 Cor. V, 8). So, if you have a clear conscience, then you have a constant holiday, feeding on good hopes and comforting in the hope of future blessings; but if you are not calm in your soul and guilty of many sins, then during thousands of holidays and celebrations you will feel no better than those who weep. Of what use is a bright day to me, when my soul is darkened by reproaches of conscience? So, if you want to benefit from the beginning of new months, then do this: at the end of the year, thank the Lord that He has kept you until this limit of years; break with your heart, count the time of your life, and say to yourself: the days run and pass; the years are ending; we have already made a lot of our way; what good have we done? Shall we leave here without everything, without any virtue? Judgment is at the door, the rest of life tends to old age.

So be philosophic at the beginning of new months; bring this to mind during annual circulations; let us think of the day to come, lest someone say the same thing about us that the prophet said about the Jews: their days disappeared in vanity, and their years with diligence (Psalm LXXVII, 33). Such a holiday, of which I have spoken, is constant, not waiting for the circulation of years, not limited to certain days, rich and poor alike can celebrate; because what is needed here is not money, not wealth, but one virtue. Don't you have money? But there is the fear of God, a treasure better than all riches, which is not damaged, does not change, and is not exhausted. Look at the sky, at the heavens of heavens, at the earth, the sea, the air, various animals, various plants, all human nature; think about angels, archangels, higher powers; remember that all this is the wealth of your Lord. It is impossible that the servant of such a rich Master should be poor if his Lord is merciful to him. It is inconsistent with Christian wisdom to observe the days, but this is a matter of pagan error. You are assigned to the highest city, accepted into the local citizenship, entered the society of angels, where there is no light turning into darkness, no day ending at night, but always day, always light. We will constantly strive to be there. Seek those on high, says (the apostle), where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God (Col. III, 1). You have nothing to do with the earth, where there is the course of the sun and the revolution of the seasons and days; but if you live righteously, then the night becomes day for you, just as for those who spend their lives in debauchery, drunkenness and intemperance, the day turns into night darkness, not because the sun has darkened, but because their mind is darkened by drunkenness . To notice the days, to find special pleasure in them, to light lamps in the square, to weave wreaths, is a matter of childish absurdity; and you have already come out of this weakness, reached a man's age and are inscribed in heavenly citizenship; do not illuminate the squares with sensual fire, but illuminate your mind with spiritual light. So let your light be enlightened, said (Lord), before men, as if they see your good deeds, and glorify your Father who is in heaven (Matt. V, 16). Such a light will bring you great reward. Do not decorate the doors of your house with wreaths, but lead such a life that you will receive the crown of righteousness on your head from the hand of Christ...

So whether we pray or fast, blame or forgive, praise or rebuke, go in or go out, sell or buy, keep silent or talk, or whatever we do, let us do everything to the glory of God; but what does not serve the glory of God, we will neither do nor say, and wherever we are, we will carry with us, instead of a great staff, instead of weapons, guards and innumerable treasures, the said saying, having drawn it in the mind, so that doing and speaking and undertaking everything for the glory of God, we shall receive glory from Him both here and when we depart from here. Whoever glorifies Me, says the Lord, I will glorify (1 Sam. II, 30). And so, not only in words, but also in deeds, let us glorify Him unceasingly with Christ our God; He deserves all glory, honor and worship, now and always and forever and ever. Amen.

Once, some monks asked Abba Anthony, who had this feeling, “Tell us a word about how we can be saved. The elder says to them: Do you listen to the word of Holy Scripture? It is quite enough. But they answered him: We want to hear a word from you, elder. Then he said to them: The Gospel says: "If someone strikes you on the left cheek, turn the other to him." They tell him: We can't do this. The elder answered them: If you cannot turn the other cheek, then leave one side. They tell him: We can't do that either. The Elder says to them: If you cannot even do this, then do not repay the one who hit you with the same. And they told him that they couldn't do that either. Then the elder said to his disciple: Make some soup for them, because they are sick. If you cannot do this and are willing to do so, what can I do for you: It is necessary to pray.

Abba Anthony

Rev. Peter Damascene says:

“This is the beginning of salvation, that a person should leave his own desires and minds, and create God’s minds and wills.” When a person leaves his own desires and begins to accept and create in his life the desires and thoughts of God, then self-love leaves him. He says, "Many righteous were found before the Law, and in the Law, and after the Law." And they were righteous. Why? Because "they preferred the knowledge of God, His will, to the understandings-thoughts and desires dwelling in them." They preferred the will of God to their own desires.

Rev. Maxim says:

“It is necessary to know that the devil, with cunning and malice, uses self-love as a means, since he has deceived us. Attacks us with lust, separates us from God and from each other"

St. Theophan the Recluse:

“The Apostle delivers by inciting the fear of God that God Himself works in them, and in their good desires and in good deeds. This is even stronger than what Chrysostom says: remember that God is everywhere, therefore with you and with you. It is said here that He is not only with us, but also in us; and not like a resting power, but like a power acting in everything ... And such are all Christians. They are united with the Lord and have Him active in them” (pp. 367-368) “God does not act because he compels and compels, but because, finding zeal in us, he strengthens it with grace”
Heresy cannot be defeated by man, because it is an invention, a demonic undertaking. It can only be conquered by God, called to fight against it and to defeat it by man's humility before God and the man's love for his neighbor.

St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov)
Father Nektariy Optinsky directly pointed out how to be saved: “The time for prayers is coming. Say the Jesus Prayer while you work. First with the lips, then with the mind, then she herself will pass into the heart.

"Be wise as snakes and simple as doves" (Mt. 10:16). The snake presses one ear to the ground and covers the other with its tail. So the Christian must guard his ears from the seductive speeches and seductive suggestions of the world.
Blessed Augustine

Saint Ambrose spoke about envy:

“The passion of envy does not, on any joyful holiday, under any joyful circumstances, make it possible to fully rejoice in the one whom it possesses. Always, like a worm, it sharpens his soul and heart with vague sadness, because the envious one considers the well-being and success of his neighbor as his misfortune, and considers the preference given to others as an unjust insult for himself.

POCHAEVSKY LISTOK

INSTRUCTIONS AND PROPHECIES OF THE HOLY FATHERS

Rev. Anatoly Optinsky

My child, know that in last days, as the Apostle says, hard times will come (2 Tim. 3, 1-b). And now, as a result of the impoverishment of piety, heresies and schisms will go on in the Church, and then, as the Holy Fathers predicted, there will be no people experienced and skillful in spiritual warfare on the thrones of hierarchs and in monasteries. From this, heresies will spread everywhere and deceive many.

The enemy of the human race will act with cunning to incline even the elect to heresy. He will not rudely reject the dogmas about the Holy Trinity, about the Divinity of Jesus Christ, about the Mother of God, but imperceptibly begins to distort the teaching of the Church transmitted by the Holy Fathers and from the Holy Spirit, his very spirit and statutes, and these tricks of the enemy will be noticed only by a few, the most skillful in spiritual life. Heretics will take power over the church, they will place their servants everywhere, and piety will be neglected. But the Lord will not leave His servants without protection and in ignorance. He said, "By their fruits you will know them" (Matthew 7:16). So you, by the actions of heretics, try to distinguish them from true shepherds. These are spiritual thieves, plundering the spiritual flock, and they will enter the sheepfold of the Church “climbing someplace,” as the Lord said, that is, they will enter in an unlawful way, using violence and violating God’s statutes. The Lord calls them robbers (John 10:1).

Indeed, their first step will be the persecution of true shepherds, their imprisonment, exile, for without this it is impossible for them to plunder the sheep. Therefore, my son, when you see the destruction of the divine order of the Church, of patristic tradition and the order established by God, know that heretics have already appeared, although perhaps they will hide their wickedness from time to time and will distort the faith imperceptibly in order to be even more in time, deceiving and luring the inexperienced online. There will be persecution not only against pastors, but also against all the servants of God, for the demon who leads heresy does not tolerate piety. Recognize these wolves in sheep's clothing by their proud disposition, voluptuousness and love of power: they will be both slanderers and traitors, sowing enmity and malice. True servants of God are humble, brotherly-loving and obedient to the Church.

There will be great oppression from heretics and monks, and monastic life will then be reviled: the monasteries will become impoverished, the monks will be reduced, and those who remain will endure violence. However, the haters monastic life those who have only the appearance of piety will try to win over the monks to their side, promising them patronage and worldly blessings, threatening the disobedient with exile. From these threats, the fainthearted will then have great despondency, but you, my son, if you live to this time, rejoice, for then those who believe in the right, but who have not shown other virtues, will receive crowns for one standing in the faith, according to the word of the Lord: Whoever confesses Me before men, I will confess him also before My Father in Heaven” (Matt. 10:32, 33).

Fear the Lord God, my son, be afraid of losing the prepared crown, be afraid of being cut off from Christ into outer darkness and eternal torment. Stand courageously in the faith of Orthodoxy and, if necessary, endure exile and other sorrows with joy, for the Lord and the holy Martyrs and Confessors will be with you: they will look with joy at your feat. But woe will be in those days to monks who have acquired property and wealth, and, for the love of peace; ready to submit to heretics. They will lull their conscience, saying: "If we protect and save the monastery, the Lord will forgive us."

The unfortunate and blinded do not think that a demon will enter the monastery with heresy, and then it will no longer be a holy monastery, but simple walls, from where grace will depart. But God is stronger than the enemy and will never leave His servants. And true monasteries will remain until the end of time, only deserted and solitary places will be chosen for this. Do not be afraid of sorrows, but be afraid of pernicious heresy, for it will expose a person from grace and separate from Christ, therefore the Lord commanded to consider a heretic for a pagan and a publican (Matt. 16, 17). So, be strengthened, my son, in the grace of Jesus Christ, hasten with joy to the exploits of confession and endure suffering, like a good soldier of Jesus Christ (2 Tim. 2, 1, 2), who said:

“Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10). To him, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, Honor, Glory and Power forever and ever.

