Paul, by the will of God an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the saints and faithful in Ephesus in Christ Jesus: grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 1: 1).

All he said was that it was, and grace immediately visited him, and his soul began to shine.

Why don't we look in the Gospel what the tax collector said and what the Pharisee said? A Pharisee is a moral, impeccable, just, kind person who had a good name and who was pious. The same thing happens to us godly, the same thing. How can a Pharisee sigh if he did everything exactly as it should, if he was a good man? As one grandmother told me:

What does this mean, elder? Everything I do is good! If others are doing something - it's bad! I consider everything mine is good, and what others do is bad for me! What does it mean? Is it possible for me to be always right, is it possible for my deeds to be good and others' to be bad? Something's going on here!

I answered her:

Yes, you are right, grandma, something is happening here!

So, we, who are good in everything, do not groan for God, because we are good and moral people and we do everything properly, but God does not want us. And the other is a sinner, a bad man, he is accursed, he is a thief, a liar, a swindler; such was the tax collector — this bad man. However, he found a quick connection with God - sighing, crying, beating his chest and saying: "God, have mercy on me, a sinner!" ... And he was acquitted, while the other was convicted.

Do you see how one thought before God changed the whole person? One humbled himself, repented, wept before God, and God immediately visited him, cleansed, sanctified and justified. The same as the robber. And the other, the Pharisee, was good, he liked that he was good, and he thanked God: "Thank you, God, that I am not like other people or like this tax collector!" That's it, the end!

Therefore, condemnation is a great sin. Why? Because it means no humility. The proud one condemns the other, but the humble one does not condemn, because he knows: we are all guilty before God. There are no innocents before God, we are all unclean, cursed, filthy, soiled. Whom can I blame if we are all the same: one with one filth, the other with the other? Maybe I do not have such and such a sin, but there are thousands of others! Aren't these sins too? Aren't those wounds too? Doesn't this also defile the image of God in us? Even if I’m not a liar, but I’m a thief, and if I’m not a thief, then I’m unjust and all the rest. Sin is sin, that is, both are sin.

We all need to repent, and therefore we can all receive the grace of God if we humble ourselves and repent. This, beloved brethren, is the key to the mystery of God's grace. God visits a humble person who repents, while he still struggles with sins. However, God abhors a proud man, even if he is perfect in everything else. God abhors a proud person and not only does not help him, not only does not want him, but also turns away from him, as the Scriptures say. He is an abomination to God.

Do you know what abomination means? This is something that we disgust, that we do not even want to smell, it is like carrion, which stinks so disgusting that we cannot bear its stench and turn away. Such is the proud person before God, because the proud person never repents, he always justifies himself: “Yes, I said this, but it had to be said! It was necessary to act like this! I have to do this! " He has a knife, he cuts others with it, and he doesn't care.

Grace cannot abide in a proud person. No matter how many good qualities there are in him, but if there is selfishness, then the grace of God cannot be with him. A humble and repentant person, no matter how many bad qualities he may have, will receive the grace of God, because God rests in the hearts of humble people who repent, and repentance always attracts the grace of God.

The power of grace. I remember how I also asked myself, hearing: "Grace, grace ...". I asked myself, “What is grace after all? Maybe I have grace, but I don’t know what it is. ”Do we have grace? This is a question and many people ask themselves. Do we have grace?

It is easy for a person to understand whether there is grace in him: by the fruits. We cannot have grace and be dark, confused, full of vices, live on nerves and in chaos: grace cannot exist in the heart of such a person. Grace has fruits, these are the fruits of the Spirit, and one of them is what the holy Apostle Paul says: (grace and) peace... When grace is present, peace lives in a person: he has peace in his soul, in his heart, in his body; he is a peaceful person.

This is one of the most obvious fruits of the grace of God, and a person who has grace knows about this, he feels: grace is working in him. Fathers say: as a woman, when she is pregnant, understands that there is another person in her, because she feels a baby in herself by his movements, the same is with grace in a person - he understands that grace is in him, that it is not something it is his own, and the gift is Divine energy.

In the same way, he understands when God leaves him - but it was not God who left us, but we leave Him, this is how it will be correct to speak. We leave God with our sins, the crimes that we commit, with our actions we leave God, we move away from grace, and it does not work. God is always near us, but we do not feel Him, because we close our eyes under the influence of sin.

So, we feel it, and so many people often ask:

Father, is smoking a sin? Is it a sin to go to a disco? Is it a sin to wear these clothes? Is it a sin to do this?

Sin is not a legal fact so that we could sit down and write a book in which it would be noted: this is a sin, and this is not a sin, and we would check every time whether this or that is a sin. As they say in one ridiculous joke: they wrote laws in which it was said: "If you commit this and that three times, you will receive such and such a punishment, and if five times, then such." Well, what if you do it four times? Nothing is said about this. So we will then do it four times, if there is a punishment for three and five!

But actions are not overcome in this way, we cannot evaluate them as if by a set of laws. So how do you navigate then? You understand yourself, when you do something, that the grace of God leaves you: your conscience gnaws at you, and you feel that God is not with you.

One young man asked me:

Is it a sin to go to such and such a place?

I told him:

You know, I've never gone to places like this, and I don't know if it's a sin. But let me ask you: when you go to this place, do you feel that God is with you?

He chuckled:

I don't think He was with me in that place.

Well, if you don’t think He’s with you, don’t go there!

If this is a place where God cannot go, where you feel God is not going with you, then this means that there is no God, that God does not rest in that place. This is how we understand: when we see that grace leaves us, then do not look for something else, do not look for whether it is written in documents. There is no God in this business of yours, in this action of yours, in this relationship of yours to another.

Above all, know that one of the most insidious steps from which we all fall (especially we “Christians”) is condemnation. The person who condemns falls headlong down like lead, he does not linger for a moment. God save us from this. Unfortunately, we all suffer from this, it is easy to slip into condemnation, but the consequences are tragic. A person is completely deprived of grace. Have you judged the other person? God immediately leaves you. God cannot be where condemnation takes place.

Because condemnation is the first child of selfishness; an egoist easily condemns. It is akin to blasphemy against God, because only God can judge a person, for only He is sinless. The Creator of man and God in His boundless love awaits man until his last breath, and you do not know what is happening in the heart of another person. You judge another, but do you know what is in his heart?

Do you know what a great mystery this is, how much tenderness grace has? From one smile that you give to a suffering person with love, from one good thought that you have about some person, you can immediately feel such grace that you really feel yourself before the throne of God. So much grace can a person acquire with one simple movement and thought! And so much it can fall, literally break and be cut off by grace because of one of its condemning gestures and rejection of another person.

What a great thing it is for a man to have peace in himself... The peaceful person is really very happy; happy is not the strong, the rich, the famous, the educated, the famous, but the person who has peace in his heart. Whatever happens around him, God's world, which surpasses all minds, is in him, because God is the world. Christ is our world. He is our world, and when He is in us, then everything within us dwells in peace. Therefore, the Church constantly prays: “In peace to the Lord let us pray”, “For the supreme peace and the salvation of our souls”, “Peace to all”, “Peace of God”, “Let us go out in peace”! We constantly hear this word - "peace" and "source of peace".

So the world is Christ; when He is present, peace dwells in a person. There is harmony, balance, completeness in a person, he has no fear, anxiety, phobias, insecurity, stress, fear of death: “We will get the bird flu, get some other flu, get an operation ...” We lose the world and get upset.

We are missing something. Why is there such confusion and anxiety inside us? Take Christ and put Him in your heart. When He is present, everything else fades, and a person feels full, he is peaceful, he has no fears, anxieties, no one can scare us. When God is present, who will scare me? When I lose God, yes, I am afraid, I choke when I lose God; then I find myself in a stressful situation and imagine that I will do everything myself, decide everything and settle it. But this is not the case. God is the One who will do everything. God will arrange everything. Keep God in your heart, and if you hold it back by humility, prayer, repentance, keeping His commandments, reading the word of God, then peace will reign in you. And as one great old man said, gain peace, and thousands of people around you will find peace.

He says: "Have peace in yourself, and heaven and earth will be at peace with you." Then you will no longer be afraid that another will harm you, jinx you, as we think that they are doing magic on us, they envy us, cause damage, and we live with these follies. No one can do anything to us: when we carry God in our hearts with humility and call on the name of God, then God is present, and we have peace, and the great problems of the modern era are resolved - stress, uncertainty, loneliness, violence, anger that torments us each day…

1. Types of grace
It is used in the Holy Scriptures in different meanings. Sometimes it denotes the mercy of God in general: God is "God of all grace" (1 Peter 5, 10). In this broadest sense, grace is goodwill for people with a decent life at all times of mankind, in particular - to the righteous of the Old Testament, such as Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, the prophet Moses and later prophets.

More precisely, grace refers to the New Testament. There are two main meanings of this concept differ here:

1) all the economy of our salvation, accomplished by the coming of the Son of God to earth, His earthly life, death on the cross, resurrection and ascension into heaven: "By grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from you, God's gift; not from works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2 , 8-9) ( justifying grace)

2) the gifts of the Holy Spirit, sent down to the Church of Christ for the sanctification of its members, for their spiritual growth and for their achievement of the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the power of the Holy Spirit, penetrating into the inner being of a person, leading to his spiritual improvement and salvation. This - saving, sanctifying grace.

The Church has another, special gift of grace. It cannot be attributed to either justifying or sanctifying grace.

The difference between the gifts of this special grace from the first two:

Justifying and sanctifying grace is given to each person, for his salvation in particular. Special gifts of grace are given to a person not for himself, but for the good of the Church.

We read about these gifts from the Apostle Paul:

“The gifts are different, but the Spirit is the same; and the ministries are different, but the Lord is the same; and actions are different, but God is one and the same, who works everything in everyone. But everyone is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the benefit. One is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; faith to another, by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healings, by the same Spirit; to another miracles, to another prophecy, to another discernment of spirits, to another different languages, to another interpretation of tongues. Yet one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each separately, as He pleases ”(1 Cor. 12: 4-11).

2 a mistaken understanding of grace

The difference between the indicated meanings of the word "grace" and the prevailing understanding of it in the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament, as a divine power, is important to bear in mind because in Protestantism the doctrine of grace in the general meaning of the great deed of our redemption from sin through the feat of the Savior on the Cross, after which (in their opinion) a person who has believed and received the remission of sins is already among the saved. Meanwhile The apostles teach us that the Christian, having been justified by the gift, by the common grace of redemption, is in this life individually only "saved"(1 Cor. 1:18) and requiring the support of blessed forces. We "got access by faith to the grace in which we stand" (Rom. 5:21); "we are saved in hope" (Rom. 8:24).

3. Without the action of grace, human salvation is impossible

The Church teaches that a person's salvation is possible only with the help of God's grace, and he receives this grace in the holy sacraments.

St. Theophan the Recluse writes:

"... the grace of the Holy Spirit is not otherwise given and can be received, but through the sacraments, instituted by the Lord Himself in the Church by the hands of the apostles."

3 Ecumenical Council of Ephesus confirmed the condemnation of the Pelagian heresy, which taught that a person can be saved by his own strength, without the need to have God's grace.

As a person who does not have a soul is dead to this world, so he who does not have the grace of the Holy Spirit is dead to God; and it is in no way possible that he should have a residence in Heaven.

