The first commandment of Beatitude: (Matt. 5: 3).In the first commandment, the poor in spirit are called blessed. What does it mean?

Probably everyone knows the meaning of the word "poverty": a state of extreme need, when a person has practically nothing. Therefore, a beggar is often ready to accept any alms and help. Maybe the poor in spirit are those who are in extreme spiritual need, who have nothing spiritual? Or maybe these are people who have no talents, goals, no aspirations in this life? But then it is all the more strange that Christ praises such poverty, claiming that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to the poor in spirit. Or does Christ want to say that in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, you need to become a beggar, a wretched person?

Really, a state of spiritual poverty is a state of extreme need, being in which a person desires only one thing - to be with God. As a beggar hopes only that some kind person will give at least a piece of bread, so the poor in spirit hopes only for God's help ... A beggar cannot earn or deserve alms, he only expects mercy and sympathy from others. Likewise, the poor in spirit do not seek to earn a reward from God. He is waiting only for the gift, mercy, disinterested help. And can God be selfish? The poor in spirit desires the grace-filled gifts of God not because he deserves or earned them. Do people give alms to the poor because they have done something for them? No. Charity is called that way because it is not given for something, but just like that. And the beggar himself understands that he is unlikely to be able to repay the one who showed mercy with something.

This kind of poverty is the condition or the basis for the formation of a new person in Christ. To become a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, you just need to hope for the mercy of God. And not to think that, having entered this Kingdom, I can do something great for God. I can only be grateful, sincerely, from a pure heart. As a beggar is grateful - for any coin. Why is there a coin! I am grateful simply for the fact that they saw him, they helped him, they showed mercy to him.

The beggar cannot say: "You need me because I can do something for you." The beggar will only say: "I need you ...".

Those who do not have - will be given

A very good illustration of the first commandment of Beatitude is the parable or the instructive story of Christ about the publican and the Pharisee ( cm. OK. 18: 9-14).

Publican is a tax collector. Judea was conquered by the Romans, therefore, in the eyes of their fellow tribesmen, the tax collectors were traitors, because they served the invaders. And often the tax collectors took more than they should have, profiting from their own brethren. The word "tax collector" can be considered synonymous with the word "sinner". The Pharisees, on the contrary, are all respected people who sought to fulfill all the commandments and prescriptions, which, in modern language, were considered religious authorities.

And so the publican and the Pharisee enter the temple for prayer. The Pharisee goes forward and prays, listing his merits, thanking God that he himself is not like other people - murderers, adulterers, or like this traitor and deceiving publican who dared to enter the temple. The Pharisee also tells God that he gives tithes (donates a tenth of his income for the needs of the temple) and fasts twice a week. The tax collector is laconic. Standing not far from the entrance, not even daring to raise his eyes to the sky and hitting his chest, he repeats only one phrase: "God! Be merciful to me, a sinner! "... And Christ said that the tax collector went to his house justified more than the Pharisee, because he who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 18:14).

Why was the prayer of the publican more pleasing to God than the prayer of the Pharisee? Because the publican realized his poverty, spiritual poverty before God and realized that only the Lord can save him, change him, have mercy on him. The Pharisee says to God: "Lord, I am worthy, here I am - the righteous among sinners, I am rich both materially and spiritually." Here is a sense of one's own superiority, self-determination of oneself as "not like everyone else" - separates a person from God. AND God is closer to the repentant sinner than to the self-praising righteous.

The Church has always said that the beginning of life is repentance. Request - "God have mercy on me ..."... Probably, there is also a feeling of spiritual poverty. Poverty desiring only one thing - the mercy of God. Because only the grace of God will make a person truly rich.

Newspaper "Saratov panorama" No. 30 (958)

Priest Vasily Kutsenko

On the first commandment of Beatitude

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5: 3)

Spiritual poverty is a spiritual conviction that our life and all our spiritual and bodily benefits (such as life, health, strength, mental abilities, knowledge, wealth and all kinds of everyday blessings), all this is a gift of the Creator God: without heavenly help it is impossible to acquire, neither material well-being, nor spiritual wealth - all this is God's gift.

Spiritual poverty is called humility, and its virtue is called humility.

Humility or humility is the basic Christian virtue, because it is the opposite of pride, and from pride all the evil in the world came from. The first of the angels became the devil, the first people sinned, and their descendants quarrel and quarrel among themselves because of pride. "The beginning of sin is pride"(Sir 10:15).

Without humility, turning to God is impossible, no Christian virtue is possible.

Humility gives us the opportunity to know ourselves, to correctly assess our strengths and weaknesses; it has a beneficial effect on the fulfillment of our duties to our neighbors, arouses and strengthens in us faith in God, hope and love for Him, attracts God's mercy to us, and also is disposed towards us.

The Word of God says: "Sacrifice to God the spirit is broken, the heart is broken and humble God will not despise"(Ps. 50:19); "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble"(Prov. 3:34). "Learn from Me", the Savior instructs, "For I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls"(Matthew 16:29).

Physical poverty, or poverty, can contribute much to the acquisition of spiritual poverty, if this poverty, or poverty, is perceived mercifully and resignedly. But not always “bodily beggars” can be “spiritually beggars”.

And the rich can be “poor in spirit” if they understand that visible, material wealth is perishable and transient, and that it cannot replace spiritual wealth; if you remember the words of the Lord: “What good is it to a person if he gains the whole world, but damages his soul? or what ransom will a man give for his soul? "(Matthew 16:26).

But Christian humility must be strictly distinguished from self-serving self-humiliation that undermines human dignity, such as sycophancy, ingratiating himself, etc.

At the same time, it is necessary to strictly turn away from the so-called "noble pride" or "defense of offended honor", reflecting the prejudices, pernicious superstitions left over by the European peoples as the legacy of Roman paganism hostile to Christianity. The true Christian must resolutely renounce these prejudices, which have created the anti-Christian and shameful custom of fighting or dueling.

