ABOUT THE LOVE OF GOD.
Love God as He commanded to love Him, and not as self-deluded dreamers think to love Him.
Do not invent delights for yourself, do not set your nerves in motion, do not inflame yourself with a material flame, the flame of your blood. A sacrifice acceptable to God is humility of the heart, contrition of the spirit. With anger God turns away from a sacrifice offered with presumption, with a proud opinion of himself, even though this sacrifice was a burnt offering.
Pride sets the nerves in motion, inflames the blood, excites reverie, enlivens the life of fall; humility calms the nerves, tames the movement of the blood, destroys daydreaming, mortifies the life of falling, enlivens the life in Christ Jesus.
Obediencebefore the Lord better than sacrifice, and conquering more than the fat of a ram, the Prophet said to the king of Israel, who dared to offer God the wrong sacrifice 1): wishing to offer God a sacrifice of love, do not bring it willfully, according to a thoughtless attraction; offer with humility, at the time and place when and where the Lord commanded.
The spiritual place where the orom is commanded to offer spiritual sacrifices is humility 2).
The Lord has marked with true and exact signs the loving and the unloving. He said: Who else love me, keep my word. do not love me, do not keep my words 3).
Do you want to learn the love of God? move away from every deed, word, thought, feeling, forbidden by the Gospel. By your enmity to sin, so hateful to the all-holy God, show and prove your love in God. Sins into which you happen to fall due to weakness, heal immediately with repentance.
1) 1 Sam. XU, 22. 2) Alphabetical Patericon. The saying of the Monk Pimen the Great. 3) John. XIV, 23, 24.
But better try not to allow these sins in yourself by strict vigilance over yourself.
Do you want to learn the love of God? carefully study the commandments of the Lord in the Gospel and try to fulfill them by the very deed, try to turn the gospel virtues into habits, into your qualities. It is characteristic of the lover to fulfill the will of the beloved with accuracy.
I loved your commandments more than gold and topaz: for this reason I was directed to all by your commandments, every fetter of iniquity hated 1), says the Prophet. Such behavior is necessary for keeping faithfulness to God. Loyalty is a sine qua non of love. Without this condition, love is dissolved.
By constant avoidance of evil and the fulfillment of the gospel virtues—which is the whole gospel morality—we achieve the love of God. By the same means we abide in love with God: if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love 2), said the Savior.
The perfection of love lies in union with God; success in love is associated with inexplicable spiritual consolation, pleasure and enlightenment. But at the beginning of the feat, the disciple of love must endure a cruel struggle with himself, with his deeply damaged nature: the evil, naturalized by the fall into sin, became a law for him, warring and revolting against the Law of God, against the law of holy love.
Love in God is based on love in the neighbor. When the memory of malice is blotted out in you: then you are close in love. When your heart will be overshadowed by holy, grace-filled peace to all mankind: then you are at the very doors of love.
But these doors are opened only by the Holy Spirit. Love in God is a gift of God in a person who has prepared himself to receive this gift with purity of heart, mind and body. According to the degree of preparation, there is also the degree of the gift: because God, even in His mercy, is just.
Love for God is completely spiritual: born of the Spirit, the spirit is 3).
1) Is. CXVIII, 127, 128. 2) John. XV, 10. 3) John. III, 6.
There is a raft born of the flesh1): carnal love, as born of flesh and blood, has material, perishable properties. It is inconstant, changeable: its fire completely depends on the substance.
Hearing from Scripture that our God is fire, 2) that love is fire, and feeling the fire of natural love in yourself, do not think that this fire is one and the same. No! these lights are hostile to each other And repaid one by the other 3). We serve God well with reverence and fucking; for our God is from eating 4):
Natural love, fallen love, inflames a person's blood, sets his nerves in motion, excites dreaminess; holy love cools the blood, calms both soul and body, draws the inner man to prayerful silence, immerses him in rapture with humility and spiritual sweetness.
Many ascetics, mistaking natural love for Divine, inflamed their blood, inflamed their daydreams. The state of excitement passes very easily into a state of frenzy. Those who were in a fever and frenzy were considered by many to be full of grace and holiness, and they are unfortunate victims of self-delusion.
There have been many such ascetics in the Western Church, since it fell into papism, in which divine attributes are blasphemously attributed to man, and worship is rendered to man, which is due and befitting to the one God; many these ascetics have written books from their heated states, in which frenzied self-delusion seemed to them divine love, in which frustrated imagination drew for them many visions that flattered their self-love and pride.
Son of the Eastern Church! avoid reading such books, avoid following the precepts of the self-deluded. Guided by the Gospel and the Holy Fathers of the true Church, ascend with humility to spiritual heights love Divine through the doing of the commandments of Christ.
Know for sure that love in God is the highest gift of the Holy Spirit, and a person can only prepare himself with purity
1) John. III, 9. 2) Heb. X III , 29. 3) Ladder, Word 3 to Word 15. 4) Heb. XII, 28, 29.
and humility to inculcate this great gift, which changes the mind, and the heart, and the body.
Labor is in vain, it is fruitless and harmful when we seek to prematurely reveal in ourselves high spiritual gifts: they are given by the merciful God in due time to the constant, patient, humble fulfillers of the gospel commandments. Amen.
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In this section we publish aphorisms famous people who have made a unique contribution to world culture— about Christianity, history, love, freedom, work, faith, culture and much more. The project "Thoughts of the Great" continues with the sayings of St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov), one of the most famous and beloved saints in Russia.
The rescue:
…salvation consists in returning fellowship with God.
Unfortunate is the one who is satisfied with his own human truth: he does not need Christ, who announced Himself: “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:13).
Providence of God, hope and hope, simplicity and deceit:
No blind chance! God governs the world, and everything that happens in heaven and under heaven is done according to the judgment of the all-wise and almighty God, incomprehensible in His wisdom and omnipotence, incomprehensible in His management.
If there is not a single incident that would be hidden from God, then for everything that happens, one must praise God.
