Who can defeat the scarlet witch. How to defeat your enemies

The Witcher-3 is famous for its quest lines and abundance of monsters. However, some players have trouble defeating their opponents from time to time. This article talks about how to kill evil witch in The Witcher 3.

How to get the quest?

During the main quest, players have already encountered opponents such as witches. But in the new DLC "Blood and Wine" you can encounter another opponent, which is a direct reference to the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel". To do this, you need to receive a task called “Once upon a time.”

How to get to the evil witch in The Witcher 3?

Of course, she will not expect Geralt immediately upon arrival. First you need to walk along the brick path. Despite its branching, getting to the right place will not be difficult. When crossing the bridge, the witcher will meet an archspore. Eventually, he will reach the buildings, where he will meet Siana, who is trying to rescue Jack from the oven. Here the hero will see for the first time an impartial old woman who will immediately want to let Geralt go to goulash. This is where the question arises: “How to defeat the evil witch in The Witcher 3?”

Difficulties

Since players have already encountered witches, this may seem like a simple task, but it's a little more complicated. When she sees the witcher, she will immediately begin an attack. Before the task, you should stock up on anti-relic oil.

The main problem with how to defeat the evil witch in The Witcher 3 is that she will immediately fly into the air on her broom, covering herself with a protective sphere. At the same time, she will conjure a flower that spits poison. First you need to deal with it, since the flower can cause a lot of inconvenience. It is worth taking into account the fact that the witch is completely invulnerable while flying.

Of course, at one moment the sphere will disappear, but it will try to douse the witcher with poison from its cauldron. Therefore, you need to avoid exposing yourself to her attacks, otherwise you can lose a lot of health points.

You can use Oriole to avoid negative effects. The witch will call for help from the archespore, which must be gotten rid of first. Her attacks will seriously interfere with reaching the enemy herself.

How to deal with archispore?

Archispore is a related plant to Echinops. She attacks by firing poisonous spikes. The plant is immune to all psychic influences, so the Axii sign will be completely useless here - it will not be possible to stun it. It is necessary to immediately apply power attacks. If problems arise, you can move away because the archispore is immobile, but you should beware of the thorns. In addition, do not forget about the presence of the main enemy.

You can protect yourself from her attacks with the Aard sign. This type of plant is also very vulnerable to fire. So, Geralt can burn it with the Igni sign, hiding behind Aard. After winning, you should immediately switch your playstyle to how to defeat the evil witch (The Witcher 3).

Tactics against the enemy

After the protective sphere disappears, it is best to start an attack with a crossbow. It would not be amiss to use the signs Aard and Igni. The same scheme applies here as with other flying opponents. If damaged, the witch will fall. That's when you should start attacking with a sword. But here, too, not everything is so simple. The broom will also begin to attack Geralt, so you need to try to cut it, neutralizing the evil witch herself with the Axii sign.

If you fail to deal with the broom, the witch will fly up again and summon the panther. Kill her using fast attacks and anti-beast oil. Then knock the witch off her broom using the same methods described above. Attack her, periodically stunning her with Axiem. The main thing is to deal as much damage as possible before the witch flies into the air again. This is the whole process of how to defeat the evil witch in The Witcher 3.

After victory, the quest will continue. Siana will immediately search her body and open the furnace. For saving Jack, she will demand beans from him, which, of course, he will not have. She needs the beans in order to get out of the illusory land. After this, Geralt and Siana will have a conversation where the characters will agree on mutual assistance. It is not recommended to skip lines of dialogue, as you might miss a lot interesting information.

To find the beans you are looking for, you will have to find Oska. To do this, you need to go further along the yellow path. Along the way, deal with the gnomes, of whom you will meet many along the way. It will also be possible to ride unicorns, since Roach will not enter the country with Geralt. Oska will be surrounded by wolves, who will also have to be dealt with. It won't be difficult. After talking with the boy, you will have to visit six main fairy tales, where you will find the necessary items.