PRAYER FROM THE ANTICHRIST REPRESENTANT ANATOLY OPTINSKY (POTAPOV)

Deliver me, O Lord, from the seduction near the coming godless, evil-cunning Antichrist, and hide me from his treacherous nets in the innermost wilderness of Your salvation. Give me, Lord, the strength and courage of a firm confession of Your Holy Name, may I not retreat fear for the sake of the devil, may I not deny You, my Savior and Redeemer, from Your holy Church. But give me, Lord, day and night, weeping and tears for my sins and spare me, Lord, at the hour of Your Last Judgment. Amen.

Rev. Hieroschemamonk Seraphim Vyritsky ( † 1949)

“The time will come when there will be a spiritual dawn in Russia. Many churches and monasteries will open, even non-Christians will come to us to be baptized. But this is not for a long time, for fifteen years, then the Antichrist will come. When the East gains strength, everything will become unsustainable. The time will come when Russia will be torn apart. First they will divide it, and then they will begin to rob wealth. The West will contribute in every possible way to the destruction of Russia and will give up its eastern part to China before the time comes. Far East the Japanese will take over, and Siberia - the Chinese, who will begin to move to Russia, marry Russians and, in the end, by cunning and deceit, take the territory of Siberia to the Urals.

When China wants to go further, the West will resist and will not allow it. Many countries will take up arms against Russia, but she will stand, having lost most of her lands. This war, about which the Holy Scriptures narrate and the prophets speak, will be the cause of the unification of mankind. Jerusalem will become the capital of Israel, and in time it must become the capital of the world. People will understand that it is impossible to live like this, otherwise all living things will perish, and they will choose a single government - this will be the threshold of the accession of the Antichrist. Then the persecution of Christians will begin; when echelons from cities leave deep into Russia, we must hurry to be among the first, since many of those who remain will die. The kingdom of lies and evil is coming. It will be so hard, so bad, so scary that God forbid to live up to this time ...

The time will come when not persecution, but money and the charms of this world will turn people away from God, and many more souls will perish than during open rebellion. On the one hand, crosses will be erected and domes gilded, and on the other, the kingdom of lies and evil will come. The true Church will always be persecuted, and it will be possible to be saved only by sorrows and illnesses, while persecution will take on the most sophisticated, unpredictable character. It will be terrible to live up to these times.”

“The elder loved the youth very much. At that time, young people hardly went to church, and he was so happy when they came to him. The elder spoke about the enormous role of the young in the future revival of the Church. He said that times would come (and are already coming!), When the corruption and decline of the morals of the young will reach the last limits. Almost no one will remain uncorrupted. They will consider that everything is permitted to them to satisfy their whims and lusts, because they will see their impunity. They will gather in companies, gangs, they will steal, debauchery. But the time will come when the voice of God will come, when the youth will understand that it is impossible to live like this any longer, and they will go to faith in different ways, the craving for asceticism will increase. Those who were previously sinners, drunkards, will fill the churches, feel a great attraction to spiritual life, many of them will become monks, monasteries will open, churches will be full of believers and the majority will be young people. And then the young will go on pilgrimages to holy places - it will be a glorious time! The fact that they sin now - they will repent so hotly. Just as a candle, before it goes out, flares up brightly, illuminating everything with its last light, so does the life of the Church. And that time is near."

Rev. Lavrentiy Chernigovskiy

Russian people will repent of mortal sins that they allowed Jewish wickedness in Russia, did not protect the anointed Tsar of God, Orthodox churches and monasteries, a host of martyrs and confessors of saints and all Russian saints. They despised piety and loved demonic wickedness.

Having richly acquired the All-Holy Spirit of God, Elder Lavrenty often talked with his children about last times, warned that you need to be vigilant and careful, as the Antichrist is close.

The Reverend said that this would be a world war, that no one would be left anywhere, except in the gorge.

And they will fight, and two or three states will remain, and they will decide: "Let's elect one king for the whole universe." And they will choose.

And in the last times, true Christians will be exiled, and the old and weak, even if they grab the wheels, but run after them.

About the coming Antichrist, the Elder, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, spoke the following words: “There will be a time when they will go to sign for one king on earth. And they will strictly rewrite people. They go into the house, and there is a husband, wife, children. And now the wife will persuade her husband:

“Let’s sign, we have children, because you can’t buy anything for them.” And the husband will say: “You do as you wish, but I am ready to die, but I will not sign for the Antichrist.” Such a touching picture of the future.

“The time will come,” said the Reverend Father Lawrence, “when inactive (closed) churches will be restored, equipped not only outside, but also inside. Domes will be gilded, both temples and bell towers. And when everything is finished, the time will come when the Antichrist will reign. Pray that the Lord will continue this time for us, for strengthening, because a terrible time awaits us. And do you see how insidious everything is being prepared? All temples will be in the greatest splendor, as never before, and it will be impossible to go to those temples.

The Antichrist will be crowned as king in the magnificent Temple of Jerusalem.

There will be free entry and exit from Jerusalem for every person. But then try not to drive, because everything will be done to seduce.

The Antichrist will be descended from a prodigal Jewish maiden of the twelfth tribe of fornication. Already as a boy, he will be very capable and intelligent, and especially since then, when he, being a boy of about twelve, walking with his mother in the garden, will meet with Satan, who, coming out of the abyss itself, will enter him.

The boy will startle with fright, and Satan will say: "Do not be afraid, I will help you." And from this lad the Antichrist will mature in the form of a human.

The prophets Enoch and Elijah will descend from Heaven, who will also tell everyone that the Antichrist has come: “This is the Antichrist, do not believe him.” And he will kill the prophets, but they will rise and ascend to Heaven.

The Antichrist will be trained in all satanic tricks and will give false signs. It will be heard and seen by the whole world at the same time. The Holy Pleasure of God said: “Blessed and trebleblessed is that person who does not wish and will not see the ungodly face of the Antichrist. Whoever sees and hears his blasphemous speech, his promises of all earthly blessings, will be seduced and go towards him with worship. And he will perish with him, and will burn in eternal fire.

They asked the Elder: “How will all this be?” The Holy Elder answered with tears: “The abomination of desolation will stand in the holy place and show the filthy deceivers of the world, and they will deceive people who have apostatized from God and work false miracles. And after them, the Antichrist will appear and the whole world will see him once. The Fathers asked the Saint: “Where, in the holy place? In the church?" The monk replied: “Not in the church, but in every house. In the corner where the holy icons now stand and hang, there will be seductive fittings to seduce people. Many will say, "We need to watch and listen to the news." It is in the news that the Antichrist will appear.”

“He will “stamp” his people with seals. Will hate Christians. The last persecution of the Christian soul will begin, which will refuse the seal of Satan... Nothing can be bought or sold to a Christian. But do not be discouraged: the Lord will not leave his children... There is no need to be afraid! There will be churches, but an Orthodox Christian will not be able to go to them, since the Bloodless Sacrifice of Jesus Christ will not be offered there, and there will be all the “satanic” gathering ...

I repeat once again that it will be impossible to go to those churches, there will be no grace in them.”

Christians will be put to death or exiled to desert places. But the Lord will help and nourish His followers.

Jews will also be rounded up in one place. Some Jews who truly lived under the Law of Moses will not accept the seal of Antichrist. They will wait, keep an eye on his affairs. They know that their ancestors did not recognize Christ as the Messiah, and here God will give it so that their eyes will be opened and they will not accept the seal of Satan, but will recognize Christ and will reign with Christ.

And all the weak people will follow Satan, and when the earth does not give a harvest, people will come to him with a request to give bread, and he will answer: “The earth will not give birth to bread. I can not do anything".

There will also be no water, all rivers and lakes will dry up. “This disaster will last three and a half years, but for the sake of His chosen ones, the Lord will shorten those days. In those days there will still be strong fighters, pillars of Orthodoxy, who will be under the strong influence of the heartfelt Jesus prayer. And the Lord will cover with His Almighty Grace, and they will not see those false signs that will be prepared for all people.

Many of you, my children, will live to see this terrible time. One sister, listening to this conversation, asked: “What to do? I wouldn't want to live until then!" “And you are young, you can wait,” said the Elder. "How scary!" “And you choose one of two: either earthly or heavenly.”

“There will be a war,” Father continued, “and where it takes place, there will be no people. And before that, the Lord will send small illnesses to weak people, and they will die. And with the Antichrist there will be no death. And the Third World War will no longer be for repentance, but for extermination.

“Repairs of temples will continue until the very coming of the Antichrist, and everywhere there will be unprecedented splendor,” said the Elder. And you, for our church under repair, be moderate, in its external form. Pray more, go to church while you have the opportunity, especially to the Liturgy, at which the Bloodless Sacrifice is offered for the sins of the whole world. Confess more often and partake of the Body and Blood of Christ, and the Lord will strengthen you.

To one deacon, who is still alive, but already old, Father directly said: “You will live to see the time when the Antichrist will not be afraid, but tell everyone that this is “he”, and there is no need to be afraid!

(1948): “Abbess Domnitskaya with two cell attendants (born in 1923) went to Batiushka for tea, and he said at dinner:

“You and I, mother, will not live to see the Antichrist, but these (pointing to his nieces) will live.”

The slanders of the evil one and false teachings in Rus' will disappear, and there will be a One Orthodox Church.

The Monk Lawrence spoke insistently and sternly with a warning that our native word is Rus and Russian. And it is imperative to know, remember and not forget that there was the Baptism of Rus', and not the baptism of Ukraine. Kyiv is the second Jerusalem and the mother of Russian cities.

There was a secret Jewish capital in Poland. The Jews forced the Poles to conquer Rus'. When the Poles conquered part of Rus', they leased Orthodox monasteries and churches to the Jews. Priests and Orthodox people could not perform any rites without their permission. They pressed and oppressed the Orthodox from all sides, patronizing Poland, Catholicism and the union.

