Nowadays, when there is a constant struggle between the bearers of true spiritual values ​​and those who are trying to replace them with new-fangled and sometimes far from Christian teachings, the prophecies made several centuries ago by the great ascetic and ascetic ─ St. Nile the Myrrh-Streaming One have acquired particular relevance. His words, born of personal experience of knowledge of God, may help the current generation of people find the right spiritual guidelines.

The Orphan of St. Peter's Village

From the life history of St. Neil, it is known that he was born at the end of the 16th century (the exact date is unknown) in the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula. The village where the house of his parents, pious and deeply devout people, was located, was called Agios Petros tis Kinourias. In Russian it is usually called simply the village of St. Peter.

Having been orphaned in adolescence, Neil was raised by his uncle, Hieromonk Macarius, who, with the warmth of his heart, managed to replenish the boy with the lost warmth of parental love. Sensitively tracking all the movements of his pupil’s soul, he skillfully directed them towards the path of serving God, while helping to enrich his mind with the knowledge that would help him in this difficult field.

Beginning of monastic service

The labors of Hieromonk Macarius were not in vain, and the young man in a short time mastered not only the grammar of the Greek language, thanks to which he thoroughly studied the books of the Holy Scriptures, but was also imbued with the wisdom of the works of the holy fathers of the church. Having reached the right age, Neil decided to forever reject the joys of the corruptible world and devote himself to monastic service.

Fulfilling his intention, he accepted and soon after was ordained first as a hierodeacon, and then as a hieromonk. Having taken this decisive step, which determined his entire future life, the Myrrh-Streaming Nile, together with his venerable uncle, labored in one of the local monasteries, serving the Lord and exhausting the flesh with strict asceticism.

First time on the holy mountain

However, the thirst for spiritual achievement that dried up their souls was so great that the life they led within the walls of the monastery could not quench it. Both were irresistibly drawn to where the heavenly world found its earthly embodiment. One of these places was Mount Athos, which for many centuries was revered as the inheritance of the Most Holy Theotokos, or Her “vertograd” (vineyard), as she herself told St. Nicholas about it. It was there that the pious monks directed their steps.

Arriving on Athos, they first of all walked around the deserts located there, choosing a place that fully met their spiritual needs. Soon the Lord led the monks to a part of the mountain that was then uninhabited and covered with wild vegetation, which from ancient times bore the name Holy Stones.

Legal aspect of desert living

There, far from a world filled with sin and temptations, they could fully indulge in silence and feat of prayer. However, before building the cells, the uncle and nephew went to the Lavra and asked for the blessing of its abbot, who was in charge, among other things, of the distribution of land plots among those who sought salvation on the holy mountain.

Seeing the sincerity and purity of the intentions of his petitioners, the abbot generously blessed them, supporting his words with a document granting the right to use the land. In turn, Hieromonk Macarius gave him a certain amount of money, as if expressing his deep gratitude and filial obedience.

Departure to the Lord of Hieromonk Macarius

Having thus become the owners of the land, the Myrrh-Streaming Nile and his companion began clearing it of the forest that densely covered the mountainside. The God-loving relatives had to put in a lot of work before their cells appeared in the place where the forest had recently stood like an impenetrable wall. But perseverance, supported by unceasing prayer, is known to be capable of working true miracles.

Soon after the completion of the work, the Lord called Hieromonk Macarius to His heavenly abodes, and the nephew was left alone, becoming his worthy heir and successor on the path of acquiring spiritual perfection. He spent long days and nights in prayer, making efforts to finally merge in spiritual unity with the Heavenly Father. For this, in addition to the internal attitude, external factors were also necessary, the first of which was complete solitude from people, and this was often lacking.

Thirst for complete solitude

In order to avoid the devil's snares and clear the path to salvation for himself, the pious hermit decided to move to another place - one where his solitude would not be disturbed by anyone's presence. Leaving his barely habitable cell, the hermit set out on the road again, and very soon found what he wanted.

On a steep mountain

It was a completely wild place, consisting of a small cave, the entrance to which was barely visible among the wild rocks. Its location, as well as the abyss that began a few meters from the entrance to the cave, made the shelter impregnable not only for people, but also for wild animals. Just as many Christian saints sought the greatest possible difficulties on the paths of earthly life, the overcoming of which would bring them closer to the gates of heaven, so the Monk Nile, despising all dangers, chose a cave as the place of his further stay, which more closely resembled the shelter of a mountain bird than human habitation.

It was in it that he spent the rest of his earthly days, shedding warm tears of love for God and accomplishing great feats in the fight against devilish temptations. Until his last breath, the Athonite hermit endured cramped conditions, hunger and various other bodily torments, contemplating before him heavenly visions and the faces of angels. The story of how much he had to endure is forever hidden from us. Only the all-seeing Lord and the holy Mount Athos know the price that the ascetic paid in this life for the keys to the gates of heaven.

Myrrh-streaming rocks

Finally, in 1651, the end of the earthly life of the holy hermit came, and the all-merciful Lord called him to His Heavenly Kingdom. The abbot of the Lavra learned about this event from his night vision, and the next morning he sent monks to bury the mortal remains of the holy righteous man. With great difficulty, the brothers climbed the steep slope of the mountain to the shelter, where a lifeless body lay on the rocks, and, having dug a grave in the cave, they buried it.

The Life of the Myrrh-Streaming Nile, compiled shortly after his canonization, tells that soon after his blessed dormition he was glorified by the Lord, who revealed the miracle of myrrh-streaming from the walls of the cave that served him as a refuge for many years.

The aromatic oily liquid, which had healing properties, poured out so abundantly that, flowing down the mountain slope, it rushed to the coastal strip and there mixed with the sea waves. In those days, pilgrims from all over the Orthodox East came to Athos to collect the miraculous composition. From that time on, the Monk Neil was named the Myrrh-Streaming One, and his official canonization soon followed. The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates his memory twice a year: May 7 (20) and June 8 (21).

God-sent gift of insight

Having spent many years in cave seclusion, the holy hermit left behind a rich literary heritage, devoting his free time from prayer to writing works of an ascetic nature. A special place in them is given to Divine revelations, which he accepted as a reward for his asceticism.

As has often happened in the history of Christianity, the Lord sent down to His faithful servant the great gift of clairvoyance, which allowed his inner gaze to capture pictures of the future life prepared for people. Many of them served as the basis for writing the famous prophecies of the Myrrh-Streaming Nile.

But the Athonite desert dweller made his main prophecies more than a century and a half after his death. In the period from 1813-1819. He repeatedly appeared in a night vision to the pious Svyatogorsk monk Theophan, who each time, rising in the morning, conscientiously wrote down what he heard. Thus, a collection of prophecies, repeatedly published as a separate book, and called “The Posthumous Broadcasts of the Myrrh-Streaming Nile” became the property of the Orthodox world.

About the intercession of the Queen of Heaven

Among them are cited, in particular, that the times are already close about which the Lord said that, having come into the world, he may not find believers in it. But even in such disastrous times, the Monk Nile proclaimed to all those seeking the salvation of the soul about the inexhaustible power of the Protection extended over the world by the Most Holy Theotokos.

The guarantee of salvation, according to him, was the miraculous Iveron image of the Queen of Heaven, kept on Athos. The Monk Neil commanded the brethren not to leave the holy mountain as long as this icon was with them. If for some reason she leaves the Lavra, then all pious monks must immediately leave it. Unfortunately, the life of modern society has in many ways become confirmation of what the prophecies of the Myrrh-Streaming Nile contain.

"The Antichrist is closer than ever"

The Athonite ascetic reveals to us in great detail the time of the appearance of the Antichrist in the world and reports on those social phenomena that will precede his arrival. He devotes a significant place in his prophecies to a description of the anarchy that is destined to engulf the world in its last times, about the general depravity that has crowded out the good beginnings of morality from human hearts, as well as the bitterness that the acceptance of the Antichrist seal will bring to people.

Forerunners of the Antichrist

One of the most important thoughts of the monk is the assertion that the forerunner of the appearance of the Antichrist on earth will be the love of money and the thirst for carnal pleasures, which overwhelmed the hearts of people and crowded out from them any desire to acquire eternal life.

The Monk Nile the Myrrh-Streaming One, in his reasoning, reminds descendants of the appearance on the banks of the Jordan of the Forerunner of the Lord, John the Baptist, who for many years tormented his flesh in the desert and rejected all earthly joys before announcing to people the nearness of the One who would take them from the hands of eternal death.

Following this, he paints pictures of how greed and lust are conquering the world, being the harbingers of the Antichrist and thereby creating the basis for the rejection of the Law of God and the denial of the Savior. But even in this case, according to the monk, not everyone will perish, but only those who voluntarily submit to the power of the antitype (with this term he denotes everything that precedes the appearance of the Antichrist).

Son of the Progenitor of Lies

Having appeared in the world, the Antichrist will begin to show people all sorts of signs and wonders, striking their imagination, forcing them to believe in his divinity. Outwardly, this enemy of the human race will be like a meek and humble lamb, but inwardly, in his essence, he will be like a predatory wolf thirsty for blood. His food will be the spiritual death of people who have given preference to the passions of this world and have closed the gates of the Kingdom of God for themselves.

At the end of the world, such vices as oblivion of faith, covetousness, envy, condemnation, enmity, hatred, adultery, boasting of fornication, masculinity and a whole series of similar sinful aspirations of crippled human souls will reach a special scale at the end of the world. All this evil will become life-giving food, giving the Antichrist new strength.

In contrast to how Jesus Christ appeared in the world to do the will of God the Father who sent Him, so the Antichrist will appear on earth to fulfill the will of his father, who, without a doubt, is the devil. From him, the progenitor of lies, he will receive the ability to darken the views of people with the deception of his flattering words. This will ultimately lead him to the pinnacle of earthly power, and will give him the opportunity to rule humanity, or rather, that part of it that will succumb to his cunning fabrications. Being on the brink of death, they will naively believe that Christ the Savior is leading them forward.

Predicting a future Russian tragedy

Many of the predictions of Nile of Athos (as he is often called in church literature) are coming true today, and give us the opportunity to see with our own eyes the truth of his statements. It is enough to give just this very typical example.

At the end of October 1817, during one of his nightly apparitions to the monk Theophan, the saint said that four twenty-five years would pass, and monasticism would dry up in a significant part of the Orthodox world. At that time, contemporaries could in no way imagine how accurately the events that followed exactly a century later in Russia, engulfed in the flames of the Bolshevik revolution, were foreshadowed.

There are many similar examples that can be given. All of them illustrate insight ─ the great gift of God, acquired through deeds that are described in detail in the life of the Myrrh-Streaming Nile, and have been passed on from mouth to mouth for many generations.

Book file for viewing in Word 2007 and higher:

Posthumous broadcasts of the Monk Nile the Myrrh-streaming of Athos.

Part 1. About spiritual objects in general.