After planting them, a huge beanstalk will grow in the place indicated by Siana, which will lead to the giant's lair. After the victory, Siana will offer the witcher to relieve tension in a way known to everyone. Regardless of his decision, the quest "A Long Time Ago" will end and a new task will begin.

At first, Geralt had no intention of freeing Syanna and instead looked for a way to force Dettlaff to appear and fight. However, at a certain point, he changed his mind - either succumbing to Regis’s persuasion, or because he did not want to kill sentient being, betrayed and deceived by his beloved...

This is a story quest that is received automatically.

Receipt

The task will begin in one of the quest options.

Execution

After traveling along the yellow brick path, Geralt will come across a gnome settlement, where Syanna and the Wicked Witch are located. You will have to fight, otherwise the Witcher will become pie filling.

How to defeat the evil witch

The witch herself is constantly protected from blows by the bubble, so it is useless to shoot at her with a crossbow. Acid attacks are easily absorbed by Quen, but the summoned panther will have to be hit with a sword. After destroying the summoned companion, you can deal with the witch. It needs to be shot down with Aard or Igni during a dive, and then kill the broom. If you attack the Witch instead of a broom, there is a high probability of getting hit on the head with a cauldron and seeing the Witch fly up and summon new monsters, more and more each time. Without a broom, she is no longer so dangerous.

NOTES OF OLE LUKOJE

It's been seven years since we last saw Syanna and Anarietta. The spell is bursting at the seams, and some residents of the Land of Fairy Tales have lost their minds. The wolf killed Little Red Riding Hood and the Hunter, the Witch roasted Thumb and the Seven Little Goats alive, and the dwarves attack everyone they see. We sought refuge in the clouds, but the Giant drove us away. The last safe place is the ship of King Thrushbeard. We're going to wait out the worst there, in the middle of the lake.

After the battle, it turns out that without three magic beans there is no way out of the fairy tale. Geralt and his new companion will saddle up the unicorns and head to Oska for clues. From the tree stump with the boy, the path goes through all the local fairy tales.

You can, of course, limit yourself to only Rapunzel(you can go out the window from the tower), Little Red Riding Hood And Three little pigs(Aard), but... A good witcher will take food from three bears, meet a naked king, get a poisonous apple from the throat of a dead gnome, step on an inch, admire the Beauclair musicians, find a golden ball at the base of a rainbow, take a relic set of heavy armor under Rapunzel's tower , take a selfie with Puss in Boots and complete the order

It's important to listen all additional dialogue lines(gray option in conversation with the wolf, gray option for the girl with matches), without them one of the endings will become inaccessible. The girl with the matches will offer to win a gwent ribbon from her, or buy it for 500 coins. The ribbon directly affects the endings of the game. With her, Sianna will be saved from Dettlaff in the future, without her she will definitely die.

After collecting the beans and deciding on the ribbon, you can follow the beans to the top, there will be no turning back. It will begin fight with the Giant because of the Clouds.

How to defeat the Giant

The giant will jump if you are far from him. You need him himself shock with electricity, so it's best to stand near one of the hills and have the Giant hit the hill area after being struck by lightning. Lightning strikes regularly, you don’t need to jump back and forth, just wait a few seconds. A stunned giant takes damage very well, especially from the back.

Sex with Sianna

If you select the option in the dialog [Here is the devil, let him do what he wants], then the same scene will start. Her choice does not affect the plot or further passage in any way.

Near the bridge after the battle with the Giant you can find another light. It will lead to the sword from Dark Souls hidden under the bridge.

After the battle, you need to jump into the well and thereby begin the task.

This is an unfinished article; perhaps fairy tales have other secrets.

1. Go to the children's room.
Run to the mark on the radar.

2. Search the children's room and understand what happened to Sianna.
Upon entering the room, take and read the red book. There will be notes from Isabelle de Roquefort, the court governess from the time when the sisters were children. After reading this book, it will become clear that Syanna is in an illusion and Geralt needs to find a way to get there.