The Jews really did not like the words: Rus' and Russian, therefore they first called the Russian lands conquered by the Poles and leased to them Little Russia. Then they came to their senses that there is the word Ros here, and they called it Outskirts. The word outskirts is a shameful and humiliating word! What edge? What, why the outskirts?! After all, behind this imaginary Judeo-Polish outskirts there are other countries and states. And later, at their own behest, the Poles legitimized the concepts of Ukraine and Ukrainians for us, so that we would willingly forget our name Russian, forever break away from Holy and Orthodox Rus'.

The Monk Theodosius, hegumen of the Kiev Caves, wrote that we should not praise someone else's faith and in no case unite with the Catholics and leave the Orthodox Faith. Close in spirit, the great Archbishops Lazar Baranovich, St. Theodosius of Chernigov and St. John, Metropolitan of Tobolsk, they tried with all their might, according to the word of the Lord Jesus: “May they all be one,” to be with Orthodox Russia in order to make Holy Rus' together. And to be forever freed from Polish domination and from the oppression of the Jews and their rent, and to get rid of Catholicism alien to us and soul-destroying union, introduced and planted by threats, torture, violence and death. And Father said: Just as it is impossible to separate the Most Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, this is One God, so it is impossible to divide Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Together they are Holy Rus'. Know, remember and don't forget.

The city of Kyiv has never had a Patriarch. Patriarchs were and lived in Moscow. Beware of self-consecrated Ukrainian group (church) and union.”

The abbot of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Father Kronid Batiushka, objected that the self-consecrated and the Uniates had already disappeared in Ukraine. The father answered sadly and sadly:

“The devil will enter them and they will take up arms against the Orthodox Faith and the Church with satanic malice, but they will have a shameful end, and their followers will suffer heavenly punishment from the Lord the King of Forces.”

What Batiushka's precious words, they have no price: Batiushka foresaw everything and in advance. Now a Ukrainian self-consecrated bishop has appeared, calling himself the Patriarch of Kyiv. Yes, he does not know and has forgotten that there has never been a Patriarch in Kyiv... And some of them, to their eternal torment and to their shame, shout in madness: "Our Patriarch."

Batiushka warned us to be faithful to the Moscow Patriarchate and in no case be part of any schism. That those bishops and priests who led the faithful people into confusion did great harm to themselves and destroyed many Orthodox souls.

“Only those unworthy of God’s mercy and great sinners who do not want to know: “I believe in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church!” go into schism and heresy! And that the Orthodox Church is the Body of Christ (is it possible to divide the Body of Christ?), and, finally, the Church is the unseamless tunic of the Lord (which, like Arius, cannot be torn apart).

And they do not remember that there is one God, one faith and one baptism.

Russia, together with all the Slavic peoples and lands, will constitute a mighty Kingdom. The Orthodox Tsar, God's Anointed One, will nourish him. The king will be from God.

You need to know for sure that Russia is the lot of the Queen of Heaven, and She cares about her and intercedes for her purely.

The Lord Jesus Christ created one Church (and not churches), which even the gates of hell will not prevail against. There is only one Orthodox Church, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. Others who call themselves churches are not churches, but the tares of the devil among the wheat and the crowd of the devil.

At these words, the priest prayed for all those who had gone astray and apostatized from orthodoxy, wept and said: “No, the Lord will not call them to repentance, they will not be saved, for they are not worthy of God's mercy. This is revealed to me by the Queen of Heaven and the Holy Guardian Angel... In them, who have gone astray and deviated from orthodoxy, there is no grace of the Holy Spirit, salvation and receiving the Kingdom of Heaven. We, the Orthodox, do not need anything, but only the Orthodox Faith of saving the soul and receiving the Kingdom of Heaven, and our Mother, the Russian Orthodox Church, has it all. Thank the Lord! And to break away and depart from it is the greatest and unforgivable sin both in this life and in the future - this is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

Prophetic words of St. Lawrence on heresies and schisms in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

“When a little freedom appears, churches and monasteries will be opened and they will be repaired, then all false teachings will come out together with demons and secret atheists (Catholics, Uniates, self-sanctified Ukrainians and others) and will strongly take up arms in Ukraine against the canonical Orthodox Church, its unity and conciliarity. These heretics will be supported by the godless authorities, and therefore they will be taken away from the Orthodox churches and the faithful will be beaten.

Then the Metropolitan of Kiev (unworthy of this title), together with his like-minded bishops and priests, will greatly shake the Russian Church. He himself will go to eternal death, like Judas.

But all these slanders of the evil one and false teachings will disappear in Rus', and there will be a Single Orthodox Church – Russian.”

Rev. Nile myrrh-streaming

... So, when the Antichrist will impose his seal on people, their hearts will become as if dead.

And then, that is, during that predicted disaster, the Antichrist will begin to seal people with his seal, supposedly in order to save them from disaster with this sign, and bread will be sold to those who have the seal, according to the Apocalypse (Rev. 13:17). Many will die on the roads. People will become like birds of prey that pounce on carrion, they will devour the bodies of the dead. But what kind of people would devour the bodies of the dead? Those who are sealed with the seal of Antichrist; Christians, although they will not be given or sold bread for lack of a seal on them, will not eat corpses; those who are sealed, despite the availability of bread to them, will begin to devour the dead.

When the accursed glory sees Enoch and Elijah preaching and telling people not to accept the seal of the Antichrist, he will order them to be seized. They will convince people not to accept the seal, they will say that whoever shows patience and is not sealed by it will be saved and God will certainly accept him into paradise for the sole reason that he did not accept the seal. And let everyone be marked with an honest cross, making the sign of the cross for every hour, for the seal of the cross frees a person from the torment of hell; the seal of the Antichrist leads a person to hellish torment.

If you are hungry and require food, be patient for a little while, and God, seeing your patience, will send you help from above; you will be quickened (full of life) by the help of the Most High God. If you do not show patience, you will be printed with the seal of this impure king, then later you will repent of it.

He who is sealed with the seal of the Antichrist becomes a demon; although he claims that he allegedly feels neither hunger nor thirst, however, he hungers and thirsts even more, and not only more, but seven times more than you. Just be patient for a little while. Do you not see that the one who receives the seal of the Antichrist will not live (that is, he is dead in spirit and eternal torment awaits him)? Do you also want to perish with a seal in eternal torment, so that you can be there with those who were sealed with it, “where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth”? And Enoch and Elijah will preach to the people with many other admonitions.

Antichrist will hear what two people are preaching, calling him a flatterer, a sorcerer, a deceiver and an insidious devil; Hearing this, he becomes angry, orders them to be seized, brought to him, and turns to them with flattering words.

And Elijah will answer: “We despise your kingdom, but we curse your glory along with your seal.” Hearing such a contemptuous answer, the Antichrist will become like a mad dog and will kill them with his own hands.

Rev. Ambrose Optinsky ( † 1891)

“When the faithful children of the Church will hide in caves, and only the prayers of the Mother of God will have the power to save people from persecution and confusion.” (It will be especially important to read the Archangel greeting “Rejoice to the Virgin Mother of God ...” - this is the spiritual “groove” that the Antichrist will not jump over, that is, he will not seduce the soul, covered with the prayers of the Mother of God. - Comp.)

Rev. Barsanuphius of Optina ( † 1913)

"Many of the St. The Fathers interpret that the “abomination of desolation,” spoken by the prophet Daniel, “standing in the holy place,” will be the Jewish temple, built on the site of the ancient Jerusalem temple, in which the Savior preached. In this temple, which will be built at the coming of the Antichrist, the Antichrist himself will sit on the throne. Then the prophecy of the prophet Daniel will be fulfilled ... "

“Then Father [the Reverend] spoke about the Jews, about China, and about the fact that everyone is going against Russia, or rather, against the Church of Christ, for the Russian people are God-bearers. It contains the true faith of Christ."

“It is true that in the Church we now do not have living sources of prophecy, but there are signs of the times, which are given to us for the knowledge of the time and which are clearly visible to those who have a spiritual mind. Look, for example, at the Jews, what is their relation to them. 50 years ago the Jews were silent, they were not heard. In Prussia, let alone in Austria, anyone could offend a Jew without any punishment, even kill him. I'm not saying that it's legal or good, I just want to say how powerless and insignificant they were ... And suddenly they gained fame and power. Isn't this a sign of the times? After all, they began to exist not yesterday, not 50 years ago, but several millennia. They were rejected from the time of the Crucified Christ and His Resurrection - and why could they not acquire such power in tens of centuries, which they acquired in such a short time? Isn't this a sign of the times? Everywhere decay, decay. The Antichrist is clearly coming into the world.”

“He who reads the Apocalypse before the end of the world will be truly blessed, for he will understand what is happening. And understanding, he will prepare himself. While reading, he will see in the events described in the Apocalypse, these or other events contemporary to him.

Rev. Nectarius of Optina ( † 1928)

Hieromonk Nektary (Tikhonov† April 29, 1928) Optinsky to the question "Will there be a union of the Churches?" - answered:

“No, only the Ecumenical Council could do this, but there will be no more Council. There were 7 Councils, like 7 Sacraments, 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit. For our age, the fullness of the number is 7. The number of the future age is 8. Only individuals will join our Church.”

“It is time for prayers. Say the Jesus Prayer while you work. First with the lips, then with the mind, then it will move into the heart itself.

Prayer composed by Elder Nectarius: “Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God who is coming to judge the living and the dead, have mercy on us sinners, forgive the sins of our whole life, and with them weigh the fates hiding us from the face of the Antichrist in the secret wilderness of Your salvation” .

“A premonition of social catastrophes hung over humanity. All this is felt by instinct, like ants... But the faithful need not be afraid: Grace will protect them. In the last time, the same will happen to the faithful as it was with the apostles before the Dormition of the Mother of God. Each faithful, wherever he served, will be transferred to one place on a cloud. The Ark is the Church. Only those who are in it will be saved.”

(January 27, 1923): “Those who remain faithful to the Orthodox Church, wherever they are scattered, the Lord will gather everyone together, like the apostles at the Dormition of the Mother of God.”

Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov ( † 1867)

“The hypocrisy of the Antichrist during this period will reach the point that even in relation to Christians, he will not only not show himself as an enemy to them, but will even act with the readiness of his patronage to them. With his outward ostentatious side of life, he will try to imitate Christ. The majority of Christians, guided not by the spiritual mind of the Church, but by carnal wisdom, will not see this deception and recognize the Antichrist as Christ, who came to earth a second time...

A terrible test will come for the Saints of God: the persecutor’s deceit, hypocrisy, miracles will intensify to deceive and deceive them, refined, thoughtful and covered with insidious ingenuity of persecution and oppression, the unlimited power of the tormentor will put them in the most difficult situation; a small number of them will seem insignificant in front of all mankind... general contempt, hatred, slander, oppression, violent death will become their lot... The opponents of the Antichrist will be considered rebels, enemies of the public good and order, will be subjected to covert and open persecution, will be subjected to torture and executions.. Extreme attention is needed to the Word of God, justified by the very events of a time and mood hostile to it, but not when we fall away. Only for those who will be guided by Holy Scripture, it will tell him that not the majority, but only a few, walk along the narrow path, but in the last days of the world this path will become extremely impoverished.

“In times of sorrows and dangers, visible and invisible, prayer is especially needed: it, being an expression of the rejection of arrogance, an expression of hope in God, attracts God's help to us.”

“At the onset of great tribulations in the time of the Antichrist, all those who truly believe in God will cry out an intensified prayer to God. They will cry out for help, for intercession, for the sending down of Divine grace to strengthen and guide them. The own forces of people, although faithful to God, are not enough to resist the combined forces of outcast angels and people who will act with frenzy and despair, foreseeing their imminent death. Divine grace, having overshadowed the chosen ones of God, will make the seduction of the deceiver invalid for them, his threats unthreatening, his miracles contemptible; she grants them to courageously confess the Savior who has accomplished the salvation of people, and to denounce the false messiah who came to destroy people; she will raise them to scaffolds, as to royal thrones, as to a wedding feast.

The Lord "even in the very times of Antichrist will guide His servants and prepare for them places and means of salvation, as it is testified in the Apocalypse...".

The mercy of God prolongs and delays the decisive denouement for a small remnant of those who are being saved, while those who are rotting or rotten reach the fullness of corruption. Those who are being saved must understand this and use the time given for salvation, “for there is a shortened time,” and the transition to eternity is not far from each of us. To the position of the Church we must conciliate, although together we must understand it. This is an admission from Above. Elder Isaiah said: “Understand the time. Do not expect prosperity in the general church composition, but be satisfied with the fact that it is provided in particular for people who want to be saved to be saved. "Save your soul," said the remnant of Christians, said by the Spirit of God.

Rev. Kuksha Odessa ( † 1964)

“The end times are coming. Soon there will be an ecumenical cathedral called "Saint". But this will be the same “eighth council”, which will be a gathering of the godless. On it, all faiths will unite into one. Then all posts will be abolished, monasticism will be completely destroyed, bishops will be married. Newsletter calendar will be introduced in the Universal Church. Be carefull. Try to visit God's temples while they are still ours. Soon it will be impossible to go there, everything will change. Only a select few will see it. People will be forced to go to church, but we will not have to go there under any circumstances. I beg you, stand in the Orthodox faith until the end of your days and be saved!

Saint Theophan of Poltava

“You ask me about the near future and about the coming end times. I do not speak about this from myself, but what was revealed to me by the elders. The coming of the Antichrist is approaching and is already very close. The time that separates us from his coming can be measured in years, at most in decades. But before his arrival, Russia must be reborn, albeit for a short time. And there will be a king, chosen by the Lord Himself. And he will be a man of ardent faith, deep mind and iron will. This is what was revealed to us about him. And we will wait for the fulfillment of this revelation. Judging by many signs, it is coming; except that because of our sins, the Lord will cancel it and change His promise. According to the testimony of the word of God, this too can happen.”

“I don’t know anything about the Eighth Ecumenical Council yet. I can only say in the words of St. Theodore the Studite: "Not every assembly of bishops is a council, but only an assembly of bishops who stand in Truth." A truly Ecumenical Council does not depend on the number of bishops gathered for it, but on whether it will philosophize or teach "Orthodox". If he departs from the truth, he will not be universal, even if he calls himself the name of the universal. - The famous "robber's cathedral" was at one time more numerous than many ecumenical councils, and, nevertheless, was not recognized as ecumenical, but received the name "robber's cathedral"!..»

Rev. Seraphim of Sarov

So there will be time, says Father Fr. Seraphim, when, under the pretext of ecclesiastical and Christian progress, to please the demands of this world, they will change and distort the dogmas (teaching) and statutes of the Holy Church, forgetting that they originate from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who taught and gave instructions to His disciples, St. Apostles, about the creation of the Church of Christ and its rules, and commanded them: “Go and teach all nations that which I have commanded you” (Matt. 28, 19).

From here, the rules and traditions of the Holy Apostles that have come down to us have been preserved to this day, which were clarified and finally approved once and for all by the Holy Successors - the Holy Fathers, led by the Holy Spirit at the seven Ecumenical Councils.

“Woe to the one who subtracts or adds one word,” says Father Fr. Seraphim, our Church has no vice; woe to him who dares to make any changes in the Divine services and the statutes of that Church, which is the “Pillar and Ground of the Truth” and about which the Savior Himself said that even the gates of hell will not prevail against her; i.e., that it will remain unchanged until the end - until the second coming.

Any desire to bring alleged improvement, changes in the rules and teachings of the Holy Church is heresy, the desire to create your own special Church according to the invention of the human mind, deviation from the decree of the Holy Spirit is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which will not be forgiven forever. This is how all those who have fallen away from unity with the Holy Apostolic Church have acted and will continue to act, about which the Apostle Paul says: His servants take the form of the servants of righteousness, but their end is according to their deeds. (2 Corinthians 11:13-14).

In one of his conversations with Motovilov, the Monk Seraphim, speaking about the spiritual state of the last Christians who remained faithful to God before the end of the world, told something very important for strengthening the confessors of Christ:

“And in the days of that great tribulation, of which it is said that no flesh would have been saved, if, for the sake of the elect, those days had not been shortened - in those days the remnant of the faithful will experience something similar to what was once experienced by the Lord Himself when He, hanging on the cross, being perfect God and perfect man, felt Himself so forsaken by His Divinity that He cried out to Him: My God! My God! Why did you leave me? (Matthew 28-46).

The last Christians must also experience a similar abandonment of mankind by the grace of God, but only for the shortest time, after which the Lord will not hesitate to appear after him in all His glory, and all the holy angels with Him. And then everything predetermined from the ages in the Pre-eternal Council will be accomplished in its entirety.

INSTRUCTIONS AND PROPHECIES OF ST. SERAPHIM OF SAROVSKY

SAROVSKY MONASTERY

More than half a century will pass. Then the villains will lift their heads high. It will certainly be. The Lord, seeing the unrepentant malice of their hearts, will allow their undertakings for a short time, but their illness will turn on their head, and the untruth of their pernicious plans will descend on top of them. The Russian land will be stained with rivers of blood, and many nobles will be beaten for the Great Sovereign and the integrity of His Autocracy. (...)

There will be great calamities on the Russian land, the Orthodox faith will be trampled on, the bishops of the Church of God and other clerics will depart from the purity of Orthodoxy, and for this the Lord will severely punish them. (...)

Before the birth of the Antichrist, there will be a great long war and a terrible revolution in Russia, as Fr. Seraphim, exceeding all human imagination, because the bloodshed will be the most terrible: the Razinsky, Pugachevsky riots, the French Revolution are nothing compared to what will happen to Russia. There will be the death of many people loyal to the fatherland, the looting of church property and monasteries; desecration of the churches of the Lord; destruction and plunder of the wealth of good people, rivers of Russian blood will be shed. But the Lord will have mercy on Russia and lead her through suffering to great glory...

The unchanging account of the world and Russian war will be 10 years ...

Since I myself (N.A. Motovilov) was told back in 1834, here in Voronezh [by Archbishop Anthony (Smirnitsky)], that I would not die before I personally know, as myself, that person who will live to see birth Antichrist, in order, like Simeon the God-bearer, who let know about the birth of the True Christ, to let know about the birth of the true Antichrist.

This sermon will be officially announced to all people, not only Russians, but also universal ones, as an all-perfect message.

Then it will be easy to foresee his accession to the universes in old Jerusalem, on the entire surface of the globe, except for the current territory of Russia and inner Asia, where 10 tribes of the kingdom of Israel live. Russia will merge into one great sea with other lands and Slavic tribes, it will form one sea or that vast universal ocean of the people, about which the Lord God spoke from ancient times through the lips of all the saints:

"The terrible and invincible kingdom of all Russia, pan-Slavic - Gog Magog, before whom all peoples will be in awe."

And all this, everything is true, as twice two makes four, and without fail, as God is holy, who from ancient times foretold about him (the last Russian Tsar) and his formidable dominion over the earth.

By the combined forces of Russia and other (states), Constantinople and Jerusalem will be filled. When Turkey is partitioned, almost all of it will remain with Russia, and Russia, together with many other states, will take Vienna, and about 7 million indigenous crowns will remain behind the House of Habsburg, and the territory of the Austrian Empire will be settled there.

France for her love for the Mother of God - St. Madonna - will be given up to seventeen million Frenchmen with the capital city of Reims, and Paris will be completely destroyed. The House of Napoleonides will be given Sardinia, Corsica and Savoy.

When the Russian Empire receives one hundred and eighty million in its possession, the appearance of the Antichrist should be expected.

1) The Antichrist will be born in Russia between Petersburg and Moscow in that great city, which, after the union of all the Slavic tribes with Russia, will be the second capital of the Russian kingdom and will be called “Moscow-Petrograd”, or “City of the End”, as the Lord Holy Spirit calls it, foreseeing everything from afar.