Saint Irenaeus of Lyons:

Just as a dry land, not receiving moisture, does not bear fruit, so we, who were previously a withered tree, could never bear fruit of life without a graceful rain from above ... Therefore, we need the dew of God so that we do not burn out and become barren.

Venerable Macarius of Egypt:

The five mental emotional senses, if they receive the grace from above and the sanctity of the Spirit, are indeed wise virgins who have received grace-filled wisdom from above. And if they remain in their one nature, then they become holy fools and turn out to be children of the world; because they have not cut off the spirit of the world, although they themselves, in some probabilities and outwardly, think that they are the bridegroom's brides. As souls who have completely clung to the Lord, they abide in Him in thought, they offer prayers to Him, walk with Him, and long for the love of the Lord; so on the contrary, souls who have surrendered to the love of the world and have longed to have their own dwelling on earth, walk there, dwell in thought, their mind lives there. Therefore, they are not inclined to the good philosophizing of the spirit, as to something extraordinary for our nature, I mean by this heavenly grace, which is necessary - to enter into the composition and union with our nature, so that we can enter with the Lord into the heavenly palace of the kingdom and seek eternal salvation.

If heavenly clouds and blessed rains do not appear from above, the working farmer will not be successful in anything.

Saint John Chrysostom:

Let us convince ourselves that even though we have tried our best thousands of times, we will never be able to do good deeds if we do not use the help from above.

Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk:

Without grace, the soul is like parched earth.

Venerable Simeon the New Theologian:

"As our human nature comes out into the light of the world with a private curse of Adam, so it comes out into the light of the Kingdom of God (from the font of Baptism) participating in the blessing of Jesus Christ. And if it does not join the Divine nature of Christ, if it does not receive the grace of the Holy Spirit, it can neither think nor do anything worthy of the Kingdom of God, can not fulfill a single commandment given to us by Christ (to be sons of the Kingdom), because Christ does everything in all who call on His holy name. the Holy Spirit descended into him as into God, abiding in Him from Whom it did not separate from Him, and so that later through union with Him, the Divine would unite with every person who communicates with Him and combines together, that is, into the will of God, all thoughts and desires their own. This is the resurrection of the soul during life. "

St. right. John of Kronstadt:

What is grace? The good power of God, given to a person who believes and was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ or the Holy Trinity, cleansing, sanctifying, enlightening, helping in doing good and moving away from evil, comforting and encouraging in adversity, sorrow and disease, co-operating in receiving the eternal blessings prepared by God in heaven to His elect. Whether anyone was proud, proud, angry, envious, but became meek and humble, selfless for the glory of God and the good of one's neighbor, benevolent to everyone, condescending, yielding without connivance - he has become such a power of grace. Whether anyone was an unbeliever, but has become a believer and a diligent follower of the precepts of faith, - he has become such a power of grace. Whether someone was covetous, selfish and unjust, hard-hearted towards the poor, but having changed in the depths of his soul, he became non-covetous, truthful, generous, compassionate - he owes this to the power of the grace of Christ. Whether anyone was a glutton, a multi-eater and a multi-drinker, but became temperate, fasting, not because of illness or because of the consciousness of harm to the body of intemperance, but out of the consciousness of a moral, higher goal - he became such by the power of grace. Whether anyone was a hater and vindictive, vindictive, but suddenly became philanthropic, loving the enemies themselves, their ill-wishers and their scolders, not remembering any grievances - he became such by the regenerating, transforming and renewing power of grace. Was anyone cold to God, to the church, to divine services, to prayer, generally to the mysteries of faith that cleanse and strengthen our souls and bodies, and suddenly, having changed in soul, he became ardent towards God, towards worship, towards prayer, reverent towards the mysteries - he became so by the action of the saving grace of God. Hence it is clear that many live outside grace, not realizing its importance and necessity for themselves and not seeking it, according to the word of the Lord: seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6, 33). Many live in all abundance and contentment, enjoy flourishing health, enjoy eating, drinking, walking, amusing themselves, composing, working but in different parts or branches of human activity, but they do not have the grace of God in their hearts, this priceless Christian treasure, without which a Christian cannot be a true Christian and heir to the Kingdom of Heaven.

4. Preceding grace

So, according to the teaching of the Church, a person who lives with worldly thoughts and aspirations, it is impossible to turn to God himself, to desire and seek salvation. In order to awaken him spiritually, the light of Divine grace enlightens him, calling him to faith and repentance. This - anticipatory and enlightening grace.

V Epistles of the Eastern Patriarchs about the preliminary grace it is said:

“It is like a light that illuminates those who walk in darkness. She guides, follows those who seek her, and not those who oppose her. Provides them with the knowledge of Divine truth. Teaches you to do good that pleases God. "

St. Theophan the Recluse writes about action in a person anticipatory grace and then - saving (cooperating) grace:

“That person lives in a state of falling away from God, who only lives for himself and does not think about God and heaven, or, according to David: does not offer God before him (Ps. 53: 5; 85:14). Such a person usually has all concern for something of his own: either about knowledge, or about art, or about a job, or about a family, or, even worse, about the pleasure and satisfaction of some kind of passion; he does not think about his future life, but tries to arrange his present life in such a way as to live peacefully and, as it were, forever; he does not turn inward, therefore he does not know his state and the consequences that will be from his life, but he always considers himself to be something great and we drive everything forward with vain concern ... he sometimes does good deeds, but they are all the essence of the properties of the soul (Epistle East. Patr., 3 chap.), Imbued with his general spirit of pride, which takes away their true value. ... the unconverted is still in this state, no matter how sometimes, apparently, he strictly begins to analyze himself and his life, he cannot assure himself in any way that his deeds are insignificant and evil. Satan, possessing a person through sin, living in a person together with his self, as a lethargic sleep, strikes his spirit in all his might. Therefore, he is afflicted with blindness, insensibility and negligence.

A person who is in such a state cannot feel himself alone until the light of Divine grace shines in his sinful darkness. Satan brings darkness to him, entangles him in his snares, from which no one will arise without admonition from above (2 Tim. 2:26). Nobody can come to Me, says the Lord, if not the Father, who sent Me, will attract him ... Everyone hearing from the Father and the habit, will come to Me (John 6, 44, 45). Therefore, the Lord Himself stands at the door of the heart and pushes, as if to say: get up, sleep and rise from the dead (Rev. 3:20; Ephesians 5:14).

This voice of God calling comes to the sinner either directly, directly in the heart, or indirectly, mainly through the Word of God, and often through various external incidents in nature and in the life of himself and others.... But he always falls on the conscience, awakens it and, like lightning, illuminates (clearly presents to the consciousness) all the legal relations of a person that have been violated and perverted by him. Therefore, this action of grace always opens with a strong disturbance of the spirit, confusion, fear for oneself and self-contempt. However, it does not forcefully attract a person, but only stops him on the vicious path, after which the person is completely powerful either to turn to God, or again to sink into the darkness of pride. In the parable of the prodigal son, this state is expressed by the words: he has come in himself (Luke 15, 17).

In a person who has heeded (not opposed) the action of grace, invoking and enlightening his inner darkness, a special ability to vividly perceive the revealed truths is revealed, as if some special heart hearing and understanding: eyes open (Acts 26, 18), the spirit of wisdom operates in knowledge truth (Eph. 1:17). ... Under the influence of grace, the heart feeds on them, taking them in, completely assimilating and keeping them in itself ... Moreover ... the converting person experiences two kinds of changes: some grave and joyless, others relieve and soothe the soul. However, according to the state of the person turning, first of all, with all its burden, the law imposes on him and tortures him as the culprit. A series of changes of this kind in the heart make up the aggregate of penitent feelings.

In this order, first of all, the knowledge of sins occurs. The law shows a person all the actions that are obligatory for him, or the commandments of God, and consciousness represents a whole field of actions that are contrary to them, with the assurance that they could not have been, that everything is a matter of his freedom and were often admitted by him with the knowledge of their illegality. The consequence of this is the inner conviction of a person in all omissions and violations: a person feels completely guilty before God, innocent, unrequited. Hence, further, painful, sorrowful, crushing feelings about sins are crowded into the heart from different sides: self-contempt and indignation at one's own evil arbitrariness, because he himself is to blame; shame that he has brought himself to such a derogatory state; painful fear and expectation of near evils because of the fact that he offended God the almighty and righteous with his sins; finally, a confused feeling of helplessness and hopelessness completes the defeat: a person would like to shake off all this evil from himself, but it seems to have grown together with him; he would even like to die in order to rebel in a better condition, but he has no power to do so. It was then that a person from the depths of his soul begins to cry: what I will create, what I will create! - how the people cried out from the reproof of John the Baptist (Luke 3: 10, 12, 14) and from the words of the Apostle Peter, after the descent of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:37). Here everyone, even if he was a ruler or some other most famous person in the world, feels that he is caught by the judgment of God and is completely subject to His power, that he is a worm, and not a man, the reproach of people and the humiliation of people (Psalm 21: 7), that is, the entire human self turns to dust, and the consciousness of surrender to God, or the feeling of dependence on Him, is resurrected - complete, inevitable.

Such feelings are immediately ready to bear their fruit - to excite, that is, to obedience to God or, in the present case, to correct and start a new life according to the will of God. … It is here that faith comes to him in time of need, on the one hand, and on the other, a grace-filled force that helps in doing all good things.

... A sinner who is constrained by a strict reproof of the law can nowhere find consolation except the Gospel - a sermon about Christ the Savior, who came to the world to save sinners.

... The height of the perfection of faith is the most vivid personal conviction that the Lord saved both everyone and me ... A person, as if destroyed by the judgment of the law, as he enters the field of faith, revives with joy in his heart, exclaims the head of the one killed by sorrow ... Until the person is convinced of mercy and the help of God, cannot even put a decisive intention to live according to the will of God (1 Pet. 1: 3). Therefore, when the feeling of trustworthiness in God and God's blessing, poured out in the heart by faith in the all-merciful death of the Lord Jesus, assures him that God will not despise him, will not reject him, will not abandon his help in fulfilling the law for the sake of the Lord; then, having established himself on this feeling, as if on a stone, a person makes a decisive vow to abandon everything and devote himself to the God of everything ... I'm going.

However, this decisive intention is only a condition of living according to God, and not life itself. Life is the power to act. Spiritual life is the power to act spiritually, or according to the will of God. Such power is lost by man; therefore, until it is again given to him, he cannot live spiritually, no matter how many intentions he may choose. That's why the outpouring of grace-filled power into the soul of the believer is essential for a truly Christian life. A truly Christian life is a life of grace. A person is elevated to holy determination, but in order for him to be able to act according to it, it is necessary that grace be combined with his spirit…"

5. How does God's saving grace work?

In this sense of the word, grace is the power sent down from above, the power of God, which is given to us for the redemptive feat of the Lord Jesus Christ, abiding in the Church of Christ, regenerating, life-giving, perfecting and leading the believer and the virtuous Christian to the assimilation of salvation brought by the Lord Jesus Christ.

The grace of God renews human nature and produces restoration of human nature.

Both spiritual birth and further spiritual growth of a person occurs through mutual cooperation of two principles: one of them is the grace of the Holy Spirit; the other is a person's opening of his heart to accept it, a thirst for it, a desire to accept it like a thirsty dry earth accepts the moisture of rain: in other words, a personal effort to receive, store, and act in the soul of Divine gifts.

