Those who counted and calculated claim that there are one and a half billion living people on earth. Of these one and a half billion living people, not one is able to tell you from his mind what will happen to the world at the end of time and what will happen to us after death. And all the many and many billions of human beings who lived on earth before us were not able to say anything from their mind definitely and with certainty about the end of the world and about what awaits us after death - nothing that we could with reason, accept with heart and soul as truth. Our life is short and counted in days, while time is long and counted in centuries and millennia. Who among us can stretch out from our narrowness to the end of the age, and see the latest events, and tell us about them, and say: “On the edge of time, this and that will happen, this will happen to the world, this will happen to the world, with you people? None. Indeed, none of all living people, except the one who would convince us that he, having penetrated into the mind of the Creator of the world and people, saw the whole plan of creation; and that he lived and was conscious before the existence of the world; and also - that he can clearly see the end of time and all those events that will mark this end. Is there such a person among the one and a half billion people living today? And has it been like this from the beginning of the world until now? No, there is not and never was. There were perspicacious people and prophets who, not from their own mind, but according to the revelation of God, said something, briefly and fragmentarily, about the end of the world; and not so much with the intention of describing it, but in order to enlighten people with their visions, by the command of God: let them turn away from the path of lawlessness, let them repent, and think about the fateful one who has to come more than about the petty and transient, shielding from them , like a cloud, a fiery and terrible event, which will end all human life on earth, and the existence of the world, and the course of the stars, and days and nights, and everything that is in space, and everything that happens in time.

Only the One and Only clearly and definitely told us the main thing about everything that should happen at the end of time. This is our Lord Jesus Christ. If someone else told us about the end of the world, then we would not believe it, even if he were the greatest worldly sage. If he spoke from his human mind, and not from the proven revelation of God, we would not believe him. For the human mind and human logic, however great they may be, are too tiny to extend from the beginning to the end of the world. But all our reason is vain where vision is required. We need a perspicacious person who sees - and sees clearly, as we see the sun - the whole world through and through, from its beginning to its end, and the very beginning and end. There was only one such person. And this is our Lord Jesus Christ. We can and must believe in Him alone when He tells us what will happen in last days. For all that He prophesied has come to pass; everything that He foretold to individuals, like Peter and Judas and the other apostles, came true; and to individual peoples, as to the Jews; and separate places like Jerusalem, Capernaum, Bethsaida, and Chorazin; and the Church of God, established on His blood. Only His prophecies about the events before the very end of this world and the prophecy about the very end of the world and the Last Judgment have not yet been fulfilled. But he who has eyes to see can see clearly: events have already begun in the world in our time, predicted by Him as signs of the imminent end of the age. Have not many benefactors of mankind appeared who desire to replace Christ with themselves and with their teaching - the teaching of Christ? Did not nation rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom? Isn't the earth shaking, like our hearts, from the many wars and revolutions all over our planet? Do not many betray Christ, and do not many flee from His Church? Has not iniquity increased, and has not the love of many grown cold? Has not the gospel of Christ already been preached throughout the whole world, as a witness to all nations (Matthew 24:3-14)? True, the worst has not yet come, but it is approaching irresistibly and rapidly. True, the Antichrist has not yet appeared, but his prophets and forerunners are already walking among all nations. True, it has not yet reached the peak of sorrow, which has not been from the beginning of the world, to the unbearable death rattle, but this peak is already visible on the horizon before the eyes of all spiritual people who expect the coming of the Lord. True, the sun has not yet faded, and the moon has not ceased to give its light, and the stars have not fallen from the sky; but when all this happens, it will no longer be possible to write or talk about it. The human heart will be filled with fear and trembling, the human tongue will become numb, and human eyes will stare into terrible darkness, into the earth without day and into the sky without stars. And suddenly in this darkness will appear the Omen from east to west, with such brilliance as the sun could never shine over our heads. And then all the tribes of the earth will see the Lord Jesus Christ, coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And the armies of the angels will sound, and all the peoples of the earth will gather before Him, the trumpets will sound a gathering, such as has not been from the beginning of the world, and they will call for a Judgment that will not be repeated.

But about all these signs and events that will take place before the end of the world and at the end of time, it is said in another place of the Holy Gospel. Today's Gospel reading describes to us the last calculation between time and eternity, between heaven and earth, between God and people. It describes to us the Last Judgment and its course, day of the wrath of the Lord(Zoph.2:2). It describes to us that terrible moment, the most joyful for the righteous, when the grace of God will convey the word to the truth of God. When it will be too late to do good deeds and too late to repent! When crying will no longer meet with sympathy and tears will no longer drip into the hands of angels.

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. As in the parable of the prodigal son God is called a man, so here Christ is called the Son of Man. This is He, and no one else. When He comes into the world a second time, He will not come quietly and in humiliation, as He came the first time, but clearly and in great glory. This glory means, firstly, the glory that Christ had in eternity before the existence of the world (John 17:5), and secondly, the glory of the Conqueror of Satan, the old world and death. Meanwhile, He does not come alone, but with all the holy angels, whose number is infinite; He comes with them because they, being His servants and warriors, participated both in the struggle against evil and in the victory over evil. Joy for Him is to share His glory with them. And in order to show the greatness of this event, it is especially emphasized: with the Lord they will come all angels. Nowhere else is there any mention of a single event in which all the angels of God would participate. They have always appeared in smaller or larger numbers, but at the Last Judgment they will all gather around the King of glory. The Throne of Glory, both before and after, saw the sight of many seers (Is.6:1; Dan.7:9; Rev.4:2; 20:4). This throne refers to the heavenly powers on which the Lord sits. This is the throne of glory and victory, on which the Heavenly Father sits, and on which our Lord Jesus Christ also sat after His victory (Rev. 3:21). Oh, how majestic this coming of the Lord will be, with what wondrous and terrible phenomena it will be accompanied! The perspicacious prophet Isaiah foretells: For, behold, the Lord will come in fire, and his chariots like a whirlwind(Isaiah 66:15). Daniel sees at this coming, how a fiery river went out and passed before Him; thousands upon thousands served Him, and so many darknesses stood before Him; the judges sat down and the books opened(Dan. 7:10).

