How to save a soul from eternal destruction - a collection of spiritual and moral articles. Compiled by priest Nikolai Uspensky.
About faith, hope and love for God
What is the Orthodox faith
How holy faith strengthens and grows
Believe in simplicity of heart
Faith in God
Hope in God
You will trust in God and get rid of evil
Love for God
Where to find Jesus Christ
Who loves the Lord
Who doesn't love the Lord
That the faith of the Orthodox Church is true faith
Who will separate us from the love of God
On Doubt in Matters of Faith
Spirit of unbelief in Russia
Signs of disbelief
Why does faith weaken?
Don't be cold to faith
Beware of disbelief
Do not be discouraged, Christian, if moments of unbelief and doubts about the truths of faith come upon you. This can and does happen to every believer.
About prayer and its power
How should we approach the prayer we read?
How to pray to God
Preparation for prayer
The act of praying
What to do after prayer
What is true prayer?
On the effect of prayer (selected letters of St. Nile the Ascetic)
The need to constantly and without laziness pray
Who should you pray for first?
Christian, do not weaken in your prayer.
About prayer before icons
On calling upon saints in prayers
"Lord have mercy!"
Lord's Prayer
Prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary
Advice to those praying
An example of the saving effect of prayer
What to do when prayer doesn't come to mind
Night prayer
Blessed is he who has firm faith and knows how to pray fervently
“Praying is very difficult”
When you feel weak in prayer
Instructions on Prayer
An important note from the Holy Father about prayer
How to save your souls from eternal destruction
Prayer in church and prayer at home
About prayer in the temple of God
Don't tell people that God heard your prayer
Why psalmody was introduced into our lives and why the prophecies themselves are predominantly pronounced with singing
Examples of the Power of Prayer
About the sign of the cross and its power
About the sign of the cross in general
Why do we make the sign of the cross?
The power of the banner of the cross
Reward for Veneration of the Image of the Cross
The power of the honorable cross saves you from drowning
About holy icons
About icons in general and their holiness
Use and veneration of St. icons is based on Holy Scripture
On the use and veneration of St. icons in the Christian Church from the first times, says the Holy Tradition
The veneration of holy icons is sanctified by miracles that the Lord deigned to perform through them
On the correct veneration of holy icons
On the veneration of the Holy Mysteries of Christ
Oh St. communion
The miraculous power of the Holy Mysteries
The fate of those who do not honor the Holy Mystery
The power of faith in the sacrament of St. Eucharist
The order of preparation and administration of Holy Communion
About honoring Sunday and holidays
About honoring Sunday
Sunday is the Lord's day
Holiday rest is essential for human well-being
How to spend holidays
Sunday afternoon in London
It's a sin to work on holidays
“Poor man, why don’t you rest on Sunday?”
The Word of God and its power
The Word of God is the greatest good for the human heart
The Word of God is food for the soul
About the Holy Bible
Judging the Bible Do you have a Bible?
When to Read the Bible
In what order should you read the Bible?
About the Gospel
Book of Eternal Life
What to do when, while reading the Bible, you don’t understand something
The Power of God's Word
Miracles and their power
About miracles
Continuous miracles
Miracles of Gospel healings
Christian Family Life
A few words to those entering marriage
True Christian marriage and what it is like for us
Christian Family Life
About family well-being
How to call upon yourself God's blessing
Family troubles - as a cause of peasant disasters
Childhood and adolescence are the most convenient time for teaching children our rules of piety
Parents, teach your children prayers
Youth is a happy time
On children's obedience to parents
The Importance of the Fifth Commandment of God's Law
Duties prescribed by the fifth commandment
Examples of deep obedience and devotion to superiors and mentors
God's clear punishment for disrespect for parents
Which parents should leave an inheritance to their children?
Spoiled Children
To you, fathers and mothers, my word
Exhortation to Youth
Warning, especially to the youth, against the passions of rebellion and false interpretations
Pastor's instructions to spiritual children
Advice from father to son
What should parents do with their daughters?
Women's passion for clothes
Don't worry about clothes and outfits
How ordinary people look at a woman
To console the sick and mourning
Diseases and their benefits
What to do in times of grief
"Be patient in tribulation"
“Return, my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has prospered you.”
A few words to the offended
The murmur of people about their bitter fate
Troubles and adversities are our well-being. God is our refuge
Our idols
Modern idolatry
Spiritual idolatry
About wealth
Wealth and poverty
How to get rich better
What is a person's true wealth?