It is necessary to assure oneself that God controls the participation of the world and the participation of each person. The experiences of life will not hesitate to confirm and confirm this teaching of the Gospel.
Everything goes by - both good and bad - but neither people nor demons can do what God does not allow.
Why is our spirit indignant against the judgments and allowances of God? Because we have not honored God as God...
From living faith in God, complete obedience to God is born, and from obedience to God, peace of thoughts and peace of mind.
From the sight of God's providence, deep meekness and unchanging love for one's neighbor are formed in the soul, which no winds can agitate, revolt.
… over times, public events and private destinies, God is seen.
The vision of the providence of God preserves, grows faith in God.
A Christian who looks unswervingly at the providence of God retains constant courage and unshakable firmness in the midst of the most severe misfortunes.
Before the vision of Divine Providence, not only temporal sorrows do not get tired, but also those that await a person when he enters eternity, beyond the borders of the tomb.
A Christian should never be embarrassed by anything, for the Providence of God carries him in his arms. Our care should be that we remain faithful to the Lord.
The defeat of one warrior is no longer the victory of the entire army.
... The Lord in a direct manner of behavior is a Helper; and the crafty politician is his own helper, - the Lord does not come to his aid, as to the clever one.
Living the Gospel:
Do not be satisfied with one fruitless reading of the Gospel; try to fulfill his commandments, read his deeds. This is the book of life, and one must read it with life.
According to the Gospel commandments, we will be judged at the judgment set by God for us, Orthodox Christians ... we will be judged according to the Gospel, that neglect of the execution of the Gospel commandments is an active rejection of the Lord Himself.
The gospel is a picture of the attributes of the new man, who is the Lord from heaven (1 Corinthians 15:48). This new person- God by nature. His holy tribe of people, who believe in Him and have been transformed according to Him, He makes gods by grace.
The throne and rest, so to speak, for the Holy Spirit are humility, love, meekness and, consequently, all the holy commandments of Christ.
As for your thoughts, and about the thoughts of your neighbor, about his advice, consult the Gospel.
... gospel beatitudes are spiritual states that are revealed in a Christian from the fulfillment of the gospel commandments; that beatitudes are revealed one after another, being born one from the other…
Purification is accomplished by the Holy Spirit in a person who expresses the will to purify by life.
... the confession of God with the lips without confession by the activity and secret life of the heart, with the mere performance of some external rites and church decrees, is recognized as empty, soul-destroying hypocrisy.
…the commandments should be the soul of every Christian and of the Christian community.
Spiritual reasoning is acquired by reading Holy Scripture, mainly the New Testament, and the reading of the Holy Fathers, whose writings correspond to the kind of life led by a Christian.
It is necessary that living contribute to reading: Be makers of the word, and not merely hearers, deceiving yourselves (James 1:22).
Staying in adoption to God, delivered through holy baptism, is supported by life according to the gospel commandments. Staying in adoption is lost by deviating from living according to the gospel commandments.
For salvation, it is necessary that the baptized into Christ live according to the legislation of Christ.
… human injury consists in mixing good with evil: healing consists in the gradual removal of evil, when more good begins to operate in us.
Intention:
As the soul is in the body, so is the goal and intention in every human activity.
A person ... is driven by his own way of thinking ...
Thought is like the rudder of a ship...
The mind is... the king... in man.
The confidant of the Law of God in all exercises, in all his deeds, has the goal of pleasing God. The world turns for him into a book of the commandments of the Lord. He reads this book by deeds, behavior, life.
Distinguishing good from evil belongs to the heart - that is its business. But again, time is needed, it is necessary to become steadfast in the commandments of the Gospels, so that the heart acquires a subtlety of taste for the difference between whole wine and counterfeit wine.
... everything accompanied by confusion has its origin in sin, even if outwardly it seemed to be the highest good.
Divine good should not be rejected if some, or many, have used it for evil.
Spiritual Warfare:
Sorrow is called temptation for the reason that it reveals the innermost state of the heart.
Possession is much more unimportant than the acceptance of some enemy thought that could destroy the soul forever.
Sin and repentance, pride and humility:
Repentance is the whole mystery of salvation.
... repentance is the consciousness of the fall, the consciousness of the need for a Redeemer ...
…repentance cannot be combined with an arbitrary sinful life.
The feeling of repentance is not akin to someone who is completely satisfied with himself, and sees around himself only the temptation and shortcomings of all kinds.
The main signs of pride are cooling off towards others and leaving confession.
The humble surrenders himself wholly to the will of God... Humility hopes in God - not in itself and not in people:. and therefore it is in its behavior simple, direct, firm, majestic.
Humility does not see itself as humble.
False humility is always with an artificial appearance: it publishes itself with it.
False humility loves scenes: by them it deceives and is deceived.
The greatest charm is to recognize oneself free from charm.
All kinds of demonic delusions to which the ascetic of prayer is subjected arise from the fact that repentance is not put at the foundation of prayer, that repentance has not become the source, soul, goal of prayer.
The Pharisee, leaving the fulfillment of the commandments of God, which are the essence of the Law, strives for a refined fulfillment of outward trifles...
Recognizing oneself as a sinner is necessary for salvation, but condemning oneself and rushing about in all directions from sinfulness is very harmful. “Everything immoderate is from demons,” said St. Pimen the Great.
Infallibility is not characteristic of a person on earth - below the inhabitant of the deepest desert and solitude.
Do not wish the impossible from yourself, do not demand from your soul what it cannot give. Heal your passions with repentance, and make up for the lack of your deeds with contrition of spirit.
Much and often we harm ourselves, demanding from ourselves that is unusual for us.
It is reckless to seek the impossible.
You should not demand more from your soul, from your heart than they can give.
Be indulgent to your soul in its infirmities; excessive severity distracts from repentance, leads to discouragement and despair.
The study of virtues that are inconsistent with the way of life produces daydreaming, leads a person into a false state. Practicing virtues that are not in accordance with the way of life makes life fruitless.
