Why go to church if God is in my soul?

Each of us has acquaintances and even relatives who look with bewilderment at our preparations for the temple. Deep misunderstanding, and sometimes indignation, is written on their faces. Sometimes it pours out into the words: “Well, you hit the faith, so be it. But why go to the temple, so much time and effort to spend on it?! For example, I am also a believer. But I believe in my soul. God is in my soul, and I do not need any external rituals. Yes, remember how recently the satirist Mikhail Zadornov said: “I don’t need any intermediaries to communicate with God!”.

How can we explain our behavior to such people? As always, there are two ways: attack and defense. Criticism of this kind of worldly "philosophy" is not difficult. In the end, a bit of common sense is enough to understand that a society in which jesters (in the current - "satirists") are perceived as experts in theology and spiritual life, is very painful. It suffers at least from the loss of a sense of humor: it is no longer able to laugh, seeing how a jester climbs onto a preaching pulpit ... The current society considers serious what our ancestors made fun of in oil weeks ...

If the words “God is within me” were said by the Monk Seraphim of Sarov, these words would have weight, for they would be an honest testimony of the fruit of his feat. If the hermit said that he had accustomed himself to unceasing inner prayer, and therefore the remoteness of the temple, which he visits only occasionally, is no longer sensitive for him, such words would also be justified in such lips.

But when we hear the same words from the townsfolk... Then we have the right to ask: as a result of what exactly spiritual feats did you achieve such success? Is God in your soul? Explain what was the way of your prayer? How often do you read the Lord's Prayer?.. What?.. "Our Father" do you remember poorly?.. Okay, then at least tell us exactly how you experience the presence of God in your soul? What fruits of the gifts of the Spirit do you feel in yourself? Here is a hint for you: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Gal. 5:22-23). Do you have these feelings? No, not character traits, but gifts. A gift is something that we didn’t have before, but entered our life during spiritual birth, renewed it? Do you remember this update?

Faith is action. It is a striving for that which is already foreseen, but has not yet become evident. The desire for something that has already touched our lives, cast its reflection into it, but has not yet completely entered into it ... Faith is the desire for a new experience. But those who say, “I have my faith, and it is in my soul,” say it with such dull eyes that it is hard to believe that they have ever experienced a longing for God.

You cannot love without showing your love, without making at least some movements towards your loved one. It is also impossible to believe without showing your faith in external actions. ... If a person claims that he loves someone, but he does nothing in the name of his love: he does not seek meetings, does not give anything, does not devote time for communication, does not sacrifice anything - it means that he simply boasts to his already friends in love: “they say, I’m no worse, and I already have a beloved!”.

So, you who claim to have "God in your soul" - what have you done to purify your soul for such a wondrous Visitation? How and by what name did you call Him? How do you keep it in you? What has changed in you from this Meeting? Did you love the one you met? And what are you doing for this love? If these questions plunge you into bewildered silence, then at least do not consider yourself superior to those who do at least something in order to be with God! Forever standing - do not despise those who walk, even if they stumble!

Such questions can be asked to those who justify their laziness with their imaginary “spirituality”.

But after all, it is also important for us to realize why we go to church. Listen to a sermon? To do this, today you can turn on the radio. Pray? You can pray anywhere and at any time. Moreover, this is precisely the advice of the apostle: "Pray without ceasing." Bring a donation? Today there are many pickers on the streets. Submit a memorial? It can be shared with friends. Light a candle? So it can be put in front of the home image. So why do we go to church?

The Christian philosopher of the third century, Origen, summed up the pagan philosophy of the cult with the following words: “Demons especially need victims in order to remain in this dense, enveloping air, because the smell of victims serves as food for them, and therefore they find out if sacrificial smoke is coming, smell blood, smell smoking ... Those who support the servants of evil with sacrifices, through this keep them in the circumference of the earth "(Origen. Exhortation to martyrdom, 45).

But in the Gospel we see the opposite. If the pagans talk about what kind of sacrifice people should bring to God, then the Gospel talks about what kind of sacrifice God brought to people: “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give His life a ransom for many” (Matt. .20.28); “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Only a tenth or a hundredth part of religion consists of what people contribute to it. The main thing in religion is what God brings to it. The main thing is not what people do for the sake of God, but what God does for the sake of people. The main thing in religion is not what people bring to the temple, but what they wear out of the temple.

In order for a Christian to be able to offer a sacrifice to God, he does not need a temple. But in religion there is not only what we give. What matters is what we get. What matters is not why we seek God. More important is why He is looking for us.

Why we most often come to the temple and turn to God with a prayer is well known. We tend to see in God a kind of generator of humanitarian aid: “Give us, Lord, more health, more success and more pay!…”. Too often we seek the Lord, according to the saying of St. Demetrius of Rostov, “not for the sake of Jesus, but for the sake of a piece of bread.” Why is God looking for us? Does he want to take something from us? Or give?

Why does His Word call: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened” (Matt. 11:28)? This invitation ends with a different premonition; it speaks of what God will do for those who respond: "And I will give you rest ... you will find rest for your souls."

So, God is calling us to Himself to give us something. What? Knowledge - "Learn from Me"... Spirit - "Receive from My spirit"... Love, peace and joy - "Abide in My love... My peace I give you... May My joy be in you...". But Christ gives us something else unthinkable...

“Abide in me, and I in you… Receive, this is My blood which is shed for you…”. Christ entrusts all of Himself to people. Both His divinity and His humanity.

So, we come to the temple in order to receive something in it. The temple is the walls built around the Sacrament of Communion. The sacrament consists in the fact that a hand with Gifts is stretched out to people. Therefore, visiting the temple is not a heavy duty, but a wondrous privilege. We have been given the right to become participants in the Last Supper. We are given the opportunity to become "partakers of the divine nature." We have been given the opportunity to touch the Energy that no power plant in the world can generate.

Those who say that they do not need churches and intermediaries hardly consider the word of the Gospel to be authoritative for themselves. But maybe they will feel human authenticity in the words of everyone's favorite Winnie the Pooh. Once, in response to Piglet's offer to compose a song, Winnie the Pooh said: "but it's not so easy. After all, poetry is not a thing that you find, it's a thing that finds you. And all you can do is go where they can find you."

God was looking for us. And found. We just need to go and stand in a place where God comes closest to people, in a place where He distributes the most unprecedented gifts to people. If Christ gives us the Chalice with Communion through the Royal Doors of the temple, should we turn our noses away and repeat “God is in my soul already”?

Christ has said where he is waiting for us and what he wants to give us. He, the Eternal, wants to meet with us and unite in this life - so that in our future, eternal life we ​​will not become irreparably lonely.

So is it polite, having received a notification that someone is waiting for us to meet on Pushkin Square, at the appointed time, go for a walk along Leo Tolstoy Street? If the meeting did not take place - who will be to blame in this case? .. We know the point - “Pushkin”!

Those who say that they do not need mediators for their relationship with God do not understand that the Mediator is waiting for them in the temple, who, instead of them, just made a sacrifice and freed people from the need to destroy something in the world and feed them with the fruits of destruction gods. Is it really so unbearably difficult to open one's hands in order to put Gifts into them?

📖 Even for a person who does not identify himself with any of the religious traditions, when studying the diversity of religious opinions, it becomes obvious that the formula God is love is the highest of all possible human ideas about the Deity. So, the highest theological formula is "God is love." To love means to absorb both your joys and troubles of your beloved. Genuine love seeks to identify itself with the loved one. Here, truly, let two become one flesh (see: Gen. 2:24). And therefore the path of love is giving, bestowal, entrusting, sacrifice.

Among those who consider themselves Orthodox Christians, there is sometimes such an opinion that one can believe in God "in the soul", and this is enough. It is possible not to go to church, not to participate in the Sacraments, not to recognize the priesthood. It is enough just to recognize the existence of God, and not to burden yourself with any rituals and forms. Is such an attitude acceptable for an Orthodox person?

What is meant by faith in the soul

The erroneous opinion that one can be a believing Christian without participating in church life is based on the correct thesis that God is in the soul of a person. Of course, the omnipresent Lord does not need special buildings or places; indeed, one can pray to Him anywhere. Visiting the temple and services is not necessary for the Lord, but for the person himself. And that's why.

Without repentance, a person cannot truly contain God in his soul.

In order for the Lord to actually settle in the soul of a person, one needs to work very hard. Many saints have given their lives to achieve such unity. It is absolutely impossible to imagine that an ordinary person leading a worldly life, all of a sudden, for no reason, without much effort, the Lord will settle in his soul.

Important! In fact, under the "faith in the soul" is usually hidden an attempt to justify one's own laziness, unwillingness to change anything in one's life, to correct oneself.

It is quite obvious that with a serious attitude to faith and God, one will have to admit that a person lives far from the way Christ commanded. To understand this fact, it is enough to carefully read the Gospel and compare your own life with the standard.

After such a comparison, which will always be not in favor of the usual way of life, two paths open up. The first is to follow Christ according to His creed. This is a difficult and thorny path, filled with daily painstaking work to purify your soul. The second is to recognize the existence of God as such, but because of the unwillingness to change the usual foundations of life, try to find a compromise.

The compromise lies in the fact that a person does not seem to deny God, agrees with the Gospel, but is looking for a way to leave his usual and comfortable way of life. Changing your life radically is very difficult and difficult, and not everyone decides to do so. It is much easier to hide behind the conditional recognition of God and think that this is enough to be a believer.

But the essence of Orthodoxy is that faith without works is dead. All Christianity is based on the experience of repentance, and repentance is translated from Greek as "change of mind". And without this change, without a deep analysis and change in everyday life, a person will never be able to truly contain God in his soul.

Read about church life:

Why do we need a temple

Imagine a situation where a person discovers the existence of God and decides to start a Christian life. What should he do with this decision? Of course, you can start by giving up the sinful habits that were in life to the maximum. This is a very important and necessary stage, but insufficient.

Visiting the temple and services is not necessary for the Lord, but for the person himself

Important! It is necessary to understand the difference between the church, as a building where believers gather, and the Church, as the House of God.