And when the Lord comes in glory and sits on the throne, then all nations will be gathered before him; and he will separate one from the other, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and he will put the sheep on his right hand, and the goats on his left. Many holy fathers were occupied with the question of where Christ would judge the nations. And, referring to the prophet Joel, they expressed the judgment: Judgment will take place in the valley of Jehoshaphat, where once King Jehoshaphat defeated the Moabites and Ammonites without a fight and weapons, so that among the enemies there was not a survivor (2 Chronicles chapter 20). And the prophet Joel says: Let the nations rise up and descend into the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all nations from everywhere(Joel 3:12). Perhaps the throne of the King of glory will rise above this valley; but there is no valley on earth where all peoples and all people, living and dead, from the creation to the end of the world, billions, billions and billions, can gather. The entire surface of the earth, together with all the seas, would not be enough for all human beings who have ever lived on earth to stand shoulder to shoulder. For if it were only a gathering of souls, then it would be possible to understand how they could all fit in the valley of Jehoshaphat; but since this will be people in the flesh (because the dead will also rise in the flesh), the words of the prophet should be understood in a figurative sense. The valley of Jehoshaphat is the whole earth, from east to west; and just as God once showed His power and judgment in the valley of Jehoshaphat, so at the last day He will show exactly the same power and judgment over the whole human race.

And separate one from the other. In the twinkling of an eye, all the gathered people will separate from each other on two sides, left and right, as if by an irresistible force of a magnet. So that no one on the left side can move to the right and no one on the right side can move to the left. Just as when the shepherd hears the voice, the sheep go to one side and the goats to the other.

Then the King will say to those on his right hand, Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. In the beginning, Christ calls Himself the Son of Man, that is, the Son of God; here He calls Himself King. For to him have been given the kingdom and the power and the glory. Come, blessed of my Father. Blessed are those whom Christ calls blessed! For the blessing of God contains all the blessings and all the joys and comforts of heaven. Why does the Lord say not "my blessed ones" but blessed of my Father? Because He is the only Son of God, the Only Begotten and uncreated, from eternity to eternity, and the righteous are adopted by the blessing of God and through that they became Christ as brothers. The Lord calls the righteous to inherit the kingdom, destined them from the creation of the world. This means that even before the creation of man, God prepared the Kingdom for man. Before He created Adam, everything was ready for his heavenly life. The whole kingdom shone brilliantly, waiting only for the king. Then God brought Adam into this Kingdom, and the Kingdom was filled. So for all the righteous, God from the beginning prepared the Kingdom, waiting only for its kings, at the head of whom will stand the King Christ Himself.

Having called the righteous into the Kingdom, the Judge immediately explains why the Kingdom was given to them: for I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; was a wanderer, and you accepted me; was naked, and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to me. In response to this marvelous explanation, the righteous, with humility and meekness, ask the King when they saw Him hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, or in prison, and did all this to Him. And the King says to them just as wondrous: Truly, I say to you, because you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me.

There are two meanings in this whole explanation, one external and the other internal. The outer meaning is clear to everyone. He who feeds a hungry man feeds the Lord. He who gave drink to the thirsty gave drink to the Lord. He who clothed the naked clothed the Lord. He who received the stranger received the Lord. He who visited the sick or the prisoner in prison visited the Lord. For it is said in the Old Testament: He who does good to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his good deed.(Prov. 19:17). For through those who ask us for help, the Lord tests our hearts. God does not need anything from us for Himself; He doesn't need anything. He who made bread cannot hunger; He who made water cannot thirst; He who clothed all His creatures cannot be naked; cannot be sick Source of health; the Lord of lords cannot be in prison. But He requires alms from us, in order to soften and ennoble our hearts. Being omnipotent, God can make all people rich, well-fed, clothed and contented in the blink of an eye. But He allows people hunger, and thirst, and sickness, and suffering, and poverty for two reasons. First, that those who endure all this with patience soften and ennoble their hearts, and remember God, and with faith pray to Him. And secondly, so that those who do not experience this: the rich and well-fed, clothed and healthy, strong and free - see human sorrows and soften and ennoble their hearts with alms; and so that in someone else's suffering they feel their suffering, in someone else's humiliation - their humiliation, thus realizing the brotherhood and unity of all people on earth through the living God, Creator and Provider of everyone and everything on earth. The Lord wants mercy from us, mercy above all else. For He knows that mercy is the way and means of returning a person to faith in God, hope in God and love for God.

This is the outer meaning. And the inner meaning concerns Christ in ourselves. In every bright thought of our mind, in every good feeling of our heart, in every noble striving of our soul for doing good, Christ is manifested in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. All these bright thoughts, good feelings and noble aspirations He calls His little, or lesser brothers. He calls them so because they represent in us a small minority in comparison with the great region of worldly sediment and evil that dwells in us. If our mind hungers for God and we give it food, then we have given it to Christ in us. If our heart is naked of all virtue and all the goodness of God, and we clothe it, then we have clothed Christ in ourselves. If our soul is sick and in the prison of our evil being, our evil deeds, and we remember it and visit it, then we have visited Christ in ourselves. In a word: if we provide protection to the second person in us - the righteous, who once took precedence, now is oppressed and humiliated by the evil person living in us, the sinner, then we have defended Christ in ourselves. Little, very small, this righteous man who dwells in us; huge-immense this sinner dwelling in us. But this righteous man in us is the lesser brother of Christ; and this sinner in us is like Goliath the adversary of Christ. So, if we protect the righteous within ourselves, if we give him freedom, if we strengthen him and bring him into the light, if we exalt him above the sinner, let him completely prevail over him, so that we can say, as the apostle Paul: and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me(Gal. 2:20), - then we will be called blessed and will hear the words of the King at the Last Judgment: come...inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