Love for one's neighbor, concern for the salvation of others, condemnation, resentment, forgiveness:
Love for a brother consists in the fulfillment of the commandments of the Lord regarding him (2 John 1:6).
Proper love for one's neighbor consists in fulfillment of his gospel commandments...
Your mind, instructed by the Gospel, will then humble itself before every neighbor when it sees Christ in every neighbor.
And the holy fathers do not order to seek from the neighbor the fulfillment of the commandment, because this only violates the world.
Love for one's neighbor precedes and accompanies humility before him. Hatred of one's neighbor is preceded by his condemnation, humiliation, slander, contempt for him, otherwise - pride.
Do what you can useful and what the law allows, your loved ones; but always entrust them to God, and your blind, carnal, indistinct love will turn little by little into spiritual, rational, holy.
We must give all people to God. The Church also teaches us this; she says: “Let us commit ourselves, and each other, and our whole life to Christ our God.”
Do not report the burden on the neighbor - it does not matter; shift - and the neighbor can conveniently be damaged incurably, for the rest of his life become incapable of anything.
There is no need to be very sad about those who disobey and do not heed the word of salvation; but having told them what is proper, to commit them to the will of God, which can turn them to the right path through other tools and means, of which there are countless in His right hand.
Prayer for them has a stronger effect on neighbors than a word to them: because prayer puts the almighty God Himself into action, and God does with His creation everything that pleases Him.
Remember that the Savior told Peter to follow Him, and when Peter asked questions and took care of something else, he heard: What is your business, follow me. By taking care of others prematurely and incorrectly, we often forget or weaken our care for ourselves.
In order not to judge one's neighbor, one must refrain from judging one's neighbor...
One must forcibly divert oneself from judging one's neighbors, guarding oneself from it with the fear of God and humility.
A servant of Christ cannot be anyone's enemy.
Obedience:
True obedience is obedience to God, the One God.
Faith in man leads to frenzied fanaticism.
... soul-destroying acting and the saddest comedy - the elders who take on the role of the ancient holy elders, not having their spiritual gifts ...
Freedom:
Be free! do not bind yourself with any scrupulousness. Rules are for man, not man for rules.
... in your residence, keep prudent proportion, not binding yourself with quantity.
What the Lord said about the Sabbath, that it is for a man, and not a man for her (Mark 2: 27), can and should be attributed to all pious ascetics, and between them to prayer rule.
Pay all attention to the Gospel commandments, by them offer yourself as a living sacrifice, pleasing to God. In outward actions that have no influence on the soul, such as changing clothes and the like, be decidedly free.
Prayer:
The path to God is prayer.
The soul of prayer is attention.
The ceaseless recitation of prayers disperses the mind.
... the fathers command that the rule for a Christian should be as simple and uncomplicated as possible.
The essence of the fulfillment of the prayer rule lies in the fact that it is fulfilled with attention. From attention our spirit comes to humility; from humility comes repentance. In order to be able to make a rule without haste, the rule must be moderate.
Fast:
How harmful is intemperance, so much is harmful, or even more, immoderate fasting.
... the sick and the elderly should beware of excessive bodily achievement...
Church:
Without obedience to the Church there is no humility; without humility there is no salvation: humble yourself and save me, said the Prophet (Ps. 114:5).
... as a person consists of a soul and a body, then external rites and decrees turned out to be necessary.
... the infirmity of a priest, as a person, does not at all prevent the performance of the Sacraments, performed because of the grace of the priesthood with which a person is invested, and not because of his own merits, although it is pleasant to see in one person the combination of one's own merits with the gifts of grace.
Heresy:
Heresy is a false teaching about Christianity… Heresy is a sin of the mind. The essence of this sin is blasphemy.
… all the ancient heresies, under various changing guises, strove for one goal: they rejected the Divinity of the Word and distorted the dogma of the incarnation. The newest are most eager to reject the workings of the Holy Spirit...
Attitude towards non-believers:
Those who are deprived of the glory of Christianity are not deprived of another glory received at creation: they are the image of God.
Wealth and poverty:
Temporary wealth is called unrighteous because it is the result of a fall.
Knowledge:
It is better to confess ignorance than to show knowledge that is harmful to the soul.
Miracles:
Desire to see signs is a sign of unbelief, and signs were given to unbelief to turn him to faith.
Life's affairs:
Housework and household chores are very useful: they remove one from idleness and lighten the mind's invisible struggle.
Biography of St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov)
Saint Ignatius (Bryanchaninov) (1807-1867) - Russian spiritual writer of the 19th century, bishop, theologian and preacher.
Born into an old noble family on February 5 (17), 1807, in the village of Pokrovsky, Vologda Region.
In the world of the future saint, the name was Dmitry Alexandrovich Brianchaninov.
Even as a child, he felt an inclination towards prayerful labors and solitude. In 1822, at the insistence of his father, Dimitri entered the Military Engineering School, from which he graduated in 1826. A brilliant secular career opened up before the young man, but even before the final exam, he submits a letter of resignation, wanting to become a monk.
This request was not granted, and Dimitri Alexandrovich went to serve in the Dinaburg fortress, where he fell seriously ill. On November 6, 1827, he received the coveted resignation and immediately entered the monastery as a novice.
On June 28, 1831, Stefan D. A. Brianchaninov, Bishop of Vologda, was tonsured a monk with the name Ignatius in honor of Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-bearer; On July 5 he was ordained a hierodeacon, and on July 20 a hieromonk. Then in 1833 he was elevated to the rank of hegumen, and in 1834 to the rank of archimandrite.
On October 27, 1857, the episcopal consecration took place in the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg. Father Ignatius becomes Bishop of the Caucasus and the Black Sea.
In 1861, Bishop Ignatius retired and settled in the Nikolo-Babaevsky Monastery of the Kostroma diocese, where he led a solitary prayer life until his death on April 30 (May 12), 1867.
Saint Ignatius was canonized on June 6, 1988. Before canonization, on May 26, 1988, his relics were solemnly transferred to the Holy Vvedensky Tolga Monastery (Yaroslavl), where they are still located.