Wealth is a great gift of God, a great mercy of God.
“Do not fear when a man becomes rich or when the glory of his house increases.”
Troubles from riches
How to behave when you are rich
Smart management of wealth
The Rich Man and Lazarus
Comfort to the Poor
Sin of love of money
The Lord punishes cruel money lovers
About envy
About pride
About the same
Pharisee and publican in a Christian temple
Anti-Pride Remedy
Pride and vanity
A lesson against greed
About drunkenness
Terrible sins
“Do not get drunk with wine, there is fornication in it”
What causes greed for wine?
A lesson to the common people against drunkenness
The fruits of drunkenness
Graceful cure for drunkenness
Cure from binge drinking
Common excuses people give for sobriety
God's punishment for a dissolute life
Sins of our time and bad customs
Card game
"We are dark people"
About bad thoughts and temptations
Bad thoughts
About temptations
What to do when faced with temptations
How to avoid temptations
What are the souls of those infected with passions like?
Our temptations: the struggle with the flesh and the world
The life of an evil man, addicted to the world and the flesh
How to deal with passions
The world lies in evil
Devil's snares
A powerful weapon against the devil
About death and afterlife
Scary word
What is death
The horror of death
Death, grave, destruction
The hour of my death
The hour of death, who will escape you
The unknown of the hour of death
Every person is destined to die and then appear at the Judgment of God
Like St. martyrs stared at death
How should we look at our death?
How to prepare for death
Remarkable sayings of the great righteous before their death
A dying man's view of his past life
A truly Christian death
Death of a Sinner
About why sometimes good and honest people die a bad death, and evil and vicious people die a good death
How should one spend the last days and hours of life?
The need and benefits of commemorating the dead
Benefit to the souls of the departed from commemoration at the liturgy
About the need to give alms for the dead
About the benefits of visiting a cemetery
Sky
About the afterlife
The afterlife
About our afterlife fate
The revived dead woman is a messenger from the afterlife
Last Judgment
We'll see you again in eternity
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Pray for the forgiveness of the sins of others in the same way as you pray for the forgiveness of your own sins, when they, striking your soul with sorrow and oppression, prompt you with pain, contrition of heart and with tears to beg God for mercy; Equally, pray for the salvation of others as for your own. If you achieve this and turn it into a skill, then you will receive from the Lord an abundance of spiritual gifts, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, Who loves a soul that sympathizes with the salvation of others, because He Himself, the All-Holy Spirit, wants in every possible way to save us all, so long as we do not resist Him, did not harden their hearts. “The Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be uttered.” () (1).
* * *
Christians, especially Orthodox Christians, who preserve and observe in the purity of their God-given faith, have been given so many blessings and strength from God for salvation, so many secrets of God have been revealed, that it is easy for believers, attentive people, who strive in their faith to be saved and become heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven, the eternal, The yoke of the Lord is easy, and His burden is light (). The angels marvel with trepidation at the mercy of God towards us, manifested in the incarnation of God for our sake, His cohabitation with people on earth, His personal teaching, the countless miracles He performed to assure His Divinity and Divine embassy, in suffering for us, death, burial and resurrection from the dead and ascension into heaven with the promise of His second terrible coming to judge the living and the dead (4).
* * *
I am constantly amazed by God's all-good, all-wise structure for the salvation of human souls, created in the image and likeness of the all-good, all-wise eternal God from the very beginning of the human race until the end of time. Listen and delve into what God has done and is doing for this great, humane work from the very beginning of the fall of the first people into sin, curse and death, from the first removal of them from Him. How much concern for salvation, what a promise about the Seed of the woman, who has to erase the head of the serpent! How much care there is for the chosen seed - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, for all the patriarchs of the chosen people, as well as for the people! What a wonderful industry, how many miracles (during the exodus from Egypt) in the desert, under the judges, under the kings of the chosen people! How many paternal punishments from the Lord God to the stubborn, criminal people, how many terrible captivities; how many deaths of those guilty before God! And various idolatrous peoples - what scourges of God they served to punish the Jews, how they themselves were later crushed by the righteous judgment of God! And in the New Testament - the appearance of the Archangel Zechariah, the birth of the Forerunner, the Annunciation to the Ever-Virgin and the birth of the Savior of the world (4)!
* * *
When you sin against God and your sins torment and burn you, then quickly seek the one Sacrifice for sins, eternal and living, and cast your sins before the face of this Sacrifice. Otherwise, there is no salvation for you from anywhere. Don’t think about saving yourself (6).