Chapter 1: Interpretation of how unbelief and lust give birth to sin, and sin gives birth to death. Explanation of the Fall of our ancestors.
The feelings of a person’s soul have two mental hunters, who, one in front of the other, try to take possession of the feelings of the soul and constantly chase the soul. One hunter is faith, and the other is unbelief; we say: hope and despair. These good hunters* pursue the soul with extreme jealousy, striving to unite with it in marriage; when faith triumphs over unbelief and is united with the soul, then the soul remembers God and gives birth to hope. So faith conquered the soul of the prudent robber, gave him hope of salvation, and he exclaimed: “Remember me, Lord,” and he is remembered by the church until the end of this age. On the contrary, the other thief was overcome by unbelief, gave birth to despair in himself, blasphemed Christ, but remained blasphemed until the end of this age. This happens to every person overwhelmed by the passion of unbelief; then he remains in despair, because for unbelief he is abandoned by God, despair and persistent blasphemy against God are born in him, which, like pain in a bodily ulcer, cannot stop as long as the ulcer itself exists and is not healed, that is, until this mental ulcer will not be healed by repentance. Why does a person fall into the abyss of despair, unbelief and into the bliss of impurity? Because of** “psilaphism,” that is, because of mental seduction by sensuality and neglect of heavenly blessings. (In other words, because of what is often called “evil and carnal wisdom” in church prayers). How does psilaphism turn into despair? Faith, catching a person, attracts him and holds him with the hope of heavenly blessings; unbelief, in order to catch a person, seduces him with the lust of earthly, sensual goods and, since their satisfaction is associated with the violation of the commandment of God, then, having seduced a person and arousing in him the lust of the forbidden, unbelief then arouses in him doubt about the truth of the words of God, begs the question: is it true or not? is it true or not? Lust is desirable for a person, but it cannot satisfy him. A person is seduced by lust and strains his efforts to satisfy carnal lust. But no matter how much he satisfies her, he remains unsatisfied; Seeing his vain labors and efforts to achieve happiness, satisfying passions and lusts, he plunges his thought into the abyss and swamp mud of despair. In the same way, the blasphemous robber, not believing (in heavenly blessings) and not giving his soul satisfaction through sensual pleasures, plunged his thought into the good of blasphemy against the Lord crucified on the cross. So, even now, all others*** who are in the power of unbelief (that is, caught in unbelief), are tormented along with this and the passion of despair, which, as we said, occurred in them from lust and unbelief. So this passion tore our forefather Adam from those magnificent abodes of paradise in which the Creator God had installed him. With a similar passion, the serpent approached Eve, trying to catch her in the net of unbelief with lustful wisdom and keep her in this net with despair, the serpent succeeded in this, for Eve accepted his message that they could become like gods; with great joy and with the same swift joy she approached Adam; but the joy of the serpent’s news turned into great sadness that continues to haunt people to this day. Adam, even before the arrival of Eve, listening to her conversation with the serpent, began to (carnally and slyly) philosophize regarding the (obligatory) commandment of God, began to doubt the commandment of God and said in his thoughts: is it really supposed to be as God said? (i.e. will we really die); Is it true what God said? And so, when Adam was philosophizing within himself with such (carnal) wisdom (literally; psilaphized with such psilaphisms), Eve approached him with the temptations of the serpent and finally poisoned him with the serpent’s advice. When he (i.e., the serpent) poisoned Adam with his advice, transmitted to Adam through Eve, then it was just as easy for the serpent (it was easy to completely take possession of Adam) as for a fisherman catching fish with poison thrown into the waters of the lake, it was easy to catch it without the help of fishing gear. So, through Eve, the devil, like poison, threw the advice of the serpent into Adam’s thought, and Adam perceived this psilaphism in his thoughts (i.e., carnal wisdom or a seductive dream); they acted with Eve on the advice of the serpent - and were immediately poisoned; we say: Adam despaired. Just as a fish, having been poisoned, is thrown out of the water onto the shore of a lake and easily, without any gear or labor, the fisherman takes possession of it - so it happened with Adam when Eve poisoned him with the advice of the serpent. Adam then moved against the commandment of God and, like a fish, threw himself from the waters inaccessible to the fisherman onto the shore, into the hands of the fisher; we say: Adam stepped back from the commandment of God and followed the advice of the serpent. When Adam fulfilled the advice of the serpent, he immediately became naked from the grace of God: the forefathers despised the advice of God and did not believe the commandments of God, but they accepted the advice of the serpent - and immediately became lepers, we say: immediately their eyes of grace were blinded (i.e. spiritual vision), - and the eyes of wickedness were opened in them (i.e., evil thinking, this leprosy of the mind); and to this day the seeds of these passions remain in people. And this happens to everyone: as soon as the soul acts deceitfully, it is immediately drawn away by the grace of God, the grace sent to man from God is lost. So it is with Adam: as soon as the lust of sensuality (psilaphism) was born in him, he immediately deceived himself, mentally combining with a seductive dream; instantly the radiance of the Sun of Suns retreated from him, and Adam, naked from grace (i.e. that is, having lost the grace-filled illumination), he became darkness (i.e., dark, not shining, which **** people are to this day). Before Adam’s fall, God granted him possession of all the blessings of paradise, but forbade the fruits of only one tree; For this reason, God forbade Adam this tree, so that Adam would preserve his consciousness (that is, he would not forget, like Dennitsa, and would not dream about himself, but, seeing himself limited in possession through this commandment, would always remember his Lord and Creator and humbled himself before Him). But Adam did not heed the command of God, but heeded the message of the serpent, as a result of lust and unbelief, and through this he found himself excluded from the most beautiful blessings of paradise, naked, deprived of the grace of God and clothed in the clothing of wickedness. God, who is and is to come, who leads everything that happens, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, who created the heart of Adam, recognized the nakedness of Adam and patiently began to wait for people to fall to God with a prayer for forgiveness and confess their crime before Him, who violated the commandment of God. For this, God was ready to give them their first clothes (i.e., the light of the blessed radiance) and everything that they had before, but people did not want what was pleasing to God, but remained in darkness, what was pleasing to the hater and the leader of evil ... ...For Adam blamed God for everything and, being in the darkness of evil carnal wisdom (psilafistic wickedness), said to himself this way: I am not to blame for this; God Himself is to blame: why did He give me such a commandment, and if He forbade the fruit, then why did He give (the forbidden fruit) such beauty? If I were alone, I would have kept the commandment, but since God added this to me, we say: Eve, then, on her advice, I transgressed the commandment given to me by God, for the beauty of the fruit and the advice darkened me, and I transgressed the commandment of God. And other similar carnal wisdoms (psilaphisms) circled in a flock in Adam. God, who called Adam to repentance, having heard his crafty wisdom (psilaphisms), began to strenuously call him to repentance. Having heard, Adam had to go out to meet God, confess his crime and ask for forgiveness. When God approached Adam, Adam, hearing the sound of God’s steps, hid and did not come out to meet God; he hid from God with his lawlessness and crime. God (having descended into paradise) still did not say anything, waiting for Adam’s first words, so that he would come out to meet God, like that prodigal son, and say: I have sinned, it’s my fault... Then God, having heard this longed-for repentance, would have accepted Adam into our arms, we say: I would take off the robe of iniquity from him and clothe him with the first garment. God was ready and wanted to do this to Adam, but Adam did not want to come out to meet God and utter words of repentance. While God called Adam to repentance, Adam thought only about where he could hide from God with his iniquity. God, of course, knew where Adam was and where he had taken refuge with his iniquity, but he wanted Adam to come forward and utter the longed-for words of repentance. But God did not hear repentance from Adam and did not see him approaching. Then God was very saddened by this senselessness of Adam, that is, by his seduction and crafty wisdom (psilaphism), for from sensual lust (psilaphism) madness is born; Having gone mad, a person does not understand what is happening to him, he becomes darkened and does not know what he is doing. Thus, the lust of the sensual (psilaphism) draws a person into madness, and madness leads into darkness, and darkness leads to the cultivation of all those evil deeds. Therefore, Adam, maddened and darkened through lust and wickedness, having heard the sound of God (approaching), did not go out to meet Him and did not reject the carnal and crafty wisdom of unbelief. Then God, seeing all this, exclaimed and said these words to Adam: “Adam, where are you?” Adam, not being able to bear the voice of God, exclaimed and said: “Here I am, but I am naked and cannot appear before Your Divinity.” God still waited for words of repentance from Adam, but did not hear anything like that or any voice from Adam. Then God asked Adam again: “Why are you naked? Didn’t you transgress what was commanded to you (lit.: didn’t you destroy that accomplice or accomplice, i.e. commandment)? God said this so that Adam would no longer harbor sin and would show repentance. With this question, God somewhat helped Adam to repent and acknowledge his guilt and (God showed this condescension) due to the fact that Adam was very darkened through his lust and wickedness. The psilafistic cunning of the forefathers (that is, the cunning of their carnal wisdom) did not allow them to reveal their illness to the Doctor so that He would heal them. The Doctor desired their healing to the highest degree, but the power of the carnal wisdom operating in them darkened their spiritual eye, deafened their spiritual hearing, so that with their deafness and darkness they could not heed the commandments of God, but listened to the evil and carnal wisdom of the serpent and from this they went mad . God initially created them all-wise, but then the wickedness of carnal wisdom (psilaphistic wickedness) made them all-mad, and they, maddened, deigned to the serpent. Following the voice of evil wisdom, Adam answered God like this: “Yes, I did not keep it, for Eve led me into temptation and I was deceived; It’s your fault, for you gave her to me as a wife”; This was the only thing Adam said to God, and he did not bring any more confession or request for forgiveness to his Creator. God, hearing these words and seeing such bitterness in Adam, turned away from Adam and began to seek repentance from Eve in the same way. God was waiting for the longed-for repentant confession from Adam, but did not hear it, therefore he turned to Eve to see if He would hear this from her. We know that many wives (with their prayers) freed their husbands from prison *****. Moreover, the all-good God could forgive Adam for the sake of Eve’s prayers. But Eve, hearing the steps of God, began to hide even more than Adam, for women are more fearful (more buried) than men. As a result, Eve grieved and had greater sorrow than Adam, just as now wives grieve more than their husbands. Compassionate about Eve’s grief, God went to her as to Adam, to hear from her that longed-for repentant confession, which God so desired to hear from Adam and did not hear. Eve did not meet God halfway. Eve could not bear the voice of God and answered: “Here I am, but naked and I do not dare to appear before You.” God said: “Why are you naked?” God did not say: “Why are you naked?”, but said: “Why are you naked?” - for if he had said: why are you naked, then from this it would be clear that Adam is justified and Eve alone is condemned, that is why God said: why are you naked? Yet God said this in order (in case of their unrepentance) to equally condemn both to this despicable life, which is what happened. God said this to call Eve to the much-desired penitential confession, but Eve did not pronounce the penitential confession. knowledge to God, but instead said: “The serpent seduced me, and I was deceived by this.” God waited a little longer to hear words of repentance from her, but Eve said nothing more. So, God, seeing with what destruction people perished on the advice of the serpent, said to Adam: “Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate from the tree, which alone I did not allow you to eat from, but you ate, be cursed.” the earth is your deeds; in tribulation you will eat from it all the days of your life; She will bring forth thorns and thistles for you; By the sweat of your face you will eat your bread until you return to the ground from which you were taken, for you are earth and to earth you will go.” God also said to Eve: “By multiplying, I will multiply your sorrows and your sighs; in illness you will give birth to children; Your turn will be to your husband, and he will rule over you.” He condemned the serpent three times (i.e., especially more): “Because you have done this, you are cursed from all livestock and from all the beasts of the earth,” etc. He said to both of them together: “Depart from Me, but accept this promise.” from Me (annunciation of the Savior); and also said: “With labor and labor you will cultivate your food, with sweat you will eat your bread, with sorrow you will put on your clothes and with fear you will cultivate your way.” .. (Gen., chapter 3).

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*This refers to faith and hope, in relation to which the complete opposite is the “evil hunters” - unbelief and despair. These evil hunters are inspired by the devil, who walks around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8)

**It is necessary to stop at the last expression. We did not find the word “psilaphism” in dictionaries, but in its root and meaning it means the lust for the enjoyment of sensual goods, as opposed to the search for spiritual goods; obviously, psilaphism means the lust of the flesh, the lust of selfishness and the pride of life, or “the love of the world, which is enmity to God” (James 4:4); St. Nile expresses all this in one word: psilaphism, that is, sensuality. Sensual lust is the source of all sin, as St. Apostle James: “Everyone is tempted from his own lust by attraction and deception. The same lust, when conceived, gives birth to sin, but sin committed gives birth to death” (James 1: 14-15). From the noun “psilaphismos” Saint Nile also produces a verb, meaning carnal thoughts; carnal wisdom - in a word, expresses what we can express in words: lust, voluptuous daydreaming, infatuation with grossly sensual passions (fornication, anger) and more subtle ones - love of money, love of glory and pride.

***So, carnal lust and unbelief (or spiritual lust) are inextricably linked; This law is confirmed by contemporary phenomena. Now in civilized states, many godless books are being distributed on the book markets, sowing unbelief, and along with this, many pornographic books (preaching debauchery).

****So, according to the teachings of St. Nila, the forefather Adam before the Fall was “light,” that is, from him came a certain radiance of divine light, visible to sensual eyes, but after the Fall of Adam this radiance was lost. This position is confirmed by the Light of Tabor, with which the New sinless Adam shone (1 Cor. 15:45), the Lord Jesus Christ during the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:2) and the words of the Lord that in the Kingdom of Heaven the righteous will shine like the sun (Matthew 13, 43).

*****Of course, there are “bonds” of God’s wrath, punishment for sin. Hence the proverb “A wife will beg for her husband” is true.

******The biblical narrative conveys God’s speech to the sinful ancestress somewhat differently, but we must keep in mind that St. Neil strives not just to repeat biblical events to Theophanes, but to understand their inner meaning.