And to those standing on the left side, the Judge will say: Depart from me, you cursed, into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.. Terrible, but fair condemnation! While the King calls the righteous to Himself and grants them the Kingdom, He drives the sinners away from Himself and sends them into eternal fire (“If ever the end of eternal torment comes, then it follows that eternal life will end. But since this cannot even be conceived in relation to eternal life, how can one conceive of the end of eternal torment?" St. Basil the Great. Word 14, about the Last Judgment), into the disgusting society of the devil and his servants. It is very important that the Lord does not say that eternal fire has been prepared for sinners from the foundation of the world, as He said to the righteous about the Kingdom: prepared for you from the foundation of the world. What does it mean? It is quite clear: God has prepared eternal fire only for the devil and his angels, and everyone From the foundation of the world, He prepared a kingdom for people. For God wants all people to be saved(1 Tim. 2:4; compare: Mt. 18:14; John 3:16; 2 Pet. 3:9; Is. 45:22) and no one died. According to this, God predestined people not to perdition, but to salvation, and prepared for them not the fire of the devil, but His Kingdom, and only the Kingdom. From this it is clear that those who speak of a sinner are mistaken: "He is destined to be a sinner!" For if he is destined to be a sinner, then, verily, it is not destined by God, but by themselves; this is evident from the fact that God did not prepare in advance any place of torment for people - only for the devil. Therefore, at the Last Judgment, the righteous Judge will not be able to send sinners to any other place than to the gloomy abode of the devil. And that the Judge sends them there justly is clear from the fact that during their earthly life they completely fell away from God and went into the service of the devil.

Having pronounced a sentence on the sinners on the left side, the King immediately explains to them why they are cursed and why He sends them to eternal fire: for I was hungry, and you gave me no food; I was thirsty, and you did not give Me drink; I was a stranger, and they did not receive me; was naked, and they did not clothe me; sick and in prison, and did not visit me. So they did none of the things that the righteous on the right side did. Having heard these words from the King, the sinners, as well as the righteous, ask: God! when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison...? The Lord answers: Truly I say to you, because you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.

All this explanation, which the King gives to sinners, has exactly the same two meanings, external and internal, as in the first case, with the righteous. The mind of sinners was gloomy, the heart was petrified, the soul was malicious in relation to their hungry and thirsty, naked, sick and imprisoned brothers on earth. They could not see with their emaciated mind that through the grieving and suffering of this world, Christ Himself asks them for mercy. Other people's tears could not soften their petrified heart. And the example of Christ and His saints could not convert their evil-minded souls to strive for good and do good. And just as they were not merciful to Christ in their brothers, so they were not merciful to Christ in themselves. They deliberately drowned out any bright thought in themselves, replacing it with thoughts of prodigal and blasphemous. Any noble feeling, as soon as it was conceived, they uprooted from their hearts, replacing it with bitterness, lust and selfishness. Any desire of the soul to create, following the law of God, any good, they quickly and rudely suppressed, instead causing and supporting the desire to do evil to people, to sin before God and offend Him. And so the lesser brother of Christ living in them, that is, the righteous in them, was crucified, killed and buried; the gloomy Goliath raised by them, that is, the lawless one dwelling in them, or the devil himself, emerged from the battlefield as a winner. What is God to do with such? Can He accept into His Kingdom those who have completely expelled the Kingdom of God from themselves? Can He call to Himself those who have uprooted in themselves all resemblance to God, those who both openly, before people, and secretly, in their hearts, have shown themselves to be an enemy of Christ and a servant of the devil? Not; they became servants of the devil by their free choice, and the Judge at the Last Judgment will send them to the society in which they openly signed up during their lifetime - into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his servants. And immediately after that, this process will be completed, the greatest and the shortest in the entire history of the created world.

And these will go(sinners) into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Life and torment here are opposed to each other. Where there is life, there is no pain; where there is flour, there is no life. And, verily, the fullness of life excludes torment. The kingdom of heaven represents the fullness of life, while the habitation of the devil represents torment, and only torment, without life, which is from God. We also see in this earthly life how the soul of a sinful person, in which there is little life, that is, little God, is filled with much greater torment than the soul of a righteous person, in which there is more life, that is, more God. As the ancient wisdom says: The wicked one torments himself all his days, and the number of years is hidden from the oppressor; the sound of horrors in his ears; in the midst of the world comes the destroyer. He does not hope to be saved from darkness; sees a sword in front of him. - He is afraid of need and crampedness; overcomes him like a king preparing for battle, because he stretched out his hand against God and resisted the Almighty(Job 15:20-22,24-25). Thus, even this time on earth is a severe torment for the sinner. And the smallest torment in this life is harder for a sinner to endure than for a righteous man. For only he who has life in himself can endure torment, scorn suffering, overcome all the wickedness of the world and rejoice. Life and joy are inseparable. Therefore, Christ Himself says to the righteous, whom the world reviles and persecutes and slanders in every way unrighteously: Rejoice and have fun(Matthew 5:11-12).

But all this earthly life of ours is a distant shadow of a true and full life in the Kingdom of God; like all torments on earth are only a distant shadow of the terrible torments of sinners in hellfire. ("They asked a certain great old man: "How, father, do you bear such labors so patiently?" The elder answered: "All my life's labors are not equal to a single day of torment (in the other world)"". Alphabetic Patericon). Life on earth - no matter how sublime it may be - is nevertheless dissolved by flour, for here there is no fullness of life; like flour on earth - however great it may be - is nevertheless dissolved by life. But at the Last Judgment, life will be separated from torment, and life will be life, and torment will be torment. And she and the other will remain forever, each - in itself. What is this eternity - our human mind cannot contain this. Whoever enjoys contemplation of the face of God for one minute, this delight will seem like a thousand years. And to the one who will be tormented with demons in hell for one minute, this torment will seem like a thousand years. For the time we know will be no more; there will be neither day nor night, but everything is a single day: This day will be the only one known only to the Lord(Zech. 14:7; compare Rev. 22:5). And there will be no other sun but God. And there will be no rising and no setting of the sun, so that eternity can be calculated by them, as time is now calculated. But the blessed righteous will count eternity with their joy, and the tormented sinners with their torment.