The last concept was established by Jesus Christ himself, which we see confirmed in the Gospel of Matthew, which says that the Church of Christ will be founded on a rock and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. In this text, we are not talking about the building of the temple, but about the Church as an assembly of believers, as the guardian of Christianity, the House of God. If the Gospel itself says that the Church was founded by the Lord, then why do believers allow doubts about this?

Many novice Christians are frightened off by the complexity and incomprehensibility of everything that happens in church services. The Church Slavonic language seems completely illegible, and the meaning of following the service is unclear. But as soon as a person joins the church life, from time to time he will begin to understand more and more what is happening. In addition, a lot of literature is now available that explains the essence of worship and, in general, the external paraphernalia of the Orthodox faith.

As for the internal filling, the main thing that the church gives us is Holy Communion. It is impossible, being outside the temple, to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. But at the same time, we clearly see in the Gospel of John a direct call to do this constantly - "He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me and Az in him." The essence of these words is that one can unite with the Lord only through the Eucharist established by him, Holy Communion. And it is impossible outside the church.

Why is Communion so important? Because the Lord is not only the Creator and Creator of everything, but he is also the Savior. And he came to save people by incarnation, that is, by taking into Himself a human face and flesh. And the Eucharist is the Sacrament that allows us to physically come into contact with the same God who walked our earth 2000 years ago.

In the church, believers partake of the Body and Blood of Christ

The spiritual significance of Communion is enormous and it is difficult to overestimate it. Just as food is food for our body, so the Eucharist is food for our soul. If we stop feeding the body, it will ache and shrink. The same thing happens to our soul when we deprive it of spiritual food.

Important! It must be remembered that the Orthodox Church carries the continuity of grace from the apostles themselves. This means that for all 2000 years of Christianity one can trace how grace was transmitted through ordination from the apostles to the current primates of our church.

Denying the church, a person denies Christianity itself, because the Lord enters our souls not just like that, but through the acceptance of the Sacraments, through confession and repentance.

Read about preparing for the Sacrament of Communion:

Why many Christians today do not want to go to the temple

A century ago, going to church on Sundays and holidays was an absolutely natural activity that did not raise many questions. In addition to faith, there was also a tradition among the people that taught everyone to honor the foundations of Christianity.

Thus, Communion is the key moment of every church liturgy. And yes, it is impossible to partake of the Body and Blood of Christ outside the church. This Sacrament was commanded to us by the Lord Himself, “He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me, and I am in him” (John, chapter 6, verse 56), “Jesus said to them: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will not have life in you.” (John chapter 6 verse 53).

As we see from the quoted lines of the Gospel, an Orthodox Christian cannot be such without communion. Communion is possible only in the church. Therefore, all thoughts that one can believe in God in the soul and without intermediaries are about any kind of faith, but not about Orthodoxy.

Good afternoon. The answer to your question is directly contained in the Gospel: “Truly, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you will not have life in you (John 6:53). The Sacrament of the Eucharist (Communion) was commanded and instituted by the Lord Himself, and was first performed by Him at the Last Supper. That is why its significance is so great for everyone who considers himself an Orthodox Christian. It is noteworthy that doubts similar to yours were experienced by both the disciples and those in His inner circle. Many were confused and even left Him, but the faithful remained.
The modern Eucharist is a memory of that same Last Supper, where the Lord Jesus Christ broke bread with his own hands, dipped it in wine and served it to the disciples. It can be said that, approaching the Sacrament of Communion, each of us becomes a member of that same Last Supper. Of course, this Great Sacrament can (and should) frighten us to some extent, but this fear should not be superstitious, not animal, but majestic fear. Communion is terrible in the sense that we take into ourselves the greatest holiness - the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And it is terrible to accept Him unworthily, it is terrible to be unprepared, it is terrible not to justify the mercy bestowed upon us. Such fear speaks of a reverent attitude towards the Sacrament, but should not lead to a rejection of it. A person must prepare for communion, and leave the rest to God. You should not be afraid of the very fact that you have flesh and blood in front of you. For this, Communion takes place under the guise of bread and wine, so that an ordinary person can safely eat it. We know the facts when, by His mercy and for the teaching of man, the Lord revealed the real essence of the sacrament - for example, witnessed
Going to the temple is necessary not only for Communion.” I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it “(Matt. 16:18) — this is what the Lord said about his Church. It is also established by the Lord himself, not a man invented it, and it is not for a man to decide that God can be known outside the Church. Of course, the Creator breathes everywhere, in any place of His creation. And the Church is not needed by God, but very much needed by man himself. We are so far away from the Truth in our lives that we are simply unable to clear a place for Him without painstaking work on our souls. And churching, participation in divine services, acceptance of the Sacraments just teaches how to open one's soul to the Lord.

• That is, in order to get a piece of bread with alcohol from a spoon of dubious purity, I need to starve for three days, then lie to myself some kind of disgusting thing, because a normal person does not steal, does not kill, he has no problems - but in order to then to say, you need to invent some kind of mischief, three hours on Friday after a working week to defend on sore legs, listening to mantras in an unknown language. Now tell the psychiatrist that you will do all this and I do not know how soon you will be able to write here again

  • Good afternoon. Of course, if you treat Holy Communion as “a piece of bread with alcohol”, then you should not approach the Sacrament at all. Moreover, you are forbidden to take communion in such a case. If you are not an Orthodox Christian, the Church Sacraments are not performed on you. Your understanding of the sacrament is nothing more than a superficial and unsuccessful attempt to scold something that you do not understand at all. The fact that a normal person does not steal or kill does not mean at all that he does not have any more sins. And you don’t need to invent anything - at confession you need to say only your real sins. And here's the catch: as long as a person does not try and does not even try to live a spiritual life, he is completely unable to see his sinfulness. You have not expressed anything new and unusual; your philistine view of the Church and the Sacraments is very common. Only Orthodox Christians think otherwise. If, in your opinion, a normal person has nothing to repent of, he has no problems and everything is fine and without some kind of God, then why did ALL Orthodox saints find something to repent of until the end of their days? So these were people who led such an ascetic and ascetic life that we never dreamed of. And they didn't think they had no sins. And a modern ordinary person who has never crossed the threshold of a temple, blaspheming the Sacraments, having no idea who Christ really is - such a person believes that everything is fine with him and he does not need to lick a spoon of dubious purity. Unfortunately, many people think so. And they go to death. Such rejection has always been, is and will be in our Church. But I am glad that there are other people - Orthodox churches are full of them. And yes, there are even psychiatrists among them. In addition, it is useful to think: if the Bible is not an authority, if the words of the Gospel that the Communion was established by Christ Himself mean nothing, then how to explain the fact that Christianity has survived for 2000 years? Not a single religion of the world was exterminated so zealously and furiously as Christianity. And yet, it lives on.
    Help you Lord!

    • Ekaterina, here you are offended by the girl Yuta, offended. You are a believer, a believer cannot be offended, although this is now fashionable among us even among hierarchs. I, personally, myself went for quite a long time and regularly to the Resurrection Cathedral in Sokolniki, in Moscow. Stopped. There are many reasons for this. Sermons. Who are they intended for? Or some idealistic plot from the early Middle Ages, or incomprehensible nonsense for old women, or simply naive things. I realized that for me and people like me (modern educated people) they don’t make sermons, and if they don’t, then they don’t wait for me in the church. Then he somehow argued with one clergyman about his grandmother, who could treat some illnesses with conspiracies. I, too, can, for example, stop the blood flowing from the wound, other little things are different, such as a boil. So he claimed that they say it was my grandmother talking with demons :). Constantly in the summer I was with my grandmother in the village during the holidays, I did not see any demons, on the contrary, she scolded these demons. She often used prayers, holy water, candles from the church. In general, I mean that our church, in order to attract people, must go to meet people. I have acquaintances who, seeing what is happening in our churches, seeing hypocrisy and hypocrisy, have become Catholics, and I am advised to do the same. I'm not ready yet, but I often think about it.

      Good afternoon. No one was offended by the previous comment, you should not read the administrator's response with an angry intonation. In the answer, they explained why such an external view of the Sacraments is not correct. And, by the way, you are completely wrong in that a believer cannot be offended. Why else is this? Are Orthodox people deprived of some part of the psyche? They cannot experience emotions, feelings? The difference between a believer and an unbeliever is not that the former do not experience offensive feelings, but in how they react to them. Yes, a believer, figuratively speaking, will not get into a fight if he is insulted, but this does not mean at all that he cannot feel anything at the same time.

      Regarding the fact that you are not satisfied with the sermons in your church, please read those that suit you yourself. Now there is no lack of information, everything is open. You can find recordings of sermons by Anthony of Surozh, for example, or by Ambrose of Optina. And in principle, you are free to choose the priest with whom you feel connected, with whom it is easy and interesting for you to communicate. If the local priest in your church does not meet your needs, please look for another confessor, there is no sin in this. Just do not condemn the previous one for the lack of eloquence in sermons, leave these assessments to God.

      The fact that you personally did not see demons in your grandmother, who was engaged in witchcraft, does not mean at all that they did not exist. It's like saying that Gagarin flew into space, but did not see God there. The priest answered you quite correctly about conspiracies and witchcraft. And the fact that your grandmother used consecrated water and candles for her rituals is how these items are constantly used by magicians, psychics and sorcerers.

      “The Church must meet people halfway” — that is, in your opinion, in order for people to go to churches, the Church must allow them to sin? Why go there then? For example, the same quackery and sorcery is directly exposed in the Holy Scriptures, called the deed of demons. And just because your grandmother did this and, in your opinion, did not communicate with demons, the Church cannot reconsider its view. Yes, there are things that change over time. The same rite of worship is constantly undergoing changes. But there are things that underlie Christianity, they are commanded by the Lord himself. And no matter what happens in this world, the Church will not back down from them, because otherwise it will simply lose its essence and meaning of existence.

      Yes, being an Orthodox Christian in our time is terribly inconvenient. It's always out of your comfort zone. And this must be understood when going to Orthodoxy. Yes, there are hypocrites and Pharisees - they have been in all ages and in all churches. The Catholic Church is infected with this sin no less than ours, if not much more. But why do you take the sins of individual impious people as the essence of the entire Church? It's like deciding to always walk after being rude to you on a tram by an ill-mannered conductor.