And in love for God and neighbors, the whole law of God is concentrated. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as unto thyself” ( OK. 10, 27). “In these two commandments all the law and the prophets hang” ( Matt. 22.40), - proclaimed Christ the Savior.
It seems that preachers talk about nothing so often as about love. How many calls are made for the acquisition of this highest virtue, and yet a rare whirlwind can indicate the righteous path to the acquisition of love. Only he who himself has succeeded in love can teach others how to acquire it.
Let us turn to the teaching on love of the archpastor-ascetic, from his youth who loved God and neighbor with all his heart.
The commandments about love for God, according to Vladyka, are as much more sublime than the commandment about love for one's neighbor, as far as God is higher than His own image. But the commandment to love one's neighbor is the basis for loving God. Love for neighbor leads the Christian to love for God.
The union of love for God with love for neighbors is set forth in exhaustive fullness in the epistles of St. Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian.
The feeling of love for one's neighbor is inherent in every human soul, but, like all other feelings, natural love is perverted by sin. Saint Ignatius writes:
“In what ulcers our love is natural! What a heavy ulcer on her - addiction. A passionate heart is capable of any injustice, of any lawlessness, if only to satisfy its painful love.
Natural love strives to bring earthly well-being to the beloved, everything spiritual and eternal is alien to this natural love. Natural love is governed by flesh and blood, which, in turn, can be very easily aroused by outcast spirits. There is no constancy in natural love, it can flare up very strongly, but often after a short time it easily turns into disgust and even hatred. In the period of its highest development, natural love wants to possess the object of its love without limit and, if it does not achieve what it wants, it is capable of many reckless acts and even crimes. According to St. Ignatius, “natural love was also expressed with a dagger.”
Natural carnal love is unworthy to be called love, because it has nothing to do with true love for one's neighbor, commanded by Christ the Savior in His Gospel. “Love… sealed by a fall is not worthy of being called love: it is the search for love, it is… hostile to holy, true love,” Vladyka said. Carnal, natural love for one's neighbor has no price before God. She is rejected by the Lord as an obscene gift. Only love gleaned from the Gospel, holy and spiritual love, is worthy of being called love and is accepted by God as a favorable gift.
In order to acquire true love, one must reject, mortify natural love in oneself and begin to live according to the gospel commandments. “Let's get down to the Gospel,” St. Ignatius invites all Christians who strive to have true love for their neighbors, “let's look into this mirror! Looking into it, let us cast off the old robes in which the fall has clothed us, let us adorn ourselves with the new robe that God has prepared for us.”
The fulfillment of the gospel commandments delivers a person from sinful captivity and brings under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Who teaches true, holy love for neighbors.
True love for neighbor is based on faith in God. She is all in God, because God is love ( In. 4.16). A Christian loves Christ in his neighbor, for the Savior "deigned to put on mysteriously in every one of our neighbors, and God is in Christ."
Spiritual love is full of simplicity and faith in neighbors, there is no suspicion and jealousy in it, “constancy and wise prudence are its indispensable qualities.”
The path to achieving spiritual love for one's neighbors is difficult and is connected with the feat of eradicating sin in all its diversity from human nature.
True love for one's neighbor cannot instantly shine into the heart of a Christian; As in the achievement of any Christian virtue, so in the acquisition of love for one's neighbor, there is a certain sequence. Initially, it is necessary to reject hostility, remembrance, anger, condemnation and all those feelings that are opposite to love. Then, in obedience to the Gospel, we must learn to pray for our enemies, bless those who curse, do good to those who hate, and forgive our neighbors for everything they have done wrong to us. In order to fulfill all the enumerated evangelical commandments, not only in words, but also in life, many years of feat of self-denial are needed.
“Sacrifice everything,” writes Vladyka, “for the fulfillment of the gospel commandments. Without such a donation, you will not be able to fulfill them.”
He who wants to achieve true love for his neighbor must first of all reject self-love and human pleasing, which strengthen natural love in a person.
Self-love is a distortion of self-love. He who does not have spiritual love for himself cannot spiritually love his neighbor either.
Man-pleasing is a distortion of love in relation to neighbors. It, like self-love, is a "woeful self-delusion" and, having prevailed in a person's heart, makes him incapable of true love. Only a resolute rejection of these vices opens the way to the attainment of spiritual love. The feat of eradicating self-love and philanthropy from one's heart is associated with many efforts of the human will. The sinful nature fiercely defends all its vicious habits. Saint Ignatius, using the words of the holy Protomartyr and Archdeacon Stephen, says that our hearts, like the hearts of our forefathers, always resist the Holy Spirit ( Acts. 7.51), and a fierce struggle is often needed to eradicate sinful feelings. In this difficult invisible battle to purify his heart for each victory, the Lord rewards the ascetic with spiritual consolation, having tasted which, he more confidently continues the begun feat of struggle against the fall that has become accustomed to mankind. “Frequent victories,” writes St. Ignatius, “attract more frequent visitation and consolation of grace; then, with zeal, a person begins to trample upon his self-indulgence and self-will, striving along the path of the commandments to evangelical perfection ... ”, to the achievement of spiritual love.
It is very difficult for a carnal person who has not yet been renewed by the grace of the Holy Spirit to root out all manifestations of natural love from his heart. To achieve this, one must have firm faith in God and surrender to the all-good will of God; and not only surrender yourself to this will, but also all your neighbors, and in God try to love them. Vladyka Ignatius advised his flock not to stop the feeling of affection for their neighbors, but to be "their guide to the holy pure Heaven." If a Christian, turning to God, will speak of his beloved: “God! They are Your property, Your creations. Yours, they belong to You, and what am I? A short-term wanderer on earth, suddenly appearing on it and suddenly disappearing from it”, “then he will gradually heal from self-love and addiction to neighbors and become capable of pure love for neighbors - love in God.”