This is how our Lord Jesus Christ described the last and greatest event that will happen in time, on the border of time and eternity. And we believe that all this will literally happen: firstly, because all the other numerous prophecies of Christ came true literally; and secondly, because He is our Greatest Friend and the Only true Lover of mankind, full of love for people. And in perfect love there is neither unrighteousness nor error. Perfect love contains perfect truth. If all this had not happened, He would not have told us this. But He said it, and it will all be so. He did not say this to us in order to show His knowledge before people. Not; He did not receive glory from men (John 5:41). He said all this for our salvation. Anyone who has a mind and who confesses the Lord Jesus Christ can see that he needs to know this in order to be saved. For the Lord did not do a single deed, did not utter a single word, and did not allow a single event to occur in His earthly life that would not serve our salvation.

Therefore, let us be reasonable and sober, and let us unceasingly keep before our spiritual eyes the picture of the Last Judgment. This picture has already turned many sinners from the path of perdition to the path of salvation. Our time is short, and when it expires, there will be no more repentance. In our lives, in this short time, we must make a choice that is fateful for our eternity: whether we will stand on the right side or on the left side of the King of glory. God has given us an easy and short task, but the reward and punishment are enormous and exceed anything that human language can describe.

Therefore, let us not waste a single day; for every day may be the last and decisive; every day can bring destruction to this world and the dawn of that longed-for day. ("Written: whoever desires a friend to be in the world, there is an enemy of God(James 4:4). Consequently: whoever does not rejoice at the approach of the end of the world proves that he is a friend of this latter, and through that - an enemy of God. But let such a thought be removed from those who believe; let it be removed from those who by faith know that there is another life, and those who truly love it. For to mourn for the destruction of the world is characteristic of those who have rooted their hearts in love for the world; those who do not desire a future life and do not even believe in its existence. St. Grigory Dvoeslov. Gospel Conversations. Book I, Conversation I. On the Signs of the End of the World). May we not be ashamed on the Day of the Lord's wrath, neither before the Lord, nor before the armies of His holy angels, nor before the many billions of the righteous and saints. May we not be forever separated from the Lord, and from His angels, and from His righteous ones, and from our relatives and friends, who will be on the right side. But let us sing with all the countless and radiant regiment of angels and righteous people a song of joy and victory: "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts! Alleluia!" And let us glorify, together with all the host of heaven, our Savior, God the Son, with the Father and the Holy Spirit - the Trinity Consubstantial and Indivisible, forever and ever. Amen.

From the publishing house of the Sretensky Monastery.

What does - Last Judgment? Do not think that during the whole human history God was love, and only at the Last Judgment, excuse me, - now only in justice. Nothing like this! It is unwise to present God at this Judgment as some kind of despot. The Last Judgment is called terrible not because God “forgets” about love and acts according to some soulless “truth” - no, but because here the final self-affirmation, self-determination of the individual takes place: is she capable of being with God or will she leave Him, remain outside Its forever. But can this be? Although this is a mystery of the future age, it is possible to psychologically understand the rejection of God.

Let me give you one case as an example. Once, in the good old days, a village teacher saved a St. Petersburg aristocrat from death, who lost his way in the winter, he was covered with snow, and he died. You yourself understand how grateful the saved man was to him. And after some time, he invited the teacher to St. Petersburg and arranged a high society reception in his honor, calling his relatives and friends. Who was at the big receptions, imagines the position in which the teacher found himself, seeing in front of him a lot of forks, knives, plates and other accessories of the solemn table, which he had never seen in his eyes. Having never been to such receptions in his life, the poor fellow did not know what to do: either he would take something with the wrong hand, or he did not know how to start eating - he sat, drenched in cold sweat. Toasts are made in his honor, but he does not even know how to answer. Exhausted from thirst, he drank water from an oval saucer that stood in front of his plates. And what was his horror when he saw the guests washing their fingers in these plates. This is where he almost fainted. So this magnificent reception became a real hell for our teacher. Then, for the rest of his life, he often jumped up at night in a cold sweat - he again dreamed of this high society reception in his honor.

You probably understand what I'm saying. What's happened Kingdom of God? This is spiritual union with God, Who is the infinite fullness of love, meekness and humility. And now imagine how a person will feel in this Kingdom who is filled with exactly the opposite properties - hatred, anger, hypocrisy, etc. What would the Kingdom of God be like for him if he suddenly found himself in it? Thus, what an aristocratic reception was for a poor teacher. For him, God's kingdom would be hell to an infernal degree. An evil being cannot abide in the atmosphere of love, in the atmosphere of God's kingdom.

Now it becomes clear what can happen at the Last Judgment. Not violence against a person, just as the ancient Greek goddess Themis sends people blindfolded - one to the right, the other to the left - depending on their deeds. Not! God is love. It is no coincidence that St. Isaac the Syrian says: “... those who are tormented in Gehenna are stricken with the scourge of love ... they endure the greatest torment of any ... possible punishment. It is inappropriate for a person to think that sinners in Gehenna are deprived of God's love ... But love, by its power, acts in two ways: it torments sinners ... and rejoices with itself those who have fulfilled their duty.

Maybe; there will be individuals who consciously reject the love of God. But a person who rejects God leaves on his own, and this is good for him, for his hatred cannot endure the flame of God's love. As well as for the village teacher, a magnificent reception in his honor turned out to be a torment.