      You should go to the temple not to people, but to God. Of course, it is good and pleasant when on this path we are surrounded by pious and exemplary Christians, and in general everything is easy, pleasant and joyful. But was this the way of Christ? Not at all. So why do we, preaching following Christ, think that our path will be easy?

Unfortunately, the readers of Pravmir did not always meet with the support they expected in the church. Many on social media complained about the devaluation of their feelings. “The priest told me about the death of my father: “Well, what did you want, everything went to this.” I experienced such a shock. I no longer turn to priests in grief."— writes Tatyana Pushkareva.

A similar story from Dmitry Sokolov. He first came to church when his mother was being treated for cancer. “Then I met a“ priest ”and to my story in three sentences about my mother’s illness and the question of what to do, he answered“ I should have thought about it before, ”turned around and went about his business. It was terrible from these words ... "

Some complained that the priests' reaction alienated them from the church. “My mother had to deal with this. She immediately began to humble. They did not sympathize, and her daughter, my older sister, had an operation to remove a brain tumor. Later, this meeting was a counterargument on the issue of the life of the church.- said Maria Leonova.

Sometimes turning to church not only did not bring relief, but even more increased the grief of a person. Ksenia Khalyamina told how the conversation with the priest negatively affected her. “The strict father said that life on earth is hell. He told me to look back and see that everyone, everyone, everyone constantly suffers and no one has happiness. And in order to get to heaven, one must follow the canons and constantly repent.”

Batiushka gave the parishioner a book about Fedor's ordeals, which only intensified her feelings. “Being busy with her grief, apparently the brain individually concluded for itself: there is hell on earth, but I definitely won’t get to heaven. A year later, she discovered in herself a complete apathy for life. This conclusion became a destructive focus, says Xenia.

For a person in grief, even simple indifference could be destructive. “There was once, I was sitting in the courtyard of the cathedral after the festive Liturgy, undressed in the cold, and roared, and parishioners, groups of priests passed by - not one came up and asked what happened to me. Then she sobbed several times in the temple, and no one cares either.”— writes Lydia Kondyreva.

“The priest saw me in a black headscarf, and tears flowed from him”

But most still received consolation and support. Sometimes relief came simply from being in church. Natalya Anufrieva told how she was able to survive the death of her mother and grandmother.

“They were buried in the temple. Father Sergei served there, and he had a peculiarity - his voice seemed to be broken, with hoarseness and squeaky notes. So, when they brought me to the funeral, I could hardly walk, there was ice in my chest. There were no tears, no voice, no emotions, nothing. Only terrible emptiness and grief.

And the father began to read a prayer. I was covered with a wave of such warmth, grace and peace that I could hardly stand on my feet. I saw my granny on her last journey, realizing that she was fine. Then I went to the temple to Father Sergei and to confession and just like that, to stand with him and talk. And again covered the wave of warmth and peace! When my mother died, he again buried in the temple, and this helped me survive her death and not go crazy with grief.

A similar situation was with Elena Nazarova.

"I will never forget. The priest came to give communion to my mother before her death. After some time, when my mother had already died, I was in the temple. the priests went out to the polyeleos, and the one who came to my mother looked at me. He saw that I was in a black scarf, I realized that my mother was no longer there. And I saw tears running down his cheeks. He felt my pain as his own, and no words of consolation were needed.

Irina Nesterova told how a simple conversation helped her survive her grief.

“Batiushka carried a three-liter jar of milk through the churchyard. Apparently my creepy appearance frightened him. He called. He opened the jar and handed it silently. Without thinking about anything, she drank greedily.

I hugged my shoulders, sat down on the steps, they were dirty, but the priest sat down with me. They were silent. Then he started talking slowly from a distance.

He consoled me so much that I came home inspired. He ordered me to come every day and report after the service how things were going. On the fourth day, the pain was almost completely gone.

For some, it was with the upheavals in life that life in the church began. “And in 2002 I came with grief and found both God and the Church,” says Nadezhda Zadunaiskaya. “Sometimes, indeed, when conveying a grieving person to a priest and involuntarily hearing what he says to a person, I really want to call the priest somewhere“ urgently ”, but I have no right. But basically, yes, come on the ninth and fortieth day, write down the time of the memorial service, tell you how to take communion on the fortieth, how to commemorate, and so on, pour holy water, corvalol, if necessary, etc. ”

A similar story happened to Natalya Barsukova.

“I also went to the church, cried, sobbed on the street (I didn’t go to the church), and then after a while I went to church.” “When my friend’s husband died right in front of her eyes, and at that time she was in her fifth month of pregnancy, and she tried to scrape his brains from the asphalt with her fingers, she took her to the priest, because. she could not live. He talked to her for fifteen minutes, and her eyes lit up. She left the temple and said: “I see flowers!” And smiles! So it’s not necessary once in a while.”

The priest reacts to grief as best he can

Photo: Institute of Christian Psychology/vk.com/icpsy

Archpriest Andrei Lorgus, psychologist, rector of the Institute of Christian Psychology

How should the meeting between the mourner and the priest take place?

- I don't know how it should be. But it happens differently. It all depends on what the priest asks. Often, people who come ask pragmatic things: how to sing a funeral, how to pray, how to light a candle for a dying or sick person?

But when a person comes in acute grief, he does not ask anything. An open situation arises: the priest looks at the grieving, grieving, sobbing person lying in front of him, but at the same time he himself is at a loss. It is obvious that a person needs consolation, a conversation, a reaction, but the priest himself is not trained in this conversation and is sometimes not ready.

Alas, we do not have a school of emotional support. Crisis psychologists who work in the Ministry of Emergency Situations in disasters or psychologists who accompany families in crisis situations are taught a little about this. But in reality, there are practically no specialists who can accompany emotional states. Priests are not the exception here, but the norm. Let's face it, we don't have a culture of learning this.

As a result, we have a person who, as best he can, reacts to the emotion of another. At the same time, both the ordinary meaning and the traditions existing among the people play a role. The dominant tradition of the Soviet past is emotional coldness.

What is the main dignity of a Soviet person? It is correct, restrained, cold-blooded and even indifferent to meet any events. This is opposed by the relics of folk traditions of experiencing grief, which are rather difficult to refract in modern culture. For example, "do not cry, it is a sin to cry." The priests themselves often have to struggle with this notion common among the church people.

But the thesis “crying is a sin” is a lie. The Bible is riddled with tears. And not only with the tears of the main characters, but also with tears, as a moral intention. Remember the gospel words: “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang songs of sorrow to you, and you did not weep" (Matthew 11:17). Biblical tradition tells us about the constructive expression of grief.

Grief, like joy, happiness is an equal, legitimate part of our life. There can be no life without grief, just as there can be no life without happiness. Grief must be treated with exactly the same respect with which happiness, repentance and prayer should be treated.

– So where do you start?

- So that grief is respected, and not depreciated. What do we often hear from priests, old women, and those who consider themselves church people? “But there is no need to cry, the soul of the deceased is already with the Lord”, “So it is necessary, this is the whole point”, “God's will for everything” ... This is an aggravation of pain.

Exactly the same form of destructive consolation is depreciation: "This is not grief, this is nonsense." Or consolation, for example, in the form of self-affirmation: “Just look how much worse others are and you will feel better.” But this is an egotistical form of affirmation, which suggests self-affirmation by gloating about the misfortune of another. These are all destructive forms of consolation.

The most important thing we must do is respect the grieving person and their feelings. You see, feelings are not deceiving. These thoughts can be false, and feelings are the objective reality of a person. Respect for the grief, suffering and pain of man must be unconditional in us.

What to do when a priest is faced with grief?

– You need to be able to listen to grief and sympathize with a person at this moment. Or know how to organize it. Everything that comes after is a higher art.

– If people complain that they have encountered negativity, coldness, rejection and devaluation of their feelings in the church, does it mean that they are simply unlucky?

“More likely, it means that they encountered unprofessional people. Those who have not been taught to accompany emotions. Those who themselves refused or were too lazy to learn this. Not enough of this. The priest himself may be a man in an emotional stupor. It can be like a form of neurosis, when a person does not know his own feelings, represses and suppresses. Or emotional insensitivity, which was the result of trauma, abuse in youth, something else. Basically, it's professionalism.

- What to do with this incompetence?

- Just teach. By itself, nothing happens and does not pass.

We need to teach everyone the basics of counseling and the basics of accompanying emotions and grief. It's not even an art, but a craft. Art is when your words come from the heart.

But if a person does not feel anything from the heart, then at least he can be taught the elementary rules for relating to emotional states. Whether he wants to is another matter. But this is the responsibility of the individual himself.

– When people talk about the unpleasant feelings they experienced in the church, is this a marker for us that everything is not good in our Church?

Are there things that make you happy? Do you observe any changes in the context of psychological assistance to parishioners?

- Certainly. First, the new generation of church people, middle-aged people are literate and enlightened. They are not the heirs of those grandmothers of the 60-70s, which one of my Arbat acquaintances aptly called "serpentine old women", because they hiss and take away candles.

Now the Church has come to a generation of those who are able to listen, understand, even more healthy in a mental sense, and they are the main hope. They want to learn and learn eagerly, grabbing everything on the fly. They know how to show mercy, understanding and attention. They may have empathy.

A generation of young priests has emerged who are seriously studying: some are coaching, others are studying in psychological courses. Someone goes through one-time seminars or long courses, learning different elements of communication and the art of relationships in general. The priesthood is changing.

– Does this mean that in a few years people will stop complaining that the priest offended?

No. There will always be complaints. Complainers are a special class of religious neurosis. These are people who come to the Church just to get their dose of emotions. Something will always not suit them: the pop is not the same, the car is expensive, too fat, too pale, too young, very old, completely indifferent, too attentive. Someone will always make these people nervous. Religious neurosis has such a property - insatiability. And there will always be such people, because the Church is perceived as a social shelter or clinic.

Do you know, dear friend, that every time you don’t go to Sunday, you make a very important, perhaps the most important decision in life? It applies not only to your life today, but also to the eternal life of your soul. And it is for all of us. And it can start very soon - maybe even today.