As a reward for the poor in spirit, that is, the humble, the Lord Jesus Christ promises the Kingdom of Heaven, that is, eternally blessed life. The poor in spirit begin to feel this participation in the Kingdom of God even here, through faith and hope in God, and finally and in fullness they receive it in the future life.

The law of god

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5: 3)

Of course, a truly proud person rarely sees himself as he really is, because in this case he will need to admit that his lifestyle is contrary to Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Christ offered a bliss based on a new way of life, on the ideals of righteousness, and on concepts of self-denial. This greatest sermon ever spoken on earth speaks of the kind of bliss that comes from self-denial.

I believe that the Sermon on the Mount applies to all of humanity. Some evangelical believers consider the Sermon on the Mount to be too sublime and impracticable. For example, the words spoken by Jesus Christ in Matthew 5:48: "Therefore be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect", they consider it too difficult to fulfill and attribute them to the Millennium. They say that the Sermon on the Mount gives the principles of the kingdom of God. However, this point of view creates many problems.

First, the text itself says nothing about the Millennium. Second, Jesus was speaking to people who did not live in the Millennium (this is perhaps the strongest argument). Thirdly, it becomes completely incomprehensible how the events described in the Sermon on the Mount can take place in the Millennial Kingdom, namely: the persecution of true believers, their expulsion and all kinds of unjust slander. Where can such wicked people come from in the Kingdom of God?

Words from Matthew 5:44: "Love your enemies and pray for those who offend you and persecute you" would not make any sense if the Sermon on the Mount was about the Millennial Kingdom. In addition, all the principles discussed in the Sermon on the Mount can be found elsewhere in the New Testament. We cannot attribute all this sermon to especially holy people who will live in the Millennial Kingdom.

This sermon was spoken for us. It sets out the distinctive features inherent in a true Christian living in any historical period. She encourages us to come to a new way of life. Jesus says, "Your way of life must be like this if you want to know bliss." Isn't it wonderful to know that our God does not at all want to deprive man of joy, as some unbelievers claim? Or that He is not going to "command your parade" at all? God wants us to be happy. God wants us to be blessed. And He will give us those principles that are quite accessible to us.

This is a special life. If you live such a life, I assure you that you will be different from other people. However, few people live by these principles. Many Christians today have lost the distinctive qualities of the Sermon on the Mount. The world has shaped us in its own way, and made us embrace worldly concepts of music, morality, marriage, divorce, liberation movement, materialism, diet, alcohol, dance, sports, commercial ethics, clothing, entertainment, etc. However, God wants us to be different from the world. And He says that if we live according to His patterns, then we will be blessed. But, however, everything starts with the consciousness of spiritual poverty.

When I buy a new car, I first of all read the instructions for it in order to know how to drive it. Of course, I already know the basic things about driving a car, but the instructions for this car say something that I can only read in this manual, because no one knows this car better than those who built it. Everything in our world was created by God, but few people turn to Him for advice on how to organize their lives. But they should have asked God how they could fulfill their destiny. "You created me, you and tell me." And Jesus says everything you need to live on earth!

He is interested in the inner state of a person. But this does not mean that his actions do not matter. However, if everything is right inside, then the outside will be right. Faith without works is dead. You are created in Christ Jesus to do good works. However, a person's actions can be true only if the inner state of a person is filled with truth. If this sounds paradoxical, then notice that everything said in the Commandments of Beatitude is a sacred paradox and is in stark contrast to worldly ideas.

The concepts of blessing and bliss, the Greek word "makarios" is translated, in the Holy Scriptures the word misfortune, grief is opposed. And Jesus does not say: "I want you to be blessed." He says categorically: "Blessed are you ..." And when He says the opposite: "Woe to you ..." Is not just a wish. In both cases, it is a judicial verdict.

Note the sequence of the Beatitudes. First we see the bliss of the poor in spirit, which is the right attitude towards sin and which then, in verse 4, leads to sorrow, tears. Realizing your sinfulness and mourning for it, you will experience a sense of meekness. Then you will begin to hunger and thirst for the truth. Do you see this progress? Then you will become merciful (v. 7), a pure heart (v. 8), and finally, a peacemaker (v. 9). The result of the fact that you become a pure heart, merciful and peacemaker will be persecution and unrighteous backbiting. Why? Because the consciousness of all your spiritual poverty, your sorrow and tears of sinfulness, meekness, mercy, greed and thirst for truth, your peacemaking - all this will irritate the world.

However, when all this happens, according to verse 12, you will have joy and a sense of bliss from knowing that you will receive a reward in heaven. And if you live by these promises of Bliss, you will receive the assurance that you are the salt of the earth. This is exactly the case. And you will also be the light to the world. However, you cannot be the salt or light that is spoken of from verse 13 unless you start from verse 3.

So let's look at verse 3.

Why did Jesus Christ start out in spiritual poverty? He wanted to talk about a new life, new concepts and a new way of life. Why did He start with this? Why is spiritual poverty made a source of bliss? Because it is the main characteristic of the Christian. Awareness of one's spiritual poverty is the very first thing that a person needs to enter the Kingdom of God. No one can enter it on the basis of their pride. The door to the kingdom of God is very low and only one who bows deeply can enter it.

Paradoxically, knowing that a Christian needs to rise to the top and achieve the highest ideals in life, we sooner or later come to the conclusion that this is impossible. And the sooner we come to such a conclusion, the sooner we will resort to the One who alone can help us achieve all this. In other words, Jesus is telling us: “You cannot be filled until you become empty. You cannot become valuable until you realize that you are worthless. "

It amazes me that Christians today speak so little about their emptiness. I know many books on how to be filled with joy, how to be filled with the Holy Spirit, how to be filled with this and that, but I don’t know any books that tell you how to empty yourself. Can you imagine a book titled How Can You Become Nothing? or: "How can you be nobody?" Do you think such books will become popular?