* * *
Wonderfully, powerfully, quickly, He (the Lord) intercedes and saves me in my troubles and difficulties, in my hobbies. When I cry to Him for my salvation, invisible enemies flee from me after their dirty tricks within me, and I tangibly recognize the saving right hand of my God, my Savior, above me. Glory, thanksgiving to the Shepherd and Visitor of my soul (6)!
* * *
Please God in everything and at all times and think about saving your soul from sins and the devil and assimilating it to God. Get out of bed, cross yourself and say: in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and also: Lord, grant us to be preserved without sin on this day and teach me to do Your will. When you wash at home or in the bathhouse, say: sprinkle me with hyssop, Lord, and I will be cleansed; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow (). When you put on underwear, think about the purity of your heart and ask the Lord for a pure heart: create a pure heart in me, O God. Having sewn a new one and putting it on, think about the renewal of the spirit and say: the spirit is right, Lord, renew it in my womb (). If you put aside old clothes with disdain for them, think about putting away with great disdain the old man, sinful, passionate, carnal. When you eat the sweet bread, think about the true bread that gives eternal life to souls - the Body and Blood of Christ - and hunger for this bread, that is, desire to partake of it more often. When you drink water, or tea, or sweet honey, or any other drink, think about the true drink that quenches souls consumed by passions, about the Most Pure and Life-Giving Blood of the Savior. When you rest during the day, think about the eternal peace prepared for those who labored here in the struggle against sin, against the spirits of evil in high places, against human untruths or human ignorance and rudeness. When you go to sleep at night, think about the sleep of death, which sooner or later will certainly come for all of us, and about that dark, eternal, terrible night into which all unrepentant sinners will be cast down. As you greet the day, think about the non-evening, eternal, brighter than the present sunny day, the day of the Kingdom of Heaven, on which all those who have pleased God or who have repented from the bottom of their hearts to God in this temporary life will rejoice. Whenever you go anywhere, think about the rightness of your spiritual walk in the face of God and say: Direct my feet according to Your word, and let no iniquity possess me (). Whenever you do anything, try to do this with the thought of God the Creator, who created everything with His infinite wisdom, His goodness, His omnipotence and created you in His image and likeness. Whether you receive or have money, treasure, think that our inexhaustible Treasure, from which all the treasures of soul and body, the ever-flowing source of all good, is God, thank Him with all your soul and do not keep your treasures with yourself, lest you close the entrance to your heart priceless and living Treasure - God, but give from your fortune to your demanding, needy, poor brothers, who are left in this life for this purpose, so that you can prove to them your love, gratitude to God and receive a reward from God for this in eternity. Do you see the white silver shine, that is, silver, do not be seduced by it, but think that your soul should be white and shine with the virtues of Christ. If you see golden glitter or gold, do not be seduced by it, but remember that your soul should be like gold, purified by fire, and that the Lord wants to enlighten you, like the sun, in the eternal, bright Kingdom of His Father, that you will see the unsetting Sun of Truth - God in three Persons, the Most Holy Lady Theotokos, and all the Heavenly Powers, and holy people, filled with indescribable light and shining with light (6).
* * *
You cannot overcome a single passion or a single sin without grace-filled help; always ask for help from Christ your Savior. This is why He came into the world, this is why He suffered, died and rose again, in order to help us in everything, to save us from sin and from the violence of passions, to cleanse our sins, to give us in the Holy Spirit strength to do good deeds, so that enlighten us, strengthen us, pacify us. You say: how can you be saved when you sin at every step and every minute? The answer to this is simple: at every step, at every minute, call on the Savior, remember the Savior, and you will be saved and you will save others (7).
* * *
There is nothing more important in the world than the salvation of human souls, and there is no subject more worthy of constant and everlasting remembrance than the redemption of the world by the Son of God from sin, damnation and eternal death. The saint inscribed forever in indelible letters, images and rituals in her Divine Service the entire economy of our salvation, so that people so prone to forgetting God and the salvation of their souls and all that God has done for our salvation, eternal joy and bliss, would constantly have, so to say, before our eyes and as if under our hands, all the great, wise and good deeds of God regarding us, constantly aroused themselves to repentance, correction and salvation and fled the vanity of the world, corruptible and fleeting. “The world passes away, and so does its lust, but he who does the will of God abides forever.” () (7).