Chapter 2: How great was the loss of paradise and bliss by people. First murder.
Therefore, God again said: “Depart from Me,” and immediately the six-winged cherub with a fiery sword drove them out of those most beautiful beauties of paradise, they remained outside of paradise and moved to a place located opposite paradise. There they wept bitterly, looking at the beauties of paradise (that is, looking towards the lost paradise and remembering the blessings of paradise). Judging by the following comparison, how beautiful paradise was. If even now a person greatly admires the beauty of the sky, the infinity of the firmament, the radiance of the sun, the orderly movement of the stars, the light of the moon, the brilliance of sparkling lightning, the roar of thunder from a thundercloud - then how delightful it was for primitive man to contemplate the third heaven, to look at God, to contemplate eternity and boundlessness of His radiance, His angelic host and His power?.. If now, after the Fall, as the Psalmist testifies, the human soul can be enlightened and convinced, more than snow: “Sprinkle me with hyssop and I will be cleansed, wash me and more I will be white from the snow” (Ps. 50:9), then, therefore, how did the souls of the pristine people shine with joy and bliss in paradise?! If now, after the winter cold, the earth, covered with snow, after the spring rains, blossoms and becomes similar in beauty to paradise and its blessings, so adorned by the sun's rays... - then how should it have blossomed then in paradise, being illuminated by the light of grace? God!.. So, if now such great blessings are available to a person who is like grass and whose days are like the flowers of the field (Ps. 102:15), then what should the blessings of paradise be like?.. If now the souls of sinners are sprinkled with hyssop , become so white and achieve such great contemplations, then what was the bliss in paradise of the forefathers and how did their souls blossom?.. What blessings did they taste (literally: gather flowers)?.. Therefore, can anyone know those most beautiful bliss paradise, which the eye has not seen - the first-created man saw all these beauties of paradise, which are incomparable either with the flash of lightning or with the radiance of the sun... And who can understand this (i.e. the indescribable beauty of paradise and the degree of human bliss in Paradise)? Only a believer (able to believe). Whoever believes that the flash of lightning is a created power, this faith will prompt him to reflect and say: if the light of lightning, which is a creature, has such power, then what is the power of the radiance of the Creator himself, Who created lightning. What kind of person was he who could look at such radiance? How great grace was he invested with who conversed with such a Creator, who created such radiance? No one else saw God and talked with Him; only Adam saw God and talked with Him. And how could he have such a conversation with Him (i.e., with God) if he himself had not been clothed in light, for God is the lightning light of lights?.. Note. The Holy Church in some hymns testifies that not only the souls of the first people were blessed, but their very bodies shone with the radiance of the blessed light, as St. Nile. In one of the stichera of the Little Vespers for the Feast of the Transfiguration, it is sung: “Who with Moses spoke of old on Mount Sinai formed images... today on Mount Tavorstei he is transfigured, the beginning-shaped display shining with rays,” i.e., he showed that beginning-like radiance with which Adam shone. And also in the same place: “Today Christ on Mount Tavorstei, having changed Adam’s blackened nature, enlightened the god-maker...” Also in the third song of the canon: “Christ has clothed himself in all of Adam, having changed what was blackened, you have enlightened the ancient nature” - (blackened), therefore , it used to be light. Also, the verse of Great Vespers says: “You ascended this mountain with your disciples, and you transformed the blackened Adam’s nature and made it shine again.” So, the reason why people did not see their nakedness before the Fall was not only the innocence of their pure soul, for which everything was pure, but also because they were clothed in light, as in a robe... So Simeon the New Theologian also interprets this (“Adam was stripped of his incorruptible clothing and glory”... (4, I p. 371). God (not wanting to deprive people of these heavenly blessings) led from Adam and Eve only repentance, but Adam and Eve answered him with the word of destruction and with this they themselves destroyed (their possession) with all the blessings and radiance of paradise!.. And they renounced such and such blessings of paradise, unfortunate ones!.. And with such a damned life they made themselves unhappy (i.e., who, on the advice of the serpent, wanted to make themselves happy even more than God made them happy, and for this they received a curse.) So, they ceded their inheritance (heavenly) and, in return, became heirs of such a cursed earth , and (this inheritance remains the lot of people) for so many years!.. Then, in due time, they began to give birth to children, gave birth to children, and seed from seed multiplied; Children born were given different names. The first of all names were two names, we say: Cain and Abel. Over time, in the summer, after the harvest, people began to separate parts from the offspring; each of his harvest or offspring, at his own discretion, took and offered it as a sacrifice... One (of these first two children of Adam) was good-natured and righteous; The same was his sacrifice, as it is said: “The sacrifice of righteousness, the offering and the burnt offering” (Ps. 51, 21); we say: his sacrifice was made by him out of an abundance of love for God, about which it is said: “Bless Zion, O Lord, with Thy good pleasure” (Ps. 50:20) (that is, the sacrifice of a true lover of God, in him, as in a true Israelite - “There is no flattery" (John 1:47). Cain, however, thought with a carnal and evil soul (lit.: Cain with psilavistic wickedness); this gave rise to envy in him; envy gave rise to murder, as they say: envy is the germ of murder. What kind of Was there a reason that Cain was jealous of his brother and killed him? The envy happened like this. One summer, during the sacrifices, Cain also brought a sacrifice, but for the sacrifice he left only the unsuitable (from the separated part of the fruits), and took away the fruits. And he appeared the smoke of this sacrifice is the stench of wickedness and psilaphistic unbelief (i.e., cunningly and carnally thinking unbelief).Thus, philosophizing, Cain said: first I will gather the fruits into my barn, and I will bring what is unnecessary, that is, straw, into my Sacrifice: and so I did, With such crafty and carnal wisdom he made the sacrifice. God said to Cain: “Do not offer such a sacrifice again; make a sacrifice with simplicity, so that you do not offer a sacrifice to God with guile.”* However, Cain did not stop sacrificing such an abomination, for abomination is before God a sacrifice of wickedness. For this reason, God rejected the sacrifice for the sake of its wickedness, but He accepted the brother’s sacrifice, since it was a sacrifice of righteousness before God, as they say: “A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit, a contrite and humble heart, God will not despise” (Ps. 50:19). And since Cain’s brother, i.e. Abel, performed the sacrifice and brought his part to God without any guile, God expressed his good will to Abel for the sacrifice (i.e., he gave a sign of the pleasingness of the sacrifice by the fact that its smoke rose to heaven ), but he did not show this to Cain. With this, God (as if) was saying to Cain: “Stop making such a sacrifice, don’t make such a sacrifice anymore.” But Cain did not heed what God said and did not listen to Him; instead, he listened to his carnal and crafty wisdom (psilafistic craftiness) and increased his evil. When God saw such a perverse disposition of Cain, He was saddened about him and said to his brother Abel: “Have pity on your brother, for he is in a pernicious state and through him destruction will be born to man” (i.e. for humanity). Abel answered God: “Lord, who will have pity on me?” (That is, the word “have pity” means “pray”; for the basis of prayer for one’s neighbors is compassion for them. Abel answered: who will have pity on me, because he was aware of his own unworthiness and the depth of his fall. ) God said: “I am the justification of your sorrow” (i.e., pray for your brother, and I will count the prayer to you). For if you regret the death of your brother, then I will also regret you. Then Abel had the boldness to grieve before God about the death of his brother**. We say: love your brother and God will love you; for love gives birth to compassion; if you do not love your brother, you cannot grieve for him. This is what happened with Cain. Not loving his brother, he could not have compassion for him; as a result of hatred of his brother, ruthlessness arose, and in return for love (Abel, Cain) he repaid with ruthlessness, and in return for his sadness for him (i.e., instead of mutual prayer, which God first commanded to Abel), murder was committed. Carnal wisdom (psilaphism) gives rise to guile; wickedness is unbelief, and unbelief increases ruthlessness (i.e., insensibility, fearlessness, bitterness), while bitterness intoxicates a person and makes murder seem like nothing to him***. This is what Cain did: he created bitterness in himself and, intoxicated by it, committed fratricide. Just as intoxicating wine is gradually formed from grain sown on earth, so sin gradually developed in the soul of Ka-in and ended in murder. The vine first puts out a bud with leaves, then gives birth to a flower, and little by little the color fills, ripens and gives birth to clusters, and the clusters give birth to wine, and a person, drinking that wine, rejoices at heart and becomes intoxicated. So the evil in man first sprouted a bud of crafty, evil, carnal wisdom (psilaphism), while carnal wisdom gave birth to wickedness, and wickedness, little by little, filling and ripening, grew into unbelief. Sin first gladdens a person’s heart, like wine, then it takes possession of it, depriving the person of consciousness. And disbelief, in the end, gives rise to despair: a person drinks despair, falls into insensibility, finally expels even stronger alcohol from the grape marc and finally gets drunk with it. Taking the marc from the potatir, a person makes it ferment, distills it through the fire, extracts alcohol from the squeeze, drinks it, gets drunk and does not know what he is doing; So did Cain: he plucked fruit from the vine of evil, squeezed wine in a potatir, drank the vodka of despair and despaired (at first rejoicing at the charms of covetousness); and did not know what had happened to him (or rather: what to do); he collected all the extracts that were collected in the potatir, we say: his own internal one, he fermented them in crafty and carnal wisdom (psilafistic craftiness), drove out the alcohol of despair, drank it, became drunk, fell into envy and ruthlessness. Envy darkened him and he was overcome by bitterness; he was inspired to kill his brother and killed him, fratricide Cain! Thus he laid the foundation for fratricide, but it will end and its end is antithetical, we say: Antichrist. (St. Nile calls him antithetical because in him there will not be the slightest resemblance to God, there will be only vices to the utmost degree). Cain is the beginning of the cultivation of murder, but the antitype (Antichrist) will become the end of the cultivation of murder. (That is, he will surpass everyone in murders, and he himself will be the last one killed on earth, for according to Scripture, the Lord Himself will kill him with the spirit of His mouth (2 Sol. 2:8). ____________

** And we do not find this in the Bible, but from the further words of St. Nile clearly shows that he seeks to imprint the Christian commandment of love for one’s neighbor in Theophan’s heart.

*** The psychological picture is as if from a small sinful seed (an unclean, barely catchable thought), a whole tree of grave sins develops.

