Alexey Osipov: We must train the mind and heart to pay attention, repentance and reverence. Osipov lectures prayer Theologian osipov last lectures how to pray correctly

-Dear Alexei Ilyich, tell me how to learn prayer, otherwise I have the feeling that I am just reading the rules. Can I, by some criteria, realize: what I am doing wrong and get rid of doubts?

It's not for me to answer such serious questions. Therefore, I will simply convey some of the thoughts of the Holy Fathers on it.

This first criterion, I would call it external, is the degree of attention to the words of the prayer that a person utters. If there is no attention, then there is no prayer, and our words turn into an empty sound. This is a very serious criterion, all the holy fathers talk about it and at the same time emphasize that without attention, prayer becomes not only useless, but often even brings harm. Why harm? Because he who reads prayers without forcing himself to attention, and even more so subtractive not only everything "put", but beyond that, begins to grow in my own eyes: what kind of prayer book I am, but in fact there is no prayer. And this is the most dangerous thing in spiritual life. Saint Ignatius wrote: “ Without attention, prayer is not prayer. She is dead! She is useless, insulting, insulting to God idle talk."! Therefore, he says, “First, one must pronounce the words with extreme deliberation, so that the mind has time to fit into words, as into forms”.

If we talk about the inner criterion of correct prayer, then such, according to the Holy Fathers, is the awareness of one's sinfulness, an increase in the feeling of repentance and humility. After all, if there is no repentance for sins, then what kind of prayer is this? The Monk Peter Damascene pointed out: “ The first sign of the beginning of the health of the soul is the vision of one's sins, countless, like the sand of the sea».

And one more condition for correct prayer.

If a person gets used to reading prayers without attention (and this, unfortunately, easily gets used to), then he soon begins to lose one of the most basic properties of the religious state - reverence. Look at what patter, with what carelessness it is often subtract"Our Father", for example, before dinner - it's just a shame to listen. The complete impression that they are not turning to God, but as to some kind of impersonal force! We forget that cursed is he who does the work of the Lord carelessly (Jeremiah 48:10).

So, attention, reverence and contrition of the heart are the most important states of the mind and heart of a person, by which we can judge whether we are praying or just reading. put, thereby sliding into real paganism.

These are the basic criteria for Christian prayer.

Of course, no one can immediately learn to pray in such a way as to always be attentive. Therefore, it is important to force oneself to pay attention by constantly returning the mind to the words of the prayer. Then he, who is now in some kind of relaxed state, gradually becomes stronger and becomes able to pray for an ever longer time without distraction.

For this, the Holy Fathers advise to make a short prayer as often as possible. And most of all, they recommend the one that we can pronounce in any position - whether we are walking, sitting, standing, lying, sick, healthy. This is the Jesus Prayer: "Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me," or "Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." Every Christian should know this prayer. It is short, easy to do with attention, and is a very good means of training the mind and heart for attention, repentance, and reverence.

On May 13, 2012, a regular meeting with the professor of the Moscow Theological Academy Alexei Ilyich Osipov took place on the Soyuz TV channel, according to the Orthodox newspaper (Yekaterinburg diocese). The well-known theologian answered the question of one of the viewers: “How to learn to pray? Otherwise, the feeling that I am just reading the rules does not leave me. Can I, by any criteria, realize that I am doing wrong and get rid of doubts? "

According to A. Osipov, this is a very urgent issue. “This first criterion, I would call it external, is the degree of attention to the words of the prayer that a person utters. If there is no attention, then there is no prayer, and our words turn into an empty sound. This is a very important criterion, all the holy fathers talk about it and at the same time emphasize that without attention, prayer becomes not only useless, but often even brings harm. Why harm? Because the one who reads prayers without forcing oneself to pay attention, and even more so, who reads not only everything “put”, but also beyond that, begins to grow in his eyes: “what a prayer book I am,” but in fact there is no prayer. And this is the most terrible thing in spiritual life. Saint Ignatius wrote: "Without attention, prayer is not prayer. It is dead! It is useless, soul-damaging, insulting to God idle talk!" Therefore, he says, “at first one must pronounce the words with extreme deliberation, so that the mind has time to fit into words, as into forms,” - AI Osipov quoted the words of St. Ignatius.

“If we talk about the inner criterion of correct prayer, then such, according to the holy fathers, is the realization of one's sinfulness, an increase in the feeling of repentance and humility. After all, if there is no feeling of repentance for sins, then what kind of prayer is this? " - asks the theologian and quotes the Monk Peter of Damascus, who pointed out: "The first sign of the beginning health of the soul is the vision of one's sins, countless as the sand of the sea."

Aleksey Ilyich also touched upon one more condition for correct prayer. “If a person gets used to reading prayers without attention (and, unfortunately, it is easy to get used to this), then one of the most basic properties of a religious state — reverence — soon begins to be lost. Look, with what patter, with what carelessness they often read Our Father, for example, before dinner - it's just a shame to listen. The complete impression that they are not turning to God, but as to some kind of impersonal force! Or do we forget that everyone is cursed who does the work of God with negligence? " - the famous theologian asks.

So, according to him, "attention, reverence and contrition of the heart are the most important states of the mind and heart of a person, by which we can judge whether we are praying after all or just reading what is supposed to be, slipping into the very real paganism." “These are the main criteria for Christian prayer,” Osipov stressed.

“Of course,” he continued, “no one can immediately learn to pray in such a way as to always be attentive. Therefore, it is important to force yourself to pay attention, constantly returning it to the words of the prayer. Then our mind, which is now in some kind of relaxed state, is gradually strengthened and becomes capable of more and more prolonged prayer without distraction. "

For this, according to A.I. Osipov, the holy fathers advise to make a short prayer as often as possible. And most of all they advise the one that we can pronounce in any position - whether we are walking, sitting, standing, lying down, sick, healthy. This is the Jesus Prayer: "Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me," or "Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me." “Every Christian should know this prayer. It is short, it is easy to perform it with attention, and it is a very good means of training the mind and heart to attention, repentance and reverence, ”concluded A.I. Osipov.