Spiritual poverty is the foundation of grace, yet modern Christianity strives for pride. You can expect fruits to grow on their own without a proper fruit tree, just as successfully as your Christian life to grow in grace without humility. Unless we are poor in spirit, we cannot receive grace. You cannot become a Christian if you are not poor in spirit. If you are not a poor in spirit in the Christian life, you can never know what grace is.

Jesus says, “Start with this. Bliss belongs to the poor in spirit. " Until a person shows humility, Christ will not be dear to him. We cannot see Him as He is until we look not at Him, but at ourselves. As long as a person sees only his desires, needs and demands, he will not be able to understand the ineffable riches of Christ. Until a person sees how defiled he is, he will not see how glorious Christ is. Until we see our poverty, we will not see His riches. In death we will come to life. No one can come to Jesus Christ and cannot enter His Kingdom without trembling horror, without the consciousness of his sinfulness and without repentance. Proverbs 16: 5 tells us that pride is an abomination to God.

God gives grace to the humble. That is why it is about humility from the beginning. The only way you can come to God is by confessing your unrighteousness, admitting your inability to live up to God's standards, admitting that you are unable to fulfill God's requirements. A person must come to God with a sense of helplessness and hopelessness in order to receive God's grace from Him, and feelings must be sustained in order to maintain grace in the Christian life. Although this may seem paradoxical, this principle works, and we will see this later.

There are many madmen in this world who have never known the truth. Even Christians who have come to God on the right basis later set off in pursuit of the raptures of modern Christianity. However, we have nothing good in our flesh. That is why Christ began His sermon with the question of spiritual poverty.

What does it mean to be “poor in spirit”? What kind of poverty are we talking about here?

Some believe that it is about material poverty. But if Jesus Christ had in mind only people without money, then the worst thing we could do as Christians is to give money to those who do not have it! Helping those in need would be highly undesirable. Feeding the hungry would be unacceptable. We should have stopped all charity. We would need to take money from all people and make everyone beggars so that they become blessed and ready to enter the Kingdom of God. And then we'd be good missionaries, wouldn't we? It would be horrible to have money, and of course we would die.

However, God does not say anything about material poverty. Moreover, David says that he never saw a righteous man in need, or his children asking for bread (Ps. 37:25). Although the apostle Paul experienced hunger and poverty, he was never a beggar. Jesus Christ never asked for food. Christ and His disciples were accused of being “out of their minds” when they wanted to “turn” the world, but they were never accused of being poor. (If they were beggars, the scribes and Pharisees would not fail to point this out.)

So what kind of poverty does Christ mean? He says: "Poor in spirit", i.e. about spiritual poverty. Greek word "Ptokas", translated by the word beggars, means material poverty, i.e. a completely hopeless state, when a person is even ashamed, no matter how someone recognizes him. This is not about simple poverty, but about absolute poverty. There is another word in the Bible - Penase, which means that the person is so poor that he has to earn his living. "Ptokas" means - a beggar who should beg. "Penase"- this is a poor man forced to earn his living. "Ptokas" means you cannot live without help. In this case, you are completely dependent on others.

"It is just like that," says Jesus, "blessed."

How can it be? Again, this seems absurd, doesn't it? “But we have just established that we are not talking about material poverty. Jesus Christ speaks of spiritual poverty, and the word He used is just right in this case. This is the best analogy you can find. A spiritually poor person is truly spiritually empty, poor and helpless. Can he earn his salvation? Is he spiritually penase, i.e. one who can only earn eternal life for himself? No. He is not penase - poor. He is truly a ptokas - a beggar.

A person is absolutely helpless and depends only on God's mercy, and Christ says: "Blessed are the have-nots, absolutely everything, the poor." What a strange statement! However, let's go further.

Said "Poor in spirit", therefore, we are talking about the soul of a person, and not about his body. That is, the essence of a person lies in his soul, and not in his body. God says this about it: "But on whom I will look: on the humble and contrite in spirit and on the one trembling at my word"(Is. 66: 2). In Psalm 33 verse 19 says: "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and will save the humble in spirit"... And in Psalm 50:19: “A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; you will not despise a broken and humble heart, O God ".

God is close to those who are poor in spirit, not self-righteous, who believe that he can earn his own salvation. Being poor in spirit does not mean that such a person has a dull spirit and that he is devoid of all enthusiasm. This does not mean that such a person is lazy or quiet, indifferent and passive. A poor in spirit is one who has no sense of self-righteousness.

Look at the best example of self-humiliation and self-exaltation given in the Gospel of Luke in chapter 18. This is the story of a Pharisee who was proud of his righteousness, and a publican who, like a beggar, asks God for mercy. The Evangelist Luke tells about something very important: "He also said the following parable to some who were sure of themselves that they were righteous and humiliated others." How did Jesus end this well-known parable? This is what He said about the publican: “I tell you that this one went to his house justified more than that one: for everyone who exalts himself will be humiliated, but he who humbles himself will be exalted” (v. 14).

It is said very clearly. Blessed are those who are poor in spirit. Blessed are the spiritual poor, blessed are the spiritually empty, spiritual bankrupts, “cornered” and pleading for God's mercy. They are the ones who are happy. But why? Because only they know about the true source of bliss. Only they can know God. They will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven not only later, but also here and now.

This truth is not only expressed in the Sermon on the Mount. James 4:10 says: “Humble yourselves before the Lord; and will lift you up ”... It is not the poverty against which the human will rebel, but the poverty in which one is humbled. In modern sacrifice, this doctrine is highly unpopular, especially among Christians who have achieved success and recognition, as well as wealth and influence. However, bliss belongs to the humble.