Chapter 3: How all other passions developed from the first sins of Adam and Cain. The likening of sin to ivy, the resistance of people to God, who wanted to cleanse His vineyard. The Incarnation of the Lord and His establishment of the Church as His body and feeding it with His Body and Blood. Union with Christ through faith and union with the devil through unbelief and the resulting five-shaped likeness to the devil. 33 branches of sinful ivy. Likening passions to the alphabet. The combination of virtues with passions. The Book of Peace and the Last Judgment. How faith and unbelief compete for the possession of a person's soul.
So, from Cain, day by day, year by year, century by century, the cultivation of evil increased; From generation to generation, the iniquity of Cain multiplied, it spread its branches, these branches eclipsed all the mental abilities of man, and man became darkened. Just as ivy (having climbed a tree) spreads its branches over it, covering the entire tree with them and completely eclipsing it, so crime, having planted itself on the earth in Adam, gradually, over time, spread its branches. We say: (Adam the fratricide) gave birth to Cain, and with this a branch (darkness) spread over the thought of man. Like ivy, when it spreads only one of its branches onto a tree, it ascends to the top of it, the ivy branch sends out shoots, covering the entire tree with them and with its three branches covers its entire being, we say: natural greenery, the tree is deprived of its essence (i.e. . greenery inherent in his nature), so the one who perceives in his thoughts a branch of ivy (sinful) is similarly deprived of what is inherent in his being (i.e., the virtues inherent in man). The tree finally dries up, remains at the mercy of the ivy, and languishes among the ivy branches. Instead of a tree, the nature of the ivy grows on it, we say: its greenery, with which it covers the tree embraced by it, we say: the nature of the ivy takes dominion over the tree*. I also point out the similarity of sin in the following: just as the essence of all three branches is one, although the branches differ from each other, so sin (every one in essence) is the same renunciation (departure from God), but torment in hell for different sins is different. The properties of ivy are similar to sin in the following ways. Ivy has the least power to produce upward (that is, to grow in height), but is extremely capable of spreading over the surface and taking possession of everything that it finds in front of it. He bears more fruit than all trees; but its fruit is not useful in appearance, is not sweet in taste, its nutritional value is low, and its elasticity is not strong, although the width of the ivy makes it supposedly strong (i.e., in appearance it is quite spreading and branchy). When any kind presents itself to him (i.e., an opportunity to take possession of a tree), he so skillfully entwines it with his thirty-three shoots that the tree cannot get rid of him. To do this, ivy embraces with three main branches the view (i.e., tree trunk) that it has found in front of it, takes possession of it, and passes it on to 30 shoots, and those thirty branches grab it with their claws, we say shoots, and in order to dominate with them, they produce such skillful weaving that a skilled needleworker cannot create. We say: sin has entwined humanity so skillfully (like ivy on a tree) that neither a wise artist can produce it with his hands, nor a spider can make nets. God, seeing such enslavement of people by sin, repeatedly wanted to free them through His messengers. The First Maker (God) sent His servants to destroy the imaginary but weak (essentially) branches that so boldly spread over the tree, took possession of it and dried it up, but the craftsmen (i.e., the great ones of this world, standing at the head of peoples and tribes) ) did not allow themselves to be freed and destroyed by the imaginary and powerless branches of the ivy, but they dishonored the messengers of God and sent them back. And the slaves announced to the First Maker everything that had happened, but the First Maker, having listened, endured for a long time. But that’s why the First Maker sees how the ivy has (even more) spread with its thirty branches in the vineyard and how it chokes the trees in order to dominate with its powerless branches over the entire area of ​​the vineyard, we say: over all the thoughts of man (Greek: “encircling and expressing thoughts , peri-phrase,” - here is a play on words and an expression of the fact that just as ivy covers the foliage, so the enemy rephrases all human thoughts from good to evil). Seeing such a plan, the First Maker again sent other slaves, we say: prophets, to protect the vineyard. And again the craftsmen, we say: scribes and Pharisees, when they saw those slaves, they were very confused, grabbed them and imprisoned them, consulting among themselves what to do about what had happened and what to do. Having consulted, they decided to do the following: they took them out of prison and treated them as villains; We say: first they tortured, and then executed. When the First Maker Himself comes, He will see how His vineyard was taken over by ivy, how the ivy in the vineyard covered the vines with its 33 branches and climbed onto the trees, so that, finally, nature dried up (that is, natural leaves and fruits) of vines and trees. We say: psilaphism (carnal, crafty and evil wisdom) with all its 33 branches has ascended to the senses of man and nature in man has become silent (i.e., the natural attraction to spiritual goods and to God), man has become insensitive (spiritually) , feminine and masculine.... What will the Prime Maker then do with the skilled people? He will destroy the wicked from his vineyard**. And He transferred the art of speaking (i.e., keeping the law and serving the Word) to another skilled person; we say: he handed over the vineyard to another people (that is, he gave it the ability to grow those fruits that he previously received only from the first vineyard), we say: to the Romans (i.e. e. pagans). We say: the First Maker (or rather, in the sense, the first teacher) came by the name of Jesus, and gave us a vineyard, we say: He gave us the Church along with His Body and along with His Blood, as He Himself said about this: “Take, eat, this is My body, broken for you for the remission of sins.” He gave us these three, we say: His Church, His Body and His Blood, to our three feelings*** (faith, hope and love), so that we would feel and preserve the grace of Christ undoubtedly and truly, would be sensitive to Christ, and did not become like the Gentiles, the Babylonians, who are sensitive to the Bosphorus (i.e., the fallen angel, Dennitsa). (That is, let us love Christ in His commandments, and let us not love Lucifer in the vices and sinful sweets inspired by him). Anyone who is deprived of these three feelings, we say: faith, hope and love, is inconsolable, for (thereby) he departs from Christ with all his three feelings, despises the being of Christ (i.e. His Body and Blood) and does not believe in the Church; such a one immediately becomes prey to ivy, which covers it with 33 branches, asserting its dominance over it with skillful weaving. When three branches of ivy take possession of a plant, and thirty other branches of ivy embrace it and dominate it with their net, then what violence is this plant subjected to while it possesses ivy? No one else knows, only one plant knows what violence it is subjected to from ivy. We say: the one who despises those three feelings (faith, hope and love) and the essence of the law, he will immediately be kidnapped by three insensitivities. The three insensitivities are: a) psilaphism of the mind - carnal, evil, crafty, unspiritual, delusional wisdom, b) deceit of the eye and c) insensibility of unbelief (i.e. insensibility of the heart). Consequently, whoever is kidnapped by these three branches of the (first three) branches of the Dennitsa (i.e., who is surrounded and entwined by delusion, unbelief and wickedness, like ivy), he then becomes a captive of the other thirty branches of hell (others also take possession of him passions). Immediately the iniquities will delight this lawless man, the thirty branches of hell will seize him, we say: the leaders of the tyrant, the Dennitsa, and they will rule over him, entwining him with their violent weave... What violence will that lawless man suffer for the sake of his insensibility? .. These instruments of hellish torture will exhaust him with what emotional disturbances?.. With what cunning tortures will they torment him (literally: to tyranny with cunning tyrannies, which can have the meaning of sinful violence)? No one else knows this except the one who is in the cultivation of these 33 works of iniquity. .. We say: these 33 branches of lawlessness are the following: first of all, five, perceived by man: firstly, psilaphism of the mind (earthly and material wisdom, as they say in the evening prayer); secondly, deceit; thirdly, unbelief in the commandments; fourthly, the transgression of the commandments; fifthly, obstinacy in the crime of the commandments and contempt. These five branches (out of 33) branches are the fivefold form of the serpent, which he instilled in Eve, passed on to Adam, and through the acceptance of which Adam lost the blessings of paradise. [St. Nile calls these vices fivefold because the devil possesses them in full, while a sinful person perceives only the likeness of the devil, “for first the devil sins” (1 John 3:8), as the Scripture says]. Then the first-born of Adam (Cain) grew (the following shoots): first - envy, second - theft, third - ruthlessness (brotherly hatred) and fourth - murder. We say: Cain was jealous of his brother’s (god-pleasing) sacrifice, blasphemed his own sacrifice and showed ruthlessness towards the brother whom he killed. God (and this fall was ready to forgive and restore Cain if Cain repented, and) asking him: “Where is your brother” (expected from Cain repentance and a request for mercy)? But, since the arrogant one (turned out to be unrepentant and insolent) answered: “Am I my brother’s shepherd,” then God rejected him and gave Cain over to the lawless spirit (i.e., the evil spirit), so that (the evil spirit is like) the wind (shook him), so that the murderer, according to the Word (of God), would be pursued by him and (spend his life) hiding, unfortunate!.. Then (thirdly), those other 24 branches grew and from there (began) weaving, because The method of action of the first nine is to find someone for themselves and, sneaking up, catch them in destruction (or destruction, that is, by wisdom, deceit and transgression), in order to then strike him with a spear with 24 soul-destroying teeth of destruction. (In the interweaving of these soul-destroying 24 branches they) are likened to the letters of a letter. For, just as the alphabet (with its 24) letters depicts the varied contents of all writings, so exactly the 24 branches of iniquity produce all kinds of shoots of destruction... For example, the passion of condemnation, arousing in a person **** the desire to condemn, produces in the condemner there is rancor towards the condemned. And all those 24 branches of evil everywhere are strenuously trying to arouse (suitable passions and, if they do not have time to arouse one passion, then they strive to arouse another, the opposite one); for example, lust and despair (whoever they do not have time to attract to the active pursuit of voluptuous pleasures, they try to wear him down with despondency). Passionate attraction (to sin) is alpha, despondency is omega; that is, the beginning and the end (in all sin). The beginning of lust, the beginning of lust excites activity, but the end of lust is the beginning of despondency. Therefore, the wisdom of the mind and the deceit of the eye (which arouse sinful activity in a person) have a beginning, but have no end (i.e., having once aroused lust and instilled sin in a person, they are this sinner, if he does not free himself from them by repentance, - they are struck by despondency, which upon death turns into eternal torment); so are the syllables of writing: they have a beginning, but do not have an end (i.e., a word formed once from letters will never lose its meaning and will always retain the same meaning as long as writing exists). We say: “alpha” is the first letter, “omega” is the last, “vi-ta” is the second, “psi” is the penultimate, “lambda” and “xi”, as well as “mi” and “ni”, follow (by order) one after another; Likewise, passions, although they once occurred sequentially, inscribed like an alphabet on the charter of humanity, but then they no longer have an end, connecting in all kinds of mutual combinations, like letters in syllables and words, among themselves. Likewise, psilaphisms (i.e., sinful wisdom), which are the beginning (i.e., like the first letter of the alphabet - alpha, were written first on the charter of the human soul), have no end. It is the same with wisdom, and wickedness has a beginning, but has no end... All (24) branches (of sin), like the letters of the alphabet, mean all the iniquities of the world and have no end... The world for a person is like a book, which he he writes with his deeds, like writing - with syllables that have a beginning, but have no end; will not be forgotten forever and ever (everything that a person does) from his very birth until his death, because from birth, whatever syllables of writing a person depicts in the book of the world, after the death of a person they can all be sorted out syllable by syllable, each one will be read addition the way a person added it, and each addition will receive its part, reward. As in the syllables of writing (one sound expresses a syllable made up of several letters, each of which has its own special) expression and do not at all touch (according to their location in the alphabet) with each other, (in a syllable they are pronounced together), where one, there is another one; (in the same way, in human affairs, different and opposite motives, good and bad, are combined in one and the same thing, despite their incompatibility). For example, alpha and omega, or vita and psi (although they are at different, opposite ends of the alphabet, they can appear together in one word); Likewise, psilaphisms, that is, the sinful carnal wisdom of a person, are mixed with his good undertakings. Evil and good are meant: a guardian angel and an evil spirit, one challenging a person for good and the other for evil. They are extreme opponents among themselves; if a good person tries to direct a person to the good, then the evil one, in turn, strives with all his might to relax the energy (of a person directed to the implementation) of good will; This is what the corrupter of good wills tries to do so that a person does not look at anything good, does not undertake anything good; In the same way, the good one tries to relax the evil energy (in a person), wants the person not to look at evil (that is, not to desire evil) and not to strive for evil. The souls of people are like families of young bigamists, and one of the young women gave birth to a boy, and the other a girl. One loves the girl as the evil one loves evil, the other loves her son as the good one loves virtue. She who has a girl does not love her son, and she who has a son does not love the girl... Likewise, the good spirit and the evil spirit mutually try to overcome each other in the depths of human will, trying to write their victories in the book of life of the whole world (i.e. to motivate a person to the relevant matter). Man today does not guard against the iniquities of this world, does not force himself to cry out to God for help so that He will deliver him from these iniquities, as it is said: “For He is our God, deliver us from our iniquities”... (Octoechos, tone 1 , stichera). The Deliverer delivers man from the evil ones, but wants man himself to have a feeling for Zoar (i.e., to heaven, as it is said in the great canon: “Go to Zoar”), to be aware (in himself) of those thirty-three branches lawless letters of life and would not be intertwined with those 24 letters of destruction. We say: these 24 letters are: originating from the lust of the flesh: 1 - adultery; 2 - fornication (including overeating and drunkenness); 3 - kindling; 4 - seduction; 5 - dressing up, (exciting) lust; b - tenderness (kindness) of mutual treatment, luxury and people-pleasing; 7 - relaxation (or laziness) of the mind; 8 - fattening of the flesh and delight of other senses; 9 - crazy love; 10 - sorcery; 11 - incest; 13 - sodomy. These 24 branches of carnal lusts become a dark veil for anyone who succumbs to them, completely eclipsing it, so that a person does not see the Sun of Suns. The workers of these 24 branches of voluptuousness will not see the face of God, they will be given over to death and drown in the abyss of voluptuousness... The lust of the evil eye (produces the following branches): despondency, which develops despair; despair kindles rage (anger or malice). (Malice) attracts a person to the following nine: 1 - condemnation; 2 - slander; 3 - slander; 4 - contempt (and at the same time exaltation, pride, etc.); 5 - greed; 6 - theft; 7 - lies and unfair denunciation (i.e. slander); 8 - pretense of virtues or hypocrisy; 9 - insidious advice. Those who condemn their neighbor are subjected to this... From the roots of all these 33 branches, one root of a herb disgusting in appearance begins (literally: indecent to the sight); it is called poison and poisons everything that a person accumulates (good, or whatever good deeds he does). If it happens to be in the middle of sowing, it prevents the fruits from growing; people now call it thistle; (note of the first writers: this thistle is a plant that, when found among sown wheat, has the property of destroying the wheat). Among the roots of the 33 branches grows another unnatural lawlessness, we say: blasphemy. It blasphemes the book of the law and those who teach according to the law of faith; whoever has it is prevented from being a listener of the law and from bearing fruit according to the teaching of faith.

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*Just as thin ivy destroys a thick and mighty tree, so a subtle sinful thought (addiction, adversity) can destroy a person’s soul. Hence: how important it is to fight against the subtlest sinful “attacks”...

**The Savior's parable about the vineyard is reproduced (Matt. 21: 33-43).

***The Lord gave us the fullness of grace-filled gifts in order to give us salvation and sanctification in its entirety - “thou hast saved all me man” - Octoechos, ch. 2, irmos 4.

****This passion compels us to condemn other people, to consider them worse than the condemner himself, to look at them with contempt and, in the end, to hate them as worse than the condemner. Condemnation is a direct road to hatred.

Chapter 4: About how Dennitsa fell, what properties the fallen spirits acquired and what kind of battle they wage with man.
So, these are the essence of the two categories of passions and (passions of) three cultivations (i.e., those arising from the lust of the flesh, the lust of the hair and the pride of life, leading to brotherly hatred). We say: since virtues are (the radiance of the image of God in man) and gifts of God to man, all the listed vices are the gift of the Lucifer. The radiance of God is: faith, hope and love, cleansing from all iniquities; The radiance of Dennitsa is the following: unbelief, despair, enmity and memory malice. If you ask how Dennitsa acquired such radiance, then listen and you will see. (Dennitsa once dreamed of appropriating to himself all the properties of God, to achieve the same beauty as the Sun of Suns *, we say: (to surpass the height of) the disk, (the power of) the ray and (the light of) radiance, which are (inseparable) - for, if not If there is a circle of the sun, then where will the rays come from around? And if there are no rays, how is it possible for the radiance to spread to the ends of the universe? Also, if the rays have no radiance, how will it be possible for the radiance of the day to shine? Dennitsa tried to equal this semblance of the radiance of the Divine. We say: he wished to establish his throne above the throne of God. When this wisdom (psilaphism) of wickedness, the thought of infidelity and the lying dream of insensibility (i.e., lack of love) began to be revealed, then the heavens of heaven immediately became indignant, the gates of heaven were opened, and Dennitsa immediately fell down with his damned throne, i.e. with his desecrated horde. The number of all those who have turned away (from God) and fallen away with Dennitsa is thirty-three thousand thousand myriads of myriads. Each righteous man is fought by thirty-three darknesses of the fallen Beelzebub, that is, the angels of Satan. Their appearance is disgusting, they are an incorrigible creature**; they have the smallest height, the greatest breadth, they have depth***, they are powerless in their power, they rape with their powerlessness a sinner like you (Theophanes), who is seduced by the powerlessness of the devil (i.e., the pleasures of the passions, allegedly imagining the devil strong, fears him, submits to him, so powerless); Powerless evil spirits take possession of this person, consolidating him in their power through hopelessness (otherwise, despair****).

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* Under the “Sun of Suns” St. Nile names God.