First of all, let me remind you once again that I am not speaking on my own behalf about being careful about practicing the Jesus Prayer. It is known that the Optina elders advised the zealous “beyond reason” in this way, because, as the Monk Isaac the Syrian wrote: “Every thing is painted by measure. Without measure, what is considered beautiful turns to harm. " And here people who do not understand what conditions are necessary for practicing the Jesus Prayer and who proceed from the wrong purpose of its fulfillment, as a rule, fall into conceit, delusion, pride. Saint Ignatius also pursues this idea. What should be the attitude towards the Jesus Prayer in our time? Looking for someone. It is one thing for those who have embarked on the path of monastic life, and another for those who revolve in the vanity of worldly life.

As for spirit-bearing instructors, Saint Ignatius meant those who acquired the ceaseless grace-filled prayer of Jesus, achieved dispassion, and received from God the rare gift of seeing the human soul. Such mentors really could point out those hidden passions and their reasons that a person did not see in himself. But speaking about his time, Saint Ignatius uttered extremely offensive words for those who see themselves as spiritual fathers: “We have no God-inspired mentors!” And he said not just, but with an exclamation mark. And he knew perfectly well the state of monasticism of his day.

However, in the absence of divinely inspired mentors, Saint Ignatius offers very important advice to those seeking spiritual life.

The first is to be guided by the writings and experience of mainly those ancient fathers and Russian ascetics who gave advice to people who are on the same spiritual level as a modern Christian. To these writings, of course, first of all it is necessary to add the works of Saint Ignatius himself, since he asceticised and wrote in an era spiritually very similar to the modern one, and therefore for our time he is the best spiritual mentor.

Second, one should consult with those people who are of the same spirit to us, who sincerely seek spiritual life, study and know the works of the holy fathers and, which is very important, have the gift of reasoning. Regarding the last condition (reasoning), Saint Ignatius warns that there were even saints who attained high spiritual states, but, lacking the gift of reasoning, sometimes offered such advice that seriously damaged the soul of a person.

Saint Ignatius cites in this connection the thoughts of the Monks Macarius the Great and Isaac the Syrian. He wrote: "Saint Macarius the Great said that ... there are souls who have become partakers of Divine grace ... at the same time, due to a lack of active experience, they are, as it were, in childhood, in a very unsatisfactory state ... which is required by true asceticism." ... "In monasteries, the saying is used about such elders:" holy, but not skilled, "and caution is observed in consulting with them ... so as not to hastily and frivolously entrust the instructions of such elders." St. Isaac the Syrian even says that such an elder "is not worthy to be called a saint." That is with what care, it turns out, you need to approach the choice of those with whom you can consult.

Therefore, in our time, anyone who wants to learn how to pray and live correctly, inexorably, must carefully study the works of St. Ignatius, who perfectly knew both the teachings of the Fathers and experienced the path of prayer. But to consult as one consults with friends, and not as with the leader of an "Orthodox" totalitarian sect, demanding unquestioning obedience to himself. , but in the world there has never been such a thing, except perhaps the relationship between false spiritualists and false disciples, especially false disciples. great monastic deeds.

He wrote: “Your desire is in vain - to be in complete obedience to an experienced mentor. This feat is not given to our time. He is absent not only in the midst of the Christian world, not even in monasteries. "

“And many thought to go through obedience, but in fact it turned out that they fulfilled their whims, were carried away by the excitement. Happy is he who, in his old age, has time to shed a tear of repentance on the hobbies of his youth. The Lord said about the blind leaders and those led by them: But if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit (Matt. 15:14). "
(Based on materials from the site Bogoslov.ru)

Complete collection and description: Osipov lectures prayer for the spiritual life of a believer.

A.I. Osipov. Lectures on Apologetics for the 5th year MDC

Prayer - as a connection - is the spiritual content of any religion. And there is a wrong prayer, which can lead to the most sad consequences.

The fathers pay special attention to the Jesus Prayer, because morning and evening prayers are performed only at their own time, and you need to pray all day.

We must practice prayer, force ourselves to it (as athletes exercise) - and from the beginning, not from the middle and not from the end.

From the middle - those who accept the guidance of the fathers without preparation begin, who want to ascend with their minds to the temple of the heart, and from there send prayer. From the end - those who want to immediately reveal the grace-filled actions of prayer, its grace-filled gifts, experiences and sweets (By the way, this is the content of the book "The Stranger's Frank Stories ...").

Stages of prayer: 1) Oral prayer - in the tongue or in a whisper.

2) The next step is that this prayer can become a mental prayer - as a thought.

3) The next stage is the connection of the mind with the heart - when in response to the prayer of repentance the heart begins to respond, and an inexplicable act, which is given by God, occurs - the act of connecting the mind with the heart. This does not happen by the will of man, but only by the will of God. Then prayer becomes unceasing - no matter what the person does.

4) There is also a higher level of prayer - which is performed in complete silence of the mind and all the forces of the soul, in the complete peace of the soul. The spirit prays in a person. This is sometimes called contemplative prayer. Isaac the Syrian wrote about such silence - "silence is the secret of the century to come, and words are the instruments of this world."

Therefore, prayer should be started not from the end or from the middle, but from the beginning.

The beginning of prayer is the three main components of prayer - Attention and reverence for the purpose of repentance.

Where there is no attention, no prayer, prayer has failed. And you can defend whatever vigils you want - there will be no use.

Monk Mercury, “In the mountains of the Caucasus” - the ceaselessness of prayer does not at all mean its grace, since the main thing here is the gifts of prayer. And Peter Damaskin - that the result of a correct prayer should be “ a vision of their sins, countless like the sand of the sea».

And you can perform services all your life, be present at services - and never pray. Believers spend a gigantic time at services - and imagine, everything is in vain. And what self-conceit begins to grow! It seems like in a church, at a service - but in reality - soap bubbles.

Christ was crucified by those who spent their entire lives in the temple - and no doubt - never prayed.

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A.I. Osipov about prayer.

Professor of the Moscow Theological Academy A.N. Osipov answers the questions of the listeners of the Soyuz TV channel

- Is it true that everything that happens in the Russian Orthodox Church is a mirror image of what is happening in our society? All priests and officials answer in a streamlined manner, I do not feel sincerity in their speeches, only complete indifference and lack of feelings. What can you say about this?