The Old Testament Jacob had to realize his spiritual poverty before God could use him. He wrestled with God all night, as stated in chapter 32 of Genesis, and God wounded him in the thigh. He put it, so to speak, “on the shoulder blades,” and then it is said: “And (God) blessed him there”(Gen. 32:29). God blessed Jacob when he humbled himself.

God could not use the prophet Isaiah until he became a poor in spirit. In the year of the death of King Uzziah, he wept over his loss. and then God, by His grace, showed the prophet what his own life is and who he really is. God also showed Himself in a vision to the Great and Exalted One, and then Isaiah exclaimed: "Woe is me! I am lost! for I am a man with unclean lips ... and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts ”(Isa. 6: 5). And only after that God blessed him.

Gideon was conscious of his impotence. He said, “Lord! How will I save Israel? Behold, my family is also the poorest in the tribe of Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father's house ”(Judges 6:15). To this God answered him: "The Lord is with you, a strong husband!"(v. 12). From here you can find out which of the people is the strongest. This is the one who is aware of his human impotence.

This was the spirit of Moses. He was so clearly aware of his powerlessness, his inability, and so understood his inadequacy and unsuitability that God used Moses, placing him at the head of the chosen people of God. The same was the heart of David, who said to God: "... Who am I, Lord, Lord, and what is my house, that You have magnified me so much"(2 Kings 7:18).

You see the same thing in Peter, who was by nature a persistent and self-confident man. However, he told Jesus: “Get out of me, Lord! because I am a sinful man "(Luke 5: 8). The apostle Paul recognized that there was nothing good in his flesh. He was the greatest of sinners, persecuting and persecuting the church of God. Anything he thought was an advantage was actually a disadvantage. He refused all this. He personally was not capable of anything good. And he became strong in his weakness.

The world says to man: "Defend your rights, be proud of yourself, win your place under the sun." But God says that when a person realizes his weakness, when he recognizes that he is nothing, then this is not the end, but on the contrary - the beginning! However, the hardest thing to do is, Jesus says that the first thing a person needs to do is to realize his powerlessness. This is spiritual poverty. Consider the parable of the debtor slave found in Matthew chapter 18. He owed his master such a huge amount that he could never pay. Further it says: “Then that servant fell and, bowing to him, said:“ sir! bear with me, and I will pay you everything "(Matt. 18:26). In other words: this slave hoped that he could pay his debt himself.

Jesus Christ wants to show with this parable how unwise it is to say to God: "Be patient and I can do everything." Being poor in spirit means realizing that we have no opportunity to please God, and therefore we have nothing to be proud of, nothing to rely on, and nothing to hope for. You need to be empty in order to be filled later. And this is the path that we must walk all our lives, and not just the path to receiving salvation; this is how our whole life should be.

Before his conversion, Saint Augustine was so proud of his wisdom that this prevented him from becoming a believer. And only after he gave up his pride, he was able to know God. Martin Luther went to a monastery in his youth to earn his salvation by his piety. When, after many years of efforts, he became convinced of his inability to achieve this, he was forced to openly admit that he could not please God. He emptied himself and acknowledged that God gives the hope of salvation by faith. This is how the Reformation was born.

The hope of life exists only for those who know that they cannot please God. This is such a high standard that those who were first given the Law on Mount Sinai could not reach it even for a short moment. God in His Law forbade idolatry, fornication, theft, murder, and so on. But even at the moment when God gave this law, people immediately broke it. While God spoke to Moses, Aaron allowed the people to fall into an orgy. God's standard is far beyond human ability.

Some of the ancient Israelites were aware of this, and according to God's direction they made the appropriate sacrifices, and in humility they confessed their sins, and God, with great mercy, forgave them. But there were also those who thought that they could do everything. They made sacrifices and prided themselves on self-righteousness and tried to fulfill the law by their own efforts. However, they could not fulfill the law, and then instead of humbly seeking the mercy of God, they began to gradually replace the requirements of the law with human traditions. And human traditions are much easier to follow than God's laws.

The laws of the Talmud are Jewish laws based on the Torah (the true Law of God), which are nothing more than clearly lowered norms of the Torah. Taking comfort in their fulfillment, a person thinks that he is fulfilling God's laws. The rabbis said that they were trying to uphold the laws of God, but in reality they were talking about much lower requirements, corresponding to their level of self-righteousness. At the time Jesus Christ came to earth, they were very successful in fulfilling the minor requirements of the law, while on a daily basis they violated the basic requirements of the true laws of God (see Isa. 29:13 and Matt. 15: 9).

The Sermon on the Mount is the law of God. He prescribes the way of life to be led. However, we are unable to obey the law! But with the assistance of the Holy Spirit and the consciousness of our dependence on Jesus Christ, we have a desire to live exactly according to the prescription of the law. Convinced of our inability to live such a life, we regret it in contrition. Jesus gave us His examples when he said: “... Be perfect, as your Father in Heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:48).

He also says that if the righteousness of a person does not exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees and scribes, who lived by the fulfillment of the secondary requirements of the law and human rites, then he will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The true purpose of the law given in Zion is the same as that of the Sermon on the Mount, namely, to show people that they are unable to fulfill God's commands themselves. The lower standard, invented by people, is only the purpose for which the Sermon on the Mount was given.

We must realize the greatness of God's law and confess our spiritual poverty and our complete dependence on God, and then we can fulfill His law. You cannot give this law to an unregenerate person and wait for him to live according to it. The Apostle Paul directly says that the purpose of the law was so that every person could realize his guilt before God and come to Jesus Christ, who alone can remove our guilt. This is the kind of spiritual poverty that Jesus Christ speaks of.

What is the result? "... For theirs is the kingdom of heaven"... What a wonderful promise! This is not just a wish. This is a real fact! The Kingdom of Heaven already belongs to the poor in spirit. And this statement can be trusted. So, to whom does the Kingdom of Heaven belong? - Who is the beggar in spirit. The verb is in the present tense. This means that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to me and you, if we correspond to the standard of God.