** That is, they are not capable of repentance and entering the path of good.

***T. e. hell, the underworld.

*****Despair is a “mortal sin.” One should never despair of one's salvation.
Chapter 5: Sinful seduction and intoxication with the grace of the Holy Spirit. Comparison of sinful seduction with drunkenness from wine. Intoxication with the grace of the Holy Spirit and its superiority over sinful intoxication*.
A myriad of myriads, imagining themselves to be strong, sets three traps (to catch people with sinful lures), each trap has its own special secret hook, we say: imagination, pride and condemnation (i.e. the devil, seducing people, tries to pervert the right order in them -thinking about things either through the imagination, i.e., a wrong idea of ​​the environment, or through pride, i.e., a wrong opinion about oneself, or through condemnation, a wrong attitude towards one’s neighbor; all these are the hooks of the devil’s fishing rods , for in all the thoughts instilled in a person by the enemy, there is always hidden something either proud and hostile to God, or evil and brotherly-hating, or something dreamy, lustful and harmful to the person himself). Just as a drunkard is drawn by wine into an inn, so a sinner is drawn by sin into the snares of the devil. They go to the inn to drink the juice of the hop vine. The sinner goes into the devil’s trap to get drunk with the wine of the sinful vine; as soon as he drinks, he becomes intoxicated; when he drinks and gets drunk, then until he sobers up, he does not know what is happening to him - he is not afraid of the royal commands, he does not impute dishonor to himself, he does not avoid contempt, he does not look at reproach; he is solely absorbed in the rapture of that vine, wanting only one thing (desiring) to dry up that vine creature, we say: wine, which modern people call “beautiful.” (“Beautiful” means diluted wine; the saint uses this name to contrast the power of intoxicating sinful wine with spiritual wine, with which, when a person is intoxicated, nothing can sober him up, neither time, nor suffering, etc. ). (So, if then) diluted wine gives those who drink it such a strong intoxication (that they lose all human fear, shouldn’t the strongest effect come from spiritual intoxication?) We say: he who has found the desired intoxication (of the Holy Spirit) is not afraid of those three human deceptions (i.e. lust of the flesh, desire and Chinese pride), is not afraid of any suffering, is not afraid of being cast into fire or being cast into water. No matter how clever tortures are used to exhaust him, he does not get caught up in the things that people force him to do. If the essence of perishable wine is capable of so intoxicating a person and intoxicating him, then isn’t it even more so (must have this property to an excellent degree, intoxicate, lead to oblivion of earthly things) the wine of the vines of heavenly vineyards?! If people drunk with earthly wine find such great rapture in drunkenness that they cease to fear the commands of the kings of the earth, then (intoxicated with heavenly intoxication, what rebuke of earthly kings can they fear)? How can the glory of earthly kings count for anything? What topics of people and mental princes can one be afraid of? What power of the powerless myriads of myriads can (move him), what praise (i.e. flattery) of the outcast and vile Beelzebub (can please him)? What are the devil's snares (that can ensnare him)? If a person reveling in the essence of the vine is so intoxicated by it that he does not know or think about the snares of the enemy, if he who drinks diluted wine becomes so intoxicated, then how intoxicating should the heavenly dissolution act? Those who drink the heavenly dissolution will become intoxicated with the intoxication of the Holy Spirit; Therefore, who is in such rapture, who can disappoint, who can overcome? And, in fact, none of these were ever defeated, but only the 33 thousand thousand angels of the Lucifer and myriads of myriads of myriads of Beelzebubs were always defeated by them... (So this multitude rose up to fight against people intoxicated with the Holy Spirit, it was imagined in man, having taken possession of the king of the earth), that is, the devil once rebelled against Christians, arming the human race and the king of the earth against them), we say: Diocletian and Maximian, in order to force Christians to eat the fruit of the destruction of the wicked, and renounce spiritual intoxication. Thus, this pair of servants of the devil wanted to destroy the Christian race in humanity. Thus, until the very end of the world, the devil will furiously pursue the Church in order to destroy the Christian race; in the same way, each individual person, until the very night, that is, his death, is pursued by the enemy in order to deprive the persecuted person of all the fruits of his virtues. We say: Diocletian and Maximian once went to war against the Christian race in order to overthrow it, deprive mammals of the fruit of life and plunge the wicked into destruction, that is, force them to renounce Christ - but (instead, they achieved the exact opposite) ; how many people then during those days and nights received baptism and (instead of forcing Christians to renounce Christ, they themselves renounced the devil and his works in the font), glorified and thanked God for the action of baptism (i.e. for giving them freedom from sinful slavery). They were honored to know the gracious effect of Baptism, having seen its power on the martyrs intoxicated by the Holy Spirit and, instead of forcing Christians to renounce Christ and make sacrifices to idols, they themselves renounced idols, from sacrifices to the Hellenic gods, offering a sacrifice to God according to what was spoken : “The sacrifice to God is a broken spirit, a contrite and humble heart God will not despise” (Ps. 50:19). And I say that an intoxicated person cannot be overwhelmed by fear and be afraid. The world will try in vain to attract such a drunkard to itself, opponents will try in vain to awaken him from his rapture, multitudes of thousands and myriads of Beelzebub will try in vain to frighten him with the fear of their multitude, for he does not count their thousands as anything and will not be frightened by the darkness. therefore the language, according to what was said: “I will not be afraid of those people around who attack me. Arise, Lord, save me, my God, for you have struck down all those who are at enmity with me in vain, you have crushed the teeth of sinners; Salvation is the Lord’s, and Your blessing is upon Your people” (Ps. 3:7-9). An intoxicated person is like the Venerable Mary (of Egypt), who acquired the highest measure of perfection in monastic life. She was strongly fought by thousands and thousands of Beelzebub, who tried to attract her to the sinful world in order to force her to do her first (sinful) deeds - but they worked on her in vain... An intoxicated person is also like that teacher who zealously guarded the apostolic teaching ( and preached the worship of icons), who was not afraid of King Konon’s rebuke to be burned with his school (i.e., with the great library), imputed his burning to nothing, and burned. An intoxicated person is like St. Jacob the Persian, who at first plunged into an inn, drank all the dissolution of the vine of the wicked, lost his connection with the imperishable vine - the Church, but drunkenness did not completely keep him in this immersion, he very quickly sobered up, rejected the drunken intoxication from himself, his eyes were opened, He realized his insensibility (i.e., ingratitude to God), saw his unfaithfulness (to God), wept bitterly, like Peter, and through much shedding of tears plunged into the immersion of the All-Holy Spirit. For tears shed in righteousness (i.e., sorrow for sins) immerse a person’s thought in the immersion of the All-Holy Spirit**. Even those who cry before the zaptiyas (Mohammedan local judges) are forgiven by the judges, seeing the tears of the defendants. If zaptia, a corruptible person, forgives guilt for the sake of tears, then doesn’t the Imperishable God look especially upon such tears (shed) before Him for the sake of justification and salvation of the soul? The Lord helps such a person by sending him help from above, and the repentant person plunges into tears of repentance. Therefore, God heeded the sighs of this Jacob, looked upon his tears of repentance and sent him help from above. Jacob grew stronger in the help of the Most High and was so intoxicated with the rapture of this help that he was not afraid of great suffering and was not faint-hearted when all the members of his body were cut off one after another. First, they cut off all the fingers on his hands, and not the whole finger at once, but all three joints of the finger, one after the other, separately; they cut off the feet to the ankles, the legs to the knees, the arms to the shoulders, starting with the hands, and cut off all the bones up to the collarbones; cut off all the ribs; finally, they cut off the thighs; only his flesh remained like a bare tree trunk, we say: like a pruned vine. His rapture, with which he was intoxicated by help from above, was so great that St. Jacob did not even notice that he had become like pruned grapes, did not even look at his members, which, like the branches of pruned grapes, were scattered on the ground, thinking only about how to repay his Almighty Helper for his help with the gift of repentance, and spoke : “Master, Lord Jesus Christ, Father Almighty, and Holy One of the soul! I thank You, who strengthened me, and that I suffered this name for the sake of Your Holy One. All my members were cut off, I have no legs to rise up and bow to Your power for the strength sent down to help me from above, I have no hands to gratefully raise them to You for Your help, with which You gave me to overcome this cruel thing. great torment”... And he uttered many other touching words to the All-Holy Spirit and bowed his honest head, which was cut off; he himself became an heir to eternal life. The evil spirits saw such a confession and shuddered; those present saw and marveled; the tormentors who cut off Jacob's members were exhausted; The faithful Christians, having in vain the patience and fortitude of the unshakable Jacob, became firmly established. The tormentors tried to awaken Jacob from his blessed intoxication in order to make him revel in zeal for the (earthly) king, but they could not separate him from the intoxication of the All-Holy Spirit, although they tore his body to pieces... They tried to tear him away from the vine of the eternal belly, in order to put him to eternal death, just as the devils try to capture the soul of every person, in order to dethrone it from its glory and cast it into darkness, they tried (the evil spirits did the same with Jacob) to disgrace the immersion (rapture) of the All-Holy Spirit, but they themselves were put to shame.

In a miraculous appearance that happened in 1817, the Monk Neil said to the monk Theophan:

“When four twenty-five years have passed, what will monastic life be like then? If another three twenty-five years have passed: we say the number of the seventh year and five, rising to halfway to the eighth, there at halfway the number of five, what confusion will occur from the fourth to the fifth?.. "

The Russian translator of the book published in 1912 to explain this place (Part II, Chapter 31, p. 170) includes a note by the first scribes who lived in the last century.

"Note of the first descriptors: the saint said this to Theophan in the year from the Nativity of Christ 1817; from the creation of the world - 7325. Therefore, the saint says: when four twenty-five years have passed, that is, a hundred years, and the 7425th will come (1917 ) year, then what will happen to monastic life? If the other three twenty-five years still pass, that is, 75 years, and the 7500th year (1992) comes, “the number of seven years and five,” that is, seven thousand and five hundred years, "ascending halfway to the eight", that is, when we reach half of the eighth century (millennium), then there

in the “middle of the five,” that is, the fifth century, “what confusion will there be (from the fourth to the fifth)?”

We believe that from the fourth to the fifth, as the saint says, there are from 7400 to 7500; this is what we assume; who can interpret better,

1817 = 7325
+100 =+100
1917 = 7425
+ 75 = +75
1992 = 7500
-50 =-50
1942 = 7450

We, living in 1989, see with our own eyes what monasticism has become since 1917 (7425 from the creation of the world) - it has almost disappeared. And as for the confusion that occurred in the year 7450; creation of the world or 1942 A.D. - the critical year of the Second World War - everyone knows.

This amazing accuracy of fulfilled prophetic predictions encourages us to introduce the reader to those prophecies contained in the “Broadcasts” that have not yet come true (or have just begun to come true).

PROPHECY ABOUT MOUNT ATHOS
AND ABOUT DEPARTURE FROM HER
IVERIAN ICON OF THE MOTHER OF GOD

(Part III, Chapter 94)

O most reverend fathers, the removal of Salvation will be like this.

Firstly, in a short time ahead the monastery in which the face of the Queen of Salvation resides will be shaken. This means that the insensitive earth will feel that it has to be impoverished by its Guardian, who protects it to this day. After the shaking, all the trees planted will shake violently and all those planted, we say, all those rooted, will tilt into captivity for the sake of the Queen (i.e. there will be a martyrdom of the Orthodox monks on the Mountain). Athos will beat with a terrible noise, a thin voice will emanate; when the face of our Lady Theotokos disappears, there will be a terrible and trembling sign.

The sign will be this: all churches will be bowed down for the sake of removing Salvation, like a wire to Salvation and a bow. For this reason, I tell you, insensibility will be felt, and feeling will be darkened, and will not be aware that Salvation is withdrawing. So, I tell you, most reverend fathers, as long as the face of the Lady is

our Mother of God inside this Mountain, may no one move to leave this honest Mountain; As soon as he moves to leave this honest Mountain, mental and physical punishment (permissiveness) will immediately be found on him. When they see that the icon of the All-Holy One has departed from this venerable Mountain, then you too can go wherever you please, as long as you keep your vow of monastic life intact and pure.

PROPHETIC CHARACTERISTICS
PEOPLE BEFORE THE END OF THE WORLD

(Part 1, Chapter 28)

If the seventh number of years passes and five ascending to the halfway point of the eighth...

What kind of theft will happen then? What kind of masculinity, adultery, incest, and debauchery will there be then? To what decline will people then descend, to what corruption through fornication? Then there will be confusion with great strife (addiction to disputes), they will incessantly bicker and will not find either beginning or end. Then the Eighth Council will gather to sort out the dispute and reveal good to the good and evil to the evil... the good will be excommunicated, separated from the evil, i.e. true believers from heretics, and for a short time people will be at peace... But then they will again turn the disposition

their (good) position, they will turn to evil through the evil destruction of those who are perishing, so that they will not know that there is a brother and that there is a sister, that a father is with a mother, and that a mother is with her son, they will not recognize the marriage crown. They will have only one destruction, one fall into destruction, like Sodom and Gomorrah, i.e. and five righteous people will not be found... And a brother will have a sister as a wife, a mother will have a son as a husband, the son will kill his father and commit adultery with his mother, and other dozens of evils will become customary. Since evil deeds begin to inculcate in people, disasters will befall them... People, the more disasters they encounter, the more they will cultivate evil, instead of repenting, they will become embittered against God. The atrocities that people will commit will surpass the atrocities of the people of the flood. Everyone will talk only about evil, only evil intentions, evil consent, partnership only out of spite, everyone’s actions only evil, general evil theft, general evil oppression, general evil isolation; general evil disunion. With all this, they will think that the doer of evil is saved... Since it will be

As greed multiplies, disasters in the world will multiply.

PROPHECY ABOUT THE RESIGNING OF THE ANTICHRIST

(Part 1, Chapter 21-25)

The love of money is the forerunner of the Antichrist... Everything that economically and providentially prepared and prepares people for faith and following the Lord is, was and will be the truth. On the contrary, everything that prepares people to reject the law of God and their Savior is a lie, this lie economically prepares the coming of the Antichrist and his acceptance by the human race... Just as the Forerunner preached the baptism of the Truth and thereby turned people to the path of salvation, so (on the contrary) much care will darken a person’s feelings in order to make a person insensitive to his salvation, so that he cannot feel salvation from the multitude of carnal worries. People will feel neither the desire for an eternal future life, nor the fear of eternal condemnation... Thus, salvation will remain and will not be taken away from the world, the opportunity to be saved and those who are saved will remain until the end of the world. She, and then there will be salvation, but for whom?

You do not keep your constant determination, that is, your proposal in spiritual achievement is not constant, your mood is not peaceful, but like a whirlwind spins in your head; You do not know what is happening to you, you do not recognize good as good, nor evil as evil, just like Judas, who had such a sense that for him sweet things became bitter, and bitter things became sweet. This is clear from the fact that he hanged himself on a tree in order to make himself betrothed to eternal torment... God did not allow Judas to do what he wanted, that is, he providentially made it so that his first attempts at suicide did not succeed. God, as one who does not remember evil, rebuked Judas - whether he would repent like Manasseh, or like a thief, or like a harlot, he, this upside-down Judas, remained the same as he was before; again he turned his head and disposition, that is, his thoughts and heart, to evil, evading the mercy of God!.. He betrayed the Lord, but God, having mercy on him, commanded the branch (on which he hanged himself) to bow, and it bowed; but Judas, enslaved by evil, made a place for himself even higher, climbed onto this place, shortened the noose for his neck and threw himself from the highest place in order to accomplish what had not been accomplished and thereby complete all his evil!.. God again bent the branch, but this one, insatiable with evil , again tied the noose, arranging the third floor to the height of his evil, with which he destroyed himself; again climbed to the height of the third floor, tied a noose around his neck, and threw his unclean body from the third degree of height, we say: (a body defiled) by the murder of his father, adultery with his mother and the murder of his brother.