- Here is mutual reflectivity. What is happening in the world leaves a strong stamp on church life, and vice versa, the spiritual state of the Church, oh, how it determines life in our society. Pay attention to how much has been written, for example, about the events of 1917, but you will not find anywhere - I'm talking about church historians - what was the main cause of this catastrophe. They write about all sorts of conspirators, about Jewish masons, about enemies and villains, about Western agents. Only one thing is never written - about the spiritual state of our Church - those who are called the people of God. And it is a pity, because an abscess, hidden from the eyes, driven inward, is doubly dangerous. And if they read what they wrote, for example, in the 18th century Tikhon Zadonsky ( Christianity quietly moves away from people, only hypocrisy remains); that in the 19th century - Ignatius Bryanchaninov about the state of at least monasticism ( like spring snow, from above, it seems, reliable, dense, and a little came and fell into the water, and he knew the monasteries very well); that Theophan the Recluse ( one or two more generations, and we will not have Orthodoxy); that John of Kronstadt ( my heart bleeds when I see what is happening to our Christian people). And there are many such examples.

As you can see, the spiritual state of the Church by the beginning of the 20th century found itself in a difficult situation, and this with outward prosperity, with a huge number of monasteries, temples, and theological schools. Our theological science, in comparison with Western universities, was at the highest level, it was the brilliance of scientific theology. And what is spiritual life? (It got to the point that the high society accepts with respect the French occultists Philip, Papus and downright prays for Rasputin, and does not even notice John of Kronstadt and the Optina elders).

This is, first of all, the spiritual state of Christians, with all the outward splendor of church life, and led the country to a tragedy. For the Church is the leaven of the whole life of the people. But in her there was an intensive development of the process, which, as we see, many of our saints wrote about with such bitterness, and which is called zeal. What it is? This is a complete absorption of consciousness by purely external church activities, and spiritual life is viewed as a personal matter, understandable to everyone. Deep delusion. Spiritual life, its laws, the criteria of truth in it, the dangers standing in its path, the necessary means of its implementation and their correct use, and a host of other important issues - all this is a whole science, which the saints called the science of the sciences and the art of the arts. Let me give you one simple example - prayer. We constantly hear calls to her. But she, it turns out, can, how to save a person, so with the wrong attitude towards her, and destroy him! Therefore, when questions of spiritual life are not considered on a general church scale, their correct understanding is not communicated to the widest circle of believers, then spiritual degradation of the local Church occurs. And this is reflected in the most negative way on the spiritual and moral life of the whole society.

But, on the other hand, people come to the Church not from some other planet, but from us, from our world, from our life. And we know in what spiritual and moral state she is now. Look where they are sending them, what they are doing with our youth, what they are doing, how they are perverting, corrupting, turning into a flock of sheep, slavishly obedient to all the imperative cries of the Western way of life. And they, the poor, often do not even understand this. They do not know the terrible devilish motto aimed at humanity: unbridle, in order to bridle. So, from this world people come to the Church, often purely outwardly they are baptized, enter theological schools, enter the spiritual class. And if this person does not have a special striving for knowledge of the essence of Christianity, and not just recognition of the external rules of church life and some doctrinal truths, then he, coming to the Church and becoming a clergyman of different levels, brings there passions and passions, morals and habits, tastes and interests of worldly life that most negatively affect church life. Therefore, it is very important to understand and remember that the Church is all of us - all those who consider themselves Christians, and not only the Patriarch, bishops, priests and monks.

So, the Church has a mutual influence on the world and the world on the Church.

- Dear Alexey Ilyich, tell me how to learn prayer, otherwise I have the feeling that I am just reading the rules. Can I, by some criteria, realize: what I am doing wrong and get rid of doubts?

- A very pressing question. This first criterion, I would call it external, is the degree of attention to the words of the prayer that a person utters. If there is no attention, then there is no prayer, and our words turn into an empty sound. This is a very important criterion, all the holy fathers talk about it and at the same time emphasize that without attention, prayer becomes not only useless, but often even brings harm. Why harm? Because one who reads prayers without forcing himself to attention, and even more so subtractive not only everything “put”, but beyond that, begins to grow in my own eyes: what kind of prayer book I am, but in fact there is no prayer. And this is the most terrible thing in spiritual life. Saint Ignatius wrote: “ Without attention, prayer is not prayer. She is dead! She is useless, insulting, insulting to God idle talk."! Therefore, he says, “First, one must pronounce the words with extreme deliberation, so that the mind has time to fit into words, as into forms.”

If we talk about the inner criterion of correct prayer, then such, according to the Holy Fathers, is the awareness of one's sinfulness, an increase in the feeling of repentance and humility. After all, if there is no feeling of repentance for sins, then what kind of prayer is this? The Monk Peter Damascene pointed out: “ The first sign of the beginning of the health of the soul is the vision of one's sins, countless, like the sand of the sea».

And one more condition for correct prayer.

If a person gets used to reading prayers without attention (and this, unfortunately, easily gets used to), then he soon begins to lose one of the most basic properties of the religious state - reverence. Look at what patter, with what carelessness it is often subtract"Our Father", for example, before dinner - it's just a shame to listen. The complete impression that they are not turning to God, but as to some kind of impersonal force! Or forget that cursed is everyone who does the work of God with negligence?

So, attention, reverence and contrition of the heart are the most important states of the mind and heart of a person, by which we can judge whether we are still praying or just reading. put sliding into the real paganism.

These are the basic criteria for Christian prayer.

Of course, no one can immediately learn to pray in such a way as to always be attentive. Therefore, it is important to force yourself to pay attention, constantly returning it to the words of the prayer. Then our mind, which is now in some kind of relaxed state, is gradually strengthened and becomes capable of more and more prolonged prayer without distraction.

For this, the Holy Fathers advise to perform a short prayer as often as possible. And most of all they advise the one that we can pronounce in any position - whether we are walking, sitting, standing, lying down, sick, healthy. This is the Jesus Prayer: "Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me", or "Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me." Every Christian should know this prayer. It is short, easy to do with attention, and is a very good means of training the mind and heart for attention, repentance, and reverence.

- There is the first call - the Khanty-Mansiysk district is in touch.

- It is interesting to hear the professor's opinion, why does the Russian Orthodox Church not create its own political party?

- For a very important reason. If you had to read the New Testament, then you might have noticed that neither Jesus Christ nor the apostles anywhere and never touched upon any political problems. Moreover, they shied away from it. Why?