3. Find the “Land of a Thousand Tales”.
To get into a fairy tale, you need to find the book “The Land of a Thousand Tales” and read the spell. The book lies in the closet, and the key to it is on the wall behind the picture.

4. Walk along the yellow brick road.
Once in the illusion, run along the path until you meet Syanna and the evil witch. Sianna is her own in this tale, and therefore the local inhabitants will not attack her. But Geralt is a stranger, so he will have to fight the witch.

5. Defeat the evil witch.
In this video I show how to defeat the evil witch.

After the battle, Geralt and Syanna find out that in order to get out of the fairy tale they need to find three magic beans. The boy who constantly cries wolf-wolf might know where they are. Also at this moment you can ask Sianna about her fate - be sure to do this to get a good ending.

6. [Optional] Ride the white unicorn.
To execute additional task sit on a white unicorn, and Sianna will ride on a pink one.

7. Find Oska.
Oska not only constantly cries wolf-wolf, but in general always answers any question in the opposite way. When you ask him where the red bean is, he will say: “Surely no one swallowed it” - this means that the gray wolf from the fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood” ate it. About the blue bean he will say: “I heard, it seems to be lying in an open field. And no one is guarding him, three times no one!” In fact, this bean is in the house of the three little pigs. About the yellow bean he will say “Hmm.. It’s somewhere very, well, just very deep. Almost completely underground!” In reality, it is located in Rapunzel's very tall house, which can be seen in the screenshot below.

8. Talk to the girl with the matches.
You won't find a bob from her, but you will need to buy a ribbon from her for Sianna. This is necessary for a good ending.

9. Visit Grandma's house.
You will find a wolf near your grandmother's house. He will say that he is here to play in a fairy tale, but Little Red Riding Hood lies at the bottom of the well. Together with the hunter. Sianna will say that she can play the role of a girl, but to do this, Geralt needs to catch a red riding hood from the bottom of the well.

10. Find Little Red Riding Hood.
Jump into the well, at the bottom there will be the thing you need.

11. Find a way to get out of the well.
Once you get ashore, a cutscene will begin in which Sianna will wear a hat outfit.

12. Defeat the Bad Wolf.
Now all that remains is to kill the wolf and take the red bean from his ripped open belly.

13. Go to the Three Little Pigs.
Approach the house and destroy it with the Aard sign.

14. Defeat the three little pigs.
Kill three level 47 pigs.

15. Search for the magic bean in the stone house.
The blue bean will be in a saucer on the table in the house.

16. Talk to Rapunzel.
Now you need to go up into the building, which is visible from almost anywhere in this illusion.

17. Defeat Rapunzel's ghost.
Upon entering the room where Rapunzel should be, you will see that she did not wait for the prince and hanged herself. Now Geralt will have to kill her spirit.

18. Search the tower.
You will find the last bean on the bed in Rapunzel's room. Now you can go down. Once you go down, you will again have the opportunity to ask about Syanna’s motives. Do this to get the good ending.

19. Plant magic beans.
The place where you need to plant the beans will be guarded by about 20 gnomes. Kill them and plant beans.

20. Defeat the giant.
There is one last test left before leaving the illusion. You must kill the giant.

21. Follow Syanna.
They fought the wolf, killed the witch, saved the goose from the robbers, let the piglets eat meat, defeated the spirit of Rapunzel - now you can rest. Here you will have the opportunity to sleep with Sianna. I took advantage of this opportunity.

Understand what kind of enemy you are dealing with. Not all enemies are equal. Depending on who your enemy is and what the nature of your relationship is, you must learn more about how he operates before you learn how to defeat him.