2) Before the appearance of the Antichrist, the Eighth Ecumenical Council of all the Churches must be held under the Single Head of Christ the Life-Giver and under the single Protection of the Mother of God, the One according to the Almighty God, leaving behind the first patriarch his royal power, as the prototype of the eternal kingdom of Jesus Christ, also for unification and reunification of all the holy Churches of Christ against the brewing anti-Christian trend under the Single Head of Christ the Life-Giver and under the single protection of His Most Holy Mother and for the final damnation of all Freemasonry and all similar parties (under what names they would not appear), the main leaders of which have one common goal: under with the help of people fanatized by them, to cause anarchy in all states and destroy Christianity throughout the world and, finally, by the power of gold concentrated in their hands, to subjugate the whole world to anti-Christianity, in the person of an autocratic autocratic tsar, the God-fighting tsar, one on the whole world.

Satan was the first revolutionary, and through this he fell from heaven. There is nothing in common between the teachings of his followers and the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, there is a huge gulf here. The Lord, through the fulfillment of the commandments given by Him, calls mankind to heaven, where truth dwells. The spirit of darkness promises a paradise on earth.

Thus, all revolutionary societies, secret and overt, under whatever names they appear and no matter how plausible appearance they hide behind, have one common goal - the struggle and general destruction of Christianity, paving the way for anti-Christianity in the face of the coming Antichrist into the world.

The Jews and the Slavs are the two peoples of God's judgments - His vessels and witnesses, indestructible arks; but all the rest of the nations are like saliva, which the Lord spews out of his mouth.

Because the Jews did not accept and did not recognize the Lord Jesus Christ, they are scattered over the face of the whole earth. But at the time of the Antichrist, many Jews will turn to Christ, as they will understand that the Messiah they mistakenly expect (anointed to reign - Heb.) is none other than the One about whom our Lord Jesus Christ said: “I came in the name of the Father mine, and they did not receive me; another will come in his name, and they will receive him."

So, despite their great crime before God, the Jews were and are a people beloved before God.

The Slavs are loved by God because they keep the true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to the end. At the time of the Antichrist, they will completely reject and do not recognize him as the Messiah, and for this they will be rewarded with the great blessing of God: there will be an omnipotent language (people - glorious) on earth, and there will be no other more omnipotent Russian-Slavic kingdom on earth.

In Israel, Jesus Christ, the true God-Man, the Son of God the Father, was born by the infusion of the Holy Spirit, and among the Slavs and Russians, the true Antichrist-Demon-Man, the son of the wife of the harlot of Dan's generation and the son of the devil, will be born through the artificial transfer to her of the male seed, with which he will dwell together in her womb spirit of darkness.

But some of the Russians, having lived to see the birth of the Antichrist, like Simeon the God-Receiver, who blessed the Child Jesus and announced His birth to the world, will curse the born Antichrist and announce to the world that he is the true Antichrist.

These prophecies are fragments of a handwritten letter from the Sarov elder Seraphim (Moshnin), sent to N. A. Motovilov, who later wrote them out and personally handed them over to S. A. Nilus. (Printed according to the publication of Abbot Andronik (Trubachev) "The Antichrist and Russia" from the journal "Literary Studies". Book 1. 1991, pp. 133-134).

Saint John of Shanghai

The Antichrist will provide an opportunity for the life of the Church, will allow her worship, promise the construction of beautiful temples, provided that he is recognized as the supreme being and worshiped. He will have a personal hatred for Christ. He will live this hatred and rejoice in the apostasy of people from Christ and the Church. There will be a mass falling away from the faith, and many bishops will betray the faith and, in justification, will point to the brilliant position of the Church. The search for a compromise will be a characteristic mood of people. Straightforward confession will disappear. People will subtly justify their fall, and gentle evil will maintain such a general mood, and people will have the habit of apostasy from the truth and the sweetness of compromise and sin.

Rev. Ephraim the Syrian in “The Word for the Coming of the Lord at the End of the World and at the Coming of the Antichrist” says: “The Jews will most honor and rejoice at the reign (of the Antichrist). Therefore, he, as if out of preference, looking after them, will indicate to all of them a place and a temple.

“Many prayers and tears are needed for us, beloved, for any of us to be firm in temptations; for there will be many dreams made by the beast. He himself is a God-fighter, and wants to destroy everyone. For the tormentor will use such a method that everyone will have to bear the seal of the beast […] and only in this case will they be able to buy food and everything they need; and appoint overseers to carry out his commands. Notice, my brethren, the excessive wickedness of the beast and the cunning of his craftiness, how he begins from the womb, so that when a person is brought to the extreme by a lack of food, he is forced to receive his seal, that is, evil marks, not on any member of the body. , but on the right hand, as well as on the forehead, so that it would no longer be possible for a person to print the sign of the cross with his right hand and also on the forehead to mark the holy name of the Lord or the glorious and honest cross of Christ and our Savior. […] Therefore, my brethren, a terrible feat lies ahead for all Christ-loving people, so that until the hour of death they do not come into fear and remain inactive, when the serpent traces its seal instead of the Savior's cross. […] For if anyone is not sealed with the seal of the beast, he will not be captivated by his dreamy signs either. Moreover, the Lord does not depart from such, but enlightens and draws them to Himself. […] I beseech you, brethren, I, the least of you, let us not be lazy, lovers of Christ, but let us be more able to do so through the power of the cross. An inevitable feat at the door. Let us all take up the shield of faith. Be ready, as faithful servants who accept no other. […] Blessed is he who proves to be wholly holy and faithful, whose heart is unquestionably devoted to God; because he will dispassionately reject all the proposals of the serpent, neglecting both his tortures and his dreams. […] Many of the saints that will be found then, at the coming of the defiled one, will shed tears in rivers to the Holy God in order to get rid of the serpent, with great haste they will flee into the desert, and with fear they will hide in mountains and caves, and will sprinkle the earth and ashes upon their heads, praying day and night in great humility. And this will be given to them from the Holy God; His grace will lead them to the places determined for this, and they will be saved, hiding in the abysses and caves, not seeing the signs and fears of the Antichrist; for those who have knowledge will without difficulty make known the coming of the Antichrist. And whoever has a mind for worldly affairs and loves earthly things, this will not be clear to him; for he who is always attached to the affairs of life, although he hears, will not believe and abhors those who speak. And the saints will be strengthened; because they have abandoned all concern for this life.”

... Then the whole earth and the sea, and the mountains and hills, will cry, and the luminaries of heaven will cry for the human race, because everyone has deviated from the Holy God and believed the flattery, having taken on themselves instead of the Life-Giving Savior Cross the mark of the nasty theomachist. After the fulfillment of three and a half years of the power and action of the unclean, and when the temptations of the whole earth are fulfilled, the Lord will finally come, like lightning flashing from heaven, our Holy, Most Pure, Terrible, Glorious God will come with incomparable glory in the forerunner of His glory of the ranks of the Archangel and Angels : “Arise, you who have fallen asleep, behold the Bridegroom has come!” The tombs will be opened, and in the twinkling of an eye all the tribes of the earth will wake up and look at the holy beauty of the Bridegroom. And the darkness of those and thousands of thousands of Archangels and Angels - the countless army will rejoice with great joy; the saints and the righteous, and all who have not received the seal of the serpent and the wicked, will rejoice. The tormentor with his demons, bound by angels, as well as all who have received his seal, all the ungodly and sinners will be bound and brought before the judgment seat. And the King will give them a sentence of eternal damnation, unquenchable fire. All those who have not accepted the seal of the Antichrist and all those hiding in the caves will rejoice with the Bridegroom for endless ages of ages.

PROPHETIC VISION OF OLD ANTHONY ( † 2001)

It was difficult to accept this in those years of apparent Soviet prosperity, I did not think then that I would live to see the fulfillment of much of what I saw ... I did not ask for anything, but it was given from above to see what people who came to me asked about. ..

Well, now, actually about the vision, about what awaits everyone, alas, in the not so distant future, some of it is happening at the present time. So what did I see about the future.

First of all, all kinds of technical catastrophes - the system of existence created by man, in fact, satanic, because it absolutely contradicts the laws of God, will begin to break down. Planes will fall, ships will sink, nuclear power plants and chemical plants will explode. And all this will be against the backdrop of terrible natural phenomena that will occur throughout the earth, but especially strongly in America. These are hurricanes of unprecedented strength, earthquakes, severe droughts and, conversely, flood-like downpours. A terrible monster, modern Sodom - New York will be wiped off the face of the earth. Gomorrah - Los Angeles will not remain without retribution.

It seems that it will be difficult to find a place on earth where a person would feel calm, in complete safety. The peace of man will be only in the hope of God, the earth will no longer give him protection. Disordered nature threatens the cities with the most terrible consequences, for they have completely torn themselves away from it. The bottom is the destruction of the Tower of Babel, a modern house, and hundreds of those buried without repentance and communion, hundreds of dead souls. These houses, built on piles, are the essence of arrows that pierce the earth, as if striving there, to hell, and they will bring people a hellish death under the rubble. And the one who remains alive will instantly envy the dead, for his fate is even worse - death from hunger and suffocation.

Cities will be a terrifying sight. Even those that avoid complete destruction, deprived of water and electricity, heat and food supply, they will resemble huge stone coffins, so many people will die. Gangs of bandits will endlessly commit their atrocities, even during the day it will be dangerous to move in the city, but at night people will gather in large groups in order to try to live together until morning. Sunrise, alas, will not herald the joy of a new day, but the grief of the need to live this day.

Do not think that peace and prosperity will reign in the countryside. Fields that are poisoned, disfigured, scorched by drought, or flooded with heavy rains will not produce the required harvest. There will be an unprecedented loss of livestock and people, unable to bury the animals, will leave them to decompose, poisoning the air with a terrible stench. The peasants will suffer from the attacks of the townspeople, who, in search of food, will disperse to the villages (villages, Slavicism), ready to kill a person for a piece of bread! Yes, there will be bloodshed for that piece, which now does not go down their throats without seasonings and sauces. Cannibalism will become commonplace, having accepted the seal of the Antichrist, humanity will erase all the boundaries of morality. For the villagers, the night is also a period of special fear, because this time will be with the most cruel robberies. And you need not only to survive, but also to save property for work, otherwise starvation also threatens. The people themselves, as in the city, will also be the objects of hunting. From the outside, it will seem that antediluvian times have returned ...