The apostle Paul writes about this:

“But [the Lord] said to me: 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' And therefore I will much more willingly boast of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me ”
(2 Corinthians 12: 9).

“But by the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace in me was not in vain "
(1 Cor. 15: 10).

Holy. Seraphim (Sobolev) writes about the types of grace:

“According to the teaching of the Monk John Cassian, it is necessary to distinguish two types of grace: the grace of external providence through which the Lord acts in the whole world either directly, or through angels, people and even visible nature; and grace as an inner divine power ..... She acted in the lives of the first people in paradise and was the source of their true knowledge, holiness and bliss. After the fall of our first parents, she left them, and it was necessary for the Savior to incarnate, suffer, die and rise again, so that this grace could again be given to people. This mercy of God was poured out on us when, according to the promise of Christ, the Holy Spirit in His manifold grace descended upon the apostles as truth (1 John 5, 6; John 5:26; 16:13), as power (Acts. 1: 8) and as a consolation (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16, 7), or divine joy. Since then, the grace of the Holy Spirit began to be given to believers in the Church through the sacraments Baptism and Confirmation for revival.

As a reviving divine power, she began to reign within our being, in the very heart of man... Before the appearance of this grace, as the great of St. The blessed Diadochus of the fathers, sin reigned in the heart, and grace acted from outside. And after the manifestation of grace, sin acts on a person from outside, and grace - in the heart. This, by the way, is the difference between the Old and New Testaments.

Of course, in essence we will never define what the grace of God is. St. Macarius the Great teaches that just as God is incomprehensible in His being, so the grace of the Holy Spirit cannot be cognized in its essence, for it is His divine power, inseparable from God. "

WITH v. Theophan the Recluse reveals the action of saving grace in the soul of a person who has received the sacrament of baptism and become a Christian:

"... The gifts communicated, however, during this [at baptism] seal the inner changes that must take place in the heart of one who comes to the Lord before baptism and which, in fact, is the foundation, the beginning and the embryo of a truly Christian life. These changes are the essence of repentance and faith, as the Savior Himself also demanded from all who come to Him, saying: Repent and believe in the Gospel (Mark 1:15) They are produced in the soul by Divine grace - the preliminary one. In baptism and (chrismation), grace enters into the heart of a Christian, and then constantly dwells in him, helping him to live like a Christian and ascend from strength to strength in spiritual life.

The whole life of the believer after this flows in the following order: he with humble obedience and desire accepts the grace-filled sanctifying means - the Word of God and the sacraments, and grace at this time produces in him various actions of enlightenment and strengthening... From this, with the continuation of the path of earthly life, the spiritual life of a Christian gradually grows and sings, ascending from strength to power by the Lord's Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18), until it comes to the extent of the age of fulfilling Christ (Eph. 4:13). Therefore, in fact, he does not have a single action that he would have performed without grace and which he would not consciously attribute to it. They really relate to it both at first, because it excites, and after its completion, because it gives strength. God is acting in him, and the hedgehog wants, and the hedgehog deeds of favor (Phil. 2:13). A person has his own only ardent desire to stay in this order of Divine preservation, in a morally good life and a decisive surrender of himself to the guidance of God. "

By teaching St. Macarius the Great, creating a new person, grace works mysteriously and gradually. Grace tests human will, whether he retains full love for God, noticing in him agreement with his actions. If in a spiritual deed the soul turns out to be graceful, not grieving or offending grace in any way, then it penetrates "to its deepest compositions and thoughts" until the whole soul is embraced by grace. He says:

“Divine grace, which in an instant can cleanse a person and make him perfect, begins to visit the soul gradually in order to experience human will.

It is true that grace constantly abides, takes root and acts as a leaven in a person from a young age ... however, as she pleases, she variously modifies her actions in a person for his benefit. Sometimes this fire ignites and ignites more strongly, and sometimes it seems weaker and quieter, at other times this light kindles and shines more, sometimes it diminishes and fades ...

Although the baby is unable to do anything, or cannot walk to the mother on its own feet, nevertheless, in search of the mother, he moves, screams, cries. And the mother takes pity on him; she is glad that the child is looking for her with an effort and a cry. And because the baby cannot go to her; then the mother herself, overcome by love for the baby, for a long search for him, comes up to him and with great tenderness takes, caresses and feeds him. The man-loving God does the same with a soul that comes and seeks Him. But much more, prompted by His characteristic love and His own goodness, He cleaves to the understanding of the soul, and, according to the Apostolic word, one Spirit is done with it (1 Cor. 6: 7). For when the soul cleaves to the Lord, and the Lord, having mercy and loving her, comes and cleaves to her, and her understanding is ceaselessly already in the grace of the Lord, then the soul and the Lord become one spirit, one merging, one mind. "

6. Reasons for the retreat of grace

Venerable Maximus the Confessor:"There are four main types of forsaking of God. There are providential as it was with the Lord Himself, in order to save those who are being abandoned by the seeming abandonment. There is abandonment test as it was with Job and Joseph, to show one with a pillar of courage, the other with a pillar of chastity. There is abandonment spiritual educational as it was with the Apostle Peter, in order to keep in him an abundance of grace with humility. And finally, it happens abandonment in disgust as was the case with the Jews, in order to turn them to repentance by punishment. All these types of abandonment are salvific and filled with God's goodness and love for mankind. "

Rev. Macarius the Great:

"If the king, he says, puts his treasure with some beggar; then the one who has accepted for preservation does not consider this treasure his own, but everywhere he confesses his poverty, not daring to squander foreign treasures; because he always thinks with himself: this is a treasure. not only I have someone else's, but a strong king is appointed to me, and he, when he wants, will take it from me. So those who have the grace of God should think of themselves. If they are exalted and their hearts become puffed up, the Lord will take it away His grace, and they remain as they were before receiving grace from the Lord.

For there is a time when grace more inflames, comforts and rests a person; and there is a time when it diminishes and fades, as it itself does this for the benefit of man. "

Saint Theophan the Recluse:

“... God gives the soul, turning from sin to the path of pleasing God, first to taste all the sweetness of this new life. But then he leaves the man alone with his own powers. Grace in this case either hides its action, or retreats. This is done in order to give a person a deeper conviction that he alone is without grace - and the habit of deeply humility before himself, and before God, and before people. "

“Self-centeredness and the apostasy of grace are always inseparable. The Lord averts His eyes from the arrogant ... And the retreat of grace does not always follow a fall. All that follows is cooling, bad movements and a penalty against passions, not in the sense of falling into passionate affairs, but in the sense of heart turmoil: for example, someone will say an unpleasant word ... and the heart will burn with anger and so on. "

“... One should not indulge oneself self-willingly and indulge in amusements: for this kind of behavior drives away the grace of God. Well, it won't come back ?! Horror, how everything will go upside down ... Save you, Lord, from this misfortune!

“Remember, you said that you could not cope with your thoughts, and then wrote that I spoiled you with my speeches, that everything was better with you before, and when you began to peer into yourself at my direction, you see one disorder: both thoughts and feelings, and desires - everything is disorganized and there is no power to bring them into any order. Here's a solution to why this is so: there is no center. And there is no center, because with your consciousness and free choice you have not yet decided which side to take. The grace of God has hitherto introduced a possible order into you, and it was and is in you. But from now on, she will no longer act alone, but will wait for your decision. And if by your election and decision you do not side with her, then she will completely depart from you and leave you in the hands of your will.

The ordering within you will begin only when you take the side of grace and set the orders of life in the spirit of it as an urgent law of your life. "

"Grace carries the soul like a mother her child. When the child is naughty - and instead of the mother will begin to stare at other things; then the mother leaves the child alone and hides. Noticing himself alone, the child begins to scream and call for his mother ... The mother comes again, takes the child ... and the child clings even more tightly to the mother's breast. So does grace. When the soul becomes arrogant and forgets to think that it is carried and held by grace, grace recedes ... and leaves the soul alone ... Why? - then, so that the soul would come to its senses, felt the misfortune of the retreat of grace, and began to cling to it more tightly and seek it. - Such a retreat is not an act of anger, but the love of God that admonishes and is calledan instructive digression... Macarius the Great and others have a lot about this ... and Diodochus ... "

Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt:

What does the heavy sleep of laziness and the petrified insensibility of the heart mean during prayer or when composing a sermon, when teaching the Law of God? It means that we are abandoned by the grace of God, according to the wise and good intentions of God, in order to strengthen our hearts to free our own spiritual deeds. Sometimes grace bears us like children or leads and supports us, as it were by the hand, then it’s half the job for us to do deeds of virtue, and sometimes it leaves us alone with our weakness, so that we do not be lazy, but work and in spirit deserve the gift of grace: at this time we must, as free beings, voluntarily show our correction and our zeal for God. To murmur against God, to deprive us of grace, would be madness, for when the Lord wants, then He takes His grace from us, fallen and unworthy. It is necessary at this time to learn patience and bless the Lord: the Lord gave His grace, the Lord took it; as the Lord pleased, so it was done; blessed be the name of the Lord! (Job 1:21).

Etc. Isaac the Sirin:

Before destruction is pride, says the All-Wise (Proverbs 16:18), and before giving is humility. According to the measure of pride visible in the soul - and the measure of contrition, with which God admonishes the soul. I mean, pride is not the one when its thought appears in the mind or when a person is temporarily conquered by it, but pride, which is constantly abiding in a person. A proud thought will be followed by contrition, and when a person has loved pride, he no longer knows contrition.

7. The relationship of grace to human freedom

Rev. Macarius the Great:

... human will is, as it were, an essential condition. If there is no will; God Himself does nothing, although He can do it by His own freedom. Therefore, the completion of a deed by the Spirit depends on the will of a person.
...grace does not in the least bind his will with a compelling force, and does not make him unchanged in goodness, even if he wanted or did not want it. On the contrary, the inherent power of God in man gives place to freedom, so that the will of man is revealed, whether he respects or does not respect the soul, whether it agrees or does not agree with grace.

St. Theophan the Recluse:

“You have a zeal for salvation. It is marked by the concern you express. This means that spiritual life is glowing in you. You should support her by keeping her jealous and fueling it. When there is jealousy, there will be life, and life never stands on one thing - therefore, there will be prosperity. But you cannot notice it, just as the growth of children is not noticed, which is always in front of our eyes.

This zeal is the fruit of grace. The Lord has called you. Confess this always with full thanksgiving. If he has called, he will not quit, just do not turn away from Him yourself. For not everything is from the Lord, but there is a part from us. What is from us? All-endeavor to please God. It will be as long as there is jealousy. When there is jealousy, it is evidenced by concern for salvation in hot weather. "

“…. Ask anyone: do you want to Heaven, to the Kingdom of Heaven? - will answer in spirit: I want, I want. But tell him later: well, do this and that, and your hands dropped. One wants to go to paradise, but to work for that is not always enough hunting. I am talking about not wanting only what is needed, but also having a firm determination to achieve the desired one by all means and begin by the deed itself the work on this achievement. "

“Theorists are much concerned with the question of the relationship of grace to freedom. For the bearer of grace, this question is decided by the deed itself. He who bears grace gives himself up to the omnipresence of grace, and grace works in him. This truth for him is not only more obvious than any mathematical truth, but also any external experience, for he has already ceased to live outside and is all concentrated inside. He now has only one concern - to be always faithful to the grace inherent in him. Infidelity insults her, and she either retreats or shortens her action. A person testifies to his fidelity to grace or to the Lord by the fact that neither in thoughts, nor in feelings, nor in deeds, nor in words does he allow anything that he recognizes as opposed to the Lord, and, on the contrary, he does not miss any deed and undertaking without fulfilling it. as soon as he realizes that this is the will of God, judging by the course of his circumstances and by the indication of his inner drives and impulses.