Note. Above, the saint said about the story of Judas: “As we hear” - and in fact, there is a tradition about Judas known in the East, to which the saint hints here. In one of the copies of the book about Saint Nile, this legend is given in its entirety, and we also consider it necessary to cite it.

Judas came from the village of Iscaria. His father's name is Rovel. Before Judas was conceived, the mother had a terrible dream and woke up screaming. In response to her husband’s question, she said that she saw that she would conceive and give birth to a male, and he would be the destroyer of the Jewish race. Her husband reproached her for believing in dreams. That same night she conceived (without, therefore, heeding this warning from God) and therefore gave birth to a son. Due to the fact that the remembered dream continued to frighten her, she and her husband agreed to throw the child away; They made a box and, having tarred it, put the baby in it and threw it into Lake Gennesaret. Opposite Iscaria there was a small island on which sheep were grazed in winter and shepherds lived; It was to them that the box with the baby was brought; the shepherds took him out of the water, fed the child with sheep's milk and gave him to a certain woman to nurse him; this woman named the child Judas. When he grew up a little, the shepherds took him from his nurse and brought him to Iskaria to give him to someone as a foster child; here Judas’s father, Rovel, met them, and, not knowing that this was his son, took him into his foster home. The father and mother fell in love with Judas, who had a very handsome face, and, grieving over their son thrown into the water, they adopted Judas. After this, a son was born to them, and Judas began to envy him, fearing that he might lose his inheritance because of him, for Judas was by nature angry and money-loving.

Judas began to constantly offend his brother and beat him, for which his parents often punished Judas, but Judas became more and more inflamed with envy of his brother, carried away by the passion of the love of money, and finally, once taking advantage of the absence of his parents, he killed his brother. Grabbing a stone, he killed his brother, and then, frightened of the consequences, fled to the island on which he was raised, and here he entered the service of a Hellenic house, in which he eventually entered into an adulterous relationship with the wife of the owner’s son and, having killed him, fled to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, Judas was accepted into Herod's palace, where Herod fell in love with him for his agility and handsome appearance; Judas became the manager of the palace and bought everything he needed. His parents, not knowing that he had killed their son, and seeing that he was missing, grieved for him. So a lot of time passed; Finally, great unrest occurred in Iscaria, so Rovel and Judas’ mother moved to Jerusalem and bought themselves a house with a beautiful garden, next to Herod’s palace. It was then that Judas killed his father, as will be stated below through the mouth of the saint, married his mother, and they had a son. Therefore, by chance, in a conversation with his wife, it was revealed that they were blood relations - son and mother; Judas, leaving his mother, went to Christ with the intention of repenting, was taken by Christ as a disciple, made a treasurer and manager, but out of his love of money he continued to steal money and secretly send it to his mother, supposedly for the sake of feeding her.

And Judas knew his iniquity, that is, that he took his mother as his wife, killing her husband, who was his father, and, having killed the boy who was his brother, he learned from the words of his mother, since he did not know about this before; and hearing that Jesus was teaching in the outskirts of Jerusalem (that is, calling sinners to repentance), he went, found Him and joined Him to follow Him.

Seeing this Judas, Jesus Christ realized that he was a hateful, malicious and malicious man, but he accepted him with great joy in order to heal the soul of Judas. And Christ raised Judas to be a steward over all the apostles, so that he could manage everything; and Christ commanded the apostles: ask Judas for everything necessary for the flesh, whatever you need.

Hearing this command of Christ, the apostles carried it out with readiness, did not grumble about what Judas did, and never complained to Christ about him, although they saw many of his disobedience or outrages, for they accepted every word of Christ from Him, with the determination to fulfill it in practice.

That is why they did not grumble at all against their brother Judas. Then Judas was the brother of the apostles and the disciple of Christ; Christ washed his feet, like the other apostles; after his betrayal, he became the brother of the devil, a disciple of Dennitsa, and became, like one of the others, a devil. Then he was an apostle, now he is a devil... This (happened to him) because the apostles, fulfilling in practice (the words of Christ), became pillars of paradise, but Judas, although he listened to the words of Christ, did not listen to them willingly, resignedly and did not have the determination to do the job, that is, to carry them out in practice, (listened) with a murmur and obeyed reluctantly. The apostles clung to the words of Christ as if they were unshakable pillars, and they themselves became pillars of paradise; Judas clung to the words of Christ like a rotten pillar, and he himself became a collapse, that is, as if he broke away and fell away from the part of the Lord and the apostles, casting himself into the depths of hell.

He did not limit himself to having the power of external control over everything worldly, we say: over treasures, sales and purchases, but he wanted to take control of internal exchange as well; we say: Judas wanted to forbid people from bringing faith, ointment and divine glory to Christ, that is, he did not want to let people honor Christ as God, glorify Him as God, and pour precious ointment on Him, for which the people of that time spent as Even now people spend money to bring gifts to the church, we say: for the liturgy, which is the imprint of Christ; incense (burned in a censer and offered to the Lord in worship) is a type (or imprint) of the world (liated on the Lord during his lifetime); as the prophet-king David says: “May my prayer be corrected, like incense before You...”. The candle carried before the priest on exits is a type of the honest forerunner of the Baptist and his teaching in the desert before the coming of Christ, as the prophet said: “The voice of one crying in the desert, straighten the path of the Lord...” And again: “Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven has come near.” ..." And again: "Behold, the Lamb of God, take away the sin of the world..." And again: "I baptize you with water, but He who is mightier than me is coming, of whom I am not worthy to cut off the thong of His boots, He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire ..." (Luke 3:4-6 and John 1:36).

This (i.e., these sacrifices to Christ as God) was what Judas wanted to forbid, intending to prevent (their offering, i.e., the outpouring of peace on Christ) - but he himself was forbidden and overthrew with his boundless love of money, the insidious one with whom Dennitsa deceived him , to hell as follows.

One soul brought valuable ointment to Christ; Christ commanded that it be preserved for the time of the burial of Him, the Son of Man; Judas sought to sell it, for its value was excessive. Christ said: “Let it be preserved for the day of My burial...”

Something similar happened at the time when Judas trampled his father’s garden, taking the most beautiful flowers, called aromas; his mother was afraid to say anything to him, since he was a royal man; Judas did not ask his mother (for permission to pick flowers); but, being a predator and a ruler, he himself boldly picked the fragrant and precious flowers, left his father’s house and met his father in front of the door, returning from work to his house. The father, seeing the fragrances in Judas’s hands, asked: “Why did you pick these fragrances?” Judas answered with great insolence: “Do I need them, why are you asking?” The father, when he heard such a word from Judas, became angry and said: “You need it, but I don’t need it?” (That’s why) Christ said to Judas: “Leave it, I need it for the time of My burial...”

Judas said to his father: “How dare you speak to me, don’t you know that I am a royal man?” The father said to him: “Even though you are a royal man, why are you impudently saying this to me? Why should I be afraid of you? How dare you enter my house and take things without asking,” and the father tried to take them away from Judas’s hands. Judas, being arrogant and proud, could not bear the words of his father, did not allow him to hear even a small word, but immediately grabbed a stone in his hands and, hitting him on the head with it, killed his father - parricide Judas!.. With great arrogance he went he then went to his master and showed him the aromas. And the lord said to him: “How did they give them to you?” And Judas said: “I did not seek to be given them to me, but I killed him and took him!” The ruler said to him: “Is it true what you say?” Judas says: “I bear witness with my life that I killed him, my lord, for he reviled your command and insulted me.” The lord said: “Now I will send a man to find out if what you say is true, and if it is true, then I will expel you from my chambers and punish you properly, for it was not to him that you did such dishonor, but to me.” The lord sent a man, he found him killed; the messenger returned and announced what had happened; The ruler, hearing that this was true, became angry and extremely embarrassed. Judas, being wicked, resorted to the protection of intercessors; and they went with him (the palace people went to the king to intercede for him); The ruler, seeing that the palace people were indignant, was embarrassed, showed him leniency, took pity on him and, according to the law, ordered him to take the wife of the murdered husband as his wife.

Judas, like an evil vessel of evil, accepted this, but the mother did not want it and said that she was taking another, but did not want this, but the ruler threateningly commanded her so that she should not dare to take another, but only this one. In view of such a misfortune, his mother, unwillingly, accepted him - and Judas took his mother as his wife...

That is why Christ said (to remind Judas of all this) that let the myrrh remain for the time of My burial...

And a boil began to boil in the heart of the boiling anger, but Christ, as the Knower of the Heart, understood Judas’s plan...

On that day, after the washing of the feet of the apostles, when everyone had eaten and Judas was present, during the meal Christ sighed and said that of the twelve of you there is one who will deliver Me into the hands of human sinners. And the apostles said to each other: Who is he who will betray Him? Christ, seeing this excitement among the apostles, said that he stretched out his hand in front of Me, and Judas immediately stretched out his hand in front of Christ (towards the solilo).

Christ did not allow turmoil to occur, as is typical of modern people, but gave only one sign and did not say anything more...

Then He offered up the liturgical Sacrifice*, which we still offer today... Then, after the meal, Judas withdrew from the apostolic union, or better yet, from his brethren, and became an ally of Dennitsa and a brother to the devil...

And the insidious one said in his insidious and unclean thought: I will take gifts from those who seek Him, I will ask (more) and whatever I ask, they will give me... Immediately he went to the Jewish synagogue and said with a great voice: whatever you give me, I will give it to you. His? The Jews immediately presented him with thirty pieces of silver. Having received them, Judas said: follow me. Taking lamps, sticks, knives, ropes and other similar whips in their hands, they followed him...

Jesus Christ then prayed, after prayer he came to the apostles and said: “Watch and pray; you know neither the day nor the hour... for the Son of Man is betrayed. pray, for you know neither the day nor the hour, for the Son of Man is betrayed...” Again he went to the place of His prayer, prayed and said: “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me.” Immediately, at these words, Judas arrived with lamps, from the multitude of lights it became as bright as day, but the hour was night... And Judas said to the Jews: “Whoever I hug and kiss, grab him”... Then many soldiers entered to where the apostles were gathered together. Judas, with pieces of silver in his hand, the predatory unclean One embraced the Pure One, said: “Rejoice, Rabbi,” - he insidiously put his most vile lips to the undefiled Face and, having shown Him this honor before the soldiers, presented Him to them, retiring into the darkness of the love of money (i.e. that is, into darkness with his love of money, from the Light of Christ - to the devil)... And the soldiers seized Christ; The apostles, seeing Him captured by the soldiers, were very embarrassed. Peter grabbed one slave, threw him down, grabbed a short knife that he had and, prompted by jealousy, cut off the slave’s ear. Then Christ exclaimed and said: “Peter! Petre! Put the knife in its sheath, for (if) you give a knife, you also receive a knife..." And they took Christ as a thief to the judgment seat, and "feared in vain against the Lord and against His Christ" (Ps. 22). Then the reproach surrounded It! tormented!..

Seeing these passions of Christ, Judas, darkened by the love of money, became darkened and greatly repented, but did not fall to repentance, we say: to Christ - and, weeping bitterly, did not mourn his iniquity, like Peter, but went and cast down the pieces of silver where he received them, and said: “I have done evil, take your pieces of silver...” The scribes answered him and said: “You will see...” And they were concerned, saying among themselves that it was not worthy to put them in the corvan; Concernedly they asked what to do with them? Finally, they made a strange burial vault, which is still being found today...

Then Judas, throwing the pieces of silver there, withdrew into a deep place and, moving away, was concerned about what to do there (in the ravine). When he thought about this, a nasty thought came to his mind to commit suicide. The unclean one listened to the unclean one and did the deed in the following way. In the place where he was thinking, there was one tree, as if on purpose for execution. Judas immediately took off his belt, which was made of camel's hair, tied his neck with one end, and tied himself to a tree with the other... the branch bent at the same hour (that is, when he fell over to hang)...

God does not want the sinner to die, but rather for him to turn and live. God acted in every possible way so that Judas would not hang himself, for Judas was still a man. God expected Judas to repent. But Judas did not free himself from the noose in order to go, fall at the foot of the cross and say: “I crucified You, forgive me!.. My evil thought lifted You to the cross; have mercy on me...” If he had spoken these three words before the cross, fulfilling them in deed (expressing his repentance), Christ would have accepted him. But how to do it? This is the thing: so that he tears up bitterly, groans sobbing and weeps pitifully; but Judas did not do this (that is, he did not want to throw himself to the ground before the cross of Christ for his salvation), but threw himself to the ground in order to hang himself (despite the fact that) the branch was bowing, and on the cross was the most friendly Christ (of whom Judas could be undoubtedly sure that He would not reject his repentance)!..