St. Ignatius speaks much and in detail about how to struggle with natural love in his letters to “a brother who is engaged in noetic prayer.” Vladyka advised a certain monk who had affection for N. several times a day (3-4) to kneel and turn to God with a prayer: “Lord! N., whom I thought to love so, thought to respect so, - called, deceived, mine, - Yours, Your creation. Your property... You are All-good: you want to arrange everything good for him... And who am I? - A speck of dust, a handful of earth, existing today, disappearing tomorrow. What good can I do for him? - I can only hurt him and myself more with my impulses, which are blood, which are sins. I commit him to Your will and power! He already is, has always been in Your full will and power; but my blind mind has not seen this until now. I return to You Your property, which I foolishly stole from You with my opinion and my dream that deceived me. Heal my heart, which thought to love, but which only hurts: because it loves outside of Your holy commandments, in violation of the holy peace, in violation of love for You and neighbors.
This prayer, beautifully expressing the wholehearted devotion of one's neighbors to the will of God, can, over time, weaken the impulses of flesh and blood and instill in the heart holy coolness and spiritual love for one's neighbors.
In addition to the complete surrender of one's neighbors to the will of God, the formation of true love is also facilitated by a deep inner, and not external, reverence for each person as the image of God. “Give respect to your neighbor, as to the image of God - respect in your soul, invisible to others, obvious only to your conscience ... Pay respect to your neighbor, without distinguishing between age, gender, class,” advises the God-wise archpastor. From inner reverence to the image of God, love will gradually appear in the heart of a Christian, the cause of which will not be blood and flesh, but God.
At all times, Christians who have reached perfection have in their hearts love for all people, not distinguishing between good and evil. In the most obvious sinner, deprived of the glory of a Christian, they were able to see, although darkened by vice, but still the image of God, and they honored him with love. Saint Ignatius said: “If the image of God is thrown into the flames of hell - and there I must honor it, what do I care about the flame, before hell! The image of God is cast there according to the judgment of God: it is my business to preserve reverence for the image of God, and thereby save myself from hell.
The saint urged to show deep respect to all people, regardless of their external position and condition. The blind, the lepers, the mentally ill, infants, criminals and pagans are all in the image of God and therefore worthy of love. Human weaknesses and shortcomings, no matter how great they are, for a true Christian can never obscure the image of God in man.
To all people, and especially to Christians, every member of the holy Church should be treated with deep reverence. In a Christian, he pays homage to Christ. The Lord Himself deigned to accept everything done by one's neighbor in His name as a gift to Himself. “Because of this one, my lesser brethren, do it to me,” commanded Christ. Matt. 25, 40).
The Gospel commands not only to love all your neighbors - relatives, friends, but to have the same holy feeling towards your enemies. “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who attack you and drive you out” ( Matt. 5, 44) - this call of the Lord Himself is addressed from the pages of the Holy Gospel to all Christians.
Love for one's enemies is incomprehensible to the carnal mind, and only a Christian, enlightened by the grace of the Holy Spirit, can not only theoretically, but also experimentally succeed in this love.
In the biography of St. Ignatius it has already been said that the bishop reached such perfection that he could look at his enemies as at holy angels, therefore his words about love for enemies are of particular importance. Vladyka believed that the Gospel prescribes to us love for enemies "not blind, not reckless, but sanctified by spiritual reasoning."
The gospel speaks of love for enemies, but it also commands not to trust them (enemies) and be very careful with them. The Savior, warning His disciples, and in their person and all His followers, said: “Behold Az I send you like a sheep in the midst of wolves, wake up wise like a snake, and like a dove. Hear from the people: for they will hand you over to hosts, and in their cathedrals they will beat you ... and you will be hated by all for the sake of My name ... ”( Matt. 16-17, 22). In these words of the Lord, Vladyka Ignatius rightly sees the prescription of a cautious and, if possible, wise attitude towards his enemies.
How, then, should love for one's enemies be manifested? According to the loving archpastor, love for enemies should be manifested in forgiveness of the offenses they have inflicted, in prayer for them, in blessing them, in good words about them, in gratitude to God for the misfortunes caused by the enemies, by doing good to them, “in good deeds, which can extend to tasting bodily death for the salvation of enemies. An example of all-perfect love for enemies was shown by the Savior of the world Jesus Christ Himself.
In one of his sermons, St. Ignatius cites the holy First Martyr and Archdeacon Stephen as an example of love for enemies, who, being stoned, prayed for his murderers ( Acts. 7, 60). “The holy protomartyr Stefan was burning… with sacred fire,” said Vladyka, “…deadly blows followed, from their ferocity Stefan fell half-dead to his knees, but the fire of love for his neighbor in moments of separation from life flared up in him even more vividly… The last movement of his heart was the movement of love for his neighbors, the last word and deed was a prayer for his murderers.”
Saint Ignatius taught that not only for enemies, but also for friends, love should be illuminated by spiritual reasoning. It is necessary to love friends in Christ, so that Christ is loved in the neighbor, and the neighbor is loved as a creature of God.
The Christian who loves Christ in his neighbors will have equal love for all. Saint Ignatius in one of his letters asks: “Should love for one’s neighbor be alien to any difference?” - and he himself resolves this issue, citing the example of the holy saints of God. “The saints,” says Vladyka, “had equal love for everyone, but they especially loved those who led a pious life. The mentors had a greater disposition towards those flocks in whom they saw jealousy and complete obedience. The mentees always have great love for those mentors in whom they see a living example of edification and an abundance of spiritual intelligence. According to Vladyka, “Love, which gives due value to people according to the degree of their piety, is at the same time equal to all, because it is in Christ and loves Christ to all. Another vessel holds this spiritual treasure more, another less. Treasure is one! Saint Ignatius, by his constant feat of self-denial, extinguished in himself carnal love for his neighbors, therefore his attitude towards people close to him was filled with true evangelical love. He highly valued friendship, considered it a great gift from God. “God gave me friends,” wrote the Bishop, “I accepted this reward from the Almighty for the thought of self-sacrifice, which I followed from the days of my youth.” St. Ignatius had Christ at the basis of his relations with friends, and therefore his friendship was strong and soul-saving. “Only that friendship is true and strong, which Christ establishes and strengthens,” he wrote.