This sometimes requires a lot of work, painful self-compulsion and self-resistance; but he is glad to sacrifice everything to the Lord, for after any such sacrifice he receives an inner reward: peace, joy and special boldness in prayer.

By these acts of fidelity to grace, the gift of grace is kindled in connection with prayer, which was already inevitable at that time. "

Venerable Macarius of Optina:

«… how dangerous it is to postpone the time of repentance and the work of caring for your salvation. St. John of the Ladder writes: (v. 3) “as soon as you feel a flame in yourself for godliness, then quickly run away, for you do not know when it will go out and when it will leave you in darkness". When you feel such a flame in yourself, then know that this was the calling of God, for good thoughts are all in our hearts from God, and whoever despises them, himself will be despised by God, before, according to the word of God: "you are unworthy to do yourselves for an eternal belly" (Acts 13:46) ".

The experience of Orthodox ascetics encourages them with all their might to call Christians to the humble consciousness of their weakness for the action of the saving grace of God. The instructions are expressive in this case. Rev. Simeon the New Theologian:

“If you have a thought, inspired by the devil, that your salvation is accomplished not by the power of your God, but by your wisdom and your own power, - if the soul agrees to such a suggestion, grace departs from it. the soul, the soul lies before our last breath. The soul must, together with the blessed Apostle Paul, cry out loudly to angels and people: not me, but the grace of God, which is with me. And the apostles, and prophets, and martyrs, and hierarchs, and saints, and the righteous - all have confessed this grace of the Holy Spirit, and for the sake of such a confession with the help of it they fought a good deed and completed their course. "

“He who bears the name of a Christian,” we read from the same holy father, “if he does not carry in his heart the conviction that the grace of God given for faith is the mercy of God ... first time through baptism, or, or if she had and she departed from him because of his sin, to return her again through repentance, confession and self-deprecating living, and giving alms, fasting, performing vigils, prayers, etc., thinks that he is doing glorious virtues and good deeds that are valuable in themselves: but in vain he troubles and exhausts himself. "

Venerable Ephraim the Syrian:

Divine grace is open to everyone, so that everyone can enjoy as much as he wants: "if anyone thirsts, come to Me and drink" (John 7:37).

Rev. Isidore Pelusiot:

Why does not the grace of God descend on everyone? First it experiences willfulness, and then it descends. For although this is grace, it is poured out, commensurate with the capabilities of those who receive it, it flows out depending on the capacity of the presented vessel of faith.

Saint Gregory of Nyssa:

They say: "Why is not the effect of grace extending to everyone? Some were enlightened by it, but many remain unenlightened. Did not God want or could not bless everyone equally generously?" Both are wrong: God cannot refuse to want or not be able to do good ... But He who has power over the universe, according to the abundance of honor shown to us, has left much in our power, and over this every single lord. We are not called to slavery, but to free will. Therefore, it is fair to place these accusations on those who have not come to faith, and not on the one who calls to it.

Venerable Ephraim the Syrian:

"According to the measure of faith and grace dwells in the soul."

8. God's grace calls for the salvation of everyone

The Church affirms this truth at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts through the lips of a priest, when he, holding a censer and a lighted candle in his hands, after exclaiming "Wisdom, forgive me!" turns from the throne to face the people and proclaims:

"The light of Christ enlightens everyone!"

At this time, those praying with deep reverence for the True Light of the Lord Jesus Christ kneel down.

St. Theophan the Recluse describes a vision that reveals that grace calls everyone, but not everyone accepts its gifts and enters the path of salvation:

“I’ll tell you the vision of an old man. He saw a wide-wide field. Many people of all kinds walked on it. They walked in mud, some knee-deep and more, and thought they were walking by flowers; they themselves were in rags, soiled and ugly, but thought they were handsome and dressed. Not one of them was deceased, all in anxiety and troubles, in harmony or disputes and quarrels with each other ... To the east of them lay a somewhat elevated clearing, covered with grass and flowers, but it seemed to them dry, sandy and stony. Behind this clearing a mountain rose, interrupted by ridges in different directions, higher and higher ... From behind the mountain could be seen a light of extraordinary beauty, blinding and opening blind eyes. The rays from this light went in great numbers into the noisy crowd that wandered across the muddy field. I rested my ray on each head. What are people? It never occurred to them to look at the light from behind the mountain. As for the rays, some did not feel their touch at all; some, feeling their restless blow, rubbed only their own heads and, without raising their heads, continued to do what they were doing; some raised their heads and turned their gaze back, but immediately closed their eyes again and returned to their former position. Some, fixing their eyes in the direction of the beam, stood for a long time in an observant examination of the light and admired its beauty, but all stood motionless in one place and finally, out of fatigue, or being pushed by others, again began to walk along the same road along which they had walked before. ... Rare, rare, submitting to the excitement of the ray and its instructions, abandoned everything, directed their steps to the flowery meadow and then walked further and further to the mountain and along the mountain towards the light that shone on them from behind the mountain. The meaning of the vision is clear by itself! ..

You see that exciting grace leaves no one; just let the people themselves not persist. "

9. "The time and place of the action of grace is only here"

St. right. John of Kronstadt writes that the acceptance by a person of the grace-filled gifts of salvation is possible only in this life:

"Who does not know how difficult it is for a sinner to turn from his beloved path of sin to the path of virtue without the special grace of God ... If not for the grace of God, which of the sinners would turn to God, since the property of sin is to darken us, bind us hand and foot ... But the time and place for grace to act is only here: after death, only the prayers of the Church can act on repentant sinners, on those who have acceptability in their souls, the light of good deeds carried away from this life, to which grace can be grafted Of God or the grace-filled prayers of the Church. "

Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria is talking:

“The sinner, having withdrawn from the light of righteousness through his sins, is already in darkness in real life, but since there is still hope for conversion, this darkness is not pitch darkness. And after death there will be a consideration of his affairs, and if he has not repented here, then there he is surrounded by pitch darkness. For there is no hope of conversion then, and a complete deprivation of Divine grace sets in. While the sinner is here, although he receives a little of Divine benefits - I am talking about sensual benefits - he is still a servant of God, because he lives in the house of God, that is, between the creations of God, and God nourishes and preserves him. And then he will be completely separated from God, no longer participating in any good things: this is the darkness, called pitch, as opposed to the present, not pitch-black, when the sinner still has the hope of repentance. "

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hieromonk Sophrony

archimandrite

Divine grace and freedom of man St.

archbishop

metropolitan

ep. Alexander (Semenov-Tyan-Shansky)

Grace- 1) Divine action in general; 2) Divine action aimed at the preservation and development of the world; 3) Divine action aimed at the salvation of man.

The very word "grace" means good, kind gift because only God is the source of the highest.

Can grace be called God, Divinity?

Likewise, the manifestation or action of the nature of fire - the glowing, radiant movement of gases, contemplated in the form of tongues - we call not only combustion, but also fire. Just as by touching fire, we partake not of its essence, but of its action (after all, it is action that burns), so participation in Divine manifestation or energy, participation in grace, is participation in God Himself.

In this respect, the grace of God is often referred to in the same way as the third Person of the Holy Trinity - the Holy Spirit, although it can be designated in a more detailed expression: the grace of the Holy Spirit or the grace of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is called the Holy Spirit because Divine action always proceeds from the Father through the Son and is manifested in the Holy Spirit.

What does it mean to acquire the Holy Spirit?

The acquisition of the Holy Spirit is the acquisition of God's grace. Acquisition should not mean accumulation in the same way as tangible or even intangible values, such as work skills or knowledge, are accumulated.

The acquisition of grace means something else. In proportion to the spiritual and moral transformation of a person, which is accomplished only with the assistance of God, a person not only becomes better and more perfect; he becomes like God and spiritually draws closer to Him. The higher the degree of likeness and unity of man and God, the more clearly and expressively God's grace shines in him. Actually, this whole grace-filled saving process is called the acquisition of grace or sanctification, deification (see:;).

How should one relate to the provision on the teaching of grace through sacred objects, relics, such as icons and the relics of God's saints?

The lowering of grace can be carried out by God both directly and through representatives or objects of the created world. In cases of sending grace through holy icons and relics, they serve as a means of communication with God and His saints (see:;).

Unlike magical means, where the emphasis is on rituals and spells, the grace of God does not work mechanically, but is taught to a person according to his faith. The ability to perceive grace depends on the inner state of a person, on his heartfelt attitude. In this respect, prayer is understood by the holy fathers not as if by praying, a person bows down to God, but in such a way that by praying, he himself rises and opens up to interact with Him.

When praying in front of an icon or relics, it is easier for the worshiper to tune in to conversion, it is easier to concentrate and to raise his spirit (mind and heart) to that prototype, whose image is imprinted on the icon, or to that saint, to whose relics he wants to fall. Entering into a prayer connection with the saints, we ask them to intercede with the Creator, and He answers - to the extent that it is necessary for the benefit of the one praying - with His blessing (action).

It is wrong to think that Orthodox icons or holy relics are independent sources of God's grace, God's energies. Such an attitude is akin to the attitude of pagans to talismans and amulets, and should be recognized as alien to the Christian consciousness.

If the grace given to the believer through the mediation of a saint or shrine is not radiated by them as its direct sources, then why did Motovilov appear in the brilliance of the blessed light?

The grace of God is nothing more than a Divine action directed into the world; in a narrower sense - Divine action aimed at the salvation of man.

In the usual conditions for a sinful person, grace, as a rule, is invisible. In turn, a truly believing person is able, with the assistance of God, to contemplate it with spiritual eyes.

Meanwhile, at the special discretion of the Almighty, the radiance of grace can be manifested even to a sinful person, and even in a sensual way. For what? - In each specific case, there is a special Providence goal (see:).

At God's discretion, the radiance of grace is visible even when it (grace) rests on God's saints.

Thus, the light emanating from the face of Moses () served as a testimony for the children of Israel about his closeness to God, that the Lord favored their law-governor and leader. This testimony strengthened the authority of Moses, kept his fellow tribesmen from excessive grumbling and, probably, from potential rebellion.

Both non-believers and non-believers are deprived of the opportunity to commune with those blessed ones that are taught exclusively to members (of course, they are not deprived of course, but only until they join the ranks of Christians).

However, what has been said does not mean that they are completely deprived of the possibility of the communion of Divine grace.

First, saving grace acts on them in a calling manner (this corresponds to the concept of “calling action of Divine grace”). Even before His Suffering, the Lord announced: "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to Me" ().

The Holy Fathers call grace "rays of the Divine", "Divine glory", "" ... All three Persons of the Holy Trinity possess the action of Divine grace. “The action of an uncreated entity,” writes St. , - there is something in common, although it is peculiar to each Person. " Saint, reflecting on the dispensational manifestation of the Holy Trinity, notes that grace comes from the Father and is communicated through the Son in the Holy Spirit. According to the word of St. , grace is "the common energy and Divine power and action of the Tri-hypostatic God."