We're not just talking about the Millennium. This is our Kingdom and it belongs to us now. Of course, someday there will be a Millennial Kingdom, in which the promise will be fulfilled in reality and will flourish completely, but that Kingdom, which is discussed in the Sermon on the Mount, already exists now. Bliss reigns in him now. Bliss reigns in him now. The Kingdom of Heaven is the accession and reign of Jesus Christ in the heart of everyone who believes in Him and has accepted as Savior and Lord. And this is not only a picture of the Messianic future, it is an expression of the present. We are already a royal priesthood. We already belong to Christ. We are already the winners. We have already, as it is said in chapter 2 of the Epistle to the Ephesians, are planted in heaven, and His mercy and grace have been spread out on us from now on and forever.

The kingdom is, as I understand it, grace and glory. Grace now, and glory later. We have a kingdom. It is ours, Christ rules in it, and He rules our life. Do you know what this means? We belong to Christ and He cares about us. He meets all the needs of our hearts. And this is the result of spiritual poverty.

How can you become a poor in spirit? You say, “I agree that the most important thing is to be poor in spirit. But how can I become like this? " Let me outline three principles. First, don't try to achieve this on your own. This is where people are mistaken, preferring monasticism. Some think that they will be poor in spirit if they become hermits, sell all their property, put on rags and go to a monastery. All this will not help in the least. It doesn't matter how you look in your own eyes or in the eyes of other people. What matters is how you look in the eyes of God.

Read the Bible. The image of God is painted on the pages of Holy Scripture. Look at Christ, think about Him and His Word, and then you will forget about yourself. And this is not mysticism at all. This should become a daily practice. We must look to God every day. This is the first principle.

Second, tame your flesh. I’m not talking about the food that our body eats, I’m talking about fasting for our flesh. In our time, even some Christian ministers constantly feed their carnal nature with pride. We must strive to expose our carnal nature. It is a constant struggle to find such a spirit.

The third principle is very simple - it is asking. Do you want to be a poor in spirit? - Ask God about it. "God," said the tax collector, "be merciful to me." Jesus said that the tax collector went to his house justified. Blessed is the poor in spirit. He is one of those to whom the Kingdom of Heaven belongs.

So why did Jesus begin by saying that you have to be "poor in spirit." Because it is the basis of everything else to be spiritually bankrupt and be aware of it. As a result, the Kingdom of Heaven will belong to us here, now on earth and forever. How can you become a poor in spirit? - I repeat, look at God, mortify your flesh, ask like a beggar. God is not against it at all.

How can I know if I am a beggar in spirit? You need to make a self-assessment. The following are seven principles for doing this:

You will be cut off from yourself (Ps. 130: 2). The poor in spirit loses the sense of his own self. It goes away! You will only think about God, about His glory and about other people and their needs.

You will constantly be amazed at Jesus Christ, “Beholding the glory of the Lord”(See 2 Cor. 3:18). You will speak like Philip: "God! show us the Father, and it is enough for us ”(John 14: 8). You will speak like David: "When I Awake, I Will Be Satisfied With Thy Image"(Psalm 16:15).

You will never grumble about the circumstances of your life. Why? You don't deserve anything else, do you? What can you offer? The lower you go, the sweeter the grace of God is for you. The greater your need, the more He cares for you. When you give up everything, you will be ready to receive an abundance of God's grace. There is no contradiction in this. You will suffer uncomplainingly because you deserve nothing else, but even then you will seek His grace.

You will see in others only their positive qualities, and in yourself only your weaknesses. A truly humble person never exalts himself, but others.

You will spend a lot of time in prayer. Why? Because the beggar always asks. He often knocks on heavenly doors and does not leave them until he receives a blessing.

You will come to Jesus on His terms, not yours. Proud sinners would also like to have Christ, but their own pleasures, Christ and their own greed, Christ and their own immorality. The poor in spirit is in such a hopeless position that he is ready to give up everything, just to have Christ. “The besieged fortress, close to fall, is ready to surrender at the mercy of the victor and thus be saved. The one whose heart for a long time was a strength for the devil, and who resisted Christ, having learned about his spiritual poverty, feeling it, seeing that without Christ he is worthy of eternal damnation, will humble himself before God and turn to Him with a simple prayer: “Lord, what will you command should I do? "

Finally, you will praise and thank God for His mercy. If a person is truly poor in spirit, he will be overflowing with gratitude to God. All you have is a gift from God. The apostle Paul says: “The grace of our Lord (Jesus Christ) has been abundantly revealed in me”(1 Tim. 1:14).

How do we evaluate ourselves? If we believe that we are worthless at all, then we are on the path to bliss. "Blessed are the poor in spirit."

The Holy Church reads the Gospel of Luke. Chapter 6, art. 17 - 23

17. And going down with them, He stood on a level ground, and a multitude of His disciples, and a great multitude from all Judea and Jerusalem, and the seaside places of Tire and Sidon,

18. who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, also those who suffer from unclean spirits; and were healed.

19. And all the people sought to touch Him, because power proceeded from Him and healed everyone.

20. And He, lifting up His eyes on His disciples, said: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for yours is the Kingdom of God.

21. Blessed are those who hunger today, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are those who weep today, for you will laugh.

22. Blessed are you when people hate you and when they excommunicate you, and revile you, and bear your name as dishonorable for the Son of Man.

23. Rejoice on that day and rejoice, for great is your reward in heaven. This is what their fathers did to the prophets.

(Luke 6: 17-23)

In today's Gospel reading, dear brothers and sisters, we become witnesses of the first sermon of Christ after the election of his twelve closest disciples - the apostles.

As we can see, many people strive to Christ, longing for a miracle of healing from burdening diseases and ailments. And the Lord lays His hands on the sick for healing. People themselves are drawn to the Savior to touch His clothes, because power came from Him and healed everyone... It was during this spiritual uplift among the multitude of people, who were even more strengthened in faith by perfect miracles, that Jesus Christ turns to his disciples and the people with the word of a sermon on the Beatitudes.