You are a baptized person. God bless. But if a person is baptized, this does not mean that he is guaranteed a place in paradise. This view is not Orthodox. After all, it is important how a person lives.

Why don't you go? What thoughts take you away from the temple?

And after all divert precisely thought.

It seems that these are your thoughts, because they are in your head. But it's not.

We say: "I have a thought." Yes, thoughts come. They come from somewhere. There are thoughts from God and there are thoughts from the devil. Both those and others come to our head, and we say: "I thought."

How do you know which thought is from God and which is from the devil?

See what action this thought leads you to, where does it direct you: towards the church or away from the church? To prayer, to fasting, to repentance, to confession, to communion, to a wedding (if you are married), to patience, to forgiveness, to good deeds - or from all this, under any pretext. Even the most virtuous.

See what feelings, what state of mind thoughts give rise to in you. If peace, love, humility, silence, peace - most likely, these are thoughts from God. If anger, pride, fear, despondency, despair are from the evil one.

Any thoughts against the Orthodox faith, against God, against the Church of Christ, against prayer and fasting are from the devil.

There is a set of common methods-thoughts, with the help of which the invisible enemy tries to prevent a person from reaching God.

Reception one: "And I go to"

This is sometimes said by people who come into the church to bless Easter cakes, stock up on baptismal water, stand at christenings, and see the dead. Maybe sometimes light a candle, on some special occasions. And enough. They think they go to church.

But the Church itself does not think so.

The Lord gave us a commandment: Work six days, do all your work, and dedicate the seventh day to God (see:).

The seventh day is Sunday.

The Resurrection of Christ is the foundation of our faith. Only because the Savior suffered for us on the Cross and resurrected, we, baptized people, have hope for salvation.

Do you know, dear brother, that there is a rule of the holy fathers, according to which a person who has not been to church services for three Sundays in a row can be excommunicated from the Church? After all, he excommunicates himself from the Church.

It's clear. If you always have something to do on Sundays outside of the church, this means that the main goal of your life is not yet in the Church, but somewhere in the world with its goals and values ​​that are alien to the cause of our salvation.

All living things grow gradually and constantly. And our soul lives not sometimes, but constantly. She needs constant nourishment and cleansing. It feeds on the grace of the Holy Spirit, which is served to us, first of all, in an Orthodox church. Then we live spiritually, we grow.

We go to work without thinking: to go or not to go? Like a working day - so we get up on an alarm clock, we rush to the time. If we went there several times a year, how could we say that we go to work? And what would we earn? But this is all - mainly for the body. But a person is, first of all, his soul.

If schoolchildren were to visit school occasionally between almost constant holidays, what would they learn?

The Church is both work and teaching. And, like any work, like any teaching, time, and diligence, and perseverance are needed here. Then there will be a sense.

Technique 2: “I have God in my soul”

Therefore, there is no need to go to church. You have him, they say, and so in the soul.

But that's not true!

If only God were in our souls! Then we would strive to where everything speaks of God, where His name is glorified, where His images are located, where His special presence, His grace. Then we would try to live as God commands. And it is His will that we go to the temple.

The invisible enemy is very cunning. He is smarter than us. He instills in us this thought: “You have God in your soul!” But in fact, it was not God who entered our soul, but only the thought about God, with which, on the contrary, the accursed one penetrated us. Like a wolf in sheep's clothing. And flatters us.

In fact, everything in our soul does not happen: condemnation, irritation, and black thoughts are not God at all.

How to get rid of all this? How to deal with enemy thoughts?

Only with God's help.

A person himself cannot cope with “his own” thoughts, even if he really wants to. This confirms once again that they are actually not ours, but the enemy.

The Monk Ambrose, Elder of Optina, when demonic thoughts came to him, was baptized and said: “I do not deign.”

No attention should be paid to them. Don't think. Discard immediately. Pray the Jesus Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. And they will leave.

The Church teaches us that the devil is especially afraid of the sign of the cross, baptismal water, and the Body and Blood of Christ, which we partake of in church.

During the Divine Liturgy in the church, its main miracle is performed, incomprehensible even to the Angels. The Lord Himself gave it to us for our salvation. During the common prayer of priests and parishioners, the Holy Spirit descends on the bread and wine specially prepared in the altar, and they become the true Body and Blood of Christ. In appearance, in taste, they remain bread and wine, but in fact it is the Lord Himself. People who partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ know from their own experience that they receive a great sanctifying power that heals both soul and body.

That is why, first of all, we go to church and take communion, so that God really enters into our mouths, into our bodies, and then into our souls.

The Lord said: Eat My Flesh and drink My Blood, abides in Me, and Az in him ().

The Lord will help, the Lord will give.

And to the believer, everything is possible. This is also gospel truth.

Reception ninth: “Trust in God, but don’t make a mistake yourself”

Exactly! Don't make a mistake yourself, work hard: pray, fast, go to church, do good deeds for Christ's sake... A Christian who trusts in God has a lot of work to do. And above all, with yourself. With sinful thoughts, feelings, with your fierce passions - diseases of the soul: pride, laziness, lack of faith, anger, love of money, despondency, fornication, gluttony ... Just turn around.

And, of course, go about your usual business - crossing yourself, praying. If the Lord blesses your labors, everything will be arguable, you will be in time, and everything will benefit. And without God, you can scroll around in one place all day, look back in the evening: where did the day go? Unclear. What if it's a year? What if life? You can save minutes, but where decades go - do not think. When you go to church, you do not waste time, but save it.

Reception tenth: "What to do in the church?"

Every Orthodox in the church has a lot to do. Entering the temple (better - before the start of the service), cross yourself, bow to the Lord, the Mother of God, to all the saints. Put candles: for health - in front of the icons and for peace - on the eve, in front of the Cross of the Savior. Submit notes with the names of baptized Orthodox Christians - about health, about repose.

Choose a place in the temple. Try to understand where and to whom you came, Who listens to you, Who sees you, including all your thoughts.

From the very beginning of the service we hear the call: Let us pray to the Lord for peace. That is, the inner world, the silence of the soul. Try to subdue your thoughts and feelings. You came to speak with Love Itself, with God. Not so long ago, the deceased archpriest, who lived on an island near Pskov, said:

- How happy you are that you are believers ... Talk affectionately with the Lord when you stand in prayer.

Try not to talk to anyone - listen, think about what they read and sing. Combine your prayer with the words and hymns of the Divine Liturgy, pouring it into the common request of those who pray - from the bottom of our hearts and from all our thoughts, as the Holy Church calls us.

You can pray in your own words - about the most important, the most intimate. Everyone has such heartfelt requests.

What do we talk about with God?

First of all, we thank God.

That's what we go to church for, in the first place.

We constantly use His countless blessings: our heart is constantly shrinking, we constantly see, hear, think, rejoice - we live. The whole world is constantly living around us. All this is done by the Lord, the Giver of Life. As for illnesses and all sorts of troubles that also occur in life, this is not from God, this is from our sinfulness and from the devil.

If not for the Lord, there would be immeasurably more grief. The world would drown in it. The Lord is trying to turn every evil into good for us. And we can help Him in this if we do not grumble, get angry, look for the guilty, lose heart, but let us humble ourselves, repent of our sins, endure, strengthen ourselves in goodness and thank God. No good is taken for granted. This is all - victory over evil in the main battle, which is life.

“Glory to God for everything,” said the great ecumenical teacher and saint at the end of his life, in the midst of sorrows. Our second request to God is for the forgiveness of sins.

We are all sinners, only the Lord is without sin. And only He can forgive us sins, purify our souls.

The third request is for God's help.

Without Me you can do nothing (), - said the Lord.

All our issues are resolved primarily in the church: state, family, medical, pedagogical, financial, military.

Generalissimo A.V. Suvorov taught his soldiers: "Pray to God - victory comes from Him!"

He didn't have a single defeat.

We go to church and ask God's help not only for ourselves. As we live and do everything not only for ourselves, and not only on our own. We pray in church all together for the peace of the whole world. About our God-protected country, about its authorities and army. About your city or village and the faith of those who live in them. About the abundance of the fruits of the earth. About floating in the sea, traveling, sick, suffering, captive. About all formerly deceased Orthodox Christians.

The notes that we serve in the church about health and repose are read in the altar. At each Liturgy, the priest removes particles from the prosphora for the living and the dead. At the end of the Liturgy, he plunges them into the Holy Chalice with the Body and Blood of Christ and prays: Wash away, O Lord, the sins of those who are remembered here by Your Honorable Blood. And those who are remembered are of great benefit

The prosphora is then distributed to the faithful in the temple. They eat them, bring them home, cut them up, and every day they eat a piece on an empty stomach, drinking holy water. And they themselves are sanctified.

Sometimes we dream of dead people. Dreams are generally not supposed to be believed, solving them is a dangerous business. The invisible enemy can deceive here too. I dreamed of a living person - just pray for his health, I dreamed of a dead person - pray for peace. And they will benefit. Especially if they are commemorated in the church.

The deceased can no longer help themselves - they only rely on us. Therefore, if the thought comes to Us: “Is it worth it to go to church? What is there to do?" - it will be possible to answer her: "Yes, at least remember the dead." This alone is a big deal. For them it is like bread.

People bring food to the church (everything except meat) - alms, which is also good for the departed. One servant of God recently brought us to the temple and put a package of buckwheat before the eve. Remember your parents. Then he looks - but there is no package. She was upset: how is it so, in the temple? She is advised at the candle box: - And you submit a registered note for the Liturgy, this will be the best memorial. She did just that.

A few days later he comes, asks for a box:

“I came to thank you for your advice. You told me to submit a note, to remember. I submitted. After that, the mother of the deceased dreamed of my sister. So happy, so happy. Her sister asks her there: “What, mom, are you so funny?” And she replies: “I feel so good here. I am well dressed and fed here. They even give buckwheat porridge.”

When asked how important it is to commemorate the living and the dead at the Liturgy, the archpriest once said:

- Remember, remember. It is said: Measure in the smallest measure, it will be measured to you (). And remember me.

Sometimes you can hear: "From there (from the next world) no one has come yet." But in fact, they came, and they come.