Through the action of Divine grace, the possibility of knowing God is opened. “... Without grace, our mind cannot know God,” teaches St. , - ... each of us can reason about God to the extent that he has cognized the grace of the Holy Spirit. " The action of Divine grace gives a person the opportunity to fulfill the commandments, salvation and spiritual transformation. “Acting in himself and around himself, a Christian brings his whole personality into exploits, but he does this, and can do it successfully, only with the continuous assistance of Divine power - grace,” teaches St. ... “There is no thought that a Christian can think in the gospel way, there is no feeling that he can feel in the gospel way, there is no deed that he can do in the gospel way without the grace-filled help of God." The action of Divine grace gives a person the invaluable gift of union with God -. In this blessed state, a person, according to the word of St. , becomes like Christ and becomes higher than the first Adam.

The action of Divine grace is carried out in cooperation (c) with the free will of man. “Divine-human synergy is an essential distinction of Christian activity in the world. Here man will work with God and God will work with man, explains St. ... - ... Man, for his part, expresses will, and God - grace; a Christian personality is created from their joint action. " According to the teachings of St. while creating a new person, grace acts mysteriously and gradually. Grace tests human will, whether he retains full love for God, noticing in him agreement with his actions. If in a spiritual deed the soul turns out to be graceful, not grieving or offending grace in any way, then it penetrates "to its deepest compositions and thoughts" until the whole soul is embraced by grace.

The concept of "Grace of God" in the Holy Scriptures

The word "grace" is very often found in the Holy Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, and is used in various senses:

a) sometimes means benevolence, benevolence, benevolence, mercy (;;);

b) sometimes a gift, good, every good, every gift that God gives to His creatures, without any merit on their part (;;), and natural gifts that the whole earth is filled with (;;) and supernatural, extraordinary gifts of God that are given by God various church members (;;);

v) sometimes means all the great work of our redemption and salvation, accomplished by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. "For the grace of God, saving for all men, has appeared." “When the grace and love of our Savior, God, appeared, He saved us not by works of righteousness, which we would have done, but by His mercy, by the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” ();

G) but in fact, grace is called the saving power of God, which, communicating to us according to the merits of Jesus Christ for our sanctification and salvation, regenerates us into spiritual life and, affirming and perfecting, completes our sanctification and.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by different and alien teachings; for good by grace strengthen hearts, not with foods that have not benefited those who practice them().

Dogmatic definitions of grace

(From the book: "The Canon or the Book of Rules."Rules of the Holy Cathedrals of the Local. Rules of the Holy Local Cathedral of Carthage (393-419))

125. It is also determined: if someone says that the grace of God, by which they are justified in Jesus Christ, our Lord, is valid only for the forgiveness of sins already committed, and does not provide more help, so that other sins do not become committed, so let it be anathema, so how the grace of God not only gives knowledge of what is appropriate to create, but also breathes love into us, so that we can fulfill what we know.

126. Also, if anyone says that the same grace of God, which is about Jesus Christ our Lord, will only help us so as not to sin, since it is revealed to us and the knowledge of sins is revealed to us, so we know what we must seek and what to avoid, but that it does not give us love and strength to do what we knew we ought to do: that would be anathema. For when the Apostle says: reason makes you proud, and love creates(): then it would be very ungodly to believe that we have the grace of God for our boast, but we do not have for building; while both are the gift of God: both knowledge. what should be done, and love for the good that should be done, so that, with creative love, the mind could not boast. For as it is written from God: teach a man to reason(): this is also written: love from God is().

127. It is also determined: if someone says that the grace of justification was given to us for the sake of more convenient fulfillment of what is possible for fulfillment according to free will through grace, as if we did not receive the grace of God, although with inconvenience, we could fulfill the Divine commandments without it, - so let it be anathema. For the Lord did not say about the fruits of the commandments: without Me you can create uncomfortable, but he said: you can do nothing without me().

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble ().

reverend: “Every God-fearing soul faces two great exploits: the first is to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit, because there is no possibility for anyone to enter the path of salvation, and even more so to walk along it, if he does not receive in advance the mysterious grace of the All-Holy Spirit, the second is more difficult so as not to be deprived of this grace, received with many sweats and labors ... And this great feat, so as not to be deprived of God's grace, which has already been received, lies before our soul until our last breath. "

To enter into the struggle with his own damage, the lusts of the world and the devil and his own selfishness, a person must taste the Grace of God, delight in the sweetness of the Holy Spirit. It is the experience of Grace in Christ that sustains Christians in their exploit of pleasing God.

However, negligence and the tempter can lead us astray, so that false experience instead of God's experience may lead us along dangerous paths into the murky waters of delusion. The involvement of the holy Orthodox Church, the unified true faith in the God-man Jesus Christ, the heartfelt acceptance of the Holy Tradition of the Church and loyalty to it in everyday life are a guarantee to those who wish to see the face of the Church Bridegroom and still taste the hopes of eternity from now on, to taste the true experience of communion with God.

“Taste and see how the Lord is good” - but not outside the experience recognized by the Church, in which saints who attain living communion with God will never cease to be born. To those who doubt the truth of their experience, the Church responds with the words of the Apostle Philip, which he once said to his still unbelieving friend, the Apostle Nathanael: "Come and see."

Come and become a living member of the Church in obedience and discipleship to Christ, humble your conceit, resist the spirits of malice - and then you will rejoice and know. Then you will receive that genuine personal experience, which, out of His boundless love, God gives to those who seek Him, to those who seek unfeignedly and firmly.

WHY WE SPEAK ABOUT GRACE

A sermon preached on January 14/27, 1989 in Stratoni in Halkidiki at the invitation of His Eminence Nicodemus, Metropolitan of Jeris and Ardameria

Do we not know that the purpose of our life is union with God? Doesn't the Holy Scripture tell us that man was created in the image and likeness of God? Man was created in order to become like God, which is the same as saying: for union with Him. The holy fathers call the attainment of a likeness to God by a person deification (θεόσις).

This is how great is the purpose of man. It cannot be reduced only to becoming better, cleaner, more honest, more generous; but - to become a god by Grace. When a person unites with God, he himself becomes a god by Grace. What, then, is the difference between the All-Holy God and the deified man?

The difference is this: our Creator and the Creator are God by nature, by His own nature, while we become gods by Grace; remaining human by nature, we are deified by His Grace.

And when a person is united with God by Grace, then he acquires the experience of knowing God, the feeling of God. Otherwise, how is it possible to unite with God without feeling His Grace?

Our first parents in Paradise, before they sinned, talked with God, felt divine Grace. God created man to be a priest, prophet and king. A priest - in order to accept his being and the world as a gift from God and in return offer himself and the world to God, in the joy of thanksgiving and praise. A prophet - to learn Divine secrets. In the Old Testament, prophets were those who spoke on behalf of God about divine will and secrets. King - to reign over the nature of all visible and his own. Man should use nature not as a tyrant and tormentor, but rationally and benevolently. Not to abuse the creation, but to use it gratefully (Eucharistic). And today we do not use nature rationally, but madly and selfishly. And as a result - we destroy the creation and, as a part of it, and ourselves.

If man had not sinned by exchanging love and obedience to God for selfhood, he would not have tasted alienation from God. And would be a king, priest and prophet. But even now, the Holy God, out of compassion for His creation, wants to restore man to the lost state of a priest, prophet and king, so that he can again accept the experience of communion with God and unite with Him. Therefore, throughout the Old Testament history, God, step by step, prepared the salvation of man through the coming in the flesh of His Only Begotten Son. Only a few of the righteous in the Old Testament received His gifts. Gifts similar to those that man had before the fall, including the gift of prophecy.

There were in the times of the Old Testament people like the prophets Elijah, Isaiah and Moses, who received the grace of prophecy and saw the glory of God. But this grace was not meant for everyone. Yes, and she was not with them all her life, but as a special gift given to them by God in special circumstances and for a special purpose. That is, when God wanted these righteous people to proclaim the coming Coming of Christ in the flesh or to reveal His will - He gave them some experience and revelation.

But the prophet Joel foresaw the times when God would give the Grace of the Holy Spirit not only to individuals with a specific purpose, but to everyone and everyone. This is how his prophecy sounds: “... and I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your elders will see the sleepyheads, and your young people will see visions” (Joel 2:28). In other words, "My people will see spiritual visions, My secrets will be revealed to them."

This outpouring of the Holy Spirit took place on the day of Pentecost. And since then, the grace of the Holy Spirit has been given to the entire Church. In Old Testament times, this Grace was not given to everyone because Christ was not yet incarnate. There was an impassable chasm between man and God. For the Grace of the All-Holy Spirit to be poured out on all flesh, man's communion with God had to be restored. This reunification was accomplished by our Savior Christ in His Incarnation.

The first union of man with God, concluded in paradise, was not a hypostatic union (taking place in a person) - and therefore was not lasting. The second unity is hypostatic, personally. It means that in the Hypostasis (Personality) of Jesus Christ, the human and divine natures were united non-merged, unchanging, inseparable, inseparable and eternal. No matter how much a person sins, his nature is inseparable from God - because in the God-man Jesus Christ it is forever united with the divine.

This means that in order to be able to receive the Holy Spirit, to be a priest, king and prophet, to know divine secrets and to feel God, a person must become a member of the Body of Christ, His Church. Our Lord Jesus Christ is one - the true and perfect Priest, King and Prophet. He accomplished what Adam and Eve were called upon at creation, and which they did not fulfill because of selfishness and sin. Now, in union with Him, we can become participants in His three ministries: royal, prophetic and priestly.

A small caveat is needed here. In holy baptism and chrismation, the Christian accepts a universal priesthood, not a private priesthood. For this there is the sacrament of the priesthood, in which the clergy is given special Grace to perform church ordinances and to nourish the laity.

But a layman is not just a non-priest, but one who, through baptism and anointing with holy chrism, is honored with the honor of being a member of the Body of Christ and a man of God and is worthy of participation in the three ministries of Christ. The more healthy, vigilant and living a member of the people of God and the Body of Christ he becomes, the fuller his participation in the priestly, prophetic and royal ministries of Christ, and the deeper and more tangible his experience of Divine Grace, for which there are many examples in the ascetics of Orthodox piety.

KINDS OF DIVINE GRACE

What is it, this experience of Grace, which makes the Christian faith and life out of the rational and the external - an all-round spiritual feeling of God, a true union with Him, leading the whole Christian into kinship with Christ? This is, first of all, a heartfelt confirmation that through faith in God the soul has acquired the true meaning of life. When, having gained faith in Christ, a person experiences deep inner satisfaction, feels that this faith fills his whole life with meaning and guides him, enlightening his entire being with a clear light. A Christian's experience of such an acquisition of inner faith is the beginning of a grace-filled life. From now on, God is no longer something external to him.

Another experience of Grace comes to someone who suddenly in his conscience hears a call to repentance for his secret sins, feels that the Lord is calling him to return to the Christian life, to confession, to life according to God. This voice of God, sounding silently inside, becomes for such a person the first experience of Grace. During those long years that he lived away from God, he did not understand anything.

He begins to repent, confesses for the first time in his life to the spiritual father. And by confession, deep peace and joy come to him - which he has never experienced in his entire life. And he exclaims: "Oh, lightness!" This divine Grace visited the soul that brought repentance, because God wants to comfort her. The tears of a repentant Christian when he asks God for forgiveness in prayer or comes to confession are tears of repentance that bring great relief. Silence and peace enter the soul with them, and then the Christian understands that these tears were a gift and experience of divine Grace.