The Evangelist Luke, like the Evangelist Matthew, in the text of Holy Scripture uses the Greek word μακαριος [makarios], which can be translated into Russian as "happy" or "prosperous."

In the ancient pagan world, the gods were usually called "blessed", as well as people who were like gods, because they embodied a person's dream of happiness in myths.

This Greek word and its meaning perfectly characterize the very essence of Christianity, which is inherent in divine joy.

Let us consider the beatitudes transmitted to us from the words of Christ by the Evangelist Luke in more detail.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for yours is the kingdom of God... In the Greek language there are two words for "beggars": penes is a working person who has nothing superfluous, a person who is not rich, but also not in need; and ptojos, which means total and extreme poverty. It is the second option that the Evangelist Luke uses. Saint Chromatius of Aquileia writes: “We know that many are poor in worldly possessions, but they have not forsaken their sins and are alien to faith in God; they obviously cannot be called blissful. Blessed are those who, despising the riches of the world and rejecting worldly possessions, wanted to become poor in the world in order to become rich in God. " In other words, spiritual poverty- this is an extreme need for God, the awareness of their absolute helplessness without Him.

Blessed are those who hunger today, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are those who weep today, for you will laugh... These words of the Savior, according to Alexander Pavlovich Lopukhin, refer to all people who have "a feeling of inner dissatisfaction and can hunger for another life and cry about the failure that befalls them in their striving for the highest perfection." Therefore, the Lord especially supports everyone who is “hungry” for the truth of God in the midst of the sin of lies and vanity, as well as a person who regrets his sins with the promise of future fulfillment and joy.

Today's Gospel reading ends with the words about a special day, when joy and gladness will be for those who will be rejected by this world and whose name will be reviled for the Son of Man.

One of the outstanding qualities of Jesus is His absolute honesty. He never left people in the dark about what to expect if they chose to follow Him. Blessed Theophylact explains to us about what slander Jesus speaks for the name of the Lord: “He is not simply reviled, blessed, but only reviled for Christ and falsely. Otherwise, he is unhappy, because for many it serves as a temptation. " Thus, the saint reminds us, dear brothers and sisters, that we should be examples of good, but not evil in this world.

Our loyalty to the Christian faith does not always entail death, but a person who insists on his good Christian name is expected to be insulted; and a person who demonstrates Christian love and Christian forgiveness is ridiculed. Jesus Christ needs witnesses today; He needs not only people who are ready to die for Him, but most importantly - people who are ready to live for Him.

Help us in this, the Lord!

Hieromonk Pimen (Shevchenko)

Beggars in spirit

Beggars in spirit
From the Bible. The Gospel of Matthew (ch. 5, v. 3): "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
Previously, it was used in the meaning: humble people, devoid of pride. Sometimes the so-called poor, holy fools (blessed).
Modern meaning: people with a narrow outlook, low intellectual and spiritual needs (contempt.).

Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions. - M .: "Lokid-Press"... Vadim Serov. 2003.

Beggars in spirit

An expression from the Gospel (Matt. 5, 3) is used in the meaning: humble, devoid of pride, and also: poor in mind, devoid of spiritual interests.

Dictionary of winged words... Plutex. 2004.

See what "Beggar in spirit" is in other dictionaries:

Beggars in spirit- wings. sl. An expression from the Gospel (Matt. 5, 3) is used in the sense: humble, devoid of pride, and also: poor in mind, devoid of spiritual interests ... Universal Additional Practical Explanatory Dictionary of I. Mostitsky

Book. Disapproved. 1. About humble people, devoid of self-esteem. 2. About people devoid of spiritual interests. / i> Expression from the Gospel. BMS 1998, 174 ... A large dictionary of Russian sayings

Beggars in spirit- the humble, who are aware of their imperfection and unworthiness before God and never think that they are better and holier than others; complete spiritual humility and self-abasement, i.e. qualities opposite to pride, vanity, vanity ... Concise Church Slavonic Dictionary

Wed Armuth des Geistes Gott erfreut, Armuth und nicht Armseligkeit. M. Claudius. Wed Bien heureux les pauvres d esprit. Wed Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matt. 5, 3. Lu. 6, 20. See the righteous law is not written. See the beggar in spirit ...

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for their is the kingdom of heaven. Wed Armuth des Geistes Gott erfreut, Armuth und nicht Armseligkeit. M. Claudius. Wed Bien heureux les pauvres d'esprit. Wed Blessed are the poor in spirit, for their is the kingdom of heaven. Matѳ. 5, 3. ... ...

- (footnote) humble Cf. The poverty of the mind saves (about humility). Wed But you ... different ... hungry for food, You, that attracted by prayer, High in heart, poor in spirit, Living in thought with Christ. Gr. B. Tolstoy. John Damascene. 10. Wed They had no impressions and ... ... Michelson's Big Explanatory Phraseological Dictionary

Poor in spirit (inosk.), Humble. Wed "Poverty of the mind" saves (about humility). Wed But you ... are different ... hungry for food, You who are attracted by prayer, High in heart, poor in spirit, Living in thought with Christ. Gr. A. Tolstoy. Ioann Damaskin. 10. Wed They have ... ... Michelson's Big Explanatory Phraseological Dictionary (original spelling)

GOSPEL. PART I- [Greek. εὐαγγέλιον], the message about the coming of the Kingdom of God and the salvation of the human race from sin and death, proclaimed by Jesus Christ and the apostles, which became the main content of Christ's preaching. Churches; a book that expresses this message in the form of ... ... Orthodox encyclopedia

Main article: Commandments of Jesus Christ Commandments of Beatitudes, Orthodox icon of the Commandments of Beatitude (Makari ... Wikipedia

Main article: Commandments of Jesus Christ Commandments of Beatitudes, Orthodox icon of the Commandments of Beatitude in Christian doctrine, commandments given by the Savior in ... Wikipedia

Books

• Blessed are the poor in spirit, Sergei Nikolaevich Lazarev. Until now, many people do not understand the phrase of Christ, which neither theologians nor priests can explain - "Blessed are the poor in spirit." And to this day, many believers sincerely think that they are serving God, although ...