* * *
Throughout our earthly life, God, for the sake of His Son, for the sake of us who became human and took upon Himself all the sins of the world, cares about our salvation, leads us to it, as if by the hand, by His Holy Spirit, Who is the guarantee of the inheritance of future blessings through worship, preaching, the Word God and the Sacraments of the Church, through conscience and the testing of our insides - and, finally, will lead us into the inheritance of the promised benefits (7).
* * *
The Creator of heaven and earth, of everything visible and invisible, the One who shone the sun, the month and countless stars in the sky, the One who poured out the air for the breathing of all living things, who poured water over the face of the earth, who covers the whole earth with vegetation and bears fruit, grows and nourishes all living creatures, the only begotten Son of God deigned to become man to save the one who fell by his own will from life into man; endures for him the most painful sufferings on the Cross and the most blasphemous death, so that His sufferings would be imputed to the just Heavenly Father as the own sufferings of all humanity of all times and places, and so that, thus, humanity devoted to Him with faith and love would be delivered from unimaginable eternal torments in hell and from death the second. A person with undimmed heart eyes, seeing such endless love of the great, omnipotent God for sinful man, cannot help but cry from the feeling of God’s boundless love and sheds tears of love and gratitude, having nothing more to bring than his tears to the One to whom our tears of love are dear. But how do most of us respond to such love of God? Insensibility, readiness to crucify the Son of God a second time with all possible vices, servility to our sinful flesh, the most intensified, so that most of us, as if forgetting about the suffering of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, live not at all for heaven and not for our souls, but for earth and for his body and barely, according to the establishment of the Church, he agrees to deny his flesh excess food and drink for only a few days. So, we ourselves are moving away from our salvation by all means; The Savior suffered for us on the Cross, but we do not want to know this suffering; He commanded us for our salvation to each take up our crosses and follow Him to heavenly glory, but we don’t even want to hear; It was indicated to us as a medicine to mortify our flesh with passions and lusts, but we try even harder to satisfy our passions, to fulfill our lusts. Well, this will be the end. And we will be consumed by eternal fire, and we will not receive a single drop of coolness in the Gehenna flames because here we had all possible coolness, all possible pleasures for the sinful flesh. God forbid! Rather, for the cross, while the Crucified One still continues His mercies to us (8).
* * *
If we generously endure sorrows, illnesses, deprivations and various misfortunes in life and consider them due reward for our sins, remembering with faith and love the terrible passions of the Savior, endured for our sake, then blessed are we: the crucified Lord will save us. But woe to those who are Christians only in name and trample on His saving teaching by their disdain for Him or by arrogant speculations about Him, who live according to the will of their hearts in untruth, in uncleanness, in oblivion of God: they should be horrified by their terrible situation: “It’s scary to fall into the hands of the living God!”(). "The God of Villains" will put the evil one to death"(). The Giver of Life will not save unrepentant sinners, but will condemn them; but sinners who sincerely repent of their sins, who have heartfelt faith in the Lord and hope in Him and who cleanse themselves from sins, will be saved by Him: with His suffering on the cross the Savior will cover their sins, committed through human weakness (8).
* * *
The Lord warns: if you want to be saved, if you want to be blissful in heaven with all the saints, do not live according to your own will and according to the inspiration of your passions, renounce your sinful and unstable will and submit in everything to the will of God, always holy and good. Then you completely unite yourself to Christ, because it is impossible for Christ, the source of goodness, to unite with an evil, unkind, unrighteous, partial person; What kind of communication does light have with darkness, does Christ have with Satan (see)? None.
Therefore, Christ the Savior announces in advance that whoever thinks to save his soul by avoiding self-sacrifice will lose it. What kind of soul are we talking about here? And about the one who pleases herself, caresses, cherishes, pampers, pampers, amuses herself with games, luxury, wealth, pleasures of all kinds. What does it mean to save your soul here? It means not touching the passions of the soul, leaving them alone, letting them live and grow stronger. And everything that a person invents that is pleasant, cheerful and luxurious in life, all this serves to his destruction: his soul dies from wealth and luxury, which attracts it to self-pleasure, to vanity, pride, curiosity, because faith, grace and everything that constitutes true life. On the contrary, he who will fight against passions and other inclinations and die for the sake of truth will save, preserve his soul for eternity. Such, for example, are the martyrs who, for Christ, to preserve faith in Him and love for Him, lost their life for the earth and acquired it for another life: they received eternal rewards from the Lord God.