God does not violate our freedom. And therefore the doors of hell, if you like, can only be locked from the inside - by its inhabitants themselves. Only those who themselves did not want or do not want to leave it remain.

The idea that the reason for the stay of sinners in hell, not excluding the devil himself, is their free “I don’t want to”, was expressed by a number of Fathers: Clement of Alexandria, St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil the Great, Rev. Maxim the Confessor, Rev. John of Damascus, Rev. Isaac the Syrian, St. Nikolai Cavasila and others.

Here it is necessary to say about a fundamentally important change that will happen to a person at the end of the existence of this world. It follows from the teaching of the Holy Fathers that after the general resurrection, a person regains his natural fullness and with it freedom and the will to self-determination. At the Last Judgment, the final fate of a person is decided by himself, by his will, he regains the possibility of repentance, that is, spiritual renewal, healing - in contrast to the posthumous state of the soul, which was completely determined by the nature of its spirituality. Hence the peculiarity of the Last Judgment - a person himself is finally and finally determined for the last time: to be with God or voluntarily depart into the unquenchable flame and unceasing tartare (cold) of eternal passions. Christ cannot violate human freedom.

And one more fact can be said with full confidence: at the Last Judgment, before every person, believing and unbelieving, in all its strength and brightness, the great feat of Christ, His sacrificial love, His amazing self-abasement for the sake of saving mankind will be revealed. And it is difficult to imagine that such a Sacrifice would not touch, or rather, would not shake the hearts of the resurrected people. Look how impressive, for all its shortcomings, Gibson's The Passion of the Christ made. And here before the face of everyone the very reality of the Cross and the glory of the Risen One will be revealed. No doubt this will determine to a large extent the positive choice of a great many people. Of course, this choice will also be facilitated by the sad experience of ordeals, which have shown the real “sweetness” of passions and being without God.

I emphasize once again: the Last Judgment is such a moment when the results of the entire life and posthumous spiritual path will be summed up, when the process of growth, the process of formation, self-determination of the individual will be completed. This moment is really terrible, and God forbid that it ends with great benefit for all people.

From the book "The Posthumous Life of the Soul"

Last Judgment- the last, universal Judgment of God over the world, which will take place at the second (in this case, all dead people will be resurrected, and the living will change (), and everyone will be determined by their deeds (,), words () and thoughts.

The Holy Fathers spoke about the fact that there is a kind of "memory of the heart" that imprints everything, our whole life - both internal and external. And at the Last Judgment, this book, written in the depths of our soul, will open, as it were, and only then will we see what we really are, and not what our inflamed person painted us. Then we will see how many times God called us to salvation, punished us, had mercy on us, and how stubbornly we resisted grace and strove only for and. Even our good deeds we will see eaten away like worms by hypocrisy, pride and secret calculation.

At the same time, the judgment is not only what will happen after death. Judgment is made by us every second of our earthly life. Last Judgment- This is not a trial, but only a final statement of fact. Each of us in the course of life is spiritually determined in relation to God.

Why is the Last Judgment called the Last Judgment?

Announcing the Second Coming of the Messiah and the subsequent universal Judgment, the prophets and apostles called this “Day” the Day of the Lord, great and terrible ().

This Day is also called the Day of the Wrath of God (). Therefore, the name “Terrible” was assigned to the future Judgment not because the Lord would appear before the eyewitnesses in some deliberately formidable form. He will appear before the gaze of those gathered in the splendor of His glory and majesty, as a Mighty and Just Judge. This, of course, will cause fear in those around you, in someone - reverent, and in someone - the strongest dumbfounded: "it's terrible to fall into the hands of the living God!" ().

Horror and restless awe will accompany sinners from the knowledge that at this Judgment all their sins will be revealed, promulgated, weighed (and not only committed deeds, but also those that remain unfulfilled: secret sinful desires, thoughts and thoughts), and for each will have to answer before an incorruptible and impartial Judge.

In addition, the Last Judgment will take place publicly, in front of the whole world: in front of a host of angelic hosts, in front of billions of people, including those closest to them, relatives. At this last Judgment, the sinner will no longer be able to deceive either his personal conscience, or those around him, or, of course, the All-Seeing Judge with reservations and excuses convenient for him. The Light of Divine Truth, the Light will illuminate any unrepentant lawless person, will illuminate each of his crimes, actions or inactions.

A ship with slaves came to a certain city, and in that city there lived one holy virgin, who was very attentive to herself. She, having heard that this ship had come, was very glad, for she wanted to buy herself a little girl, and she thought: I will take and raise her as I want, so that she does not know the vices of this world at all. She sent for the owner of the ship, and calling him to her, she found out that he had two little girls, exactly what she wanted, and she immediately gave the price for one of them with joy and took her to her. When the owner of the ship departed from the place where this saint was, and barely moved a little, one harlot met him, completely depraved, and, seeing with him another girl, wanted to take her; agreed with him, gave the price, took the girl and left with her. Do you see the mystery of God?

Do you see the judgment of God? Who can explain it? So, the holy virgin took that little one, brought her up in the fear of God, instructing her in every good deed, teaching her monastic life and, to put it briefly, in every fragrance of the holy commandments of God. The harlot, having taken that unfortunate woman, made her an instrument of the devil. For what could this infection teach her, if not the destruction of her soul? So, what can we say about this terrible fate? Both were small, both were sold, not knowing where they were going, and one ended up in the hands of God, and the other fell into the hands of the devil. Is it possible to say that God will exact equally from both one and the other? How is that possible! If both fall into fornication or some other sin, can it be said that both of them will be subjected to the same judgment, although both have fallen into the same sin? Is it possible? One knew about the court, about the kingdom of God, day and night she studied in the words of God; the other, the unfortunate one, has never seen or heard anything good, but always, on the contrary, everything bad, everything devilish: how is it possible that both should be judged by one judgment?