And over all this hunger will prevail. The hunger will be twofold - food hunger, and, most importantly, spiritual hunger. There will be several lean years, droughts, all this will lead to a terrible famine ...

The world has been covered with the darkness of contentment of a dozen "developed" countries, which the enemy has chosen as a support in the matter of intoxicating the whole world. The main percussion weapon in this case is the slogan of freedom! How much blood has been spilled in all revolutions and upheavals, social and pseudo-religious uprisings, political and mystical strife on the altar of the demon of "freedom"! It is he who has risen and overthrown, a creature that ate to usurp the place of the Creator, he is the main freedom-lover. And his freedom is not the ability given to man by God to be perfect in every kind of virtue. No, his “freedom” is the most severe bonds, the purpose of which is to deprive a person of the opportunity to choose between good and evil, leaving behind him only the procession to hell. This is the kind of freedom that will be achieved... The first freedom that the demon needs, without which all others will crumble, is freedom of religion, the so-called religious tolerance... The Orthodox Church, that's what keeps them all from sleeping peacefully!..

And I saw what attempts the world's evil makes in order to defame the Holy Church, the immaculate Body of Christ! First of all, it will be defame in all newspapers, radio and TV. Jews with Slavic surnames will in every possible way expose the clergy, the Orthodox to public ridicule, mock rituals, fasts, lifestyles, all that has always been the basis of the vitality of the people.

Everything is saturated with hatred for the Truth. Not much time will pass, and the TV organizers will openly mock Christ, the saints. Programs about the Mother of God will be permeated with special hatred, everything will bleed with the poison of hellish malice...

They will not hear the teachings of the Church, the Ark of salvation of the last time, but will follow the teachings of men, they will reject the truth, and they will revel in fables, as the Apostle warned... And the Church, which gave them the Holy Letter, will be unthinkably vilified and blasphemed. And the sins of unworthy servants will be attributed to the vices of the Church. She disturbs them. For the Church is a vessel filled with the Holy Spirit, and He is the Convicting Spirit!...

Here it is, another evil done by the owners of television - accustoming people to the appearance of demons! This accustoming is already underway, monsters are looking at a person from all sides. They are now called aliens, somehow, but they are demons. Time will pass, and they will freely show themselves to people, being in the service of the Antichrist and his minions. How difficult it will be to fight them then! ..

Thousands upon thousands of Catholic destroyers of Orthodoxy will be sent into the Church itself, among the clergy. With their seeming piety, their spirit is another alien, and the people will leave their temples. They will stand restored and built, but empty. Wherever the flame of true holiness and commitment to the spirit of paternal faith will shine. But who wants, he will find. No one can justify himself by saying: “Lord, I searched and did not find!” In the midst of the darkness of unbelief and godlessness, the flames of truth are burning all over the earth. And the righteous clergy will be persecuted and oppressed, subjected to all sorts of blasphemy, the servants of the devil will not stop before murders, if God is allowed to accept a martyr's crown. There will be many of them, righteous martyrs of the last time!

And those who are alien to the spirit will wait for the ruler, the Antichrist. But they will still have the opportunity to be saved, i.e. recognize who he is, and power and money will close the eyes of the majority. Terrible time! After all, everything starts small – the clergy have ceased to wear clothes befitting their dignity, already shaved beards in the Catholic and Protestant manners are not a curiosity...

But if it weren’t for catholicity, the Church and the Orthodox wouldn’t have remained—how many times have loners turned out to be the guardians of the truth, while heretics are the highest hierarchies?

But (...) the Antichrist will not be able to achieve complete and absolute control in our country, and in the West I have seen those sheltered from his horned servants - the Lord will not allow it. Of course, whoever wants to be saved and for the sake of this leaves the comforts and conveniences of the city, going to a desert area, will be more secure.

The Antichrist will come as a deliverer from social negarazd, although that is precisely what they will be held for. The fiend of hell will have innumerable strength and power. The people who are preparing his arrival already now hold in their hands the main riches of the earth. The mirage of today's well-being will leave faster than spring waters. Let's remember one of the trainings, rehearsals held with people in the Soviet Union - one day and everyone who trusted the banks became beggars...

Now it will be worse, the whole world will be under attack... And the demon will push people who do not believe or have little faith to lay hands on themselves... I saw a line of coffins. On the ground they cry and sob, they sing repose, and around the demons dance, happy - how many souls they could destroy! ..

They will burst, these banks, they will burst in order to bring people to their knees. And they will burst overnight, rehearsals for this have already been successful. And enterprises will stop due to natural disasters and wars. And what will the person be left with? With a mass of unnecessary and useless things, the acquisition of which years of life were spent, but the value of which is very relative even in a prosperous world, and in a world of catastrophes - dust, nothing ...

These notorious dollars will be, as in my time, "Kerenki", for meters. Gold will find its true value - nothing, like metal - useless, and so - neither eat nor hide from the cold. Only functional things will have a value, things without which human survival is impossible - axes, saws, any tool, simple iron stoves ...

The eve of the coming of the Antichrist is chaos in the life of almost all countries. In prosperity will be those who, by virtue of the professed religion, are waiting for the coming of the false messiah. First of all, these are Jews and Mohammedans. Behind them are those Protestants who, denying the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, preach the kingdom of God on earth. The strengthening of their influence is already visible, further will be more. The main thing now for them is to take possession of the land. Everything will be secretly bought up - forests, fields, and rivers. Siberia will fall under the Chinese, maybe more will be pulled out ...

These prophecies of the hundred-year-old Schema-Archimandrite Anthony are printed according to the text of the book of the priest Alexander Krasnov "Spiritual Conversations and Instructions of Elder Anthony" (pp. 28-31, 33-34, 37, 47, 4e, 53, 55, 58-62, 64).

PROPHECIES OF OLD MAN SERAPHIM (TYAPOCHKIN)

With. RAKITNOE BELGOROD OBL.

This is what I happened to hear in the cell of the great old man of our time - Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim from Rakitnoye about thirty years ago. What he said then seemed incredible or very, very far from our days, which we are unlikely to live to see...

But now the time has come to remember the prophecies of the elder.

Elder Seraphim spoke what was revealed to him about the future of Russia; he did not name dates, he only emphasized that the time for the accomplishment of what was said is in the hands of God, and much depends on how the spiritual life of the Russian Church will develop, how strong faith in God will be among the Russian people, what will be the prayer feat of believers.

It was said that day unexpectedly for everyone - about the future "scenario" of the collapse of Russia. Since a significant part of what was said then was already fulfilled, let us also remember what we have not yet lived up to.

Elder Seraphim from Rakitnoye said that the collapse of Russia, despite the seeming strength and rigidity of power, would happen very quickly.

First, the Slavic peoples will be divided, then the union republics will fall away: the Baltic, Central Asian, Caucasian and Moldavia.

After that, the central power in Russia will begin to weaken even more, so that the autonomous republics and regions will begin to separate.

The biggest tragedy will be the capture of Siberia by China. This will not happen by military means: the Chinese, due to the weakening of power and open borders, will begin to move to Siberia in droves, buying up real estate, enterprises, apartments. Through bribery, intimidation, agreements with those in power, they will gradually subjugate the economic life of cities.

Everything will happen in such a way that in one morning the Russian people living in Siberia will wake up in the Chinese state.

The fate of those who remain there will be tragic, but not hopeless. The Chinese will brutally crack down on any attempts at resistance.

During the memorable conversation, a young woman from a Siberian city was present. Elder Seraphim said to her:

“You will be martyred by the Chinese in the stadium of your city, where they will drive the inhabitants and those who disagree with their rule.”

This was the answer to her doubts about the words of the elder Seraphim that almost all of Siberia would be captured by the Chinese.

Many "believers" today do not want to believe in the very possibility of such a prospect. Therefore, Elder Seraphim predicted the martyrdom at the stadium of the Siberian city of many Orthodox and patriots of the Motherland.

The West will promote this creeping conquest of our land and support China's military and economic power in every possible way out of hatred for Russia. But then they will see the danger for themselves, and when the Chinese try to seize the Urals by military force and move on, they will prevent this by all means and can even help Russia in repelling the invasion from the East.

Russia must endure in this battle, after suffering and complete impoverishment, she will find the strength to rise in herself.

And the coming revival will begin in the lands conquered by the enemies, among the Russians who remained in the former republics of the Union. There, the Russian people realize what they have lost, realize themselves as citizens of that Fatherland that still lives, wish to help her rise from the ashes.

Many Russian people living abroad will help restore life in Russia... Many of those who can escape persecution and persecution will return to their original Russian lands to fill abandoned villages, cultivate neglected fields, and use the remaining undeveloped subsoil.

The Lord will send help, and, despite the fact that the country will lose the main deposits of raw materials, they will find on the territory of indigenous Russia both oil and gas, without which a modern economy is impossible.

Elder Seraphim Rakitny said that the Lord would allow the loss of vast lands granted to Russia, because we ourselves could not use them worthily, but only polluted and spoiled them.

But the Lord will leave behind Russia those lands that became the cradle of the Russian people and were the basis of the Great Russian state. This is the territory of the Great Moscow Principality of the 10th century with access to the Black, Baltic and North Seas.

Russia will not be rich, but it will still be able to feed itself and force itself to be reckoned with.

To the question: “What will happen to Ukraine and Belarus?” Elder Seraphim replied that everything is in the hands of God. Those who in these nations are against an alliance with Russia - even if they consider themselves believers - become servants of the devil.

The Slavic peoples have a common destiny, and the reverend Fathers of the Kiev Caves will still say their weighty word - they, together with a host of new martyrs of Russia, will beg for a new Union of three fraternal peoples.

And one more question was asked to Elder Seraphim: “Is it possible to restore the monarchy in Russia?”

Elder Seraphim replied that this restoration must be earned. For those who do not yet believe in the salvation of this path, it exists as a possibility, and not as a predestination. But that part of the Russian people, which will be worthy, will find the Tsar by faith! But this will become possible only after the very accession of the Antichrist - for a very short time.