Here, the destruction of the soul means the destruction of passions and the mortification of sin in oneself and all sinful lusts. It is difficult to eradicate them, they have taken deep roots in us: it is difficult for a drunkard to part with drunkenness, for a proud person to part with ambition, for a lustful person to part with fornication, for a money lover to part with money, but we must part with it, otherwise it is impossible to become a true follower of Christ, a follower not only in words and in words. name, but also in reality. The Lord intensifies his speech and says that there is no benefit for a person even in possessing the whole world if he destroys his soul: with the blessings of the whole world he will not redeem his soul from eternal destruction. What glory was Alexander the Great, Napoleon and others, and everything disappeared like smoke, everything passed like a dream, because their souls perished in one in drunkenness, in the other because of blinded pride, in the rejection of God (9 ).
* * *
Man, Christian! Remember how much thoughtful and wonderful providence the Lord showed for your salvation, predetermining to save You before the world was created, announcing His coming to earth through the prophets and various righteous men of the Old Testament, how He came to earth and fulfilled all His wondrous plans for You , founding with shepherding and the Sacraments, giving her the saving word, grace upon grace, all-saving means to life and piety! Remember the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ for you, the atoning death on the cross, the resurrection and ascension into heaven and the promise to come to earth a second time with glory for the judgment of the living and the dead. Tell me, what are you doing for your own salvation, for the Kingdom of Heaven is acquired through effort, and those who use effort acquire it (see)? Be ashamed of yourself, repent, mourn your unbelief, negligence, inertia, laziness, vanity, madness, pride, envy, covetousness, intemperance, debauchery, fornication and every passion, and quickly get down to the work of your salvation. Read the Word of God, read how holy, servile people lived and labored (9).
* * *
A person’s heart energy should be directed entirely to God, to His love, to fulfilling the holy commandments, to the fight against evil or sins of all kinds, to maintaining spiritual peace, meekness, humility, freedom of spirit, sympathy for humanity in its weaknesses, errors, losses, failures, sorrows and illnesses, and not to pride, not to love of money and voluptuousness, to gluttony and immoderate pleasures, to games, performances, to horse races, to riding a bicycle. Meanwhile, the enemy tries to direct all the energy of our heart and will towards vanity, towards the passions of the flesh and spirit, towards the love of the world and everything in the world: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life () - and thus constantly steals the most precious good man – the salvation of the soul (10).
* * *
Our carelessness, negligence, and laziness about our salvation are amazing, for how many means, strengths, and conveniences for salvation have been given to us by the many-merciful and all-generous Lord! This is our natural thirst for salvation, peace and bliss in the soul; the light of reason and the desire of our will for everything true, good, beautiful, pure, sublime; the abundance of grace given to us for salvation and, like rivers, flowing in the Church and filling souls thirsting for salvation; the nearness and readiness of the Lord to save us at all times and at every hour; intercession of the Holy Spirit "with sighs unspeakable"(), benefits, assistance of Guardian Angels for salvation, daily worship in church, saving Sacraments, prayers and intercession of the Mother of God and all saints. It’s amazing with all this how we can perish and not all be saved. Of course, there is a lot of opposition to salvation: temptations from the many-passionate flesh, from the adulterous and sinful world, from the devil, who has laid snares for destruction everywhere; natural corruption, sinful conception and birth in sin; inclinations and habits towards sin. But there are far more means to salvation than to destruction. "For He who is in you(Christ), more than anyone in the world(devil)” (), and all the saints overcame all obstacles and were saved. What about us? We doze and sleep! It's shameful, sinful, painful, deplorable. Sin takes power over us by the fact that it is deeply buried and lodged in us, in our heart, in our many-passionate flesh, making itself a fortress out of our own passions: self-love, voluptuousness, ambition, pride, greed, intemperance, conceit, lack of faith, unbelief , freethinking, hypocrisy, partiality, laziness, deceit, and with these passions, like powerful weapons, it shoots us down and takes us captive, tearing us away, removing us from Christ, our true Life. Therefore, anyone who wants salvation must dig, delve deeper into his heart and lay the foundation on a rock, that is, on Christ the Savior, on a strong, unshakable faith in Him, trust in Him, and on no one else, on nothing else - on strong love for Him and neighbor (10).
* * *
The work of saving our souls is the greatest, the wisest work, and we must learn this work, this skill from those to whom this work has been revealed, who have accomplished this work; and this - the work of salvation, the work of repentance - was revealed especially to the saints, since they especially tried to deal with it and accomplished it in an excellent way, pleasing to God, soul-saving (10).