The gift of friendship, according to the lord, is given to earthly wanderers so that friends, by mutual frankness and advice, help each other achieve salvation. This true purpose friendship archpastor outlined in a letter to one of his friends. “My heart is with the same sweet simplicity for you as yours is for me,” he wrote. - Such relationships are a true treasure... And that consoles me especially in my friendships, that the reason for these relationships is God... He is the source of true good, all true, pure pleasure. He will keep me in your memory and you in mine. He will allow us to deepen the talent of friendship received from Him. This is what I wish - I wish that upon entering into eternity, we would be honored in a host of good and faithful servants to stand before the Lord and say to Him: “You have given us a wonderful talent of friendship, we bring you another talent acquired for it - a precious talent of salvation.”
Saint Ignatius believed that progress in love for neighbors, when it is in God, has no end. It is impossible to get enough of true love for neighbors, because it is nourished by the infinite God. “The fire of love requires a lot of food so that it can constantly multiply,” the lord testifies, “when God feeds it, it incessantly intensifies, there is no limit to it, but when it is left to feed it to a person by himself, the food for the fire will soon become scarce, the fire will dim and die out.
True love for one's neighbor brings the Christian the greatest spiritual pleasure and prepares it for the abodes of paradise, for it (love) is "the sadness of a soul capable of heaven." He who has become worthy of spiritual love for his neighbors experiences the disgustingness of carnal love, sincerely repents for having had it before, and strives, by kindling holy love in himself, never to return to natural love.
True love for one's neighbor, like attentive prayer, is a sign of the perfection of a Christian.
"Beloved brother! - St. Ignatius calls on all Christians, - seek to reveal in yourself spiritual love for your neighbors: having entered it, you will enter into love for God, into the gates of resurrection, into the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven.
About love for neighbor
What could be more beautiful, more delightful than love for one's neighbor?
To love is bliss; hate - flour. The entire Law and Prophets are centered in love for God and neighbor.
Love for one's neighbor is the path that leads to love for God: because Christ deigned to put on mysteriously in each of our neighbors, and in Christ is God.
Do not think, most beloved brother, that the commandment of love for one's neighbor should be so close to our fallen hearts: the commandment is spiritual, but flesh and blood have taken possession of our hearts; the commandment is new, but our heart is old.
Our natural love is damaged by the fall; it must be put to death - Christ commands it - and draw from the Gospel holy love for one's neighbor, love in Christ.
The properties of the new man must be all new; no old property will suit him.
Love from the movement of blood and carnal feelings has no price before the Gospel.
And what price can she have when, when her blood is heated, she takes an oath to give her life for the Lord, and after a few hours, when her blood cools, she takes an oath that she does not know Him?
The gospel rejects love that depends on the movement of blood, on the feelings of the carnal heart. It says: Do not think that you came to bring peace to the earth: you did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to separate a man into his father, and a daughter into his mother, and a bride into his mother-in-law. And hit the man of his household .
The Fall brought the heart under the dominion of the blood, and through the blood, under the dominion of the ruler of the world. The gospel frees the heart from this captivity, from this violence, brings it under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit teaches us to love our neighbor holy.
Love kindled, nourished by the Holy Spirit is fire. This (p. 114) fire extinguishes the fire of natural, carnal love, damaged by the fall.
“He who says that it is possible to have one or the other love deceives himself,” said St. John of the Ladder.
In what fall is our nature? He who by nature is capable of loving his neighbor with ardor must make himself an extraordinary compulsion in order to love him as the Gospel commands us to love.
The most ardent natural love easily turns into disgust, into implacable hatred.
Natural love was also expressed with a dagger.
In what ulcers - our love is natural! What a heavy ulcer on her - predilection! A heart possessed of passion is capable of any injustice, of any lawlessness, if only to satisfy its painful love.
The measure is a flattering abomination before the Lord, but the weight of the righteous is pleasing to Him .
Natural love delivers to its loved one only earthly things; she does not think about heaven.
It is at enmity against Heaven and the Holy Spirit, because the Spirit requires the crucifixion of the flesh.
She is at enmity against Heaven and the Holy Spirit, because she is under the control of the evil spirit, the unclean and perishing spirit.
Let's get to the Gospel, dearest brother, let's look in this mirror! Looking into it, let us cast off the old robes in which the fall has clothed us, let us adorn ourselves with the new robe that God has prepared for us.
Riza new Christ. For the angels were baptized in Christ, clothed in Christ .
Robe of the new Holy Spirit. Clothed with power from on high, said the Lord about this robe.
Christians are clothed in the attributes of Christ by the action of the All-good Spirit.
Perhaps for a Christian this garment. Put on our Lord Jesus Christ, and do not create pleasure in the flesh in lust says the Apostle. (p. 115) First, guided by the Gospel, cast aside enmity, remembrance, anger, condemnation, and everything that directly opposes love.
The gospel tells us to pray for our enemies, to bless those who curse, to do good to those who hate us, to leave everything to our neighbor, no matter what he does against us.
Try, who wants to follow Christ, to fulfill all these commandments by the very deed.
It is not enough just to read the commands of the Gospel with pleasure and marvel at the high morality that they contain. Unfortunately, many people are satisfied with this.
When you begin to fulfill the dictates of the Gospel, then the master of your heart will stubbornly oppose this fulfillment. These masters are your own carnal state, in which you are subject to flesh and blood, and the fallen spirits, to which the country is subject - the carnal state of man.
Carnal wisdom, its truth and the truth of fallen spirits will demand from you that you do not drop your honor and other perishable advantages, protect them. But you with courage endure the invisible struggle, led by the Gospel, led by the Lord Himself.
Sacrifice everything for the fulfillment of the gospel commandments. Without such a donation, you cannot be the executor of them. The Lord said to His disciples: If anyone wants to follow Me, let him deny himself .