And the deeper he repents, the more he has love for God and prays with divine zeal, the more the tears of repentance in him are transformed into tears of joy, tears of love and divine desire. These second tears are higher than the first and are also a visit from above and an experience of Grace.

Having brought repentance and confession, having prepared ourselves by fasting and prayer, we move on to the communion of the Flesh and Blood of Christ. What do we experience upon communion? Deep peace of the heart, spiritual joy. This is also an experience of visiting Grace.

Sometimes - at prayer, at service, at the Divine Liturgy - inexpressible joy suddenly comes. And she is the experience of Grace, the experience of the Divine Presence.

However, there are other, higher, experiences of the Divine life. The highest of them is the vision of the Uncreated Light. He was contemplated by the Lord's disciples on Tabor during the Transfiguration. They saw Christ shining brighter than the sun with this unearthly divine Light - not material, not created, like the light of the sun and any other creature. This Uncreated Light is the radiance of the Divine Himself, the Light of the Holy Trinity.

Those who are completely cleansed of passions and sin and have true and pure prayer are rewarded with the great blessing to see the Light of the Divine even in this life. This is the Light of the future life, the Light of eternity; and they not only see Him now, but are also visible in Him, since the saints walk in this Light. We do not see him, but the pure in heart and saints - they see. The radiance (nimbus) around the faces of the saints is the Light of the Holy Trinity that enlightened and sanctified them.

The biography of St. Basil the Great says that when he stood at prayer, the Uncreated Light that illuminated him flooded the entire cell. Many other saints testify to this.

However, one should not forget that to be rewarded with seeing the Uncreated Light is not the lot of everyone, but very few who have succeeded in the spiritual life, the greatest visit from God. Abba Isaac of Syria says that a clear vision of the Uncreated Light is given to barely one ascetic for every generation (Word 16). But even today there are saints who have been rewarded with this exceptional experience of the Divine contemplation.

Needless to say, not everyone who sees the Light certainly sees the Uncreated Light. There is also a seducer who loves to deceive people, showing them all kinds of illumination, whether demonic or psychophysical, so that they worship with Divine Light that which is not Him. Therefore, a Christian should not immediately accept the phenomena that happen to him, whether he sees or hears something like God, so as not to be deceived by the devil. It is better to open everything to the confessor, who will help him to distinguish God's action from self-deception and from demonic seduction. This requires great care.

BACKGROUND OF A TRUE EXPERIENCE OF GRACE

Let us now consider how we can hope that what we are experiencing is a genuine and false experience.

First, we must become akin to repentance. He who does not repent of his sins and does not cleanse his heart from passions cannot see God. So our Lord says in the Beatitudes: Blessed are those who are pure in heart, for they will see God. The more a person cleans himself of passions, repents and returns to God, the better he can see and feel Him.

It is a mistake to look for beneficial experiences by artificial means and methods, as many now do: heretics, Hindus, yogis. Their experiences are not from God. They are caused by psychophysical means.

The Holy Fathers tell us: "give blood and receive the Spirit." That is, if you do not shed the blood of your heart in deepest repentance, prayer, fasting and all spiritual warfare in general, you will not be able to receive the Grace of the Holy Spirit.

Genuine spiritual experience comes to those who, out of humility, do not ask for revelation. Instead, they ask for repentance and salvation. The visits of the Spirit are poured out on those who humbly say: "My God, I am not worthy! Not worthy of revelations, not worthy of gifts, not worthy of Your Grace, I will not contain divine and heavenly comforts, I will not bear spiritual sweetness." For those who proudly ask for spiritual insights, God does not give them. But instead of the true experience of Grace, they receive from the devil, who is ready to take advantage of their mood, a deceitful and disastrous experience commensurate with their pride. So, the second condition necessary for accepting Grace is humility.

The third thing that is required of us in order to receive Grace is to be in the Church, not to fall away from it. Outside of it, the devil will easily laugh at us. The wolf devours only those that have strayed from the herd. Safety is within the herd. The Christian is safe in the Church. Separating from her, he opens up both to self-deception and to external deceptions, human and demonic. Many, through disobedience to the Church and their confessors, fell into extreme delusions. They are sure that they saw God and that God visited them, when in reality they were visited by a demon, and their experience was their destruction.

It is very helpful to pray purely and earnestly. It is during prayer that God predominantly gives a grace-filled experience. He who prays with zeal, with difficulty and patience, accepts the gifts of the All-Holy Spirit and the living feeling of His Grace.

It is customary for us on Mount Athos (and perhaps also among our readers) to pray "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner" - an unceasing prayer of the mind and heart. When you create it with humility, diligence and perseverance, it gradually brings into your heart a living feeling of the presence of Grace.

FALSE EXPERIENCES OF "GRACE"

The false experience of the "divine" happens to those who believe that they can, by their own efforts, receive the grace of the Holy Spirit, especially in heretical meetings and religious organizations outside the Church. They gather, some new "prophet" becomes their leader, and it seems to them that "grace" is visiting them.

I happened to attend a Pentecostal meeting when I was in America in 1966. Their "church" was like a classroom. At first, the organ began to play measuredly and softly. Then the music became more and more frantic, deafening, leading to a frenzy. When it was over, the preacher spoke up. He, too, began calmly, but gradually he raised his voice. Towards the end, he, too, was very aroused. And then, when all those present were completely obedient to this collective hysteria, they suddenly began to shout, wave their arms, and utter inarticulate screams.

And I felt that there was no Holy Spirit of God between them - the Spirit of peace and silence, and not at all confusion and excitement. The Spirit of God cannot be forced to act in artificial and psychological ways. I was truly sorry for the children who were there with their parents and who will still be affected by the consequences of this collective neurosis.

A young man who tried yoga before he became a monk on Mount Athos (you must know that there are about 500 Hindu sects in Greece), told me what kind of experience they aspired to in the meetings. When they wanted to see the light, they rubbed their eyes to show the lights; if they wanted unusual auditory sensations, they pinched their ears, making a noise in the head.

Some heretics attribute similar artificial psychophysical effects to the Holy Spirit.

However, what people experience at heretical meetings is not always only psychology, sometimes it also has a demonic nature. The devil takes advantage of the fact that they are looking for such experiences, and willingly provides them with various signs, which are not from God, but from demons. They do not understand that they are victims of the devil. They accept his signs as heavenly visits, as the work of the Spirit of God. In addition, the demon endows them with the famous "prophetic" abilities, like many "mediums" of their power.

But the Lord warned us that false Christs and false prophets would rise and give great signs and wonders (Matthew 24:24). Not just miracles, but great and amazing and terrifying signs. Likewise, when the Antichrist comes, he will not do bad things. He will do good, heal the sick, perform many miracles - in order to deceive himself. To deceive, if possible, the elect of God (Matthew 24:24), so that even they would believe that this is their savior and follow him.

Therefore, caution is needed. Not all miracles and not all insights come from God. The Lord said, "Many will say to Me that day," Lord! God! Did we not prophesy in your name? and did they not drive out demons in your name? and did not you perform many miracles in your name? "And then I will declare to them:" I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness "(Matt. 7, 22-23).

I have come across people who, upon returning to the Church after being carried away by the occult or the Pentecostal movement, clearly realized that the various experiences they experienced in sectarian meetings were from demons. A former Pentecostal, for example, said that once, when a participant in a meeting prophesied, he felt an inexplicable anxiety and began to read the prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner," - and immediately the spirit of "speaking in tongues" attacked him, turning him away from prayer.

And the devil is transformed into an angel of light; we are commanded to be very careful about spiritual experience. The Apostle John pleads: Beloved, believe not every spirit (1 John 4: 1). Not all spirits are from God. According to the apostle Paul, only those who have received the gift of discerning of spirits are able to discern the spirits of God and the spirits of the devil (cf. 1 Cor. 12: 10).

The Lord gives this gift to the confessors of our holy Church. Therefore, if this kind of question arises before us, we turn to the spiritual father, who will be able to see where this or that experience comes from.

Even monks can be deceived. On the Holy Mountain, it happened that the monks were spiritually mistaken, trusting themselves. For example, a demon came in the form of an angel to one and said to him: "Let's go to the top of Athos, and I will show you a great miracle." And he took him there, and would have thrown him off the cliff onto the rocks, if the monk had not cried out to God. The monk was mistaken in believing that the vision was from God. They should not have trusted, because the monks know that when they happen to see a vision, their business is to reveal it to their elder. And he will say whether it is from God or from demons. Those in whom pride is still alive are easily deceived.

ABOUT PENTECTS

The Pentecostal experience is not of God. Therefore, he leads them away from the Church instead of helping them to enter Her.

Only the devil is interested in leading away and alienating from the Church.

That they themselves do not represent the Church of God is clear, among other things, from their division into countless sects and groups.

There are thousands of sects in Protestantism. Pentecostals are one of them. In America alone, there are thirty-nine sects, many of which do not communicate with each other. Listen to the names of some of them: "The Mount of the Church of God", "The United Assembly of the Church of God", "Gar Theater", "Vigilant Mission", "Mother Horn Church", "Mother Robertson Church", "Jesus and the Vigilant Mission", "Remnant of the Church of God", "Church of Moghera Cook", "Church of the Four Accurate Gospels", "National Spiritual United Temple of the Church of God of David", "Holy American Church of God, Baptized by Fire".

If the Spirit of God was in all these groups, there would be unity between them, it would be one Church, and not so many of the most contrasting organizations.

Not from the quietness of the Holy Spirit of God that takes place in their meetings: convulsive movements, falling "dead", inarticulate screams. We find something similar in pagan cults. They also have many similarities with the phenomenon of spiritualism.

They harbor a spirit of pride, claiming that the entire Church has been in error for nearly two thousand years, but now, in 1900, they have discovered the truth. One American took it and opened it. And the founder of their movement in Greece, Michael Gunas, declared: "Finally, after so many centuries, God first revealed Himself in Greece, as on the day of Pentecost." The grace of God came from him to Greece, just like on the day of Pentecost ?! Before him, She was not there ?! Amazing selfishness and satanic pride!

And what, in fact, about their most beloved difference - glossolalia, "the gift of speaking in tongues"? Yes, indeed, the New Testament narrative mentions this phenomenon. On the day of Pentecost, the holy apostles spoke in the languages ​​of those peoples who had come to worship in Jerusalem in order to convey the Good News to them. The gift of speaking in different languages ​​was a special gift given by God for a very specific purpose: to teach those who did not know Christ to believe in Him. And when the holy apostles spoke in other languages, they did not shout out inarticulate sounds like the possessed. And they spoke not in any horrible languages, but in the dialects of those people who were there and did not know Hebrew, so that they could know the greatness of God and believe. And the inarticulate screams have nothing to do with the true gift of glossolalia, which, without knowing it, Pentecostals think to own.