* * *
The Lord God has the goal of your life - your eternal salvation - always in mind. He leads you to him by whatever destinies He knows. Therefore, if you have to endure troubles in life, endure them generously, knowing that, of course, they are needed in the matter of your salvation (10).
There are people who would like to save their souls, but do not know how to start this business. Many people put off worrying about saving their souls until the future.
Young people think: “It’s too early for us to think about salvation; saving the soul is difficult, but we want to live and have fun. Later, when we’re older, we’ll start thinking about the soul.”
Mature people think: “Now it’s impossible for me to think about saving my soul. After all, to save the soul you need to leave everything worldly and retire somewhere to solitude. But I have a family, a farm, and I can’t leave it. Someday later, when old age comes, then I will be saved.”
And the old people think: “We have become old, we don’t have the strength to work to save our souls: we can’t fast, we’re not used to praying, we won’t be accepted into the monastery anymore. Let's live as we lived for now; illness will come, then we will send for the priest and repent.”
This is how both young and mature people put off their salvation, and this is how old people do not care about their souls. This is how both those, and others, and others deceive themselves. Just as young people do not begin their salvation when they reach adulthood, so even if they do not begin salvation in adulthood, they will not begin it in old age; Likewise, those who have reached old age do not have time to repent on their deathbed, for before the priest has time to arrive to them, they often leave this life unrepentant and unrefined. This is how youth, maturity, and old age perish in soul.
They all lose salvation, which was purchased at such a high price as the Blood of the Son of God.
And they lose their salvation because they consider this matter too difficult, boring, and the obstacles to this are insurmountable for themselves.
In fact, saving the soul is not as difficult as it seems.
All obstacles will be easily removed if people use the means that have already been given to them as Christians. The main reason that people put off their salvation until the future is that they lack determination - often because they do not know how to begin this important task.
How to do this? It is best to begin salvation not with what is more difficult, not with the feat of withdrawal from the world, not with strict fasting and long prayers, but with the easiest thing.
The easiest thing is for the sinner to recognize his sinfulness, sigh for himself and turn to God with a prayer, although short, but earnest, like the following: “Lord, I am a sinner, I am perishing - save me!” This prayer must be repeated every day and at the same time think about the fact that you need to begin your salvation.
This thought about salvation will be the beginning leading to salvation. After this, you need to begin to cleanse your soul from those sins that have surrounded it, just as a stinking corpse is surrounded by all sorts of reptiles: flies, beetles, worms, etc. You need to take these reptiles out of your soul one by one and throw them away from you. In other words: you need to start fighting your bad habits, your vices, your passions. But this fight needs to start small.
After all, we do not fall into grave sins suddenly, but we approach them gradually, starting with a small, almost insignificant event. Let's see, for example, how a man became a drunkard. He almost didn’t even notice the first time he started drinking wine in the smallest amount. Here he was, young, sitting in the company of elders drinking wine. Here was an opportunity for everyone to drink a common cup for the health of someone or on the occasion of some event or holiday. Everyone drinks - and a cup of wine is poured for him.
What should he do? To drink from it or not to drink from it? Those sitting nearby say to him, sometimes even relatives, father or mother: "You, darling, don’t drink, just take a sip.” And he obeyed, took a sip, that is, touched his lips or drank one sip of wine. But this sip became fatal for him: after that he began to boldly not only sip, but also drink, then drink, maybe at first half a glass, then a full cup, and the further, the more. He was already drawn to wine. In any case, with joy and grief, he began to drink, and then drink without any reason, because he was thirsty. And so, the first, apparently innocent sip of wine made him a drunkard.
What was his mistake? The fact is that he should not have taken the first sip, and having done so, he should not have repeated it, and if he repeated it, then stop when he had not yet had a strong urge to drink. When he noticed this urge in himself, he had to resolutely resist it: he had to force himself so as not to fulfill the desire that appeared in him to drink while it was not strong; He should then have mentally prayed to God so that He would not let him become addicted to wine. If he had done this, he would not have been a drunkard.
Similarly, a person becomes accustomed to theft. Beware of taking someone else's thing secretly without asking, even the most insignificant one. Be careful not to hide someone else's penny you find. One Christian woman in her daily entry thus depicts the gradual habit of sin, starting from an insignificant reason and ending with a serious fall:
“If, after committing a grave sin, I wanted to get to the reason that led me to such an action, and I would first remember the thought that aroused lust, then the incident that gave rise to this thought, then I would see that it was almost nothing, a small thing, a barely noticeable trifle . It was an ambiguous word that I heard and grinned at; it was an indifferent glance thrown by me, from which my conscience, however, kept me; it was an unnecessary explanation that I achieved out of empty curiosity; it was prayer that I neglected and which I replaced with another, more entertaining activity; this was the work I left behind while I was following something vague in my mind... A week later the same thing was repeated for a longer time - the remorse became duller and finally fell silent... Another week... but we won’t continue: anyone who has experienced something like this can finish his own story and draw out a moral lesson.”