Archpriest Sergiy Lavrov for many years was rector of the Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God in the village of Igumnovo near Moscow. Having gone through the Finnish war, when he went to the front in 1941, his mother, Elizaveta, the widow of Archpriest Nikolai, who was shot in 1937, gave him a piece of bread and said:

- Take a bite. Come and eat.

So she believed that she would beg him. And she strengthened him, as if she gave him a taste of this faith. He returned in 1946 - and finished eating. He served as a priest for fifty-two years. When he was buried, his mother, Natalya Petrovna, said that two weeks before his death, he told her:

“You know, my mom and dad came to see me.

- What, dreamed? she asked.

- No, that's how they came. They said, "Well, now it's time for us."

I remember when we, the priests, read the Gospel over him, as it should be, he lay so calm ... He did everything: he defended his homeland, raised three daughters, served God ... And he was prepared by his parents for the transition to eternal life.

This is how the righteous end their lives. Kingdom of Heaven to them!

Reception eleventh: “I am such a sinner, where else can I go to church?”

Imagine a person who says: "I'm so dirty, where else can I go to the bathhouse?"

Where else are you?

That's just the church you need, precious sinners! You have sinned from three baskets - so you do not need to go where you can still add sins. It's time to go to church. It is high time! It's time to cleanse, wash ourselves, gain strength to fight sin, learn how to do it. The Church is a school of struggle against sin. And there is nothing worse than sin. From him all the troubles, all the tears. Sin is worse than death. None of us can avoid death, but to die with unrepentant sins - God forbid. It will be too hard later. While there is a possibility, while it is still not too late - you must run to church, do not put off a single day.

Here lies another trick.

Reception twelfth: “I don’t have time. I am busy"

If you translate these words into honest language, you get: "I think that I have more important things to do."

But it's not. There is nothing more important than the salvation of the soul.

To be even more honest, we will have to admit that, unfortunately, we prefer going to church not only deeds, but even their absence.

Don't we devote hours and days to TV, the Internet, reading newspapers, talking on the phone? We do not refuse it, because there is no time for it. And that may not be of any use.

How many daily not only useless, but even harmful activities we have: we discuss, condemn other people, wash the bones of the authorities, from which it doesn’t get any better, and we don’t get a penny of salary. Moreover, we are spiritually poorer: we collect sins for ourselves, we make the Judgment of God more strict towards us. After all, the Lord said: Do not judge, so that you will not be judged ().

And there is an occupation that always changes both life and ourselves for the better - this is prayer.

Reception thirteenth: “I can’t go to church”

It just won't work.

Like so many other things in life.

Imagine: you miss two days of work, you come without a ballot, the boss asks you:

Why weren't you at work?

You will say in response:

- Does not work.

And he to you - most likely:

- Write a letter of resignation.

And he will be right. Is it an employee?

Or, even more so, if the warrior says to the commander:

- I can’t get into line, I can’t go on combat duty, I can’t give battle to the enemy ...

Is it a warrior?

When we were baptized, the priests called us all: warrior of Christ God. Why? Because there is a constant invisible war going on. In baptism we are united with Christ, we enter into His army, we put on the light, we put on the armor of truth, we receive from God spiritual weapons, the armor of the Holy Spirit, we are protected and armed with the cross - the weapon of the world. The invisible enemy, from which we previously renounced, constantly fights with each of us, seeks to deceive and destroy everyone forever. And you can't run away from this war, you can't desert: demons are everywhere. You can only get captured by them. Moreover, not understanding this, and even, perhaps, rejoicing in this. Because it is spiritual captivity. The soul cannot always feel that it is “out of place”. If you think that this is some kind of exaggeration, that you can “just live” without thinking about the soul, then this means that the enemy managed to deceive you.

Of course, the Lord protects us, the Angels protect us, the Church prays around the clock for all her children. Along with the sunrise, the Divine Liturgy moves around the globe, in all Orthodox churches and monasteries, and there is uninterrupted prayer. But don't be fooled either. And you try to pray together with the Church for all Orthodox Christians. This spiritual unity is called catholicity. We have a catholic Church, as we confess in the Creed. This is a great force, irresistible to the enemy.

So what is really behind these crafty words: “it doesn’t work”?

That we, then, have become prisoners of vanity.

This is a kind of addiction. The drug of vanity possesses us, controls us. In this bustle, it seems, all the content of our life, all its meaning, without it, it seems to be impossible. So they say: "The vanity is jammed."

We ask God with the words of the Psalter: Turn away my eyes to not see vanity ().

We are protected from vanity by the fulfillment of the commandments of God, the rules of the Church. Church discipline helps us overcome all obstacles and at least once a week stop, come to our senses, and think: what am I living for? Is this how you should live? How?..

Reception fourteenth: “I still have time, not now, then somehow”

If we go to church only when something unpleasant happens to us, then it turns out that we ask God for sorrows. It is as if we are saying: “Lord, until You give sorrows, I will not go to You.”

But it's better not to wait for them.

When you get into the pit of life, getting out of it can be more difficult than protecting yourself from it.

Life shows that it is better not to postpone a good deed. It's better to put off the bad things. You may not have time to do the main thing.

Parents used to ask:

- Father, the child died on the thirtieth day of life, unbaptized. What can be done for him in the church?

Nothing. He's not in the Church. If they had baptized him on the eighth day, as it should be, then it would be possible to both bury him and commemorate him in church prayer. The whole Church would pray for him.

Reception fifteenth; “I can’t go to the temple, I feel bad there”

As long as a person accepts thoughts against the Church and believes them, the enemy needs nothing more. But if a person has overcome these obstacles, if he nevertheless came to the temple, then the enemy tries by any means to drive him out of the temple. Or he sends overly zealous "defenders of piety" who make all sorts of unpleasant remarks. Or it inspires some panicky thoughts: “Did I turn off the iron at home ?!” Or, finally, a person simply becomes ill in the temple, he wants to go out.

If you do not succumb to these enemy machinations, overcome everything - it will become better. Cross yourself, pray: "Lord, save our dwelling from all evil." Repent: “What a sinner I am… How long did I pass by the temple! What did you think about in life? What am I - forever or what will I be on earth? Lord, forgive me, do not reject me, unworthy, accept me, strengthen me, help me ... ”And the Lord will accept and help. It is difficult for us in church because we are sinners. It is difficult for a sick person to be treated, but he endures because he wants to get well.

And it happens so easily, so well!.. Like nowhere else.

Reception sixteen: "I don't understand what they say in church"

For example, a first grader came to school, sat, listened to what they were saying in class, and said: “I don’t understand!” - collected a satchel and went home: "I'd better stay a preschooler."

In the first grade, we did not understand much from the ten-year program. But we went to school. We got up every day with an alarm. Overcome your laziness. (Here's another thing that masquerades as all these good alleged "reasons".)

We do not quit learning English, saying: "There are too many incomprehensible words."

Same here. Start going to church - each time it will be clearer.

Yes, much is already clear. Lord have mercy, I understand. Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit - of course. Holy Mother of God, save us - understandable. In the prayer of Our Father... everything is clear. But these are the main prayers. If you listen carefully, it will be clear and much more, more and more.

The language of worship, Church Slavonic, is a special language. It is the easiest language to talk to God. This is our great treasure. It is completely untranslatable, irreplaceable by the Russian language.

Worship is perceived not only by the mind. Worship is grace. This is a special beauty. Worship is addressed to the whole soul of man. It is for the eye, and for the ear, and for the sense of smell. All this together feeds the soul of a person, and the soul changes, cleanses, rises, although the mind does not understand what is happening to it.

No one leaves the temple the same as he entered it.

Buy the Gospel, read at home. In modern Russian, in modern Russian script. All this today, thank God, is available.

One young man once told the priest that he could not go to church until he understood what was going on there.

The father asked him:

Do you understand how food is digested in your stomach?

"No," the young man confessed frankly.

“Well, then don’t eat until you understand,” the priest advised him.

Reception seventeenth: "Reading and listening to the Gospel is difficult"

Quite right. And this also indicates that this is the right thing to do. This is not entertainment that comes easy. We see in life: everything real, everything useful is connected with labor, with effort. Growing bread, preparing a delicious dinner, building a house, getting an education, giving birth and raising a child - doesn’t this require labor? But we do it because we want to see the result. The results of any spiritual labor: reading the Word of God, praying, going to church, fasting, participating in the Sacraments of the Church, fighting sin (one's own! This is the most difficult thing!) are the greatest. These results - love, patience, a clear conscience, peace in the soul and peace with people - are already here. And there, in the next life, eternal joy with the Lord. None of our ordinary labors yield such great results.

Everything in the Gospel cannot be fully understood by any person. Because this is the Word of God, and God is completely incomprehensible to us, people. Therefore He is God. So He gave us this treasure so that we would partake of His bottomless wisdom, so that we would act wisely in life. Haven't we convinced ourselves many times that we are capable of making mistakes, and how? But in our main business - the salvation of the soul - a mistake can be too serious: the soul can move away from God, lose eternal heavenly life and be cast into eternal hellish torment. About how to save our immortal soul for eternal life, how we live according to love, without which life has no meaning, and the Gospel book is written.

Reception eighteenth: “But we are secular people, we are not monks”

Certainly not monks. We have completely different, secular norms of life, including spiritual and ecclesiastical ones. We can get married and get married, create an Orthodox family - a small church. We can eat meat on those days when the church charter allows us. We can walk, ride wherever we want. Monks can't do all this. The monks have complete obedience to the hegumen (abbess). They have their own ecclesiastical, cell prayer rule, the daily prayers and obeisances laid down for them, while the laity have their own.

Reception nineteen: “But there is not only the Orthodox Church”

With the help of this method, the devil is trying to lead us away from the only true faith - the Orthodox, from the only true Church, in which, thank God, we are already baptized, which gives us the possibility of salvation, in which millions of saints have been saved. We, alas, still know almost nothing really about our faith, about our Church, about this main wealth of our people - where else should we look around? It is as if we will never enter the first grade of the Orthodox school, but we stand on its threshold and meditate; “And what other educational institutions are there on other continents? ..”