It is quite obvious that political problems, like all others, are ultimately determined by our moral and spiritual condition. See how the same person behaves differently, depending on what state he is in. In anger, he kills, destroys, destroys, on the contrary, in love and joy he does so much good. Therefore, the preaching of Christ and the apostles was not aimed at changing public life, but at making a person better. For only in this case positive external (political, social, economic, etc.) changes in life can occur, which will bring real benefit to every person. This is the reason that Christ did not offer any ideal political program or model of government, but gave commandments about love, mercy, generosity, modesty, even humility, patience, abstinence and other properties of the normal state of a person. (Christianity also indicates the real means to achieve such a state.) For without spiritual healing of a person no state structure and no political systems will bring prosperity to people.

By the way, all Russian education up to the 16th century, which was carried out at monasteries, at princely courts, was aimed at not just stuffing one's head with formal knowledge, but making a person better, holier. Our church lives on this Christian idea, and therefore it does not create any political party of its own.

There are other reasons for this as well. After all, it is absolutely clear what our life will turn into if Orthodox, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist parties appear ... Look what political parties do during the elections - what mutual reproaches, insults, what intrigues and insinuations - have completely forgotten the most elementary moral norms of behavior. What good can you expect from them after that ?! Orthodoxy stands for creating peace between people, as much as possible, and not creating new preconditions for confrontation and enmity. The task of the Church is to help a person become a person who, unfortunately, is sinking lower and lower before our very eyes.

– In the Gospel of Mark, chapter nine, there are these words: “ Teacher, we saw a man who in Thy Name casts out demons, and does not follow us, and forbade him, because he does not follow us". Jesus said, “ Do not forbid him, for no one who has performed a miracle in My Name can soon curse me, for whoever is not against you is for you". Please comment on these words.

- Each person is the image of God, and in him to some extent the understanding of the norms of a correct spiritual life is preserved. Therefore, when he, even without knowing Christ, not knowing the Gospel, speaks the truth, and even in the Name of Christ, as it is written, works miracles, then we can say that he, of course, is not against us, but for us.

But, unfortunately, it is possible, confessing Christ, to be against Him. Remember, elsewhere in the Gospel Christ says: “ Many will say to Me on that day: Lord! God! Did we not prophesy in your name? and did they not drive out demons in your name? and did not you perform many miracles in your name? And then I will announce to them:"(Matthew 7: 22,23). It turns out that the one who leads a lawless life, even though he confessed Christ with his tongue and even performed miracles in His name, is His adversary.

So what is important is not in itself the external recognition of Christ, not the icons in the house, not the formal reading of prayers, which many sorcerers and witches, magicians and psychics do with deliberation, for show, in order to catch ignorant people, but the internal aspiration of a person, which determines him proximity or, on the contrary, opposition to Christ. Therefore, Christ answers in one case: “ The one who is not against you is for you. Do not forbid". And in another: " I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of iniquity". He had seen the soul of a man.

– How do our righteous and unrighteous actions affect the fate of our loved ones, both living and dead?

- What influence is an indisputable fact. Even pre-Christian humanity, for example, the ancient Greek philosophers, recognized that all humanity, that is, all people in the world, constitutes a single body. This is what Christianity teaches. And if so, then the answer is obvious. Look what happens to a person when he has a pain, only one tooth. And in the body of humanity, each of us is one of its "teeth". Therefore, we all influence both each other and the state of the whole world, although the degree of this influence, of course, is different.

For this reason, in our prayers we turn not only to God, but also to the saints for help. But what is prayer and what is its effectiveness? See how Christ prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane? To bloody sweat. See how many saints prayed for those who fell into difficult circumstances spiritually and even in everyday life. It turns out that the power of prayer is not just in words, but in the feat of the mind, heart, and body associated with them, for a person is an integral being and everything in him is interconnected.

What did Christ say to the disciples when they asked why they could not cast out the demon? He replied: " This kind is driven out by prayer and fasting". Not by prayer alone, but by fasting, that is, the feat of the body! That is why, by the way, our believers stand behind the service, for there is still an understanding that prayer is performed not only with the soul, but also with the body. But in the West this gospel teaching has long been lost. There, complete comfort has been created for the flesh, fasts are completely abolished, there is no abstinence even before communion (Catholics have an hour of fasting!), Everyone is sitting comfortably at the service, confession is not obligatory, and it practically disappeared. According to their new teaching, the body does not need to participate in prayer - just according to Luther, who said: “ The soul does not participate in the voluptuous deeds of the flesh».

You probably remember how Abraham turned to the angel who came to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah: “Lord, if there are fifty righteous people there, you won’t destroy”? He answers: "No." Abraham continues: "And if there are forty-five righteous, and if forty, ... if ten, you will not destroy"? The angel said: "No, I will not destroy," and walked away. There is, it turns out, a certain level of spirituality of man and society, beyond which begins the disintegration of not only man's life, but also nature itself. So the nature of the spiritual life of both an individual and the people as a whole, of course, affects not only our close and distant, but also all aspects of life.

Moreover, according to the firm teaching of the Church, the character of our spiritual life also affects the fate of the departed. From the very beginning of its existence, the Church has been praying for the departed with the belief that there is an opportunity to change their condition. This change does not take place by some external, coercive way, but through the prayers of the Church and depending on the change in our spiritual state. We who live through the fulfillment of the commandments, repentance, deeds of mercy can purify our souls for the sake of love for the departed, who can no longer do this. Therefore, the one who wants to really help the departed should not just light a candle or write a note, but take on at least a small feat for the sake of the deceased whom he remembers. Then this prayer will be effective.

- Why do we need an intermediary in the person of a priest to communicate with God, especially since some of them do not always behave approximately?

- Since an intermediary is a person, without whose participation it is impossible to communicate with God, then a priest is not such, since every person has the full opportunity to personally address God without any intermediaries. Moreover, Orthodoxy teaches that God cannot save a person without will most a person, and not some kind of intermediary. So there is no question of any sacred mediation in communion with God in Orthodoxy. It is in Catholicism that there is a teaching about the priesthood as an intermediary between God and man, but this is wrong, as is wrong with him and many other things.