From this story it is clear how the most insignificant incident, an ambiguous word and a smile about it, led a person to grave sin.
This is the way of the Fall. The same can be the return from a sinful life to repentance and correction.
For Mary of Egypt, this first great sinner, then a great laborer, the beginning of her conversion was a certain force, unknown to her at first, which did not allow her to enter the Temple of Jerusalem to venerate the Life-Giving Cross. Recognizing God's power in this, she immediately promised to improve and immediately went into the desert.
One man told the Monk Paul the Simple about himself that the reason for his turning to God was the words he heard in church: Wash yourself, make yourself clean; remove your evil deeds from before my eyes(Isa. 1:16). And with these words he began his salvation.
But these examples may seem inimitable to someone: “After all, these were people who achieved great holiness, they, perhaps, received special grace from God, and we are ordinary people.” No, and they were ordinary people - and if they received special grace, it was only after they had shown a lot of zeal in the matter of their salvation.
However, let's leave them and look for other examples that are more suitable for us. Here is the Gospel prodigal son - where did he begin his salvation? From feats of prayer and fasting? No; he just came to his senses, changed his mind and said to himself: I will get up and go to my father(Luke 15:18), got up and went, and what happened next - you know.
Get up, brother and sister, get up, go to the Father, fall down and say: “Father! I have sinned against heaven and before You, accept me repentant and have mercy on me.” From this moment, begin to force yourself and do what your conscience dictates.
Here is the Gospel Zacchaeus - how did he begin his salvation? Is it not a promise to correct himself and to abundantly satisfy all those whom he offended (Luke 19:8)? Here again is an example for you, brother Christian, where to begin your correction.
And then what to do? Then, with God’s help, begin the fight against vices to the best of your ability. First of all, find the main vice in yourself, which you loved very much and which you served like some kind of god. For example, you are used to drinking wine. Start the fight against this sin now, without delaying until the future. When you are drawn to a place where your old friends are having a drunken binge, do not go there, decide to overcome your desire, which attracts you to share the drunken fun with your friends. It will be difficult at first - but be strong, ask God for help; when you control yourself, there will be great joy in your soul: know that you have won victory over the devil’s temptation. After this, it will be easier for you to fight sin. And then, victory over sin will bring great joy to both your family and yourself. You will have much more fun with your family than when you shared drunken fun with your friends.
There is a lot of temptation during public entertainments held in cities and villages. Many young people die at these entertainment gatherings: in cities - in theaters, masquerades, public gardens, in villages and villages - at parties, swings and other similar places. Young people are just as accustomed to this kind of entertainment as working people are to drunken drinking bouts. Those who are accustomed to pleasure gatherings of this kind, promenades, gardens, parties and other places of temptation must fight against these sinful habits in the same way as a drunkard with wine, or a thief with theft. Just as someone who has not drunk wine needs to beware of the first glass, so young people need to be wary of their first exit to places of entertainment: some - to theaters, gardens, places of celebration, others - to parties, swings and similar gatherings. And whoever is already accustomed to this needs to use all his willpower to stop attending these entertainment gatherings. At first it will be boring and difficult, but then, with God’s help, you can overcome yourself and regain peace of mind and the salvation of your soul.
So, go out to fight your sinful habits, do not be afraid - God is your helper. Fight and pray. The salvation of the soul is most valuable. It is worth working for him, even to the point of shedding blood, if necessary!
Saint Macarius (Nevsky), Metropolitan of Moscow and Altai. "One thing for need." Sermons, words, speeches, conversations and teachings. Volume 2
Sergey KhudievThe rescue(from the Greek “σωτηρία” - deliverance, preservation, healing, salvation, good, happiness) -
1) Providential action aimed at uniting man and God, delivering him from the power of the devil, sin, corruption, mortality, joining him in eternal blissful life in ();
2) activity, incarnate for the sake of the reunification of man and God, him from sin, liberation from slavery to the devil, corruption, mortality; who created, constantly taking care of her as her unchanging Head ();
3) human activity, carried out with the assistance of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, aimed at likening and spiritual unity with Him, joining the eternal blissful life;
4) actions of saints aimed at providing one or another help to sinners.