1. Blessed are the poor in spirit (humble), because theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
2. Blessed are those who weep, because they will be comforted.
3. Blessed are the meek, because they will inherit the earth.
4. Blessed are those who hunger (wanting strongly) and thirst for righteousness (righteousness, holiness), because they will be satisfied.
5. Blessed are the merciful, because they will have mercy.
6. Blessed are the pure in heart, because they will see God.
7. Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called (will be called) sons of God.
8. Blessed are those cast out for righteousness, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
9. Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and in every way unrighteously revile you for Me. Rejoice and be merry, for great is your reward in heaven.

Explaining the Nine Beatitudes.

The nine Beatitudes given to us by the Savior in no way violate the ten commandments of the Law of God. On the contrary, these commandments complement each other. The Beatitudes got their name from the assumption that following them during earthly life leads to eternal bliss in the subsequent eternal life.
First, the Lord indicated what His disciples, that is, all Christians, should be: how they should fulfill the law of God in order to receive blessed (extremely joyful, happy), eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven. For this, He gave the nine Beatitudes, the teaching about those qualities and properties of man, which correspond to the Kingdom of God as the Kingdom of Love.
To all who will fulfill His instructions or commandments, Christ promises, as the King of heaven and earth, eternal bliss in the future, Eternal life. Therefore, He calls such people blessed, that is, the happiest.

The First Beatitude Commandment:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit (humble), because theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

The word "blessed" means supremely happy.
The poor in spirit are humble people who are aware of their imperfection. Spiritual poverty is the conviction that all the advantages and benefits that we have - health, intelligence, various abilities, abundance of food, home, etc. - we received all this from God. All that is good in us is God's.
Humility is the first and fundamental Christian virtue. Without humility, man cannot succeed in any other virtue. Therefore, the first commandment of the New Testament speaks of the need to become humble. A humble person in everything asks God for help, always thanks God for the blessings given to him, reproaches himself for his shortcomings or sins, and asks God for help to correct him. God loves humble people and always helps them, but He does not help the proud and arrogant. "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble," Scripture teaches us (Proverbs 3:34).
As humility is the first virtue, so pride is the beginning of all sins. Long before the creation of our world, one of the angels close to God, by the name of Dennitsa, became proud of the lightness of his mind and his closeness to God and wanted to become equal to God. He made a revolution in heaven and carried away some of the angels into disobedience. Then the angels loyal to God drove the rebellious angels out of paradise. Rebellious angels formed their kingdom - hell. This is how evil began in the world.
The Lord Jesus Christ is our greatest example of humility. "Learn from Me: for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls," He said to His disciples. Very often people who are very spiritually gifted are "poor in spirit" - that is, humble, and people who are less talented or completely incompetent, on the contrary, are very proud, loving praise. The Lord also said: "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted" (Matt. 23:12).

Second Beatitude Commandment:

"Blessed are they that weep, for they will be comforted."

Those who weep are those who acknowledge their sins and shortcomings and repent of them.
The lamentation, which is spoken of in this commandment, is the sorrow of the heart and the tears of repentance for the sins committed. "Sorrow for God's sake produces repentance for salvation, and worldly sorrow produces death," says St. Apostle Paul. Worldly sorrow, harmful to the soul, is excessive grief over the loss of everyday objects or because of failures in life. Worldly sorrow comes from sinful attachment to worldly goods, due to pride and selfishness. Therefore, it is harmful.
It can be good for us to feel sad when we cry out of compassion for our neighbors in distress. We also cannot be indifferent at the sight of other people committing evil deeds. The intensification of evil among people should evoke a feeling of grief in us. This feeling of sorrow comes from love for God and goodness. Such grief is good for the soul, as it cleanses it of passions.
As a reward to those who weep, the Lord promises that they will be comforted: they will receive the remission of sins, and through this inner peace, they will receive eternal joy.

Third Beatitude Commandment:

"Blessed are the meek, because they will inherit the earth."

Meek people are those who do not quarrel with anyone, but give in. Meekness is tranquility, a state of mind full of Christian love, in which a person is never irritated and never allows himself to murmur.
Christian meekness is expressed in patiently enduring grievances. The sins opposite to meekness are: anger, anger, irritability, vindictiveness.
The apostle taught Christians: "If it is possible on your part, be at peace with all people" (Rom. 12:18).
A meek person prefers to remain silent when insulted by another person. The meek will not quarrel over a thing taken away. A meek person will not raise his voice at another person or shout swear words.
The Lord promises the meek that they will inherit the earth. This promise means that the meek people will be heirs of the heavenly fatherland, the “new earth” (2 Peter 3:13). For their meekness, they will receive many benefits from God forever, while daring people who offend others and robbed the meek will receive nothing in that life.
The Christian must remember that God sees everything and that He is infinitely just. Everyone will get what they deserve.

The fourth commandment of Beatitude:

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied."