In Orthodoxy, a priest, firstly, is an assistant to believers in their spiritual life, and secondly, he is the performer of the sacraments, the grace of which is equally needed both for him and for all believers. Therefore, he must know both the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Fathers and must, more than others, live like Christians in order to help others. This is his primary duty to God and people. A priest is the primate (ie, standing first) of the believers before God, but not the one through whom only the believer can gain access to God.

A priest has the right and duty to perform the sacraments and other services that help believers in their Christian life. But at the same time, if he behaves unworthily, then he loses the grace-filled help of God in guiding believers, although he retains the right to perform divine services until he is banned. For the Lord gives grace in the sacraments, and not the priest. Therefore, until he is prohibited, all the sacraments performed by him are valid. But even here he is not a mediator, for the sacraments are as effective as the believer approaches them with faith, repentance and prayer.

- The Gospel says: "Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved." And it also says: "If you confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and believe that He is the Son of God and came from God, then you will be saved." How is this interpreted in our Orthodoxy?

- It has already been said that you can pronounce the Name of Jesus in different ways and confess Jesus Christ. Remember in the Gospel how the demons shouted: "You are the Son of God." Did they confess Him? It seems so, but to salvation?

If you turn to Western Christianity, you will see that there, if you like, the main "dogma" is the understanding of faith as, in fact, a simple confession of Christ. His commandments have been reinterpreted in such a way that little of the Christian remains in them. Everything is adapted to the requests of flesh and blood, to old man. There is no idea about spiritual life, as it is revealed in the patristic teaching, there was a complete revelation of consciousness. It is clear that this passage of the Gospel is not talking about such a confession, not about such a faith. Christ Himself elsewhere explains this, as it were: What do you call Me: Lord! God! - and don't do what I say? (Luke 6:46). I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of iniquity"(Matthew 7:23).

It turns out that you can believe and confess Jesus Christ in a demonic way, but you can also in a holy way. Therefore, in this case we are talking only about the correct confession, about the correct faith.

- Why have we been going to church for so many years, but our life does not change, what should be the correct spiritual life, how should a Christian live?

- You have asked an extremely important question, which concerns almost everyone without exception. Indeed, you can go to church for a hundred years, and the way I was, I stayed the same. Why is this happening? For a very simple reason, simple and sad: we have reduced the very understanding of Orthodoxy to the fulfillment of purely external church prescriptions. We go to church, confess, receive communion, get married, observe fasts, submit notes, light candles, read prayers. I'm talking about the so-called. a church-going Christian. And with all this, it turns out that a person may never pray. In the best case, he will pray when some kind of illness, sorrow befalls him, when something responsible is ahead - then whoever does not pray. About the most important thing - about sins - we rarely pray, sluggishly, formally. Therefore, we remain without fruit.

Spiritual life is impossible without two things: without forcing oneself to fulfill the commandments of the Gospel and without a prayer of repentance. And when this does not exist, when we do not actually remember the commandments, but we carry out only external church customs and prescriptions, when we forget about our soul - we do not fight with envy, vanity, hostility and other things that are innumerable, when, it seems, we repent and again we calmly continue to live as before, and at the same time we are not aware of our powerlessness, we do not humble ourselves - then, naturally, no spiritual change can occur in us. There can be no change if the confession itself is nothing more than an account of the sins done, and the Sacrament is a custom. And where is the cleansing of the soul from passions? It turns out just like grandfather Krylov: "I didn't notice the elephant."

– How do you feel about tolerance?

- Tolerance can be interpreted in different ways. Imagine what will happen to our scientific, cultural, religious, philosophical, etc. activity if due to the so-called tolerance will be prohibited from any discussion, any criticism. What then will our entire creative life turn into? Into the swamp?

The possibility of an open, free discussion to clarify the truth should not be confused with the freedom to incite interethnic, interreligious and other hatred. Therefore, tolerance, understood as tolerance for the right of every person to have their own opinion on any issue, is a natural and necessary phenomenon of social life. But tolerance, considered as a law prohibiting critical discussion of another system of views, and thus revealing complete arbitrariness in the propagation of any ideas, is nothing more than a complete perversion of the principle of freedom and an elementary condition of normal social life.

Christianity is called to create peace between people, and discussions about views have always been, are and should be.

- Can a layman be guided in life by the labors of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, his ascetic experiences or other labors? After all, during his lifetime he advised to study the works of Tikhon Zadonsky and did not recommend the laity to read the holy fathers who wrote for the monks. I understand that the Lord in the person of St. Ignatius gave us a priceless treasure, but how can we properly use it? Best regards, Elena from Krasnoyarsk.

- There are certain principles of spiritual life, the observance of which is necessary for every person, and even more so for a Christian. And there are features of spiritual life, which are mainly due to the degree of a person's zeal for this life and its conditions. We are talking about those two steps that the Lord Himself spoke about in a conversation with a rich young man, pointing out that for salvation it is necessary to fulfill the well-known commandments, and to achieve perfection - renunciation of everything (Matthew 19: 17, 21).

It is clear that it is practically impossible for a layman to lead that ascetic way of life with constant intelligent work, to which monasticism is called. Nevertheless, the principles of spiritual life here and there remain the same. What is the main criterion for a correct spiritual life? He is one for both the monk and the layman. It was briefly expressed by one of the Church Fathers, St. Peter Damaskin: " The first sign of the beginning of the health of the soul is the vision of one's sins, countless as the sand of the sea". And Saint Isaac the Syrian wrote that “ who weeps for his sins is higher than he who raises the dead ".

Therefore, St. Ignatiy Bryanchaninov wrote: " The importance is in Christianity, not in monasticism; monasticism is important to the extent that it leads to perfect Christianity"That is, monasticism and laity are not different faiths, but special ways of life, and this must be understood. The laity in the works of the holy fathers should take not the specifically monastic, but the basic, which St. Peter Damascene so clearly said.

The holy fathers have works addressed to hermits, recluses, ascetics, about whose exploits and their states we cannot even imagine. It is not safe for laymen to read them, for it is easy to fall into dreaminess and delusion. Therefore, Saint Ignatius advised reading John Chrysostom, Tikhon of Zadonsky, Paisy Velichkovsky, George the Recluse, he often refers to Isaac the Syrian, John Climacus, Seraphim of Sarov. Of course, it is necessary to read the creations of him, the letters of his faithful disciples: Abbess Arsenia (Sebryakova), Schegumen John of Valaam, Abbot Nikon (Vorobyov).