So, no person can know the judgments of God, but He alone knows everything and can judge the sin of everyone, as He alone knows.
Rev.

Thoughts of death are unacceptable for an ordinary person. Uncertainty, horror of physical pain, fear pushes painful thoughts to the back of consciousness. And there is no time to think about the last hour in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

It is much more difficult for an Orthodox person. He knows that the Last Judgment awaits him ahead, at which he will answer for all the misdeeds committed in life. It is not only the fear of punishment that frightens, but also the feeling of guilt before the One who is love.

How does God's judgment proceed after death?

Losing loved ones, we think about our own death. No one will be able to avoid it - neither the rich, nor the famous, not the righteous. What awaits there, beyond the line? What does Orthodoxy say about God's judgment? It is said that the first three days the soul of the deceased is near the body, on the ground.

The soul remembers its entire earthly path. According to Basil the New, if a person dies without repentance, his soul goes through twenty trials, called ordeals. All ordeals are given names according to: lies, laziness, anger and others.

The soul spends the next six days in paradise, where all earthly sorrows are forgotten. Then she is shown hell with sinful people, their torment. On the third, ninth day after death, she appears before the Lord. Forty days after death, God's judgment is performed, which determines the state of the soul.

During this period, relatives can help the deceased by reading akathists and ordering a memorial service. After that, the soul spends time in anticipation of its fate at the final judgment.

Events leading up to the Last Judgment

The fact that after the death of each person the Last Judgment awaits is mentioned in the Old Testament. The Gospel says that it will not be God the Father who will judge people, but Jesus Christ, since He is the son of man.

Orthodoxy teaches that the second coming of Jesus Christ is expected on the Day of Judgment, during which he will separate the righteous (sheep) from sinners (goats).

The Revelations of John Chrysostom set out the sequence of events of the Apocalypse. Its date is not known to anyone, so that people are in a conscious state and hourly make a choice between good and evil. According to revelations, the end of the world will not come suddenly, it is preceded by special events.

At the second coming, the Savior will hold a book with seven seals and a candlestick with seven torches. The opening of each seal leads to the fact that disasters are sent to humanity: diseases, earthquakes, hunger, thirst, death, falling comets.

Advice. Go to confession! Repent, all your sins will be forgiven, do not wait for your death, it is already impossible to repent there.

Seven angels will come and give a signal to the end of the world: a third of the trees and grass will burn, a third of the sea will become bloody and ships will perish. Then the water will become bitter and the people who drink it will die.

At the sound of the trumpet of the fourth angel there will be eclipses, the fifth opens the way for locusts in iron armor, like scorpions. Locusts will sting people for five months. The last two tests will be that humanity will be overtaken by diseases and riders in armor on horseback, exuding smoke and sulfur.

The appearance of the seventh angel will announce that the Kingdom of Christ has come. John's vision of a "wife clothed with the sun" is interpreted by many theologians as the appearance of a church that will help to be saved. The battle of the Archangel Michael with the serpent and his triumph over him symbolizes the victory over the devil.

How will the Last Judgment take place?

The Orthodox Church teaches that on the Day of Judgment all the dead will rise and come to the throne of God. The Lord will gather everyone and will ask about all the deeds committed during life.

If a man's heart is filled with love, he will remain right hand from Jesus Christ, and will abide with him in His kingdom. Unrepentant sinners are doomed to torment. Revelation says that 144,000 people will not suffer the torment of the Apocalypse. After God's Terrible Judgment there will be neither sin nor sorrow.

How can a person be saved before the Last Judgment?

Christianity says that there is hope for salvation. Moreover, Orthodoxy awaits the Last Judgment with joy, since it is a sign of the dawn - the Kingdom of God on earth. A true believer hopes for a speedy meeting with Christ.

The main measure that the Supreme Judge will measure is mercy. If you go to church, fast, pray, often confess and take communion, you can safely hope for the best at the terrible judgment. God made a person free, he has the right to choose a sinful state, but it deprives him of hope for salvation. Sincere repentance, confession and communion, good deeds bring a person closer to God, purify and heal him.

An Orthodox person is distinguished by constant internal self-control of his state of mind. The Scripture says that before the Last Judgment, the Antichrist and false prophets will come into the world. And the devil will come to earth, and he will act out in anticipation of the second coming of Christ.

Therefore, the temptation of every person passes every minute. It is worth considering in response to every urge to sin, whose will to fulfill - divine, or demonic. As they say in Orthodoxy, a demonic tribe is driven out by prayer and fasting.

There is no punishment in human life - there are only lessons. If a person experiences negative feelings, it means that he has blocked the access of Divine love to his heart. Every day God comes to us in the form of other people.

The idea that a person will be judged for his actions was already present in the Old Testament: Rejoice, young man, in your youth, and let your heart taste joy in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart and according to the vision of your eyes; only know that for all this God will bring you to judgment (Ecclesiastes 11:9).

However, it is in the New Testament that the doctrine of posthumous retribution and the Last Judgment is revealed most fully. Christ Himself repeatedly tells His disciples that He will come in the glory of His Father with His Angels, and then He will reward everyone according to his deeds (Matthew 16:27; cf.: 25:31). Talking with the disciples on the Mount of Olives shortly before His death on the cross, Christ paints a picture of the Last Judgment, when He sits on the throne of His glory, and all nations gather before Him; and he will separate one from the other, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; And He will put the sheep on His right hand, and the goats on His left (Mt 25:31-33). The criterion by which the righteous will be separated from the sinners is the deeds of mercy towards their neighbors. At the Last Judgment, people who have committed such deeds will hear from the Lord: for I was hungry, and you gave Me food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you accepted Me; was naked, and you. clothe me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me. In accordance with the same criterion, sinners who have not done works of mercy will be sent into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:35-41).