Let's go to this school of ours. After all, so much time has already been lost ... Let us humbly sit at the desk, like diligent students. And let's start learning. Listening sensitively to everything that is taught here. Our ancestors studied in this school for centuries. How many great, intelligent people: writers, scientists, doctors, military leaders, listened with reverence to this knowledge and lived according to it. in the light, and not only illuminate yourself, but also shine on everyone.

The Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir the Red Sun sent ambassadors to different countries more than a thousand years ago to find out where what faith is. And chose for us, by the grace of God, the Orthodox faith. And our people have been glorifying the Holy Prince Vladimir for a thousand years for this greatest beneficence.

Therefore, the enemy of the human race most of all attacked and continues to attack our Orthodox people. Including with the help of various sects and false teachings. Therefore, it is difficult for our country, our people, Orthodox Christians. We are especially hated by the invisible enemy and those who serve him.

But we have been given invincible protection from God - the holy Orthodox faith. Christ the Savior has always helped us in history and is helping us now. From ancient times, the Mother of God covers especially Russia with Her Protection. Our country has long been called the House of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was also called Holy Russia. Holiness is the ideal of our people. The ideal is indeed the highest of those that people on earth can have. And we have the most saints - people who lived, putting God and the salvation of the soul in the first place, who did not even spare their lives for the sake of fidelity to Christ, like a great many new martyrs and confessors of Russia, who suffered for the faith and the Church on our land quite recently, in Soviet times.

Reception Twenty: “You Can Pray at Home”

Not only possible, but necessary.

At home, we pray every day according to the "Prayer Book", we read, first of all, morning and evening prayers. This is our home prayer rule. And on Saturday evening, Sunday morning, on holidays and on the evening before them, on any day, when the soul desires, when it feels that it needs God's help, we go to the temple. Church prayer is stronger than home prayer. Blessed Matrona Anemnyasevskaya, confessor of the 20th century, said:

- At home, you need to bow three hundred times, but in church - three times.

At home we pray ourselves, but in church we pray together, and this prayer is especially pleasing to God. The Lord said:

Where there are two or three gather in My name, that is, in the midst of them (). In the church with us is the Lord Himself.

Liturgy in translation into Russian means "common cause".

Protestants don't have worship. There is no commemoration of the dead. They and the Catholics do not have icons. No posts. And the Lord again said in the Gospel: This kind (demonic) can come out of nothing, only by prayer and fasting (). That's where he doesn't come out. Now Western Europe directly considers itself "post-Christian".

With us, thank God, everything is kept intact.

Only in the Orthodox Church the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ is performed in the way it was established by Jesus Christ Himself, Who said: Eat My Flesh, and drink My Blood, have eternal life, and I will resurrect him on the last day ().

Reception twenty-one: "Everyone lives like this"

And that's a hell of a lie. Everyone lives differently. And someone lives much better than us. Just lives unnoticed. But even if it really happened that all the people in the world suddenly committed some kind of sin, it would still remain a sin. Everyone will answer for himself.

And if we justify ourselves by saying that we did something because of someone, because of something: either there was such a time, or there were some other circumstances, then this does not cease to be a sin. We were wrong.

If we look at those who are better than us, we may become better, And if we look at the sins - real and imaginary - of our contemporaries, then we will get stuck in our sins.

It's not about how everyone is or not like everyone. And in that, good or bad, according to conscience or not.

The meaning of our life here is to become better, no matter what, no matter what. And if it is contrary to the circumstances, then before God it will be even higher.

Reception twenty-second: “But if you start going to church, then you will have to live differently”

And why do you think that in a different way is necessarily worse than now? Is your life better than ever right now?

“If I am baptized, get married, then it will no longer be possible to sin, to cheat on my wife ...”

And this cannot be done now. There is nothing good in sin even now. Its consequences are no better now.

“It is impossible” does not mean that all the evil of sin is in violation of the rules of the Church. The main evil is in sin itself, in the fact that it destroys us, our souls. In adding evil to the world from which we all suffer.

The devil offers his own ways of calming down: “If you are worried, smoke. Bad mood - drink. Fulfill all your desires, even prodigal, low ones - do not look, good or evil brings it to you and people. Live as easy as possible!

You live like this, easily - and it becomes harder and harder for you. And then comes the real grief - something that I didn’t want at all.

But with God it's the other way around. He says: “Do your best. Pray. Be patient. Repent. Fast. Go to the temple." And it gets easier and easier.

The Lord Jesus Christ said to us: Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is good, and My burden is easy to eat ().

God has a burden, but it is light.

And in the world, with the devil, everything seems to be easy, but this “lightness” of his is heavy.

How many tears in the world!

And anyway, sooner or later, people come to church with their sorrows, they cannot cope with them on their own.

If you start walking, at first it will be, maybe not easy, unusual. And then you will be surprised: how could you live without it? After all, there is only one blessing: grace, and benefit, and holidays are so joyful, with such a living meaning. And peace in the soul. And some simple, reasonable thoughts in my head. And with God there is no helplessness in any difficulties.

And when the Lord helps - such joy, such gratitude ...

Reception twenty-three: “I just don’t go. Where is the devil in this?

This is, of course, the most "strong" argument! But he is also from the devil. One of the favorite tools of the evil one is the word "simple".

Its most important goal is to make people think that it simply does not exist. "Simply" evil around is committed for no known reason, as if by chance. People have such oddities, such tastes - to destroy their souls, torturing themselves and others. Who likes what. However, the holy fathers say that the devil participates in every sin.

If people feel good in the church, if there is wisdom and strength, usefulness and beauty (one word - grace), then why would a person “just not go there”?

No, this is more serious...

Do we, people, need it - to get angry, swear, get divorced, kill each other? Inhale smoke from burning dried leaves rolled up into a tube (“smoke”)? To go crazy from alcohol, to suffer from drugs, to sell the Motherland, to forget God, the Giver of all blessings?

“Prick, just try! You won’t be a drug addict, you won’t die in a few years, exhausting yourself and your loved ones. You just know what it is. Curiosity? You're just curious. Well, just look. Just find out. Just tell everyone. This is not slander, not gossip - you just say what you heard.

Do you have a grudge against this person? Well, just tell him what you think of him. For him to know. To make him good. Just take revenge - for justice.

Just appropriate everything that you just like, even half the country, it will be just your success.

Even then, when we could not even imagine what life is like according to the principle “money decides everything”, Father Nikolai Guryanov predicted:

The devil throws his last weapon into action - money.

Today we can clearly see how this weapon of his works.

Betrayal, fornication, the murder of a child in the womb - well, just such circumstances, well, there is just an opportunity, well, I just wanted to ...

Any sin can be “justified” by this word!

People say: "Simplicity is worse than theft." This is precisely about such a crafty "simplicity".

And this is just a lie.

The truth is, for example, that the soul is given by God to man from the moment of conception. Therefore, abortion is the murder of a person, just like us, only small, innocent and defenseless, and it is unacceptable under any circumstances.

The truth is that we are all sinners and the devil is always trying to play on our sinfulness in order to lead us into new sins.

Deliver us, O God, from the evil one and from our wickedness

Reception twenty-four: “How do I go to confession when I cannot / do not want to give up some of my sins?”

The fact that in sins is happiness, the meaning of life, is a blatant devilish lie. Just the opposite. Happiness gives a person love, and this is a gift from God. Happiness gives a person a pure life, because sin kills love. Happiness is given to a person by a clear conscience, and the Lord cleanses our conscience in response to our repentance.

Some, for example, consider smoking to be a pleasure, and therefore do not even want to give it up. And the monk wrote: "From smoking - irritability and melancholy."

So it is with any sin. When we do not struggle with passions, but satisfy them, then temporary calm sets in. Why? Because the devil here insidiously departs, does not bother us - he lures us into his nets. And then, of course, he comes back - we ourselves opened this road for him - and it happens even worse for us. Passions grow stronger, dependence on them becomes even greater, and it becomes even more difficult to fight them.

If we struggle with sinful passions, then the Lord will help, deliver us from them, even in the future life. And if we do not fight, then in the next life they will torment us forever.

For example, a smoker died, his soul separated from his body. He wants to smoke, but there is no body. Flour. And, it's eternal.

God forbid!

Better to decide to quit right now. With God's help this is possible.

Of those who regularly go to church, no one smokes.

Reception twenty-fifth: “There are also unworthy priests. And suddenly you get to this?

Eat. Yes, this is the bitter truth. About one of them I can say for sure - this is the writer of these lines. Our service is very high. It is very difficult to be worthy of it. Pray for us. And best of all - in the church.

But just because we're unworthy doesn't mean it's better not to go to church. You cannot be saved without the Church.

All priests, bishops, even the Patriarch himself are sinful people. And even the saints to whom we pray were sinful people. We know from their lives that some great saints once committed grave, mortal sins. But the Lord accepted their repentant life. The Lord alone is without sin.

For this, the Lord founded His Church on earth, so that we, sinful people, with God's help, the grace of the Holy Spirit, which is poured out on us in the church, be cleansed from sins and be saved.

There may be not very pious attendants in the bathhouse. But why don't we wash?

Even through an unworthy priest, the grace of God is poured out on us.

Who else, besides the priest, will forgive us our sins? It is the priest who has been given such authority by God. And with sins, without repentance, how can we, sinful people, be saved?

The priest has also been given the power by God to give communion to the faithful; baptize; anoint with holy myrrh; marry spouses; unction of the sick; consecrate water, icons, pectoral crosses, dwellings, cars, planes; serve prayers, memorial services, funerals for the dead ...

“Priesthood is the salvation of the world,” say the holy fathers.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the enemy of the human race hates the clergy - and attacks the priests in the first place. And he also uses his favorite weapon - slander. Including through the media. The goal is simple - so that you decide: "I will not go to church."

The devil is the father of lies (), according to the word of the Lord. He is always trying to deceive us. And since we are sinners, lazy, we can accept less “troublesome” enemy thoughts that we are for good priests, and not for those whom the Lord appointed to serve today (and where will He find others? such are). That we are for the faith, but not for the Church. And we ourselves may not notice that we are no longer for, but against Christ.

It is better to be in a small flock of Christ than in a large one, but without Christ, without His Kingdom.