THE ORTHODOX CHURCH IS A PLACE OF A GENUINE BLESSING EXPERIENCE

In reality, our Orthodox Church is the Church of true Pentecost: because it is the Church of Christ's Incarnation, His Death on the Cross, Resurrection and - Pentecost. When we pull out only one side of everything that Christ has done, distorting and exaggerating its meaning - is this not called heresy? Only that Church that accepts and lives in harmony with the whole work of Christ's economy, including Pentecost, can truly be the Church in which the Holy Spirit of God lives. Can there be a Resurrection without the Cross? Can a person contemplate God before crucifying himself with abstinence, prayer, repentance, humility and the fulfillment of the Lord's commandments? As in the life of Christ, so in the life of a Christian: first - the cross; followed by resurrection and pentecost. These are not Christians who want the resurrection and spiritual gifts without crucifying themselves by repentance, spiritual struggle and obedience to the Church. And they don't make up the true Pentecostal Church.

Here it is, Pentecost - in every Orthodox Divine Liturgy. How does bread and wine become the flesh and blood of Christ? Isn't it the descent of the Holy Spirit? Behold Pentecost. The holy altar of every Orthodox church - isn't it the upper room of Zion? And with every baptized person we have Pentecost. The grace of the Holy Spirit descends on a person and makes him a Christian and a part of the Body of Christ. And every ordination to deacon, priest, and especially to bishop - again Pentecost. The Holy Spirit descends and makes a person a minister of God.

Also Pentecost - every confession. When you humbly bow down to your confessor and repent of your sins, and the confessor reads a prayer of permission over you - isn't the grace of the Holy Spirit accomplishing permission?

Each church prayer and the performance of each sacrament is nothing more than a continuation of Pentecost, since they are performed by the Presence of the Holy Spirit. That is why almost all actions, prayers, sacraments begin with an appeal to Him: "King of Heaven, Comforter, Soul of Truth ... come and dwell in us ..." We ask Paraclitus, Comforter, Holy Spirit to come, and He comes. The Lord Holy Spirit descends to the place where His Holy Orthodox Church, the real Church of Christ, is gathered.

Every saint of our Church is a God-bearer, filled with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of Holy Pentecost.

Asking the Lord's Prayer, "May Thy Kingdom come" also means "May the Grace of the Holy Spirit come," because the Kingdom of God is the Grace of the All-Holy Spirit. So with this prayer we ask the Father for the coming of the Holy Spirit on us.

The Jesus prayer "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner" is also done by the grace of the Holy Spirit, because, as the Apostle Paul says, ... no one can call Jesus Lord except the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12: 3) ... No one will cry: Jesus, my Lord! - if the grace of the Holy Spirit is not with him.

Here is a testimony to you that Pentecost in our Church does not stop.

We have an inexhaustible blessing: the grace of God lives in our Holy Church. We have the opportunity to become our own to God and taste the experience of His Grace, uniting with Him. The Orthodox Church is a reliable and tested ship. This is the Church of the prophets, apostles, saints, martyrs and saints - up to our days, not depleted in it, like, for example, our prayer book and miracle worker Saint Nektarios. This is the Church, which for two thousand years has kept Christ's gospel intact, in spite of persecutions and heretics.

Let's look at history: how many heresies have rebelled against the Church from century to century. Not simple Pentecostals, but emperors with an army and all the power of this world. And the Church is standing. Let us recall the iconoclastic controversy that lasted one hundred and thirty years. And Orthodoxy has not disappeared. Thousands died as martyrs; but the Church was not destroyed, although it seemed weakened. And the more she was persecuted, the stronger in reality She became, enlightened by suffering.

And the Grace of the Most Holy Spirit of God dwells in it. There are saints to this day. The bodies of many saints are incorruptible, exude myrrh, fragrant, and perform miracles. Where else does this happen? In what heresy and in which of the sectarian "churches" are the unburied bodies fragrant? In the Athonite tombs, a fragrance is perceptible, because between the bones of the fathers are the bones of holy monks. And all this is from the presence of the Holy Spirit.

And, by the way, only the water consecrated by Orthodox priests does not deteriorate. Those of you who have it at home know that it doesn't get musty, no matter how much it stands.

INSTEAD OF AN AFTERWORD

This is our faith, Orthodox, holy. Are we really going to reject it in order to follow the newly appeared "saviors" who imagine themselves to be the founders of the Church? Just think what devilish arrogance! The church has been standing for two thousand years, and they come and say that they, the Pentecostals and all the rest, brought the true faith.

And if there is still some excuse to follow them for those who did not know Orthodoxy, it is not for us Orthodox. For us, who did not want to know what we have: what culture, what saints, how many monasteries, how many incorruptible relics, miraculous icons, countless martyrs, wonderful saints. For us, the betrayal of Orthodoxy is an unforgivable, monstrous apostasy from God of our fathers.

The devil tried to crush the Church with various heresies. And every time it came out sideways to him. He thinks to harm Christ, the Church and Christians by declaring war on them, but he himself is defeated. Holy God turns his war to the benefit of the Church. The Orthodox take out of her the confirmation of the faith, become martyrs and confessors, great theologians and serious defenders of the faith.

When, in the 14th century, the Latin monk Barlaam attacked the Orthodox teaching about the energies of God and the Uncreated Light experienced by the ascetics of Athos, God raised up from these ascetics the holy hieromonk Gregory Palamas and made him a great theologian.

So today, if it were not for the heresy of the Pentecostals, we would not have gathered here to delve deeper into our faith, we would not have learned to confess it with all our souls.

Once again, what is directed against the Church turns on the head of her enemies. The Apostle Paul says that there must be differences of opinion ... so that the skilled may be revealed among you (1 Cor. 11, 19). There must, he says, be heresies, so that those who are firm in the faith can prove themselves. So if now godlessness, the service of the flesh and the next heresies are besieging

Church from all sides, through radio, television, newspapers and so on, then this is the time for faithful and genuine Christians, confessors of Holy Orthodoxy, to emerge.

In these very tense times, those who firmly hold onto the Orthodox confession of Christ will be rewarded with great blessings and great rewards from the Holy God. Simply because in these unfortunate and perverse days he was not seduced by the present paganism and did not bow down to the false gods of our time, but firmly confessed the Orthodox faith.

God forbid any Orthodox Christian to become a traitor, a Judas, departing from his holy faith. And to all those who, through ignorance and demonic deception, were carried away by heretical teachings - may the Lord grant enlightenment in order to come to their senses and return, in order to still have hope.

All have sinned, all are sinners, but, being within the Holy Orthodox Church of our Lord, all have the hope of salvation. While, on the contrary, there is no hope for a righteous person who is alien to the Church. Here, in the Church, one can repent, bring confession, and God will permit us, and His Grace will have mercy on us. Outside the Church - who will help us? Outside the Body of Christ - what "holy spirit" will blot out our sins and what "church" will support our poor soul after death?

Any Orthodox who is dying in peace with the Church should know that he has hope. And he who departed from Her does not have one, even though he thought that he was doing a lot of good.

Therefore, I implore you to stand firmly in your holy resolve to the very end to remain faithful to Orthodoxy. Then with us, with the grace of the Holy Spirit and the prayers of our Most Immaculate Mother of God, is the great hope of salvation.

TRANSLATOR'S NOTES
1. The holy fathers call a delight a state of spiritual delusion (glorious deception), in which sensations and thoughts originating from nature and from the devil are taken for gracious experiences emanating from the Holy Spirit.
2. The sacrament, which is the focus of the entire life of the Church, is called the Eucharist (from the Greek εύχαριστέω - I thank) precisely because in it all creation is offered with thanksgiving to the Lord, thereby sanctifying the life of a Christian and everything to which it extends. In the ecclesiastical consciousness, the Eucharist actually appears with the full sense of thanksgiving, "returning" peace to God. For more details see Archimandrite Cyprian (Kern). Eucharist. Paris, 1947. Particulars. With. 25-38.
3. It was with this prophecy that St. the apostle Peter - see Acts. 2, 12-40.
4. Here an essential point is emphasized that distinguishes patristic theology from the legal and philistine concept of the Atonement: the point is not that the Christ's sacrifice on the Cross is given to a person outwardly understood "forgiveness", but that Christ takes upon Himself his nature, damaged by sin, and through suffering in this nature renews it, by virtue of which it becomes capable of receiving divine Grace. See Nicholas Cabasila for details. Seven words about life in Christ. T. 3.M .: Pilgrim. 1991.S. 64-65.
5. The author presupposes the acquaintance of the audience with the patristic teaching, which distinguishes communion with the Divine by nature, by hypostasis and by energy. See, for example: P. Nellas. The Image of God: a part of the forthcoming translation of the monograph, placed in the magazine "Chelovek", 2000, no. 4. 71-86, esp. 79-80
6. The famous wording of the Fourth Ecumenical Council. And then the author continues the line common to the holy fathers: what is accomplished in Christ is accomplished in a Christian; Christology passes directly into anthropology, theology into life.
7. The Lord's principle of discerning spirits "by their fruits you will know them" (Matthew 7, 16 and 20) must always accompany a Christian. It is to deep peace and quietness (meekness) that the fathers point to as a reliable criterion of true spirituality. Wed Gal. 5, 22 - 6,2 - Apostolic reading at the liturgy in honor of the Monks.
8. Wed prayers for holy communion. Zeal - diligence, desire. In the original - eros - love, aspiration of desire.
9. About the passage of certain stages in crying and "the transformation of painful tears into sweet ones," St. John of the Ladder (see Ladder, 7, 55 and 66).
10. In this context, it is interesting to compare the Orthodox iconographic tradition, which in the form of a halo depicts the reality of the Uncreated Light, united with the personality of a condemned person, and the oval corollas adopted in Western church painting, symbolically "crowning" persons awarded with holiness. See Micftel Quenot. The Icon. Mowbray. 1992. P. 153.
11. Second Epistle of St. The Apostle Paul to the Corinthians testifies that both the state of contemplation of the Light and the state of delusion were known to the Church from the very beginning. It is to his words that Satan takes the form of an Angel of Light (2 Cor. 11:14) and the Church Fathers refer to them, warning believers against trusting visions.
12. Wrong experiences must be based on a true view of the person. Revelation speaks of a change that took place after the fall in the primordial human nature, which made it impossible for a person to return to God naturally (only by the forces of his nature). The destructive tendencies of self-deification (cf. Gen. 3, 5: "and you will be like gods") must be overcome by the deed of repentance, without which the entire human psychophysical composition is not only damaged, but also consists in communion with the devil, who "captured" the human nature. Trusting the "natural" methods of "Communion with God" is a direct way to surrender into the hands of the enemy. Since the podvig of repentance, revealed to us by God himself, is painful for egoism, people invent other ways, diverse, but surprisingly similar in one thing: refusal to recognize the labor of repentance as necessary for communion with God.
13. Something similar happened in the young Corinthian church. Some members of this church, probably driving themselves into a state of frenzy, shouted along with "prayers" and blasphemy against God, without controlling their minds and words. This also includes the remark of the Apostle Paul, who criticized the Corinthian community and reminded that the prophetic spirits are obedient to the prophets (1 Cor. 14:32) and that no one who speaks with the Spirit of God will pronounce anathema against Jesus (1 Cor. 12: 3). Wed: Interpretations on the New Testament of Blessed Theophylact, Archbishop of Bulgaria. SPb., 1911.S. 470-490.
14. Probably, at the same time, one should distinguish the speaking of the apostles in different languages ​​on the day of Pentecost from the special gift that was present, in particular, in the Corinthian church of the 1st century (and to which the sectarians mainly refer). In the first case, the apostles spoke in those languages ​​that were understandable to the Jews of the diaspora who listened to them. The special talent of the Corinthian church was that the members of the community proclaimed prayers and prophecies in an unknown - at least to the assembled - "dialect" that needed interpretation (see 1 Cor. 14). The Apostle Paul does not deny the authenticity of this gift, but warns against reckless enthusiasm for it. Such a gift existed in the Church for a rather short period and was accompanied, as we have already seen, by certain delightful states disguised as "the gift of the Holy Spirit" (cf. note 15). Since the end of the first century, we no longer find mention of such gifts in the Church, which were "a sign not for believers, but for unbelievers" (1 Cor. 14:22). This phenomenon is analyzed in detail by Hieromonk Seraphim Rose in the book "Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future".
15. The word "heresy" comes from the Greek. αίρέω "choose".
16. This name means "Comforter" (Greek παράκλητος), is very beloved by Greek hymnographers and most often refers to the Holy Spirit; however, one can also find its application to Christ (see 1 John 2: 1, where "Intercessor" is Greek παράκλητος. Compare also Akathist to Jesus the Sweetest, ikos 10).
17. Wed Joel. 2:32 and Acts. 2:21: And it will be: everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
18. This refers to St. Nektarios of Aegins (1846-1920), glorified by the Greek Church in 1961 (Comm. 9 November).