Jesus repeatedly emphasizes that He, and not God the Father, will judge mankind at the Last Judgment: the Father does not judge anyone, but has given all judgment to the Son (Jn 5:22). The Father has given the Son the authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man (Jn 5:27). It is Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Man, who is appointed by God as the Judge of the living and the dead (Acts 42). At the same time, Christ says of Himself: If anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him, for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. Whoever rejects Me and does not receive My words has a judge for himself: the word that I have spoken, it will judge him on the last day (Jn 12:47-48).

Having understood the commandments of the Lord, let us live like this: we will feed the hungry, we will give the thirsty to drink, we will clothe the naked, we will bring in the strange, we will visit those who are sick and in prison, but he will also say to us to judge the whole earth: come, bless my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you.

The Last Judgment, according to the teachings of Christ, refers not only to eschatological reality. This is emphasized in Christ's conversation with Nicodemus: For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged, but the unbeliever is already condemned, because he did not believe in the name of the Only Begotten Son of God. The judgment is that light has come into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, because their deeds were evil (Jn 17-19). And in a conversation with the Jews, Christ says: He who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life (Jn 5:24).

Thus, faith in Christ and the fulfillment of His word already here, in earthly life, become a guarantee of a person's salvation, while the one who does not believe in Christ and rejects the Gospel is already here condemned to perdition. The division into sheep and goats occurs precisely on earth, when some people choose light, while others choose darkness, some follow Christ, others reject Him, some do good deeds, others take the side of evil. The division into sheep and goats is not the result of God's arbitrariness: it is the result of the moral choice that each person makes for himself. The Last Judgment will only confirm this choice made by man himself. According to John Chrysostom, “on the day of Judgment, our own thoughts will appear, now condemning, now justifying, and a person at that judgment seat will not need another accuser.”

As Chrysostom emphasizes, Christ came to people "not to judge and not to torture, but to forgive and forgive their sins." If He came and sat in the judgment seat, people would have some reason to avoid Him, but since He came in love and forgiveness, they should hasten to Him in repentance. Many have done just that. But since some are so entrenched in evil that they want to remain in it until last breath and never want to be left behind, then Christ denounces such people. “Christianity demands both Orthodox teaching and a good life, but they, says Christ, are afraid to turn to us, precisely because they do not want to show a good life.”

According to the teaching Orthodox Church, all people without exception will appear at the Last Judgment - Christians and pagans, believers and non-believers: but the will does not proceed to His teaching.

Already in the Apostolic Epistles there is the idea that those who believe in Christ will be judged with particular severity. According to the apostle Peter, the time for judgment to begin at the house of God (1 Peter 4:17), that is, from Christian Church. It is to the members of the Church that the formidable words of the Apostle Paul are addressed:

... If we, having received the knowledge of the truth, sin voluntarily, then there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but some terrible expectation of judgment and the fury of fire, ready to devour opponents. If he who rejects the law of Moses, in front of two or three witnesses, without mercy, is punished by death, then how severe punishment do you think the one who tramples on the Son of God and does not revere as holy the Blood of the Covenant, with which he is sanctified, and offends the Spirit of grace? We know the One who said: I have vengeance, I will repay, says the Lord. And again, the Lord will promise his people. It is terrible to fall into the hands of the living God! (Heb 10:26-31).

As for persons who are outside the Church, according to the teaching of the Apostle Paul, they will be judged in accordance with the law of conscience written in their hearts (see: Romans 2:14-15). We are talking about that natural moral law, which is embedded in man by God and which is called conscience. According to the teachings of John Chrysostom, "God created man with sufficient strength to choose virtue and avoid evil": reason and conscience help a person to do right choice. The Old Testament Jews, in addition to reason and conscience, also had the law of Moses, but the pagans did not have this law. That is why the virtuous pagans are amazing, “because they had no need for the law, but discovered everything proper to the law, having traced in their minds not letters, but deeds.”

Chrysostom comes to a radical conclusion: "For the salvation of a pagan, if he is a executor of the law, nothing more is needed." These words should not be taken as a denial of the principle formulated by Cyprian of Carthage: "There is no salvation outside the Church." Chrysostom, as it seems, does not question this thesis. The term "salvation", if taken as a synonym for deification, entry into the Kingdom of Heaven and union with Christ, is hardly applicable to people who were outside of Christianity and the Church. At the same time, the posthumous fate of a virtuous non-Christian will be different from the fate of a non-Christian who lived in sins and vices. The moral criterion in assessing the deeds committed in life will be applied to all people without exception, with the only difference being that Jews will be judged according to the law of Moses, Christians according to the Gospel, and pagans according to the law of conscience written in their hearts. (Note that in the words of Christ about the Last Judgment, there is no religious criterion at all: the division into sheep and goats occurs exclusively according to moral criteria.)

According to Holy Scripture, along with Christ, mankind will be judged by His apostles (cf. Mt 19:28; Lk 22:30) and saints (1 Cor 6:2). Not only people will be judged, but also Angels (see: 1 Korb, h), namely those of them who apostatized from God and turned into demons. These angels, who have not retained their dignity, God keeps in eternal bonds, under darkness, for the judgment of the great day (Jude 1, 6).

According to the teachings of Basil the Great, "we will be judged each in our rank - and the people, and the elders, and the princes." This doctrine is developed by Simeon the New Theologian, saying that at the Last Judgment every sinner will be opposed by a righteous man from the same rank: sinful women will be opposed by holy wives, impious kings and rulers by pious rulers, sinful patriarchs by holy patriarchs, “who were images of and likenesses of the true God, not only in words, but also in deeds. Fathers will be condemned by fathers, slaves and free slaves and free, rich and poor by rich and poor, married and unmarried by married and unmarried. “In short, every sinful person on the terrible day of Judgment opposite himself in eternal life and in the indescribable next light will see his like and will be condemned by him.”