Reception twenty-eighth: “I will go to church - the houses will be unhappy”

Try not to annoy anyone at home. But go anyway. Consider in advance what needs to be done at home so that the main thing is ready by the time of the church service. Do not argue. Be silent when others are not in the spirit, when you yourself are not in the spirit. It is known that nothing good will ever come of it. Give in so as not to overload them. Be patient. Pray. Know that there is a fierce struggle going on. The case may be long. Maybe years. Maybe all my life. Repent. The reason is, maybe not only in them, but also in you. Maybe the Lord is pointing this out to you with sorrows. Maybe you need to pray - when there are no sorrows, we do not pray so fervently. Work hard to bear this cross. "What God does, he does not tell anyone." You don't have to do one thing: be discouraged. The Holy Fathers say: “Before death, do not despair of anyone.” The Lord wants everyone to be saved and to come to the understanding of the truth. God, prayer, hope certainly cannot be abandoned. As much as possible, somehow, but go to church. And pray for your loved ones in church. The Lord is stronger than all people. Maybe very soon everything will turn around - even more of us will go to church. And pray for us.

Reception twenty-ninth: "The main thing is to be a good person and do good deeds"

If only it were that easy to be a good person...

Everyone as one wants to be good people, everyone is going to be happy and bring happiness to others, no one plans to be unhappy. And what happens in life, we see.

Because people want to be happy, but in their own way. It even seems to them that happiness lies in the fact that all our desires are fulfilled.

And so happiness becomes unattainable And tears, grief - the sea.

Our main enemy is pride. She most of all prevents us from being good people: loving, kind, modest, sensitive, sympathetic, believing... It is she who tells us: “You yourself without God, without the Church, can be a good person. And you do good deeds. Yes, already better than many - even, maybe, those who go to church.

God forbid to believe this devilish lie.

Outwardly good deeds that we do without God are no longer good, because we attribute them to ourselves, thereby feeding our pride.

In the church, children see a good example. On TV, at home - alas, often the opposite. And an example is the strongest means of education, stronger than words.

The best thing we can do for children is to bring them as often as possible, bring them to church, partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, and pray for them.

It is clear in the church that the children who constantly take communion are other children. Calm, peaceful. Especially if the parents themselves take communion. Yes, even if they are married. Archpriest Nikolai Guryanov said: “How sorry I am for the unmarried!” And their children, of course, sorry ...

Children need simple good toys - bunnies, cubs. Communication with the living world - how the Lord created it. Clean, useful books: "Kolobok", "Turnip", "What is good and what is bad?" No matter how hard the child, God forbid, falls ill, in no case should one give in to panic and carry him to his grandmother, who speaks, who, they say, “also prays”, “so divine, her whole room is covered in icons.” All this is a disguise. What grandmother has as many icons as there are in the temple? What grandmother has the power that the Lord gives in His Sacraments? And there is not God's power, there will be no good.

Imagine, you came to the hospital, and your grandmother-cloakroom attendant says to you:

- I see, I see what you are sick of. Come on, come here, I'll do an operation on you with a knife - and you'll be healthy.

We will shy away from such a grandmother, we will never trust her with our body. We turn to a doctor, a specialist, preferably a professor. And our soul is much more complex and much more important to us.

All spiritual issues need to be resolved only in the Orthodox Church, with an Orthodox priest.

And if we were wrong, the doors of the church are always open, no matter how far we may stray from the Church, from God, He, in His immeasurable love, will always accept us if we repent, if we return to Him. The Holy Fathers say: "There is no unforgivable sin except the unrepentant."

Reception thirty-one: “And who knows that all this is true? I can't believe a word. If only I saw some miracle…”

Atheists in the 20th century in Russia tried to completely do away with faith, with the Church. They killed clerics, believers, withdrew the slightest mention of God from all books, from all life, raised children in complete godlessness from kindergarten, destroyed, it seems, everything religious that could be destroyed. It seemed that faith, the Church — all this was already in the past. But the Lord commanded, and everything was resurrected in even greater beauty: both monasteries, completely ruined, and temples, and Orthodox books began to appear even more than before, and films appeared, and radio and television programs ... And faith lives on among the people, and in More and more new people come to church. .

Is this not a clear miracle of God?

Reception thirty-two: “But even those who go to church have misfortunes and illnesses”

There are. But not because they go to church. On the contrary, the monk said:

If you don't go to church, you will get sick.

And how many healings happen - through the fervent prayers of believers!

One of the lists from the icon of the Mother of God "The Tsaritsa" is located in Moscow's Novospassky Monastery, near the Proletarskaya metro station. Before this icon, they especially pray a lot for cancer patients. And the whole image is hung with golden crosses. People brought them in gratitude to the Mother of God for healing. They also happened in cases that doctors recognized as hopeless. Doctors sometimes say so themselves: “This is a miracle. We didn't expect a recovery."

And nearby is the Monastery of the Intercession of the Mother of God, in which there is a shrine with the holy relics of the blessed Matrona of Moscow. And on her icon there are also a lot of donated crosses. People stand in line for hours to venerate her holy relics, to ask for help in sorrows and illnesses. And half of those who came are standing with bouquets of flowers in their hands: in gratitude for the help received.

The Lord does not deliver us from all difficulties, from all diseases, even from death. The Church of God helps a person to get rid of the main trouble - from the eternal death of the soul. Our life does not end with death, but our main life begins - eternal. And only in the Church is eternal salvation possible.

Reception thirty-three: “While we live, we must live, and not think about death”

The fact that the Church thinks more about death than about life is also an invention of the devil. He sentenced us all to eternal punishment, from which Christ the Savior came to deliver us. And the Church, founded for this by the Lord, thinks and speaks not of death, but of eternal life.

For a believer, the death of the body is not the end of life. The soul continues to live even after separation from the body. She passes into another life, an immortal life. This means that only life in the Church can give us real, endless, eternal life, the seeds of which we sow here on earth, during our rapidly flying temporal life.

And we believe that the vanity that fills our current life is its meaning, and is our whole life. We are all rushing somewhere... Where to?..

In the future life, we will no longer think about it, worry about it. Let's not live according to our will.

If, God forbid, we end up in hell, no one will ask us exactly what we want. And if, God forbid, in paradise, then there we will not need our personal freedom, there we will not see any happiness in it, because we will have an immeasurably greater, boundless happiness - to do the will of God.

One servant of God, having lived this life and looking back at all the past, said:

“All you had to do was go to church and do good deeds.

Reverend Seraphim of Sarov, who in this life visited paradise and then returned, was asked:

“Batiushka, all people are sinners. Why do some go to heaven and others go to hell? What is the difference between them?

The monk replied: “It is all about determination.

You decide: “Whatever happens, I will try not to sin. I will go to church, I will ask God. If it doesn't work, I'll repent. And again I will try to live away from sin.”

The Lord will have mercy on such a sinner. And the one who rejects the door of salvation, who says: “We live once, die anyway, take everything from life, suffer there anyway, so at least have some fun here,” such a person has already decided everything, what will you do with him? The Lord, they say, does not save by force.

Not a single person has ever escaped death because he tried not to think about it.

We need to prepare for the future life. It is necessary here to unite with Christ in such a way as not to part with Him never.

The present life will then become a true life, full of great meaning and the greatest - Paschal - joy.

That is why we celebrate so solemnly our main and beloved Russian holiday -.

On Paschal night, in these most joyful moments of the year, in our jubilant churches we praise the Risen Lord, who has corrected death by His death, and the wondrous words of the Divine Chrysostom ring out throughout the universe:

Where is your, death, sting? Where is your, hell, victory? Christ is risen, and thou hast fallen. Christ is risen, and the demons have fallen. Christ is risen, and the Angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life lives. Christ is risen, and the dead is not one in the tomb: for Christ, rising from the dead, was the firstfruits of those who had fallen asleep. To that glory and power, forever and ever. Amen.

Yes, the devil has many tricks with which he tries to keep us out of church. Wow he's trying so hard! And that is not all. So, it's worthwhile, since the enemy of the human race is so zealous. This means that we should try not to succumb to any of his tricks, put a filter in our head for any thoughts against the church, overcome all obstacles - and still come to the church, no matter what it costs us.

All these thoughts do not give real reasons why one should not go to church. And they are just thoughts. And these thoughts are from the devil. And he never tells the truth.

If he comes up with thirty-three more tricks, or three hundred, or as many as you like - he has them prepared for all tastes, if only they seem worthy of attention to us, if only we believe him, and not God, not the Mother Church, then all equally, we will have to discard them, exposing them with a single trick; THE THOUGHT DRIVES FROM THE CHURCH - THEN, SHE IS.

Therefore, if you don’t go to church or go rarely, then take a closer look at what the enemy is deceiving you on. And reject it, because it comes from him, and he certainly will not advise anything good.

All these “arguments” that the evil one throws at us and by which, unfortunately, we are guided in life, before God, who will judge us, will be nothing. At the Judgment of Christ, we will see everything as it really is, without any diabolical ideology. And it will be seen clearly that they were on their own, and the truth of life is on its own.

So let's learn to discard them and live simply and directly - according to the Gospel, according to conscience.

Let's go to God, let's go to the temple, whatever is against it. This is the will of God. And she is good and perfect.

Do you know, dear friend, that every time you do not go to church on Sunday, on a holiday, you make a very important - perhaps the most important decision in life? It applies not only to your life today, but also to the eternal life of your soul. And it is for all of us. And it may start very soon - maybe even today.

You are a baptized person. God bless. But if a person is baptized, this does not mean that he is guaranteed a place in paradise. Such a view is not Orthodox, heretical. After all, it is important how a person lives.

Why don't you go? What thoughts take you away from the temple?

And after all divert precisely thought.

It seems that these are your thoughts, because they are in your head. But it's not.

We say: "I have a thought." Yes, thoughts come. They come from somewhere. There are thoughts from God and there are thoughts from the devil. Both those and others come to our head, and we say: "I thought."

How do you know which thought is from God and which is from the devil?

See what actions this thought guides you. Where does it lead. TO churches - or from churches? TO prayer, To post, To repentance To confession, To communion, To wedding (if you are married), To patience To forgiveness To good deeds or from all of this, under any pretext. Even the most virtuous.