Paul, by the will of God an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the saints and faithful in Ephesus in Christ Jesus: grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 1: 1).

The Holy Apostle Paul uses two important terms - grace and peace, naturally, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I would like to talk a little about grace (and this topic is inexhaustible): the word grace is often found in the Church.

Conversation of Nikolai Motovilov with the Monk Seraphim of Sarov We say that in such and such a person the grace of God is felt, and also: "the grace of God be with you." When the grace of God is present, then everything is in order. We also say that the purpose of human life is to acquire the grace of God. What is this - grace, about which the holy Apostle Paul speaks and which is constantly mentioned both in the New Testament and in the instructions of the holy fathers?

Grace is so called because it is charisma, a gift; she's not that ...

God's grace

Using different words, people do not always understand what they are talking about. Sometimes they do not know, because they do not show curiosity, sometimes their information about this concept is incorrect. God's grace is a kind of imperceptible physical means of power that God sends to man to cleanse him from defilement. The word grace itself speaks of a gift, that is, this power is sent by chance.

Since the devil is omnipresent, he is considered a being much more developed than man. To combat human vices and fears, the Lord grants people grace. For the most part, God's grace is a manifestation of the holiness of a person, a confirmation that he really gives all his faith and life to God.

God's grace is presented as something intangible, like a veil separating us from Hell and Paradise. Only those who believe and follow the teachings of Christ every day, who are struggling with sin, can understand that grace has descended upon him. The realization that the grace of God is with you is not ...

When you think about what grace is, the question arises along the way: "How does it differ from the concepts of love and mercy?" In the literary Old Russian work "The Word of Law and Grace" you can glean many interesting conclusions on this topic. According to church teaching, it is the superior gift of God to man.

The Holy Fathers consider grace to be "Divine glory," "rays of the Divine," "uncreated light." All three components of the Holy Trinity have its effect. In the scripture of St. Gregory Palamas it is said that this is "a common energy and Divine power and action in the Trinity of God."

First of all, everyone should understand for himself that grace is not the same thing as the love of God and his mercy (mercy). These are three completely different manifestations of God's character. The highest grace is when a person receives what he does not deserve and does not deserve.

Love. Mercy. God's grace

The main feature of God is love. It manifests itself in ...

In the footsteps of discussions

The meaning and purpose of grace is God's law or grace?

1. What is grace and how grace differs from mercy and love.

You need to understand that God's Grace is not the same thing as mercy (mercy) and God's love. These are three different traits of God's character. Ephesians 2: 4-7 testifies to this: “God, who is rich in mercy, according to His great love, by which He loved us, and us, who were dead in crimes, He quickened with Christ, - by grace you are saved, - He also raised us up with Him and placed us in heaven in Christ Jesus, in order to reveal in the ages to come the abundant riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. "

Love is one of the main features of God, manifested in His care for us, forgiveness, protection, etc. (“God is love” - 1 John 4: 8). Read more about the characteristics of love in the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians. Mercy is when we don't receive the punishment we deserve. Grace is when we ...

Grace (ancient Greek ...

Oleg Chaban Master (1082) 4 years ago

The grace of God is the power of God, which is given to us by special providence, the grace of God towards us. It acts beneficially on our soul, gives us peace, joy, consolation, prosperity, and everything that pleases our soul is given by the grace of God. We know that many people, even unbelievers, come to church, do not know how to pray, what to do in church, but, staying for some time in church, participating in church prayer, although they do not know how to pray, they feel relief, pacification, tranquility, some kind of joy, consolation, even tears of repentance or joy. This is the action of the grace of God, which acts on the soul of a person and gives him such a state. Therefore, the holy fathers, including Seraphim of Sarov, said that one of the important components of our life is to acquire the grace of God, the Spirit of God, life-giving and saving. By the grace of God, we exist and act and have the opportunity to overcome all difficulties, ...

Grace is given free of charge, not for our merits and some special deeds. The sun sheds its rays on both the righteous and the sinners. So the grace of God is poured out from God on every person according to his faith in the mercy of God.

Another thing is how to be constantly under grace, to be in grace, to be saturated with it. Imagine this picture: two people, wandering along a dusty road in the midday heat, languishing with thirst, are suddenly caught in a stream of blessed rain from the sky, carrying life-giving moisture and relief. One person exposes himself all under the streams of rain, with pleasure absorbing life-giving drops with his whole body, and the other hastily puts on a waterproof raincoat, tightly isolating himself from the stream from heaven.

It also happens ...

Eh! What kind of grace, the birds are singing ”- You can often hear such words when a person feels good. But what is grace and why is it impossible to speak like the above?

The word "grace" is very often found in the Holy Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, and is used in various senses:

a) sometimes means benevolence, benevolence, benevolence, mercy (Gen. 6: 8; Eccl. 9:11; Est. 2:15; 8: 5);

b) sometimes a gift, a good, every good, every gift that God gives to His creatures, without any merit on their part (1 Pet. 5:10; Rom. 11: 6; Zech. 12:10), and natural gifts by which the whole earth is full (Psalm 83:12; 146: 8-9; Acts 14:15-17; 17:25; James 1:17) and the supernatural, extraordinary gifts of God that are given by God to various members of the church (1 Cor. 12: 4-11; Rom. 12: 6; Ephesians 4: 7-8);

c) sometimes means the whole great work of our redemption and salvation, accomplished by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. “For the grace of God has appeared, ...

What is grace?

Richard's Bible Dictionary says that the Hebrew word for "to be merciful" in combination with the word "find favor" most closely matches the New Testament word for "grace."

According to the International Bible Encyclopedia, the closest meaning often expressed by the apostle Paul in the Word "Grace" is "acceptance."

Another meaning of the word "grace" in Greek, which was also widespread in Paul's time, is "undeserved mercy."

The word "grace" in its full meaning is not found in the Old Testament. “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. " (John 1: 17). The New Testament is a covenant of grace.

Where did grace come from?

God has always given salvation on the basis of grace; yet grace was not fully manifested until “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; and we have seen His glory ...

No matter how much Jesus Christ gave for the moral life of a person, in fact, for true salvation, people need the additional participation of divine help, which allows them to fully assimilate and appreciate the saving merits of the Son of the Lord.

Such help is given in the form of the Grace of God, considered in Christianity as a gift to man from God. What is Grace? What is its essence and how does it affect people?

What is Grace in the Bible?

The very term "grace" comes from the ancient Greek word ...

The grace of God ... What is it? Invisible, but real power, the energy of God's love, permeating the whole world. We perceive this energy if our soul is tuned to God, like an antenna to radio waves. A person under the influence of grace changes, transforms, receives incredible spiritual gifts, and most importantly - he feels himself in the Presence of God. This sensation gives rise to inexpressible sweetness, happiness ...
You and I touch this experience sometimes, for brief seconds or minutes. There is probably no believer who has not experienced this state at least once or twice in his life.
But what is revealed to us for a moment is the everlasting and constant state of holy people. The classic description of such an experience is the Conversation of the Monk Seraphim of Sarov with Motovilov.

Recently I read a wonderful book "Life and Words" about the modern Greek ascetic Elder Porfiry Kavsokalivit (1906-1991). This is not a surname, but a name, by name ...

Grace

The word "grace" is Slavic, and means "the giving of good."

St. John of Kronstadt:

“What is grace? The gift of God given to a person for the sake of faith in Christ for the salvation of a Christian person. Grace is an interceding power, merciful, enlightening, saving, disposing to all virtue. "

1. Types of grace

2. Misunderstanding of grace

3. Without the action of grace, human salvation is impossible

4. Preceding grace

5. How does God's saving grace work?

6. Reasons for the retreat of grace

7. The relationship of grace to human freedom

8. God's grace calls for the salvation of everyone

9. "The time and place of the action of grace is only here"

1. Types of grace

It is used in the Holy Scriptures in different meanings. Sometimes it denotes the mercy of God in general: God is “the God of all grace” (1 Peter 5, 10). In this broadest sense, grace is ...

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12. How to find God's grace

"So, having a great High Priest who passed through heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us firmly adhere to our confession. For we do not have such a high priest who cannot sympathize with us in our weaknesses, but who, like us, is tempted in everything except sin."

Several years ago, a friend of mine offered me a new position in the Navigators mission. I liked my job and did not want to change it at all. Nevertheless, I replied that I would think about it and pray. I hoped that I would pray and God would show me that a new job was not for me.

To say that I didn't really like the new job - ...

The book of contradictions, or what is "God's grace"

Isaiah. I'll write-cut or when the wolf lives with the goat

Isaiah (Yeshayau) is one of the so-called “great” biblical prophets. They say that he came from a noble Jewish family and was even a relative of the Jewish kings - a descendant of the incomparable king David. Born in Jerusalem in the 8th century BC. He has been channeling for about 60 years. During this time, four kings managed to reign in Judea - Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah and Manasseh. Isaiah's career began with a very significant event. Once, most likely a little too much with the dose, he saw the God of hosts with robes on the throne in the heavenly temple in the company of seraphim - creatures with 6 wings, 2 of which were used for their intended purpose, and the remaining 4 were used to cover faces and ... legs ...
So much for you! They, what: everyone switched to another channel? Previously, Jehovah was fussing all the time, but then suddenly ...

God's grace

WHAT IS GOD'S GRACE

St. John of Kronstadt. Well, there is simply nothing to add:

“What is grace? The good power of God, given to a person who believes and was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ or the Holy Trinity, cleansing, sanctifying, enlightening, helping in doing good and moving away from evil, comforting and encouraging in adversity, sorrow and disease, co-operating in receiving the eternal blessings prepared by God in heaven to His elect. Whether anyone was proud, proud, angry, envious, but became meek and humble, selfless for the glory of God and the good of one's neighbor, benevolent to everyone, condescending, yielding without connivance - he has become such a power of grace. Whether anyone was an unbeliever, but has become a believer and a diligent follower of the precepts of faith, - he has become such a power of grace. Was anyone loving money for money, selfish and unjust, hard-hearted towards the poor, but having changed in the depths of his soul, he became non-covetous, truthful, generous, compassionate, ...