When the Lord is with you, hope for victory: the Lord cannot but be a conqueror.
Ask the Lord for victory; ask her with constant prayer and weeping. And unexpectedly, an action of grace will come in your heart: you will suddenly feel the sweetest intoxication of spiritual love for your enemies.
You still have to fight! You still need to be courageous! Take a look at the objects of your love: do you like them very much? your heart is very attached to them? Renounce them.
This renunciation is demanded of you by the Lord, the Law-giver of love, not in order to deprive you of love and loved ones, but so that you, having rejected carnal love, defiled by an admixture (p. 116) of sin, become able to receive spiritual, pure, holy love, which is the supreme blessedness.
He who has felt spiritual love will look with disgust at carnal love as an ugly distortion of love.
How to renounce the objects of love, which, as it were, have grown to the very heart? Say about them to God: “They, Lord, are Yours; And who am I? a feeble creature of no importance.
Today I am still wandering on earth, I can be useful for my loved ones in something; tomorrow, perhaps, I will disappear from her face, and I am nothing to them!
Whether I want it or not, death comes, other circumstances come, forcibly tear me away from those that I considered mine, and they are no longer mine. They were not mine by the very thing; there was some relation between me and them; deceived by this attitude, I called them, recognized them as mine. If they were definitely mine, they would forever belong to me.
Creatures belong to one Creator: He is their God and Master. Yours, my Lord, I give to You: I appropriated them wrongly and in vain.
It is more correct for them to be God's. God is eternal, omnipresent, omnipotent, infinitely good. To the one who is His, He is the most faithful, most reliable Helper and Patron.
God gives what is his to man: and men become his own, for a time according to the flesh, forever according to the spirit, when God is pleased to give this gift to man.
True love for one's neighbor is based on faith in God: it is in God. All will be one, the Savior of the world spoke to His Father, as you, Father, are in me, and I am in you, and they will be one in us .
Humility and devotion to God kill carnal love. It means that she lives by self-conceit and unbelief.
Do what you can useful and what the law allows for your loved ones; but always entrust them to God, and your blind, carnal, indistinct love will turn little by little into spiritual, rational, holy.
If your love is an unlawful passion, then reject it as an abomination.
When your heart is not free - this is a sign of addiction. When your heart is in captivity, it is a sign of insane, sinful passion.
Holy love is pure, free, all in God.
She is the action of the Holy Spirit, acting in the heart as it is purified.
Rejecting enmity, rejecting addictions, renouncing carnal love, acquire spiritual love; turn away from evil and do good .
Give respect to your neighbor as the image of God - respect in your soul, invisible to others, obvious only to your conscience. May your activity be mysteriously in accordance with your spiritual mood.
Give respect to your neighbor without distinguishing between age, sex, class, and gradually holy love will begin to appear in your heart.
The reason for this holy love is not flesh and blood, not the attraction of feelings, but God.
Those who are deprived of the glory of Christianity are not deprived of another glory received at creation: they are the image of God.
If the image of God is cast into the terrible flames of hell, and there I must honor it.
What do I care about flames, hell! The image of God is cast there according to the judgment of God: my task is to preserve reverence for the image of God, and thereby save myself from hell.
And the blind, and the leper, and the crippled, and infant I will honor both the criminal and the pagan, as to the image of God. What do you care about their infirmities and shortcomings! Watch over yourself so that you do not lack love.
As a Christian, pay homage to Christ, Who said for instruction to us and will say again when deciding our eternal fate: Thou shalt make unto one these little brethren of mine, make ye me .
In your dealings with your neighbors, keep in mind this saying of the Gospel, and you will become a confidant of love for your neighbor.
The confidant of love for one's neighbor enters through it into love for God. (p. 118) But if you think that you love God, and in your heart there lives an unpleasant disposition towards at least one person, then you are in bitter self-delusion.
If anyone speaks, says St. John the Theologian, as if I love God, but hate my brother, there is a lie ... This is the commandment of the imam from Him, but love God and love your brother .
The manifestation of spiritual love for one's neighbor is a sign of the renewal of the soul by the Holy Spirit: We are the world, the Theologian says again, as if from death in the stomach, as we love the brethren; do not love your brother is in death .
The perfection of Christianity is in perfect love for one's neighbor.
Perfect love for one's neighbor is in love for God, for which there is no perfection, for which there is no end in prosperity.
Progress in the love of God is infinite: because love is an infinite God. Love for your neighbor is the foundation in the building of love.
Beloved brother! Seek to reveal in yourself spiritual love for your neighbors: having entered into it, you will enter into love for God, into the gates of resurrection, into the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven. Amen.
Lesson 2 in the twenty-fifth week
St. Ignatius Brianchaninov. Ascetic preaching. Volume 4
Love your neighbor as you love yourself.
Beloved brothers!
Such a commandment of the Lord our God has been proclaimed to us today by the Gospel.
The gospel adds that the whole Law of God is concentrated in love for God and love for one's neighbor; for love is that virtue which is composed of the fullness of all other virtues.
Love is the conscience of perfection, according to the definition of the Apostle.
Obviously, in order to love your neighbor as yourself, you must first love yourself correctly.
Do we love ourselves?
- Despite the strangeness of this question - new and entertaining only as if by excess in it - it must be said that a very rare person loves himself.
Most people hate themselves, trying to do themselves as much harm as possible.
If we measure the evil done to a person in his life, then it will be found that the worst enemy did not do him as much harm as the person did to himself.
Each of you, looking impartially into your conscience, will find this remark just.
What would be the reason for this?
What is the reason why we do harm to ourselves almost incessantly, while we constantly and insatiably desire good for ourselves?
The reason is that we right love We have replaced ourselves with self-love, which inspires us to strive for the indiscriminate fulfillment of our wishes, our fallen will, guided by a falsely named reason and an evil conscience.
We are carried away by greed, and ambition, and vengeance, and memory of malice, and all sinful whims!