Just as Basil the Great was friendly to Joseph (whom he baptized on his deathbed), so Christ was friendly to Judas, expecting words of repentance from him, but Judas (instead of saying these words, preferred) to tightly tighten his throat with a noose - Iscariot!.. Looks Christ will look into the distance on both sides of His cross to see if he will see Judas... He, Who thirsts for the salvation of people, also thirsted for Judas’s repentance and sought it... With a great voice, Christ cried out with a groan: “I thirst.” The Jews realized that He was demanding water and with their Jewish shamelessness, putting their lip on the reed, they gave him bile and vinegar to drink... Again He exclaimed and said: “It is finished”... Tell me now, why did Judas come to Christ to see Him? For the sake of your death or salvation? If for salvation, then why did he die, the unfortunate one? Because the most unstable (most fickle) did not have firm faith.

*The commandment about the Eucharist with the words: “Do this in remembrance of Me.”

Prophecy of the Myrrh-streaming Nile.

According to the testimony of the Athonite monk Theophan, on January 18, 1817, the Monk Nile the Myrrh-Streaming appeared to him, and in a long conversation, under the guise of an elder, he spoke to him “Prophecies,” which the monk Theophan, by the “grace of the Holy Spirit,” then wrote down in detail with the help of his literate friend Father Gerasim. They published their manuscript “Broadcasting” in 1819 in Greece.
[Nile the Myrrh-Streaming (died 1651) - Athonite hermit, righteous man, known as a zealous denouncer of the deviations of Athonite monasticism, author of ascetic works, was born in the 16th century in Morea, in modern Greece. In his early years he lost his parents and was raised by his uncle, Hieromonk Macarius.
The desire for great feats in monastic work led the uncle and nephew to Holy Mount Athos. After the death of his blessed uncle, ascending to higher spiritual exploits, Nile settled in a rocky cave, in which he built himself a small temple, and lived there for the rest of his life. After his death, the Saint was glorified by the abundant flow of healing myrrh, which flowed out in the rocky cave where the holy relics of the Myrrh-streaming Nile were located. The name of the Venerable One became even more famous after his appearance from the afterlife to the monk Theophan and the appearance of the book “The Posthumous Broadcasts of the Venerable Nile the Myrrh-Streaming One.”
Theologians and theologians argue that the “Broadcasts”, due to the wealth of material, can rightfully take a prominent place among such famous works as: “The Ladder”, “Words” of St. Ephraim the Syrian, Isaac the Syrian or Macarius the Great.
Today, “Broadcasts” attract attention also because they say a lot about the modern fate of our world.
The monk warned the monks seeking salvation on the Holy Mountain not to lose faith and not to leave Athos until the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God leaves it, for for the wickedness of the peoples of Europe the Holy Mountain will plunge into the sea. Pious monks should hasten to leave Athos as soon as the miraculous Iveron icon leaves:
“Athos will beat with a terrible noise, a thin voice will emanate; when the Face of our Lady Theotokos disappears, there will be a terrible and trembling sign. The sign will be this: all churches will be bowed down for the sake of removing Salvation, like a wire to Salvation and a bow. For this reason, I tell you, insensibility will be felt, and feeling will be darkened, and will not be aware that Salvation is withdrawing.
So, I tell you, most reverend fathers: as long as the face of our Lady Theotokos is inside this Mountain, let no one be moved to leave this honorable Mountain. As soon as he moves to leave this honest Mountain, mental and physical punishment will immediately be found on him. When they see that the icon of the All-Holy One has departed from this venerable Mountain, then you too go wherever you please, just keep the vow of monastic life intact and pure” (“Posthumous broadcast of St. Nile the Myrrh-streaming Athos,” Edition of the Cell of the Annunciation of Elder Parthenius on Athos, p. 317).
The Reverend also opened with “great details” about the times of the “Antichrist”: about the World Anarchy that will precede the coming of the “Antichrist”, about when to expect this, about the degree of depravity of the population of Europe and the world, about how it will act on human hearts accepting the seal (sermons about compassion and justice) of the Antichrist, etc.
* * *
Now let's get acquainted with part of the prophecy of the Myrrh-Streaming Nile, omitting general phrases:
“... Now is autumn for monasticism, and the queen of destruction will take possession of it. You ask: What kind of autumn is this? Autumn is the time we are in now. Now is autumn, in which the grace of monastic life perishes. But hold on […], hold on to what you still hold, so as not to make you guilty of ruining your monastic life […]
Now it's autumn! Grace, the beauty of the soul, that is, the former beauty of the souls of ascetics in monasticism, fades. Winter is coming! The Queen of Perdition heard that monastic life had become desolate, called upon the seven-headed beast of lawlessness, mounted this beast and commanded it: “Take possession!” He took possession of the first rein of disobedience, monasticism, that is, the obedience of monastics to the monastic order and elders […]
The seven-headed beast of lawlessness has rushed into the feeling of monasticism and is jumping in it in order to water monasticism with the cup of insensibility […]
When you are about four twenty-five years old, what will monastic life be like then?
When three twenty-five years have passed from them, we say: the number seven years and five ascending to halfway the eighth, there at half the number five, what confusion will occur from the fourth to the fifth?
[For this reason I tell you: when there are four; twenty-five, then what will monastic life be like then?
If they pass and; the other three twenty-five: we are talking about the number of s;dmoo, l;t and five entering the polyuti of the eighth, there for half; the number of five, what confusion occurs from the fourth to the fifth] (Part II, chapter 31: “Two types of vices in which prayer cannot enter a person”).
Recently, Orthodox monks have begun to deviate into the Destruction of Destruction, and to cultivate the Path of lawlessness. About 25 years ago, monasticism took a turn; destruction invaded the environment of monasticism. Monasticism has become impoverished in grace, and there are few who strive in it.
If during these twenty-five years destruction has invaded the circle of monasticism with such ease, i.e., the spirit of worldly care has greatly developed in it, then what will monastic life be like when the next twenty-five years have passed?
And in the third twenty-fifth anniversary, what kind of disastrous expanse will there be among monasticism?
At the end of the fourth twenty-fifth anniversary, we will have: 7 and 4, i.e. – 7400 from the Creation of the world, what kind of will will death in monasticism receive then?
[Over recent times, the mopahs began to deviate into the destruction of perdition and to ascend the path of lawlessness. About 25 years ago, monasticism took a turn, pain invaded the environment of monasticism, monasticism became impoverished in grace, that is, there were few of us ascetics.
If during these twenty-five years destruction invaded the circle of monasticism with such ease, then... Having greatly developed in him the spirit of a world of great piety, what will monastic life be like when the other twenty years have passed?
; in the evening I realized what a disastrous expanse it would be; monasticism;
In the fourth twenty-five years it will be: 7 n 4, i.e. 7400 years from the creation of the world; what kind; will then receive the will to become a monk;?...] (Part III “Convictions of the Holy Mountain people of the past century”, Chapter I, “From now on the ascetic spirit began to change into monasticism; and it began to get carried away by vanity”) […]
At that time, thanks to the power of great destruction and fornication, people will be deprived of the grace of the Holy Spirit, which they received in Holy Baptism, and will also lose remorse. The Churches of God will be deprived of God-fearing and pious shepherds, and then the trouble will be for the Christians remaining in the world, who will completely lose their faith, because they will be deprived of the opportunity from anyone to see the Light of knowledge. Then they will withdraw from the world to holy refuges in search of relief from mental suffering, but everywhere they will encounter obstacles and constraints.
When it will be?
Accept this sign, and you will know as I tell you: when I take my hand away from them, then they will perform vigils and Liturgies at a gallop along the high road. They will mutually send messages and receive messages of different content. And they will show good to the good and evil to the evil. The farmer separates the wheat from the chaff. They will be excommunicated, the good from the evil, the faithful from the heretics will be separated, and they will be at peace for a while.
When the time approaches the coming of the Antichrist, the minds of people will be darkened by carnal passions, and wickedness and lawlessness will increase more and more. The world will become unrecognizable, the appearance of people will change and it will be impossible to clearly distinguish men from women, thanks to shamelessness in clothing and the shape of the hair. Love will disappear. Christian shepherds will become vain men, completely unable to distinguish between right and left. Then the morals and traditions of the Church will change. Modesty and chastity will disappear, and fornication and licentiousness will reign […]
What kind of theft will happen then?
What kind of masculinity, adultery, incest, and debauchery will there be then?
To what decline will people then descend, to what corruption through fornication?
Then there will be confusion with great strife (addiction to disputes), they will incessantly bicker and will not find either beginning or end. Then the Eighth Council will gather to sort out the dispute and reveal good to the good and evil to the evil […] the good will be excommunicated, the good will be separated from the evil, i.e. the faithful from the heretics, and for a short time people will be at peace […].
But then they will again change their disposition, turn to evil with the evil destruction of those who are perishing, so that they will not recognize that there is a brother and that there is a sister, that a father is with a mother, and that a mother is with her son, they will not recognize the marriage crown. They will have only one destruction, one fall into destruction, like Sodom and Gomorrah, i.e. and five righteous people will not be found […].
And a brother will have a sister as a wife, a mother will have a son as a husband, the son will kill his father and commit adultery with his mother, and other evils will become common. Insofar as evil deeds begin to instill themselves in people, disasters will befall them […]. People, the more disasters they encounter, the more they will cultivate evil; instead of repenting, they will become embittered against God. The atrocities that people will commit will surpass the atrocities of the people of the flood. Everyone will talk only about evil, only evil intentions, evil will, partnership only out of spite, everyone’s actions only evil, general evil theft, general evil oppression, general evil isolation; general evil disunion. With all this, they will think that the doer of evil is saved […]. Since greed will increase, disasters in the world will also increase [...]" ["Posthumous broadcast of St. Nile the Myrrh-Streaming Athos." Edition of the Cell of the Annunciation by Elder Parthenius on Mount Athos. The Russian edition of “Broadcasting” was made from a complete and carefully verified list found in the book depository of Athos in 1911, and was published in the Russian press in 1912, pp. 170-175].
* * *
In the Russian Empire, they learned about the Greek manuscript after 1830; its free translation was brought by pilgrims visiting Athos. Soon hundreds of rewritten copies were circulating throughout the country.
When the second Great Optina Elder, Rev. Father Macarius (Ivanov, 1788-1850), was asked for clarification, he replied:
“Read the manuscript, like other prophetic books, if you wish, but do not go into subtleties, do not fall into the temptation of calculations and foreknowledge of events, but pray to God to enlighten your mind and give you peace.
- Why is that? - they asked the Reverend.
– You will get confused, only elders who have achieved moral perfection and acquired wisdom inaccessible to the world can read such manuscripts. Our statutes do not allow spiritual acquisitions to be taken outside the monastery walls and protect ascetics from worldly temptations. To read such manuscripts in the world means exposing your soul to great temptation, and who knows whether you will be able to resist the temptation […].”
This answer of the elder by the monks was perceived as an indisputable postulate; now all spiritual children were asked not to analyze the events taking place in the world.
* * *
Note from the first Orthodox “researchers”:
“[...] “Now is autumn, in which the grace of monastic life perishes” - that is, fruitfulness from the Holy Spirit ceases.
“I will take my hand away from them” - that is, the Lord will take away the grace of the Holy Spirit from the Church in the last period.
“In recent times, Orthodox monks have begun to deviate into the Destruction of perdition, and to cultivate the Path of iniquity” - that is, the monastics will not devote time to the flock itself, but will devote more time to considering scientific, theological and political issues, thereby they will turn from the spiritual to worldly things, but spiritual things, especially prayer, will be curtailed.
The saint said this to Theophan in the year after the Nativity of Christ in 1817, or from the Creation of the world in 7325. Therefore, the Saint says: when four twenty-five years have passed, that is, a hundred years, the year 7425 comes, then what will happen to monastic life?
If there are another 75 years, then the year 7500 will come, that is, seven thousand and five hundred years, “ascending halfway to eight,” that is, when it reaches half of the eighth millennium, then what great confusion will there be among the nations. We believe that from the fourth to the fifth, as (the Saint) says, that is, from 7400 to 7500 […]” [“The posthumous broadcast of the Monk Nile the Myrrh-streaming of Athos”, Edition of the Cell of the Annunciation of Elder Parthenius on Athos, 1912, p. 176].
* * *
In the “Posthumous Broadcast of St. Nile the Myrrh-Streaming Athos” [Orthodox Path, Jordanville, 1991], a note to this text says:
“Christian shepherds will become vain men, completely unable to distinguish between right and left. Then the morals and traditions of the Church will change - see the prediction of St. Athanasius the Great about the transfer of church power in recent times into the hands of worldly dignitaries and the predictions of St. Seraphim of Sarov about the fall towards the end of the hierarchical rank and the impoverishment of zeal for the glory of God in it. Also, the instructions of the Optina elders say that in recent times there will be no experienced and skilled people in spiritual life on the thrones of the saints and in monasteries, and as a result of the general impoverishment of piety, heresies and schisms will enter the Church, and will deceive many, and how, finally, heretics will take power over the Church and will place their servants everywhere and will oppress and expel the true servants of God in every possible way.”
* * *
Modern Broadcasting researchers have added to this interpretation:
“In general, the Reverend’s prophecies are remarkably accurate. In order not to be unfounded, we present one of the predictions that came true.
In a miraculous appearance that happened in 1817, the Monk Neil said to the monk Theophan:
“When four twenty-five years have passed, what will monastic life be like then?
If another three twenty-five years pass, we say: the number seven years and five, rising to halfway the eighth, there at half the number five, what confusion will occur from the fourth to the fifth?
“Note of the first descriptors: the saint said this to Theophan in the year after the Nativity of Christ 1817 [from the Creation of the world - 7325]. Therefore, the saint says: when four twenty-five years, that is, a hundred years, have passed, and the year 7425 (1917) comes, then what will happen to monastic life? If the other three twenty-five years still pass, that is, 75 years, and the 7500th year (1992) comes, “the number of seven years and five,” that is, seven thousand and five hundred years, “rising halfway to eight,” that is, when we reach half of the eighth century (millennium), then there in the “middle of the five,” that is, the fifth century, “what confusion will there be (from the fourth to the fifth)?”
We believe that from “fourth to fifth,” as the saint says, there are from 7400 to 7500: 1817 = 7325 +100 = 1917 = 7425 + 75 = 1992 = 7500 – 50 = 1942 = 7450
We, living in 1996, see with our own eyes what monasticism has become since 1917 (7425 from the Creation of the world) - it has almost disappeared. As for the “confusion” that occurred in 7450 from the Creation of the world or in 1942 A.D. - the critical year of the Second World War, then everyone knows it” (“On the last destinies of our world. Three views from different eras”, publishing house “Father’s House”, Moscow, 1997).
* * *
This interpretation of the “Broadcasting”, to calculate from the moment of the appearance, that is, from 1817, is found in many works devoted to the interpretation of the prophecy of St. Nile the Myrrh-Streaming.
However, how true is it?
After all, for some reason interpreters do not take into account the beginning of the prophecy, which reads:
“About 25 years ago monasticism took a turn, destruction invaded the environment of monasticism” - the vision was in 1817, which means 25 years ago means 1792 - the time of the French Revolution, that is, the starting point should be taken not from the moment of the appearance of the Venerable Monk Theophan, but from 1792.
“Monasticism has become impoverished in grace; there are fewer ascetics in it. The spirit of worldly multi-care developed strongly in him” - during this period there was a massive departure of the population, both in Europe and in the Russian Empire, from Catholicism and state Orthodoxy. So widespread that in 1815 the government turned its attention to this phenomenon in the life of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Concerned Emperor Alexander I set a task for the members of the State Council, which was to reassure millions of schismatics by “granting them freedom of worship,” but so that the ruling Orthodox Church would be fully protected from any damage from the schism.
Researcher of the Russian schism Andrei Pechersky (P.I. Melnikov, 1818-1883) writes:
“The failure of the unity of faith was recognized by everyone. Not without reason, in 1819, Ekaterinburg merchants told the Minister of Spiritual Affairs, Prince A.N. Golitsyn:
“Your Excellency is well aware that the government, appeasing the Old Believers, due to various complaints up to this point, allowed us to have churches according to the points of Metropolitan Plato. What came of it? Some of these churches were deserted, others remained with several families...”
The main reason for the failure of Edinoverie was that the Old Believers and schismatics were left under the authority of the Orthodox diocesan authorities. Dependence for spiritual matters on a pastor who recognized pre-Nikon rituals as incorrect - the very rituals in which adherents of “ancient piety” see the very essence of faith - was disgusting to their conscience, and therefore they considered joining the Orthodox Church on the terms of unity of faith as an apostasy from those beliefs , for which their fathers and grandfathers died at the stake and on the scaffold, endured torture, exile and all kinds of persecution. Moreover, experience has shown that not all diocesan leaders looked condescendingly at Edinoverie, in which, due to their zeal for the rituals corrected under Nikon, they often saw the same schism […]” (“Essays on Priesthood”).
* * *
“At the end of the third twenty-fifth anniversary, what kind of disastrous expanse will there be among monasticism?” – (1792 + 75 = 1867), the government of Emperor Alexander II began to carry out reforms in the spiritual sphere: the inheritance of church positions, the sale of church positions, the ownership of “serf souls” by clergy were abolished, the “holy fathers” were prohibited from engaging in manufacturing and crafts outside the walls of monasteries . There were also reproaches expressed by the authorities that bishops sometimes display “irresistible stubbornness” in not paying attention to the complaints of parishioners about the parish clergy not satisfying them. It was said: “persistence of this kind can be invincible,” and it was easier to remove a bishop from his post than to force him to do anything for the clergy or flock, that is, for the people.
* * *
“At the end of the fourth twenty-fifth year we will have: 7 and 4” - (1867 + 25 = 1892, that is, 7400 years from the Creation of the world).
In 1867, Saint Theophan the Recluse wrote, addressing the Synod (in the world, Georgy Vasilyevich Govorov):
“What have we come to? And what will happen to us?
The Church in Russia has become detached from the people and lives on its own. We often praise ourselves: Holy Rus', Orthodox Rus'. May we forever remain holy and Orthodox, at least loving holiness and Orthodoxy. What a sure guarantee of indestructibility we would have in these titles. But look around. What is sad is not only the corruption of morals, but also the apostasy from the image of confession prescribed by Orthodoxy.
Have you ever heard blasphemy against God and Christ in Russian? And now they not only think, but speak, and write, and publish a lot of things against God. Do you think it will remain for nothing?
No. He who lives in heaven will respond to us with his wrath, and will crush us with his wrath. You rightly mourn the reduction of parishes and the closure of churches. Something needs to be done, but there are no leaders. Nobody wants to do anything. Let us pray to God that the Lord will have mercy on his holy Church, since we ourselves do not want to do anything. We see everything, we understand everything about the need for change, but we can’t do anything. We say a lot that faith among the people has weakened.
In the people or in us? There are no living actors. The arsonists of people's hearts must burn themselves. Grief, walk everywhere - and in oral conversation set hearts on fire. This is what is needed now.
Where can we get this? We have forgotten how to talk to the people, we don’t want to listen to people’s complaints about oppression by officials, we don’t want to help the humiliated and offended, we have no desire to stand up for the robbed. All that remains is to pray again to the Giver of all gifts.
But where will this lead the Church? Evil is growing: malice and unbelief are raising their heads, the Orthodox faith is weakening. Will we really not come to our senses? Lord, save and have mercy on Orthodox Rus' […]” (“Thoughts for every day of the year according to church reading from the Word of God,” M. 1902).
* * *
“What kind of will will death in monasticism receive then?” – the history of the renovation movement in the Russian Church of the 20th century is divided into two periods, the boundary between which was the events of the revolution of 1917 and the work of the All-Russian Local Council of 1917-18. Until the fall of autocratic power, the position of the Russian Orthodox Church was very far from the rosy picture that some later historians and especially publicists of the period of the “Beast from the Abyss” paint for us. Statistical data on the number of churches, monasteries operating in Tsarist Russia and the clergy serving in them do not provide an exhaustive description of the internal church situation on the eve of the events of February 1917. A serious consideration of the sources and a number of recent studies in this area shows that already on the eve of the 20th century the Russian Orthodox Church was in a state of serious crisis. A visible manifestation of this trouble was the decline in the religiosity of the population, the strengthening of religious indifference and the growth of sectarianism, in a word, the gradual loss by the hierarchy of its former authority in society.
* * *
“The Orthodox faith will be trampled upon, the bishops of the Church of God and other clergy will depart from the purity of Orthodoxy, and for this the Lord will severely punish them” - The Orthodox Church met the February Revolution, the October seizure of power by the Bolsheviks, the Civil War and the beginning of the Soviet period in its history with 68 dioceses , they have approximately 50 thousand parishes, 1253 male and female monasteries and monasteries with almost 95 thousand monastics and novices. The highest hierarchy consisted of 200 metropolitans, archbishops and bishops. The number of white clergy (priests and deacons) was approximately 70 thousand people. Church personnel were trained by 185 district theological schools, 57 seminaries (22,734 students) and 4 theological academies (995 students). However, the moral authority of the clergy in society was seriously undermined. Contemporaries wrote about the “cultural and social isolation” of the provincial clergy, whose “gravest vice” “remained drunkenness caused by difficult living conditions.”
* * *
“When you are about four twenty-five years old, what will monastic life be like then?” – (1892 + 100 = 1992, that is, 7500 years from the Creation of the world). Here we can agree with all the researchers of Broadcasting: “Those living today see with their own eyes what monasticism has become since 1917 (7425 from the Creation of the world) not only in Russia, but throughout the world - it has almost disappeared.”
“When three twenty-five years of them have passed” - (1892 + 75 = 1967) Bishops and other clergy apostatized from the purity of Orthodoxy. Incomplete data on the persecution of the Church for 8 months from January to August 1918: 1 metropolitan was killed, 18 bishops, 102 priests, 154 deacons, 94 monks and nuns. 94 churches and 26 monasteries were closed. 4 bishops, 198 priests, 8 archimandrites and 5 abbots were imprisoned for “counter-revolutionary” activities.
This was just the beginning; arrests and executions of priests continued continuously until May 1953.
Data on the number of clergy who died in clashes during the confiscation of valuables and were shot in court only during 1922: white clergy - 2691, monks - 1962, nuns and novices - 3447 (from the book “New Russian Martyrs” by Archpriest M. Polskikh).
* * *
“We say: the number seven years and five ascending to halfway the eighth, there at halfway the number five, what confusion will occur from the fourth to the fifth?” - by 1967, the old pre-revolutionary priests had passed on to another world, and a new generation of priests appeared. Children who began to be born this year will take an active part in the III-th Earthquake (Islamic Revolution) and in the IV-th Earthquake (period of the Lord of the World) [read “Revelation” of John the Theologian].
1992 (that is, 7500 years from the Creation of the world) + 7 years = 1999 – the arrival of the King of Terror.
1999 + 5 = 2004 – the first term of the reign of the King of Intimidation.