These are the prophecies of Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim from s. Rakitny are printed according to the text of Alexander Nikolaev's article "Memories of the Future".

Reading of the Holy Fathers

The elders advise reading and re-reading the works of the holy fathers. They are deep and understood gradually. Their subject is the spiritual life, and it is vast: “Wide is thy commandment.” There is no limit to spiritual growth, so rereading is of great importance. It is better to reread a small number of books with reverence and attention than to read a lot hastily. Reading is one of the most important things to do. Without reading or listening to reading, one cannot know the truth. Speaking of reading, I mean exclusively the reading of Holy Scripture and the writings of the Fathers and the Church. But reading will only bring the desired benefit when what is read enters life to the best of its ability and becomes the rule of life, and not just naked, soulless and cold knowledge. What use can it be that a person knows that one must pray and does not pray, knows that one must forgive offenses, and does not forgive, knows that one must fast and does not observe fasts, one must endure, and does not tolerate, etc. Such knowledge, according to the word of the Gospel, will even be in condemnation of a person. Therefore, you need to read with attention and try to live in the spirit of what you read. Of course, we cannot immediately become an executor of everything that is written - we need gradualism. At first, compulsion and humility, awareness of one's weakness, then the knowledge gained from reading will bring the desired benefit. In general, all the books and writings of the holy fathers and true teachers of the Church on spiritual life, and especially the writings on prayer, must be read with extreme attention, slowly, delving into every utterance, every word with the strength of your mind, so as not to miss something. - or necessary, so as not to give yourself a reason for an incorrect, arbitrary understanding and interpretation of what is being read. Spiritual life and the feat of prayer have their own laws, their own sequence; they must be studied and understood, mastered by the mind and heart. Self-made, self-thinking should not have a place here, they lead a person astray. A slight deviation or inaccuracies in appearance sometimes lead to big mistakes and delusions, which have bitter fruits and consequences. If something seems incomprehensible, unclear, then you need to ask someone who knows if you have such a person, and if you don’t, then let it remain incomprehensible for the time being; don't try to understand with your mind. In due time the Lord will send admonition; St. Tikhon of Zadonsk speaks well of this. The elders advise reading and rereading the books of the holy fathers. The writings of the Holy Fathers embody the truth of spiritual life and wisdom, and always bring consolation and enlightenment and spiritual reinforcement to the reader! They can never lose their vitality, for the spiritual life set forth in them has forever its own laws that cannot be changed. They (scriptures) are understood and assimilated gradually, as the spiritual growth of the reader and ascetic, as understanding is gained from their experience and personal experiences. Incidentally, the latter is one of the reasons for the need to reread the writings of the fathers. And it is advised to reread them like this: if a person sees that he is attacked, for example, by the passion of anger, then he is advised to read about this passion and the virtue opposite to it; if malice attacks, then read about malice and love; if fornication attacks, then read about prodigal passion and chastity, etc. It is useful for those who are depressed by grief to read about the benefits and necessity of sorrows, etc. It has been noticed that what it needs at a given time makes a particularly strong impression on the soul, like a ban on reading books in a row. Those who wish and have the opportunity, let them read each book in a row. It is even necessary to get a complete impression and understanding of the writings and teachings of this or that holy father. And this advice can be used as your spiritual need for this or that reading. It is best, if possible, to receive the blessing of a spiritual father for each reading. In the absence of such an opportunity, one should receive at least a general blessing on the order and choice of books to read (St. Nikon).

About reading the books of the fathers, I cannot give an exact meaning; they are not written according to a scientific system, but simply about various passions and virtues, how to resist the first and acquire the latter. There are also lofty subjects for the perfect. You, reading books, what is accessible to your mind and befits your dispensation, then assimilate it for yourself, and what exceeds your concept, then, after reading, leave it like that, without delving into the depth of understanding: it can be opened in time, for babies it is firm food is uncomfortable. Read books chi-tai from the beginning, continue in a row, but not all one, but read in one in the morning, in the other in the evening; read not for curiosity, but for teaching piety and knowing your weakness, and from this come to humility (St. Macarius).

Read the books of the fathers and engage in their teaching, it will be useful to the knowledge of one’s weakness and to the acquisition of humility, patience and love and admonishes us how to resist passions, how to cleanse our hearts from this thorns and plant virtues (St. Macarius).

They<святые отцы>they didn’t just write from the mind, but before the deed many sorrows and illnesses passed and they left us, as a rich heritage and as a repository of hope, their inspired words, and we, sending thanks to the Lord who gave us this gift, we will instruct to be in them and, in case of need, to apply to our ulcers, as a healing balm ... (St. Macarius).

Books to read to the sisters, depending on the disposition of each, but it is more necessary to give them to read active, and not speculative, such as: Saints Ephraim, Abba Dorotheus, St. John of the Ladder, the Prologue and the Lives of the Holy Fathers; and look from them the fruit - the knowledge of their weakness and humility, and not what - I know everything, and in the case of a conversation, challenge others. And then the Lord Himself will give them the true mind, which is acquired from humility; and how much it brings benefits, so much, on the contrary, the offering damages, which they themselves have seen in experience on many (St. Macarius).

You can read books that are moral, that is, active, related to the life of a Christian, as much as time allows in social studies; speculative, i.e. contemplative, are not yet available to us; the contemplative life happens after the purification of oneself by the commandments of Christ, and this grace itself teaches. In patristic teachings it is called: "action and vision." Action is the commandments, and vision is the contemplation by the mind of the mysteries that are not subject to the senses; one should by no means look for this, lest instead of truth delusions fall (St. Macarius).

You trust your conscience and be guided by the teachings of the holy fathers, who have passed the path of monastic life and who have left us an example with their life and teaching. In their teaching we see how to act and walk the path of life, to have a struggle with passions... (St. Macarius).

You write that you don’t understand some places from the book of John of the Ladder; be content with what you understand, and try to fulfill it, and then other things will be revealed (St. Macarius).

What you read in your father’s books and what you talked about orally, try to pass by skill or experience, and most of all with self-denial, in the rejection of your will and mind, and in leaving your desires ... (St. Makariy ).

Read fatherly books; in their teaching you will find admonition and strengthening for yourself (St. Macarius).

I ask you, for God's sake, read the word of God and the fatherly instructions more often, you will find benefit, you will find there that the only way to peace is patience and humility (St. Macarius).

Get out the book "Teachings of Abba Dorotheos"... Read this book constantly, applying moral lessons to yourself and trying to correct and direct your life according to them. Our late elders called this book the ABC of our life (St. Joseph).

That you are reading the book of Abba Dorotheus is good. God grant that reading will bear good fruit. Try to delve into what is written there, everything is understandable there, and if you want, then it can be easily applied to life. And if it's hard to come by, it's because you're reading for the first time. If you read more diligently, you will understand better ... It is also useful to read the “Ladder” of St. John, but do not be embarrassed by shortcomings, but try to reproach yourself for them, repent of them and humble yourself more (St. Joseph).

Batiushka said... what about. Macarius, the great elder, every three years re-read Abba Dorotheus and the Ladder and found in them everything new and new, for he grew spiritually (St. Barsanuphius).

Abba Dorotheos is the ABC of monastic life, although by reading it, you can discover everything new and new, and for everyone it is in accordance with his condition ... She has a shore, and from the shore you can walk first knee-deep, then deeper and deeper . Sometimes right into the depths... (St. Varsonofy).

Question: "Father, I've noticed that reading godless books and generally disagreeing with my worldview, although it does not change my views, nevertheless, some kind of sediment remains after these books." Answer: “Yes... the holy fathers and our elders advised reading books of their direction and by reading to further strengthen and develop their convictions...” (St. Varso-nofiy).

It's a good thing you did that you started reading this book.<«Отечник» епископа Игнатия>. It is composed as follows: Bishop Ignatius wrote out what answered the exciting monastic questions. From this side, this work is irreplaceable. Many perplexities that have worried someone for a long time are immediately resolved by some kind of extract (St. Barsanuphius).

I take great comfort in the writings of Bishop Ignatius. I don’t know how to thank the Lord and the priest that I have such a treasure... I am amazed at the angelic mind of Bishop Ignatius, his wonderfully deep understanding of the Holy Scriptures... I feel a special affection for his writings. They enlighten my heart, my mind with the true gospel light (St. Nikon).

The works of St. Isaac the Syrian are best read in Russian translation. His writings, with a very deep content, should be read with caution. What is said there for beginners is in our time accessible only to those who have succeeded in the spiritual life, and much cannot be applied at all. Such books as the works of St. Isaac should be read not in order to apply to oneself, but for mood. Otherwise it can be very bad. In arrogance, in charm, you can fall and be damaged. And you need to take the entire essay or article as a whole, you need to look at the whole. So it is said by Isaac the Syrian that his teaching as a whole must be taken ... It is better to read what is simpler, more understandable, for example: Abba Dorotheus, The Ladder, Theodore the Studite, Cassian the Roman and others (St. Nikon).

By reading spiritual books without direction, you are afraid that you will fall into some wrong thoughts and wrong opinions. Your fear is very well founded. Therefore, if you do not want to suffer such a distress of the soul, do not read indiscriminately any new works, even if they are of spiritual content, but such writers who have not confirmed their teaching by the holiness of life, but read the works of such fathers who are recognized by the Orthodox Church for firmly known and, without a doubt, instructive and soul-saving (St. Ambrose).

In order not to lose firm Orthodoxy, take the book The Orthodox Confession by Peter Mohyla as a guide for yourself and your children. Examine it with attention and diligence, and keep firmly in your memory what is written there, so that you yourself know well the work of your salvation, and know what you need to say and point out to the children at a decent time. Let the Chronicle or the 4th part of the works of St. Demetrius of Rostov be the second book of this kind. Behind her and other parts of his creations, read not only for guidance on right opinions and understandings, but also for guidance in life itself, what to know and be able to do, how when to act purely Christian, according to Orthodox decrees. For the same purpose, read the book of Abba Dorotheus, which is justly called the mirror of the soul. This mirror will show everyone not only his actions, but also the very movements of the heart. During fasts, and especially during the days of fasting, it is decent and useful to read the works of Ephraim the Syrian in Russian translation, choosing chapters on repentance (St. Ambrose).