Hungry - hungry, hungry. Thirsty - thirsty. "Truth" means the same as holiness, that is, spiritual perfection.
In other words, this commandment could be said as follows: blessed are those who strive with all their might for holiness, for spiritual perfection, because they will receive it from God.
Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are those people who, realizing their sinfulness, ardently desire to become better. They strive with all their might to live according to the commandments of God.
The expression "hungry and thirsty" shows that our desire for righteousness should be as strong as the desire of the hungry and thirsty to satisfy their hunger and thirst. King David perfectly expresses such a striving for righteousness: "As a deer strives for streams of water, so my soul desires for You, O God!" (Psalm 41: 2)
To those hungry and thirsty for righteousness, the Lord promises that they will be satisfied, i.e. that they will achieve righteousness with God's help.
This Beatitude commandment teaches us not to be satisfied with the fact that we are no worse than other people. We must become cleaner and better every day of our lives. The parable of talents tells us that we are responsible before God for those talents, that is, those abilities that God gave us, and for those opportunities that He gave us in order to "multiply" our talents. The lazy slave was not punished for being bad, but for burying his talent, that is, having acquired nothing good in this life.

Fifth Beatitude Commandment:

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will have mercy."

The merciful are people who are compassionate towards others, they are people who pity other people who are in trouble or need help.
Deeds of mercy are material and spiritual.
Material mercy matters:
Feed the hungry
To give a drink to the thirsty
To put on clothing that lacks clothing,
Visit the patient.
Often there is a Sisterhood at the temples, which sends aid to people in need in different countries. You can send your financial aid through a sisterhood or other charitable organization.
If a car accident happens or we see a sick person on the road, we need to call an ambulance and make sure that this person receives medical attention. Or, if we see that someone is being robbed or beaten, we must call the police to save this person.
Deeds of spiritual mercy:
Give your neighbor good advice.
Forgive the insult.
Teach the ignorant about truth and goodness.
Help the sinner get on the right path.
Pray for neighbors to God.
The Lord promises the merciful as a reward that they themselves will be pardoned, i.e. at the forthcoming judgment of Christ mercy will be shown to them: God will have mercy on them.
"Blessed is he who thinks (taking care) of the poor and the needy; in the day of distress the Lord will deliver him" (Psalm).

Sixth Beatitude Commandment:

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."

Pure in heart, these are people who not only clearly do not sin, but also do not conceal vicious and impure thoughts, desires and feelings in themselves, in their hearts. The heart of such people is free from attachment to perishable earthly things and free from sins and passions implanted by passion, pride and pride. People who are pure in heart constantly think of God and always see His presence.
To acquire purity of heart, one must keep the fasts commanded by the Church, and try to avoid overeating, drunkenness, obscene films and dances, and reading obscene magazines.
Purity of heart is much higher than simple sincerity. Sincerity consists only in sincerity, in the frankness of a person in relation to his neighbor, and purity of heart requires the complete suppression of vicious thoughts and desires, and constant thought about God and about His holy Law.
For people with a pure heart, the Lord promises as a reward that they will see God. Here, on earth, they will see Him with the gracious and mysterious, with the spiritual eyes of the heart. They can see God in His appearances, images and likenesses. In the future eternal life, they will see God as He is; and since seeing God is the source of the highest bliss, the promise to see God is the promise of highest bliss.

Seventh Beatitude Commandment:

"Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called sons of God."

Peacemakers are people who live with everyone in peace and harmony, who do a lot to ensure that there is peace between people.
Peacemakers are those people who themselves try to live with everyone in peace and harmony and other people who are at war with each other, try to reconcile, or at least pray to God for their reconciliation. The Apostle Paul wrote: "If it is possible on your part, be at peace with all people."
The Lord promises the peacekeepers that they will be called the sons of God, that is, they will be the closest to God, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Peacemakers by their exploit are likened to the Son of God - Jesus Christ, who came to earth to reconcile sinned people with the justice of God and to settle peace among people, instead of the enmity that reigned among them. Therefore, the peacekeepers are promised the blessed name of the children of God, and with this endless bliss.
The Apostle Paul says: "If you are children of God, then you are heirs, heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with Him, so that we may be glorified with Him; because I think that current temporary sufferings are worth nothing in comparison with that glory, which will be revealed in us "(Rom. 8: 17-18).

Eighth Beatitude Commandment:

"Blessed are those cast out for righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Those persecuted for the truth are those truly believing people who so love to live by the truth, i.e. according to the Law of God, that for the firm fulfillment of their Christian duties, for their righteous and pious life, they suffer persecution, persecution, deprivation from enemies, but do not change the truth in any way.
Persecution is inevitable for Christians who live by the truth of the gospel, because evil people hate the truth and always persecute those people who stand up for the truth. The Only Begotten Son of God Jesus Christ Himself was crucified on the cross by enemies, and He predicted to all His followers: "If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you" (John 15:20). And the apostle Paul wrote: "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" (2 Tim. 3:12).
In order to patiently endure persecution for the truth, a person must have: love for truth, constancy and firmness in virtue, courage and patience, faith and hope for God's help.
To those persecuted for righteousness, the Lord promises the Kingdom of Heaven, i.e. full triumph of the spirit, joy and bliss in the paradise villages.

Ninth Beatitude Commandment:

"Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you, and in every possible way unrighteously revile you for Me. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven."

In the last, ninth commandment, our Lord Jesus Christ calls especially blessed those who, for the name of Christ and for the true Orthodox faith in Him, patiently endure reproach, persecution, slander, slander, mockery, calamity and even death.
Such a deed is called martyrdom. There can be nothing higher than the deed of martyrdom.
The courage of Christian martyrs must be distinguished from fanaticism, which is zeal not according to reason. Christian courage must also be distinguished from the insensitivity caused by despair and from the feigned indifference with which some criminals, due to their extreme bitterness and pride, hear the sentence and go to execution.
Christian courage is based on high Christian virtues: on faith in God, on hope in God, on love for God and neighbors, on complete obedience and unshakable faithfulness to the Lord God.
Christ the Savior Himself, as well as the Apostles and countless Christians, who happily went to torture for the Name of Christ, serve as a high example of martyrdom. For the feat of martyrdom, the Lord promises a great reward in heaven, i.e. the highest degree of bliss in the future eternal life. But here, on earth, the Lord glorifies many martyrs for their firm confession of faith by the incorruption of their bodies and miracles.