- I have been going to church for fifteen years, and did not notice that there were any changes. But for the last two or three years I began to feel my sins so much that I began to suffer for them. Something turns inside me, I feel sorry for all people, especially children. I work as a notary, I have a lot of temptations at work, and I have to reassure, persuade, and plead all clients. And I myself feel that the Lord is coming to meet me, He fulfills my wishes. If I don’t want something, well, let’s say, go somewhere, then it turns so that I don’t go. The Lord always helps, and I am very happy, but I don’t even know why this is happening. So I wanted to ask.

- Thank God for His help, but you should not allow the thought that He is rewarding you for special virtue, for special pleasing to Him. After all, if we look a little inside ourselves, we will see that in our souls there is a real Noah's ark, in which gadi, they are innumerable... The correct spiritual direction is determined by the fact when a person increasingly begins to realize not his purity before God, but his sinfulness. We are no better than other people. But this, unfortunately, is not easy to see. Therefore, one should never forget the beautiful words of St. Theophan the Recluse, said about all of us: “ The rubbish itself is rubbish, but everything keeps repeating: not, like other people"(= The rubbish itself is rubbish, but everything keeps repeating: I am not like other people). Forgetting this can destroy us.

Suffering for sins can be done in different ways. You can suffer for pride: how could I do this! - and coming to despair from this is already a spiritual disaster. And you can suffer, realizing your depravity and powerlessness to correct yourself without the help of God - and repenting, becoming more and more humbled before God and people - this is the right direction. God help!

- We go to church, put candles on various saints so that we do not get sick, drink, recover, and so on. And behind such a palisade of saints, the Face of Christ is faintly visible. And the Mother of God almost eclipsed Christ Himself. Is it correct?

- If we forget Christ, then this naturally means that we are following the wrong path. The true path leads precisely to Christ. Who is he? Savior. Who needs a Savior? When I sunbathe on the beach, I don't need any Savior. But when I cannot swim out of the raging sea, then with all my being I understand who I need. So it is in the spiritual life. While no one and nothing affects us - we are good as hedgehogs. Here he is, a hedgehog, running, cute, I want to pick it up. But they just touched it, and it stuck with all the needles into your hand. We are all the same hedgehogs. Touch my pride and you, and maybe even myself, will see who I really am. And if time after time I am convinced how filled I am with different needles, from which I suffer both myself and other people, then I will gradually begin to understand how much I need a Doctor. To Him then, first of all, my prayer will be addressed.

Why do we pray to the saints? If we, knowing that this or that layman or priest is not sinless people, and nevertheless, we turn to them with a request: "Pray, I can not get rid of my temper", or: "I have an operation tomorrow," then why can't we turn to the Mother of God, to the saint? After all, as the Lord Himself said: God is not the God of the dead, but of the living(Matthew 22.31). But any saint to whom we sincerely turn is only ours. with a prayer book to God, and not acting independently. And we pray to the saints with full confidence that their prayers are more effective than ours before God. If we understand this way of addressing the saints, then everything will equalize and the Face of Christ will not fade.

But at present, many church shops sell books in which it is clearly described to which saint and in which case it is necessary to pray, to serve a prayer service. At the same time, we do not understand that all this is classical paganism, with which Christianity fought from the very beginning of its existence. This "specialization" of the saints is a dangerous faith. It is very easy, while preserving the entire Orthodox form, to transform Orthodoxy into polytheism.

Once in a classroom I asked: "Who needs to pray for drunkenness?" All in unison answered: "Inexhaustible cup." I replied: “That's right. Do not try to pray in front of Iverskaya or Kazanskaya - it will not help. " And everyone felt ashamed. This is the level of superstition one can reach, how easy it is to reduce Orthodoxy to paganism. Read about the religions of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome. There, each god was in charge of his own side of human life, and they turned to him, made sacrifices. Oh, how dangerous it is for us to slide down this path. Already, unfortunately, many believers seek from the saints not help in healing from passions, not salvation, not holiness, but only signs and wonders. And this false belief turns out to be one of the serious reasons for the sterility, as a rule, of our prayers and countless prayers.

Here you are right, with such a faith, the saints can really become that palisade behind which we can lose Christ.

- There is a call from Barnaul, hello.

- My husband recently died, I constantly go to church, receive communion, fast, pray for him, but I don’t know if my prayers help him. Why is that world so closed to us that we cannot receive an answer, that the departed feel that we are praying for them and that our efforts are not in vain? How should you pray for them?

- If there it was impossible to change the spiritual state of the soul, why was the Church from the very beginning of its existence praying for the departed? And she constantly remembers them and calls all believers to prayer, teaching them how to do it correctly. Prayer help is especially important in the first 40 days after the death of a person, which, of course, does not mean at all the unnecessary or uselessness of prayer in the subsequent time. But what should it be?

Answering this question, it is necessary to say about two completely different understandings of prayer, performed both individually and at divine services. One thing is really prayer - sincere, heartfelt, repentant. The other is pseudo-prayer - the uttering of only the words of the prayer, but without it.

Unfortunately, the second understanding, as a rule, prevails in our life. This happens out of ignorance, out of laziness, out of self-justification. Prayer often refers to the reading or chanting of the words of the prayers, or the rules, the outward performance of the service and simply being there - but without prayer itself, that is, without turning to God with attention, reverence and contrition of the heart, as a result of which the services and prayer rules themselves remain empty, inactive words for a person. Thus, we deceive ourselves.

Everyone knows how you can without praying stand in church, listen to the choir, dream, sin in thoughts and return home with this full box. The Lord exposed this attitude to prayer: “These people draw near to Me with their lips, and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me; but they honor Me in vain, teaching doctrines, the commandments of men "(Matt. 15.8).