How interconnected and free are people in salvation?
It is obvious that a child raised in a dysfunctional family, for example, in a family of drug addicts or simply atheists, initially has fewer opportunities to know God than a child from a relatively prosperous Christian family. People influence each other, for example, we see numerous examples in the world around us when one person kills or maims another. Nevertheless, everyone can achieve salvation, because God has given each of us an internal guide—conscience—and calls every person to His Church. “...And from everyone to whom much is given, much will be required; and to whom much has been entrusted, more will be exacted from him” ().
Is it possible that God, by His categoricalness, only pushes people to greater zeal in the matter of salvation, uses severity only as a pedagogical device, but in the end will save everyone?
No, not everyone will be saved. Moreover, we see that quite often the Lord calls people not in a harsh, threatening form, but in a soft form, but when a person does not hear this sublime call, he allows him to reap the fruits of his unbelief through difficult trials and tragic circumstances. People who did not come to their senses during earthly life will reap the fruits corresponding to their lives. One of the consequences of their going to hell will be their personal inability to live up to the standards of God's Kingdom.
Who is more categorical about the possibility of salvation for all people: the Apostles, the holy fathers of previous centuries or modern theologians?
The apostles and holy fathers are more categorical. With rare exceptions, such as, for example, the opinion expressed by the saint, the general view of the holy fathers of the Church was reduced to a literal understanding of the Gospel testimony about the separation of sinners from the righteous at the Last Judgment and the eternity of hellish torment.
Why do they exclude the possibility of repentance at the Last Judgment for an atheist or an inveterate sinner who has seen God in glory? Wouldn't he instantly prefer to enjoy communion with God and enter the Kingdom of God? Won't God help him?
The shortest answer to this question is simple: if a person even has a glimmer of repentance beyond the boundaries of earthly life, then the Lord will help him; it is not for nothing that we call Christ the Savior. It remains to be seen how realistic it will be for an atheist in worldview or life to repent and turn to God after death.
After all, atheists do not consider themselves sinners, do not desire and do not have experience of repentance and communion with God. During earthly life, a person’s deep inner self-determination occurs; Without the experience of repentance in this world, how can an atheist demonstrate it in the next world? If someone does not want to learn to swim, what is the probability that he will learn to swim if the boat crashes? If a person was hiding from the sun, then what would it be like on a sunny beach in the afternoon?
At the Last Judgment, God will appear in the radiance of holiness and the power of grace, for Christians it is desirable and joyful, they have the experience of communion with God and union with God in the Sacraments. Atheists are alienated from God, they have no experience of life in God, for them this energy is painful, because sin and holiness are incompatible. If a person did not seek God, did not know Him, then why can we think that he will be able to accommodate His grace in eternity?
And will atheists see God as the One they desire? Or will His appearance be unbearable for them, just as it is unbearable for a liar to hear the truth about himself?
There are few people in the world who belong to the Church of Christ; will so few people really find the Kingdom of Heaven?
Christ warned about this: “ Enter in at the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many go in through it; For strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few find it.” ().
First, let's not forget that all of humanity potentially perished in the Fall.
Secondly, some will be saved through the prayers of the Church.
Thirdly, salvation is a voluntary matter; it is impossible to force someone to love God and their neighbors, but the Kingdom of Heaven can be called the Kingdom of Love.
Let us remember the biblical prototype of salvation given to us by God - Noah’s Ark, in which only 8 people wished to be saved.
Is it permissible within the framework of theology to use the word “salvation” in relation to particular cases of assistance provided by some members of the Church to others?
At the same time, theological practice allows the use of the term “salvation” in a more private sense.
Thus, in the Book of Judges of Israel, Othniel is named the savior, who delivered (with the assistance of God) the Israelites from the power of Husarsafem ().
The text of one of the most common prayers to the Most Holy One contains an appeal to Her, as the Lady, with a request for salvation: Most Holy One, Save us!
In this case, salvation may mean a meaning close to the everyday understanding: deliverance from danger, disaster, illness, death, etc. On the other hand, the meaning attached to the request for salvation may be deeper.
Thus, a request to save is appropriate both in conditions of ordinary everyday danger and in conditions of a threat that arises within the framework of religious life. For example, a believer can ask (or other saints) for salvation from the attacks of the unclean, deliverance from their evil influences.
As part of regular prayers to the Mother of God, a petition for salvation can also be used regarding deliverance from eternal