Firstly, 2004 + 4 (halfway through the eighth) = 2008 - the second term of the reign of the King of Intimidation.
Secondly, 2004 + 8 = 2012 - Ukraine: Orange Revolution - a wide campaign of peaceful protests, rallies, pickets, strikes, which took place in a number of cities in Ukraine from November 22, 2004 to January 2005. It began after November 21, 2004 Central The Ukrainian election commission announced the preliminary results of the presidential election, according to which Viktor Yanukovych, who was then prime minister, won with a margin of 3%. Supporters of Yanukovych’s main rival in the elections, Viktor Yushchenko, believed that Yanukovych’s advantage in the vote was achieved due to election irregularities. On December 3, 2004, the Supreme Court of Ukraine recognized that it was not possible to determine the winner, and scheduled a re-vote for December 26, 2004. The re-vote recorded the victory of Viktor Yushchenko with a margin of 8%.
The center of the Orange Revolution was Maidan - Independence Square in the center of Kyiv, where a continuous rally took place for about two months and there was a tent camp of protesters.
In fact, ten years later everything repeated itself from the beginning: the period from the “Orange Revolution” to the “Euromaidan”.

“There is half of the number five” - firstly, 2008 + 2.5 (half of the number five) = July 2010 - events in the Russian Federation, including the Russian Orthodox Church.
Secondly, 2012 + 2.5 (half of the number five) = July 2014 - Ukraine: Euromaidan - a massive, months-long protest in the center of Kiev, which began on November 21, 2013 in response to the suspension by the Azarov government of preparations for the signing of an association agreement between Ukraine and the European Union and supported by public performances in other cities of Ukraine.
December 1 – there was a people’s meeting on the Maidan, and the radicals seized the building of the Kiev City Council and the House of Trade Unions, and also tried to storm the Presidential Administration. A split has emerged among the protesters into radicals and “moderates.”
On January 16, 2014, the protest action took on a sharply anti-presidential and anti-government character and ultimately led to a change in government power in February. Social injustice, huge polarization of incomes and living standards of the population of Ukraine and rampant corruption permeating the executive and judicial authorities and law enforcement agencies are cited as the main reasons for the radical development of events.
On February 23, President Viktor Yanukovych flees Kyiv.

“What an embarrassment will happen from the fourth to the fifth” - firstly, July 2010 + 4 = July 2014, events in the Russian Federation, the beginning of an active confrontation between Europe and the United States against Russia over Ukraine.
Secondly, July 2014 + 4 = July 2018, events in Ukraine.

Firstly, July 2014 + 5 = July 2019, events in the Russian Federation.
Secondly, July 2018 + 5 = July 2023, events in Ukraine.

Moreover, the Myrrh-Streaming Nile predicts:
“At that time, thanks to the power of great destruction and fornication, people will be deprived of the grace of the Holy Spirit, which they received in Holy Baptism, and will also lose remorse. The Churches of God will be deprived of God-fearing and pious shepherds, and then the trouble will be for the Christians remaining in the world, who will completely lose their faith, because they will be deprived of the opportunity from anyone to see the Light of knowledge. Then they will withdraw from the world to holy refuges in search of relief from mental suffering, but everywhere they will encounter obstacles and constraints […].
The love of money is the forerunner of the Antichrist […].
Everything that economically and providentially prepared and prepares people for faith and following the Lord is, was and will be the truth. On the contrary, everything that prepares people to reject the law of God and their Savior is a lie, this lie economically prepares the coming of the Antichrist and his acceptance by the human race […].
Just as the Forerunner preached baptism with the Truth and thereby turned people to the path of salvation, so much care will darken a person’s feelings in order to make a person insensitive to his salvation, so that he cannot feel salvation from the multitude of carnal worries. People will feel neither the desire for an eternal future life nor the fear of eternal condemnation […]
Likewise, the Church is almost impoverished from the supremacy of spiritual authorities […]. “After this impoverishment, the love of many will grow cold (Matt. 24:12), and He who restrains will be taken out of the way” (2 Thess. 2:7) […].
What will happen according to this, God alone knows. We know only one thing, that the deeds done in life by each person will be sorted out, so that good deeds will be separated from evil deeds, “as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats” (Matthew 25:32)” [“Posthumous broadcast of St. Nile the Myrrh-Streaming Athos ", Edition of the Cell of the Annunciation by Elder Parthenius on Athos, 1912, pp. 170-175].
DTN.