In order to be more firmly established in Orthodox concepts, I would advise you to read with attention and diligence all the creations of the new saint of God, St. Tikhon of Zadonsk. Although their style is heavy, when reading, try to pay your attention more to thoughts and to the proposed Christian rules. The reading of two Russian luminaries, St. Demetrius of Rostov and St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, will explain a lot to you and will confirm a lot for you. To this add the words of the Apostle Paul: “Do not be carried away by different and alien teachings; For it is good to strengthen hearts with grace, and not with dishes from which those who dine on them have not benefited” (Heb. 13:9). And in another place: “But even if we or an angel from heaven began to preach to you not what we preached to you, let it be anathema” (Gal. 1, 8). Hold fast to this testimony and do not agree to accept any new teachings, no matter how plausible they may be, imitating one who knows well all the signs and signs of pure silver, who soon notices the admixture of any ligature and rejects non-pure silver. Similarly, you also reject every teaching where you notice even a little ligature of various human opinions that are charged on the mind of God (2 Corinthians 10:5). Having established yourself in Orthodox teaching, first read all the spiritual journals, with the aforementioned analysis, and then choose the one that suits your spirit more (St. Ambrose).

You write again and ask why Bishop Theophan did not approve of the works of Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov. I have not read all of his writings, but I remember an inaccurate citation of passages from the writings of the holy fathers. For example, in the “Philokalia” of Simeon the New Theologian, it is said in the third way of praying for obedience to the elder and spiritual father, without which it is inconvenient to be saved by the Jesus Prayer, and Bishop Ignatius attributed this to simple general monastic obedience, and you for you yourself know what a great difference there is between the one and the other obedience. It is likely that St. Theophanes also found many other inaccurate passages from St. Ignatius. However, the “Sermon on Death” is well written by him, and the charm of the mind and the charm of the heart are also well explained to them (St. Ambrose).

Don't worry about reading your father's books when your inner feeling doesn't bow to it. Someone says: acquire God in yourself, and do not demand books (St. Ambrose).

Reading spiritual books

When reading spiritual books, apply more to yourself, and not to others, what is written in them, otherwise, instead of applying a plaster to your ulcers, you impose a harmful poison, and more<раны>dissolve (St. Macarius).

Your thirst for reading spiritual books is laudable; but everything must be done with humility. From reading, there is also such benefit that, seeing the height of living and knowing one's weakness, one must involuntarily humble oneself and thereby attract the grace of God and help in our affairs. However, it is not necessary to be arrogant about what you read (St. Macarius).

I advise you not to leave reading spiritual books, for sometimes even one line read at a good hour will be valued more than the entire annual publication and will remain forever in your memory (St. Anthony).

I sincerely ask you, as a sincere friend, not to fill your heads with your wasteland and nonsense, but use your memory to read books that are most spiritual and edifying (St. Anthony).

Nothing so much consoled my soul and calmed it as the constant reading of spiritual books, which I read alternately, and noticing some places, and repeated, so that they could be preserved in my memory for a longer time. For even lambs, when they are full, usually chew their former food, setting an example, so that when we eat incorruptible food, that is, when we read or listen to the word of God, we chew it more often, that is, with attention and reasoning in our memory, we carry what we hear and like it. -their quality was corrected (St. Anthony).

The best guide for you will be reading the lives of the saints (St. Barsanuphius).

The Lives of the Saints are an indispensable reading that has such a beneficial effect on the soul, especially when read in the Slavic language. At present, the Slavic language is often not understood, but meanwhile, it is much more beautiful and richer than the Russian language. One expert compares the Slavic language with Russian and says that there is the same difference between them as between a palace and a tavern ... In the world, reading the lives of the saints, and especially in the Slavic language, is completely abandoned, you don’t follow the customs of this age, but do this saving reading (St. Barsanuphius).

I am sending you ... three pamphlets: 1) advice from the mind to your soul, 2) about things that forbid salvation, with soulful conversations of the blessed elder Zosima, and 3) an interpretation on "Lord have mercy." The volume of these books is apparently very small, but their content is large, very large. In them, although briefly, but clearly and practically, it is stated how every Christian should adapt the Gospel teaching to the way of his life in order to receive God's mercy and inherit eternal blessedness. ... To read at least one of these books every week and do this every month, because what is said in these spiritual books is not retained in memory for a long time. And why it is not being held back, the late 80-year-old elder, Archimandrite Moses, explained to us the reason, saying to the one who asked about this: “These books require these things” (St. Ambrose).

You wrote that your N., apart from the Gospel, does not recognize other books of theological content and considers them, like the modern sermons of priests in the church, to be an unnecessary repetition and distortion of the gospel teaching. Why? Is it because he does not read spiritual literature at all and does not listen to sermons. But in this case, is it possible to correctly judge the dignity of spiritual and moral writings? After all, by heart, that is, without looking into the book, only the beggars sing Lazarus. And your N., who thinks a lot about himself, is ashamed to speak so reproachfully about spiritual literature without any actual evidence (St. Ambrose).

Miracles

You see in your N. a contradiction to himself. This is the absolute truth. In fact, he does not believe in the Gospel miracles of Christ, but partakes of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. Meanwhile, the Holy Eucharist is the first, most important and greatest miracle of Christ, and the other gospel miracles are already secondary. For how not to call it the greatest miracle that simple bread and simple wine, once directly transubstantiated by the Lord into the true Body and into His true Blood, for almost two thousand years, through the prayers of the priests, therefore, already ordinary people, do not cease to be transubstantiated in exactly the same way, producing a miraculous change in people who partake of these Divine Mysteries with faith and humility (St. Ambrose).

N. your gospel miracles of Christ ascribes to hypnotic and telepathic phenomena and calls them tricks. But there is an immeasurable difference between the miracles of the Gospel and tricks. And firstly, they differ from each other in their meaning. The miracles of Christ, being extraordinary deeds, at the same time were the greatest blessings to suffering humanity. In fact, to heal the blind-born, withered hands, to raise the dead is not the essence of all these are the greatest blessings. It is not for nothing that the Apostle expressed himself about the Lord Jesus Christ as follows: “He also went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil” (Acts 10:38). And these miraculous blessings of Christ produced the most beneficial influence on the people blessed by the Lord. For example, after healing the man born blind, the Lord, having found him, said to him: “Do you believe in the Son of God? “And who is He, Lord, that I should believe in Him” (John 9:35-36), he objected. The Lord said to him: “And you saw Him, and He speaks to you” (John 9:37). The healed man said: “I believe, Lord! And he worshiped Him” (John 9:38). And what do we see when we present tricks? The magician is busy with a selfish goal, he cares only about his own profit, how to collect more money from the audience, and the audience will look, yawn, say: “yes, this is amazing,” and then they will go away with empty pockets. And how many seductive speeches and glances there are. And already there is nothing to interpret about bad thoughts. Secondly, the miracles of Christ were true miracles. For example, to resurrect a four-day dead man (Lazarus), whose body has already begun to decompose, is this a trick? And what kind of hypnotist or telepathist can do anything like that? And magic tricks are deceit, this has long been known to everyone (St. Ambrose).

Chess

The game of chess serves to waste time, which we lose quite a lot even without this game... (St. Anthony).

jokes

Jokes are indecent in our rank, we must not do this in advance - and pray to God with repentance: “I know my iniquity, and I take out my sin before me ...” (Ps. 50, 5). When we remember our sins, we will not fall into new ones (St. Macarius).

foolishness

You just blew it! And she's tired! And it's hard to live on earth! And he wants to be a fool! And go to another monastery! If only he were there! Humble yourself!.. Father ordered you to say that “the saints are fools,” that is, these people have too little sorrow between brothers, and they look for them in the worldly crowd! (teacher Anatoly).

Your reasoning that one should not trust all holy fools, because many of them are in delusion and deceive others with their imaginary foolishness, but that one should also not condemn them is in accordance with the truth (St. Hilarion).

Sneaking

What are you complaining about, about the same thing that people complained about you before, that you unnecessarily conveyed to M. a lot, what you see or hear and sometimes incorrectly, but as it seemed to you; for this they grieved at you, and now the word is being fulfilled: what we sow, we will also reap ... (St. Ambrose).

Language

For some people, the tongue is the reed of the Holy Spirit, that is, edifying and comforting, while for others, the tongue pronounces the words of the devil, irritable, upsetting those who listen to illness. What is the most (not to say reproachfully) I often noticed in the words of T.V., which I always regretted, but I did not find any opportunity to correct him, because he took any third-party word for himself in a bad way. Therefore, we have no other means to protect ourselves, except for one prayer to the Lord (St. Anthony).

Our benefit comes not from the number of words, but from the quality. Sometimes a lot is said, but there is nothing to listen to, and at other times you hear one word, and it remains in your memory for life (St. Anthony).

If we take into consideration one of our own languages, then how much evil they uttered - blasphemy against God, condemnation of neighbors, grumbling, ridicule, blasphemy, chatter, scolding, swearing, and so on and so forth! And does at least one day pass in a year on which we would not sin with our tongue, forgetting that for every idle word we give the answer to God. Therefore, the Lord God, who provides for our correction and salvation, sends sorrows, from which a person not only talks idle, but also makes it difficult to speak sensibly (St. Anthony).

Rage

You, N. N. through these cases, falling into a rage, understand that this comes from self-love, and not being able to fight or repent, you fall into cowardice and despondency, and this is also from self-love or spiritual pride: you, not seeing correction in yourself, you lose heart and lose heart, but it would be necessary, seeing your poverty in spiritual work and in failure to fulfill the commandments, humble yourself and repent, then the mercy of God will visit you and give you peace: “God looks down on the humble” ( Compare: Ps. 112, 6) (St. Macarius).