So, when a person dies, then very often his relatives are limited only to the outer side of the commemoration: they order requiems, magpies, serve memorial notes, light candles, give money to monasteries, temples, etc. But you need to know that if I myself at the same time I will not hit my finger to pray for my deceased, and I will not refrain from anger, backbiting, condemnation, gluttony, etc., forcing myself to confession and communion, to reading the words of God and the Holy Fathers, to helping those in need, sick , then the use of all these orders will not be. We want to easily (over ourselves) remove the fish from the pond, without the slightest feat of struggle with our decrepit man, we hope to fix the decay of the deceased. And this, alas, we call remembrance, prayer for him! Hope that somewhere someone instead of me will pray for the deceased. But will they pray there or will only names be named?

One external form of commemoration, including liturgical, without forcing oneself by a person to actual prayer (and not to idle talk), to life according to the commandments, is self-deception, leaving the deceased without any help. Holy Scripture directly says about this: “As if you wanted the sacrifice, you would have given it, do not be pleased with the burnt offering. Sacrifice to God the spirit is broken, the heart is broken and humble God will not despise "(Ps. 50; 18:19).

That is, God accepts sacrifices, gifts and commemoration only from a contrite and humble heart. Otherwise He does not favor : « Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe mint, anise and caraway seeds, and have left the most important thing in the law: judgment, mercy and faith; this was to be done, and it should not be left"(Matthew 23,23). You see with what threat the Lord warns: “ Woe to you hypocrites"If you are limited to" tithe”, That is, by only external deeds, but you leave the purification of your soul.

The Protestants, by the way, rejected the prayers for the dead. The Orthodox Church teaches that the state of the soul, which after death finds itself in the bonds of demon passions, can change... After all, for whom does the Church call to pray? For sinners, not for saints. How to pray? To this the Lord answered directly to the disciples who did not cast out the demon from a person: "This kind is expelled only by prayer and fasting"(Matthew 17; 21) . By this, He revealed a great truth: the liberation of a person from slavery to demons and passions requires not only prayers , but also fasting , which means a feasible struggle with the insatiable sinful lusts of the soul and body, forcing oneself to at least a minimal feat.

Therefore, if someone really wants to help his deceased - the one whom he sincerely loves, then there is a means, and it is in our hands - give, man, a particle of your soul, a particle of your habitual, spiritually passive life. Take on even a small feat. Live in the feasible abstinence of the body, passionate feelings and thoughts, in forcing yourself to prayer, to reading the word of God. Try to make peace with your enemies. Do good to those who hate you - according to the commandment of God. Try not to condemn, not to envy, not to respond to evil with evil, confess more often and partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. Cleanse your soul at least a little, but pull yourself together for a short time - for the sake of your dear person. All this will be an invaluable gift to the deceased. There is no need to look for revelations about the fate of the deceased, but to have at least some faith in the Church, which offers effective means of helping him.

– Why doesn't the church pray for the unbaptized?

- This is not true, a mistake and a misunderstanding. Listen to the words spoken at any service: “ We also pray for our God-protected country, for its power and army". For whom is the Church calling to pray? Not only about the country as a whole, but also about those specific people who are in power structures, are in military service. Are they all baptized, all Orthodox, all Christians? But whoever is not there, Noah's ark: both atheists, and people of any religions and sects, and latent Satanists. So, you see, the Church herself prays for the unbaptized and calls all believers to this.

But one must distinguish between prayer and special sacred rites in the Church. If the Church commands for everyone to pray, then she performs sacred rites only for those who have received baptism and have entered it.

For example, you cannot submit a note about the unbaptized for the proskomedia, because on it the removed particle from the prosphora symbolizes the baptized person. But this, as you see, does not mean at all that the Church does not pray for the unbaptized at all. I repeat, she prays for everyone. For the Church is the embodiment of Christ's love for all. Remember who Christ prayed for on the cross? For outspoken Satanists, scoundrels who, when Christ raised Lazarus and it became clear to everyone who He was, decided to kill Lazarus too. Was Christ before them during the terrible sufferings? But He suddenly turns from the cross: “ Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing". And our Church is Christ's, and not some sect that recognizes only its own.

– Is it possible to marry a divorced woman, is there no sin in this?

- In your question there is a misunderstanding of the words of Christ: “ And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery". But what is the Lord talking about here? That he who seduces a married woman to divorce and marry him is committing adultery. And if the woman was already divorced or divorced for reasons beyond his control, then there is no sin in his marriage.

– What should parents avoid when raising children?

- This is a very big topic, and without experience I can hardly say anything special. There is one general principle that everyone knows: it is impossible to raise a child to someone who is ill-mannered. Sometimes I even pronounce such not very correct words: "You cannot, being a devil, raise an angel." If the family does not even have elementary discipline, everyone lives according to their desires and tastes, regardless of others, if there are constant quarrels, rude screams, dirty words, wild music, continuous disorder everywhere, everything is scattered, scattered; if children are not taught at all to what they will have to face in life, especially in family life; If all the parents' concern is only to create material comfort for their children, and there is practically no attention to other aspects of the child's life, then what kind of upbringing can we talk about, what good can be expected from him?

There is a known psychological law that the best way to spoil, literally corrupt a child is permissiveness, impunity. By the way, the enemies of humanity are well aware of this, and therefore they forcibly introduce the notorious juvenile justice, the basic principle of which is that a child is a god, and parents are slaves, obliged to fulfill all his desires and whims.

Ancient wisdom says: "Habit is second nature." Therefore, it is extremely important from childhood to instill in a child good skills: obedience and respect for parents, hard work, the ability to fight against one's desires, bad thoughts, and not only not to commit bad deeds. It is very important to teach a child to be honest in deeds, in words, and ... in thoughts, because everything begins with thoughts. But the dishonest one will suffer a lot in life, because, as the Monk Barsanophius the Great said, passions are heavier than sorrows, and prep. Isaiah the Hermit warned: “ He who neglects little things, little by little, descends into ruinous fall».

Of great and indisputable importance in upbringing is, of course, the instilling of Orthodox views and skills in a child. The lives of the saints, the lives of people who are remarkable for their high moral level, generally good literature, starting with wonderful folk tales, church, folk and classical music, and so on, help this a lot. A child must necessarily know the Gospel, Christian principles of life.

However, without strict restrictions on the child regarding certain things, it is impossible to achieve success in upbringing. There should be a complete ban on hooligan catchphrases, to corrupting films, pictures, books and magazines, to wild music and the like. Nothing good can be achieved without reasonable discipline. But the main thing in upbringing is the example of the parents.