We flatter ourselves and deceive ourselves, thinking to satisfy self-love, while we satisfy only our unsatisfied self-love.
In an effort to satisfy our self-love, we do evil to ourselves, we destroy ourselves.
Correct love for oneself lies in the fulfillment of the life-giving commandments of Christ: this is love, let us walk according to His commandment, said St. John the Theologian.
If you do not get angry and do not remember malice - love yourself.
If you do not swear and do not lie, you love yourself.
If you do not offend, you do not kidnap, you do not take revenge; if you are long-suffering towards your neighbor, meek and gentle, you love yourself.
If you bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who hurt you and raise persecution against you, then you love yourself; you are the son Heavenly Father Who with His sun shines on the evil and the good, Who sends His rains to both the righteous and the unrighteous.
If you bring careful and warm prayers to God from a contrite and humble heart, then you love yourself.
If you are temperate, not vain, sober, then you love yourself.
If you transfer your property from earth to Heaven by almsgiving to the poor brethren, and make your perishable property incorruptible, and your temporal property into eternal and inalienable property, then you love yourself.
If you are so merciful that you sympathize with all the infirmities and shortcomings of your neighbor and deny the condemnation and humiliation of your neighbor, then you love yourself.
While you forbid yourself to judge and condemn your neighbor, which you have no right to, the just and merciful God removes the righteous judgment and cancels the righteous condemnation that you deserve for your many sins.
Whoever wants to love himself correctly, not to be deceived and not carried away by self-love, that is, by his fallen will, guided by a false mind, must carefully study the gospel commandments, which contain the spiritual mind and lead the performer to the sensations of a new person.
In the study and study of the gospel commandments, it is necessary with all vigilance and sobriety to observe the desires and inclinations of the heart.
With strict vigilance, it will be possible for us to analyze our desires and inclinations.
From skill and from the fear of God, this analysis turns, as it were, into a natural exercise.
Not only every desire and inclination that is obviously contrary to the gospel commandments must be rejected, but also all desires and inclinations that violate the peace of the heart.
Everything flowing from the Divine will is accompanied by holy chrism, according to the experimental teaching of the Holy Fathers; on the contrary, everything accompanied by confusion has its origin in sin, even if outwardly it seems to be the highest good.
He who loves himself rightly can love his neighbor godly.
The sons of the world, afflicted by self-love and enslaved by it, express their love for their neighbor by indiscriminate fulfillment of all the wishes of their neighbor.
The disciples of the Gospel express their love for their neighbor by fulfilling his all-holy commandments of their Lord;
they recognize the satisfaction of human desires and whims as soul-destroying human pleasing and they fear it as much as they fear and run away from self-love.
Self-love is a distortion of love in relation to oneself, pleasing to man is a distortion of love in relation to one's neighbor.
A self-lover destroys himself, and a man-pleaser destroys both himself and his neighbor.
Self-love is a woeful self-delusion; man-pleasing is intensified and the neighbor is made a sharer of this self-delusion.
Do not think, brethren, that love from self-sacrifice acquires a severity uncharacteristic of it, and from the exclusive fulfillment of the gospel commandments it loses its warmth, becomes something cold and mechanical. No!
The Gospel commandments cast out carnal fire from the heart, which very soon goes out with any, sometimes the slightest opposition;
but they bring in spiritual fire, which cannot be quenched not only by human atrocities, but even by the very efforts of the fallen angels.
The Holy Protomartyr Stephen burned with this sacred fire.
Extracted by his murderers outside the city, stoned, he prayed.
Deadly blows followed; from their ferocity Stefan fell half-dead to his knees, but the fire of love for his neighbor in moments of separation from life burned even more vividly in him, and he cried out with a great voice about his murderers: Lord, forgive them not this sin!
With these words, the first martyr gave up his spirit to the Lord.
The last movement of his heart was - the movement of love for neighbors, the last word and deed was a prayer for his murderers.
An invisible feat against self-love and human pleasing is initially associated with labor and intense struggle: our hearts, like the hearts of our father and forefathers, from the time of our ancestor's fall into the sinful realm, always resist the Holy Spirit.
They do not admit their fall, they fiercely defend their disastrous state, as if a state of complete contentment, perfect triumph.
But for every victory over self-love and philanthropy, the heart is rewarded with spiritual consolation; having tasted this consolation, it enters the struggle more courageously and more easily wins victories over itself, over the fall that has become accustomed to it.
Frequent victories attract frequent visits and consolation of grace: then a person with zeal begins to trample on his own pleasure and self-will, striving along the path of the commandments to gospel perfection, confessing and mysteriously singing to the Lord: The path of Thy commandments has flowed, when Thou hast enlarged my heart.
Brethren! Let us courageously enter into the struggle against self-love under the guidance of the Gospel, in which the will of God is depicted, pleasing and perfect, in which the New Adam, Christ mysteriously lives, and transfers affinity with Himself to all His children who truly desire this affinity.
Let us learn to love ourselves correctly and holyly: then we will be able to fulfill, regarding our neighbor, the all-holy commandment of our great God: Love your neighbor as yourself. Amen.
Notes:
774. Love ... your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:27).
775. ... love ... is the bond of perfection (Col. 3:14).
776. Heb. 10.22. In the prayer before the Cherubic Hymn, the bishop prays for deliverance from the evil conscience, that is, darkened by sin and false concepts, moreover, evil is recognized as good and it is done as if good. With particular obviousness, the crafty conscience manifests itself in the activities of the barbarian peoples; but for the Christian observer it is just as obvious in human activity in general, and especially in one's own activity. Official (church book).
AC 777. Love consists in this, that we act according to His commandments (2 John 1:6).
778. Reverend Macarius Great. Word 4, ch. 13.
779. Rome. 8.38.
780. ... in a loud voice: Lord! do not impute this sin to them (Acts 7:60).
781. ...always resist the Holy Spirit (Acts 7:51).
782. I will flow in the way of Your commandments, when You expand my heart (Ps. 118:32).