According to the Holy Scriptures, people will be judged by the books in which their deeds are recorded, and each will be judged according to his deeds (see: Rev. 2o, 12-13; Dan 7, j). This image testifies that all the deeds of a person remain in the memory of God: according to Cyril of Jerusalem, God has recorded all the virtues of a person, including almsgiving, fasting, marital fidelity, abstinence, but also evil deeds, including covetousness, fornication , perjury, blasphemy, sorcery, theft and murder.

On the other hand, the mention of books, according to Basil the Great, indicates that at the time of the Last Judgment, God will restore in the memory of each person the images of everything he has done, so that everyone remembers his deeds and understands what he is being punished for. Basil warns against a literal understanding of the images used in the description of the Last Judgment. According to him, Scripture presents the Last Judgment "personified", that is, anthropomorphically. But if, for example, it is said that the Judge will ask the defendants for an account, then this is “not because the Judge will ask questions to each of us or give answers to the judged, but in order to inspire us with care and so that we do not forget about our justification” .

According to Basil, the Last Judgment will be an event not so much of an external as of an internal order: it will take place primarily in the conscience of a person, in his mind and memory. In addition, the Last Judgment will take place with lightning speed: “It is likely that by some inexpressible force, in an instant of time, all the affairs of our life, as in a picture, will be imprinted in the memory of our soul”; “You should not think that a lot of time will be spent until everyone sees himself and his deeds; and the Judge, and the consequences of God's judgment with indescribable power in a moment of time, the mind will imagine, all this will vividly outline before itself, and in the dominating soul, as if in a mirror, it will see the images of what it has done.

The explanations of Basil the Great make important adjustments to the understanding of the Last Judgment, which is reflected in many literary monuments and in Western medieval painting, in particular, on Michelangelo's famous fresco from the Sistine Chapel. This fresco depicts Christ surrounded by the Old Testament righteous: with a punishing gesture of a raised hand, Christ sends all sinners to the hellish abyss. The main idea of ​​the composition: justice is done, everyone gets what they deserve, retribution from God is inevitable.

Meanwhile, in the Orthodox understanding, the Last Judgment is not so much a moment of retribution, but a moment of the triumph of truth, not so much a manifestation of God's wrath, but a manifestation of God's mercy and love. God is love (1 John 4:8; 4:16), and He will never cease to be love, even at the moment of the Last Judgment. God is light (1 Jn 1:5), and He will never cease to be light, even when He comes to judge the living and the dead. But subjectively, Divine love and Divine light are perceived differently by the righteous and sinners: for some it is a source of pleasure and bliss, for others it is a source of torment and suffering.

Simeon the New Theologian says that the terrible day of the Lord is called the day of judgment, not because it is, in the literal sense of the word, the day on which the judgment will take place. The Day of the Lord is the Lord Himself:

Then it will not be so that that day is something else, and He who has to come into it is different. But the Lord and God of everything, our Lord Jesus Christ, will then shine with the radiance of the Divine, and this sensual sun will be covered with the brilliance of the Lord, so that it will not be visible at all, the stars will grow dim, and everything visible will fold like a scroll, that is, it will move away, giving place to its Creator. . And He will be one - and the day and at the same time God. He Who is now invisible to all and lives in unapproachable light, then will appear to all as He is in His glory, and will fill everything with His light, and will become for His saints an unending and never-ending day, full of unceasing joy, and for sinners and negligent, like me, will remain completely impregnable and invisible. Since, when they lived in the present life, they did not try to purify themselves in order to see the light of the glory of the Lord and receive Himself into themselves, then in the next century, in justice, He will be inaccessible and invisible to them.

In the context of Christ's words that God is good also in relation to the ungrateful and evil (Luke 6:35), the Last Judgment is perceived as a manifestation of God's goodness, God's glory, God's love and mercy, and not anger or retribution from God. The day of the Lord is a day of light, not a day of darkness and obscurity as it was imagined.

Old Testament prophets (Joel 2, 2, cf.: Am 5, 18-20), and not the "day of wrath" as it is called in Latin medieval poetry. The reason for the torment of sinners is not the wrath of God and not the lack of love on the part of God, but their own inability to perceive Divine love and Divine light as a source of joy and pleasure. This inability stems from the spiritual and moral choice that was made by a person in earthly life.

Simeon the New Theologian emphasizes that the Last Judgment of the Lord comes for every person already in earthly life. It is earthly life that is the time when a person joins the Divine light through the fulfillment of God's commandments and repentance. For such people, Simeon believes, the day of the Lord will never come, because it has already come for them and they are already in the Divine light. The Day of the Lord as the day of the Last Judgment will come only for those who consciously refused to repent and keep the Divine commandments:

... For those who are possessed by unbelief and passions, the grace of the Holy Spirit is impregnable and invisible. But for those who show due repentance and begin to fulfill the commandments of Christ with faith and at the same time with fear and trembling, it opens and becomes visible and by itself produces judgment in them ... or, better to say, it happens to them during the day Divine judgment. He who always shines and is illuminated by this grace truly sees himself... sees in detail all his deeds... At the same time, he is judged and condemned by Divine fire, as a result of which, fed by the water of tears, it is irrigated throughout the body and little by little is baptized all, soul and body, by that Divine fire and Spirit, becomes all pure, all without blemish, the son of light and day, and no longer the son of a mortal man. Therefore, such a person will not be judged at the future judgment, since he was already judged before, nor convicted by that light, because he was illumined by it here before, and will not enter that fire to be eternally burned, because he entered it here before and was judge. And he will not think that then only the day of the Lord appeared, because long ago he became bright and shining all day long from communion and conversation with God and ceased to be in the world or with the world, but completely became outside of it ... The Day of the Lord will appear not for those who are already illuminated by the Divine light, but it will suddenly open up for those who are in the darkness of passions, live in the world in a worldly way and love the blessings of this world; for them it will appear suddenly, suddenly, and it will seem terrible to them, like an unbearable and unbearable fire.