“We have many parents with small children in our church. It seems that you are not attending the liturgy, but at the children's clinic. Here and crying from all sides, and mothers are trying to rock them. You pray, and they are shaking nearby, and the running around is always, it is very difficult to concentrate, sometimes I leave without waiting for the end of the service. You yourself sometimes criticize such a situation in lectures, but how do you see the way out? How to proceed? Or is it my personal problem from a lack of humility?

- The priest, of course, must explain to the parents what terrible harm they inflict on themselves and their children, allowing them and themselves to behave this way in the church. Parents especially need to know that the task of demons is to distract a Christian from prayer in any way, to disturb the prayer atmosphere in the church, to prevent him from listening to the service and prayerfully participating in it. The tools of demons can be anyone: an abnormal person, a bully, a screaming choir, and children.

I wonder which parent wants his child (and mom or dad themselves, first of all) to be the executor of demonic will ?! Therefore, if parents love their children, they should under no circumstances allow children to take prayer away from believers. The temple is not a playground, but a place of prayer. Here, too, children should not be allowed to do the awful work that demons do. In this case, the sacrament will not only not benefit the children, but it can also cause harm because of the sin of the parents, who rob their children of prayer from people. It is easy to be convinced of this by looking at those who often received Holy Communion in childhood, but who have grown up now, and who for the most part cannot be taken to church.

Sometimes parents make excuses and say that they want to attend the liturgy, but this is self-deception and deceit, because with such behavior of children, they cannot pray. Therefore, parents must be warned that they can only come to church with children who can already behave normally, or come to the sacrament itself.

- Alexey Ilyich, tell me, is there an opportunity to live as an unbeliever and hesitant for most of your life, and then earnestly bow down in church, receive communion, confess, receive all the blessings and go to heaven? The robber had escaped.

- It's just self-deception. Just as the devil is otherwise called wicked, so here is the same slyness: now I will live without conscience, and then I will become a saint. He who thinks so cunningly will not repent forever and ever. It is one thing when a person unknowingly lives in a non-Christian way, and quite another when he does not want to fight his passions, cunningly hoping that someday he will repent.

Why did the robber on the right repented, and why did the one crucified on the left revile Christ? You see the difference in their spiritual state. What's the matter? There is no doubt that the right one, although he sinned, but internally suffered about it, worried about his crimes. And God, seeing his inner state of repentance, gave him time, at least on the cross, for repentance. And the left robber had nothing of the kind in his soul, therefore he died without repentance. Therefore, God forbid to engage in self-deception, to be deceived by such crafty thoughts.

– What will happen in eternal life with non-Christians, for example, with Buddhists?

- I heard that some Osipov wrote a book "From Time to Eternity: The Afterlife of the Soul." Apparently he there I was, I saw everything, looked who was where, and was, by the way, extremely surprised that in the lowest compartment of the underworld, there are many Orthodox. He asked the director there: how is this to be understood, why are there baptized, communed Orthodox? And he answered: they knew how to live correctly, God Himself revealed to them, but they were cunning and lived worse than non-Christians. So, let them now sit with us in this prestigious place.

Let's not speculate about the fate of anyone. Let's leave the judgment to God. We do not know the state of mind of any person. There is a true Judge, who is love. And He said: Therefore, I say to you: every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven people; if anyone speaks a word against the Son of Man, he will be forgiven; if anyone speaks to the Holy Spirit, he will not be forgiven either in this century or in the future(Matthew 12: 31.32). You see, the word against Christ, that is, rejection of Him through ignorance, will be forgiven. And what is the unforgivable blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? According to patristic teachings, it is a conscious opposition to the truth, which, for example, we see in the Jewish Sanhedrin, who decided to kill Christ after the resurrection of Lazarus, already decomposing by Him, that is, when it became completely clear that this Jesus is the expected Messiah-Christ.

And these faithful (Orthodox), but blasphemers of the truth, perished, and the robber, crucified to the right of Christ, was saved. And if this had not been written in the Gospel, then it would never have occurred to anyone that such a person could be saved. Therefore, we cannot say anything about the eternal destiny of an individual person. But we can and must judge the truth or falsity of this or that worldview, this or that religion, so as not to suffer for laziness and neglect of the truth. For, as Saint Isaac the Syrian wrote: "Let us beware in our souls, beloved, and we will understand that although Gehenna is subject to limitation, the taste of being in it is very terrible, and beyond the limits of our knowledge is the degree of suffering in it."

We find different opinions about the eternal fate of all people in the Holy Scriptures and in the Holy Fathers. One - the usual - about the salvation of the righteous and the eternal destruction of sinners. Another - at first glance unexpected, but no less authoritative - about the salvation of all. About the second, as less familiar, I will give a few examples.

The Apostle Paul wrote: Christ is "Savior of all people, and especially [especially, especially] the faithful", or: " God will be all kinds in all". In the follow-up to Matins on Good Friday we hear the following words about Christ: “ Deliver everyone from the bondage of mortals by Thy resurrection... ". On Holy Saturday: " Hell reigns, but does not last forever over the human race... ". The same idea resounds in many of the liturgical texts of the Octoichus, the Lenten and Colored Triodion.

Many saints say the same: Gregory of Nyssa, Athanasius the Great, Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom, Ephraim the Syrian, Amphilochius of Iconium, Epiphanius of Cyprus, John Damascene, Maximus the Confessor and others.

For example, John Chrysostom in the Passover word: Christ devastated hell by descending into hell ... Christ is risen, and not a single one is dead in the grave... Epiphanius of Cyprus: Christ For us A victim, ... made hell empty... Amphilochius of Iconium: When he appeared to hell, He destroyed his tombs and ... all were released. Grigory Nyssa: And after the complete elimination of evil from all beings, the godlike beauty will again shine in all. Athanasius the Great in his Easter message: He redeemed the entire human race from death and raised from hell... Gregory the Theologian expresses the idea that for those who do not know Christ here, possibly baptism by fire there, it is true, the most painful and longest lasting, but which purifies every defilement of the soul.

But salvation became possible only thanks to the Sacrifice of Christ.

The church prays for the whole world, and not just for you and me. So let's hope that the Lord will not leave anyone with His grace - Buddhists, and atheists, and everyone else, and especially us, not infrequently just by name, Orthodox.