See what feelings, what states of mind thoughts give rise to in you. If peace, love, humility, silence, peace - most likely, these are thoughts from God. If anger, pride, fear, despondency, despair - from the devil.

Any thoughts against the Orthodox faith, against God, against the Church of Christ, against prayer and fasting are from the devil.

There are several very common methods-thoughts, with the help of which the invisible enemy tries to prevent a person from reaching God.

Reception first.
"I GO TO CHURCH"

So say the people who sometimes go to the temple to consecrate Easter cakes, stock up on baptismal water. Stay at the baptism. Escort the dead. Maybe light a candle on some special occasions. And - enough. They think they go to church.

But the Church itself does not think so.

The Lord gave us a command: Work six days, do all your work, and dedicate the seventh day to God.

The seventh day is Sunday.

Do you know, dear brother, that there is a rule of the holy fathers, according to which a person who has not been to church services for three Sundays in a row can be excommunicated from the Church? After all, he excommunicates himself from the Church.

It's clear. If you always have something to do on Sundays outside of church, this means that the main goal of your life is not yet in the Church, but somewhere in the world with its goals and values ​​that are alien to the cause of our salvation.

The Resurrection of Christ is the foundation of our faith. Only because the Savior suffered for us on the Cross and resurrected, we, baptized people, have hope for salvation.

We go to work without thinking: should we go? don't go? Like a working day - so we get up, we hurry to the time. If we went there several times a year, what would we earn? But this is all - mainly for the body. But a person is first of all his soul.

Second reception.
"I HAVE GOD IN MY SOUL"

Therefore, there is no need to go to church. You have him, they say, and so in the soul.

The invisible enemy is very cunning. He is smarter than us. He instills in us this thought: “You have God in your soul!” But in fact, it was not God who entered our soul, but only the thought about God, with which, on the contrary, the accursed one penetrated us. Like a wolf in sheep's clothing. And flatters us.

But it's not true. If only God were in our souls! Then we would strive to where everything speaks of God, where He is glorified, where His icons are, where His special presence, His grace. The temple is the house of God.

Then we would try to live according to His commandments.

And then after all, in our souls, everything just doesn’t happen: condemnation, irritation, and black thoughts - it’s not God at all.

How to get rid of all this? How to deal with enemy thoughts?

Only with God's help.

A person himself cannot cope with “his own” thoughts, even if he really wants to. This confirms once again that they are in fact not ours, but the enemy.

The Monk Ambrose, Elder of Optina, when demonic thoughts came to him, was baptized and said: “I do not deign.”

No attention should be paid to them. Don't think. Discard immediately. Pray the Jesus Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. And they will leave.

The Church teaches us that the devil fears most of all the sign of the cross, the water of the Cross, and the Body and Blood of Christ, which are served to us in the sacrament of communion.

Every baptized person needs to regularly come to the sacraments of confession and communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. After all, we regularly wash ourselves - we cleanse our body. A person is not only his body, it is first of all his soul. No less regularly do we need to purify our souls. The church is called: spiritual bath.

Reception third.
"I AM NOT MADE YET"

"Dawn! - says the devil. - Ripe as long as possible. Just don't do anything to mature." Do not read the Gospel, the "Law of God", the creations of the Holy Fathers. Do not go to the temple, do not ask the priests about anything, although they were appointed by God precisely in order to help the people in their spiritual life.

"I haven't gotten around to it yet."

To come, you have to go. Well, go ahead.

And where to go?

Of course, to the temple.

Reception fourth.
"HOPE IN GOD, AND DON'T BAD IT YOURSELF"

Exactly! Don't make a mistake yourself, work hard: pray, fast, go to church, do good deeds for Christ's sake... A Christian who trusts in God (for without Him we can do nothing, as the Lord Himself said) has a lot of work to do. And above all, with yourself. With sinful thoughts, feelings, with their fierce passions - diseases of the soul: pride, laziness, love of money, despondency, gluttony, fornication, anger, with lack of faith. Just turn around!

This is in first place.

And, of course, go about your usual business - praying, crossing yourself. Started by prayer, blessed by God, they will be better argued and will be of great benefit.

Reception fifth.
“I AM NOT SO VERY BELIEVING”

Well, then you won't find a better place than a church. Because this is where faith grows the most.

We are all on the road. We all want our faith to become stronger, we want to be closer to God.

“Whoever you go with, that’s what you get from,” the people say.

If you behave with truth, with truth, with beauty, with purity, you will become smarter and kinder, you will become cleaner and happier.

Pray, ask with the gospel prayer: I believe, Lord, help my unbelief!

The Lord will give, the Lord will help.

And to the believer, everything is possible. This is also gospel truth.

This means that it is necessary not to build life according to one's lack of faith, but to strengthen one's faith.

Reception sixth.
"I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT THE CHURCH IS SAYING"

For example, a first grader came to school, sat, listened to what they were saying in class, and said: “I don’t understand!” - collected a satchel and went home: "I'd rather stay a preschooler."

We learn English, although at first we do not understand a word. In the first grade, we did not understand much from the ten-year program. But we went to school. We got up every day with an alarm. overcame their laziness. (Here's another thing that masquerades under all these weighty alleged "reasons").

Start going to church - each time it will be clearer. Buy the gospel, read. In modern Russian, in modern Russian script - this is all available today, thank God.

One young man once told the priest that he could not go to church until he understood what was going on there.

The father asked him:

Do you understand how food is digested in your stomach?

No, - frankly admitted the young man.

Well, then, until you understand, do not eat, - the father advised him.

But the main thing is clear to us. Lord have mercy- It's clear. Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit- It's clear. Holy Mother of God, save us-It's clear. In prayer Our Father… all clear. But these are the main prayers. If you listen carefully, you will understand much more, and more and more.

The language of worship - Church Slavonic - is a special language. This is our great treasure. It is the easiest language to talk to God. It is completely untranslatable into Russian.

Worship is perceived not only by the mind. Worship is beauty. This is grace. Worship is addressed to the whole soul of man. It is for the eye, and for the ear, and for the sense of smell. All this together enters the soul of a person, elevates it, nourishes it, and the soul changes, although it does not understand with the mind what is happening to it.

No one leaves the temple the same as he entered it.

Quite right. And this also suggests that this is the right thing to do. This is not entertainment that should be easy. This is labor. You see: everything real in life, everything useful is connected with labor, with effort. To give birth and raise a child, to get an education, to build a house, to grow bread, to prepare a delicious dinner - doesn't all this require labor? But we go for it because we want to see result. The results of any spiritual work: reading the Word of God, prayer, going to church, fasting, participating in the sacraments of the Church, fighting sin (one's own! This is the most difficult thing) are the greatest. These results - love, patience, a clear conscience, peace in the soul and peace with people - are already here. And there, in the next life, eternal joy with the Lord. None of our ordinary labors yield such great results.

So there is nothing surprising here. Moreover, everything in the Gospel cannot be fully understood by any person, because it is the word of God, and God is completely incomprehensible to us, people. Therefore He is God. But is it reasonable to pass by this treasure that He gave us so that we gain wisdom so that we can do the right thing in life? Haven't we seen many times that we can be very wrong? But in the main business of our life - the salvation of the soul - the mistake can be too serious: the soul can move away from God, lose eternal heavenly life and be cast into eternal hellish torment. Here is how to save our immortal soul for eternal life, how we can live according to love, without which life has no meaning, and the Gospel book is written.

Reception ninth.
“I DON'T KNOW HOW TO BE IN THE CHURCH. WILL I SUDDENLY WILL BE BADLY MEET?

It's okay, it won't be long. Be patient. Smile. Work on yourself (the benefits have already begun!) Say humbly: “Sorry, I don’t know anything here yet. But I want to know. Tell me, please ... ”Even the most strict grandmothers from such humility, most likely, will falter, soften - and torture you with maternal care. Just do not rush to trust them in everything, although it will seem easier to you (easy does not mean good). For all spiritual matters, turn only to an Orthodox priest. And very soon you will know the main thing.

Gain spiritual experience: the favorite technique of an invisible enemy is to make an elephant out of a fly. Someone said one word to you - and you are already ready to deprive yourself of a permanent, irreplaceable good that gives great joy and benefit in this life - and in the future, eternal life. Is it comparable?

Reception tenth.
"I CAN'T GO TO THE TEMPLE, I FEEL BAD THERE"

As long as a person accepts thoughts against the church and believes them, the enemy needs nothing more. But if a person has overcome these obstacles, if he nevertheless came to the temple, then the enemy is trying by any means to expel from the temple. Or he sends overly zealous "defenders of piety" who make all sorts of unpleasant remarks. Or it inspires some terrible catastrophic thoughts: “Did I turn off the iron at home ?!” Or, finally, a person simply becomes ill in the temple, he wants to leave immediately.

If you do not succumb to these enemy machinations, overcome everything - it will become better. Cross yourself, pray: "Lord, save our dwelling from all evil." Repent: “What a sinner I am… How long did I pass by the temple! What did you think about in life? That I, forever or something, will be on earth? Lord, forgive me, do not reject me, unworthy, accept me, help me…” And the Lord will accept and help.

It is difficult for us in church because we are sinners. It is difficult for a sick person to be treated, but he endures because he wants to get well.

And it happens so easily, so well!.. Like nowhere else...

This o - just some of the tricks the devil uses to keep us out of church. Wow he's trying so hard! So, it's worthwhile, since the enemy of the human race is so zealous. This means that we should also try not to succumb to any of these tricks of the enemy, put a filter in our head for his thoughts, overcome all obstacles - and still come to the temple, no matter what it costs us.

If the evil one comes up with twenty-five more tricks, or two hundred, or as many as you like - he has them prepared for all tastes, if only they seem worthy of attention to us, if only we believe him, and not God, not the Mother Church, - then all equally, we will need to discard them, exposing them with a single trick: THE THOUGHT IS AVOIDING FROM THE CHURCH - THEN IT IS FROM THE EVIL.

Let's go to God, let's go to the temple, whatever is against it. This is the will of God. And she is good and perfect.