• Sworn enemies are like opposite versions of you. You will find them at work, at school, and in other situations where you encounter like-minded people. Everything suggests that you should be friends with your sworn enemy - you have common interests, goals and passions, but you just don't get along. Your enemy is like a fly in your ointment.
• Frenemies are friends you don't like. Never be friends with your enemy, not even half friends and half enemies. When you are walking, he will never stop bragging. The enemies are annoying, poisonous, and real bores.
• The enemies are tough. How about school desk, and in the workplace, enemies represent serious threat your mood during the day. The enemy is the one who thinks that you are stealing their popularity, so they hate you and always win at everything.

1. Keep your enemies close. The old adage is true: if you keep your friends close, keep your enemy closer. If you want to defeat your enemy, learn how they win. This means talking to your enemy, observing him, and learning as much as you can about how he thinks.

   • Many bullies, frenemies, and other enemies act out of jealousy. Often enemies choose moments that bother them in their own lives. If someone criticizes you on one side, it could be because your opponent is worried about the same thing about themselves or they just want to be mean and embarrass you.
   • Enemies also hate people they view as a threat. In the workplace or in rival schools - whenever competition is involved - enemies will strive to prevent you from winning. This means you are in a bad position.

2. Watch your enemy. Analyzing the ways in which your enemy counters you will help you plan how to strike back. Who is your enemy talking to? What are his interests? What does your enemy want? Find out what makes your enemy tick and what your enemy struggles with on a personal level. What is family life your enemy? Where does your enemy come from? Do some research and answer these questions.

   Find your opponent's weakness. Every enemy has a weakness, no matter how strong they seem when they knock you down. Discovering this weakness will have important to plan your revenge and destroy your enemy. Some common enemy weaknesses:

   • Pride. Just like in ancient Greek history, excessive pride can lead to the downfall of many enemies. If you have a boastful, arrogant enemy, putting him in an equally embarrassing position will have devastating consequences for him. Good revenge may mean subjecting your enemy to social condemnation or failure.
   • Confidence. Many bullies are really just big kids who are insecure or don't believe in own strength. Many bullies are essentially just looking for companionship and friends because they feel unappreciated and unloved. These types of bullies may respond better to childish tactics.
   • Competitiveness. Many of the enemies are hyper-competitive jerks who have allowed their love of winning to overcome other aspects like human decency and kindness. Being able to snap out of your stupor and freeze these enemies is the best way to deal with them and disarm their ability to torment you. If you don't play, they can't win.

   Retribution to enemies

   1. Tell the enemy to stop opposing you. If someone is bothering you and you want to stop them, there is a very simple way: tell them you want them to. If someone bothers you with alienating or bullying behavior, place your hand like a security guard stopping the movement with a "Stop" gesture and take a deep breath. In a calm, even voice, you can say something like, "Stop! I need you to stop right now."

      Avoid the enemy as much as possible. The best way defeat any enemy - completely eliminate him from your life. Avoid enemies as much as possible to disarm them and steal their ability to hurt, torment and annoy you. If you are fighting a bully, use your observation skills to avoid them and spend your time in other places. Don't give them the opportunity to antagonize you.

      • If you see your enemy regularly, for example at work or school, and you are forced to interact with him, your job will be more difficult, but not impossible. The best way to avoid such enemies is to try not to listen to them. Wear headphones when your enemies are ranting at school so you don't have to listen to him, or show up in class a minute before the bell rings and sit on the opposite side of the room. It will be as if he doesn't even exist.

   2. Be cool. When your enemy is standing in front of you, the best tactic is to transform into an ice man. Be cool. Really cold-blooded. Don't get upset or try to argue back when your enemy engages in copycat offensive behavior. Just look at him and think how you would look - like an annoying swarm of ants or a sick cat. Minor inconvenience. Emotional reactions are like water for enemy plants. Don't give it to them and they will die. Even if you do react, keep your response cool and calm. Never get angry.

      • Practice imagining your enemy doing something funny like singing opera or fighting an octopus while he's stepping on you. For example, do this if he says that you are a doormat for all the popular girls.
      • Do not listen to the poisonous stream spewed from the mouth of your enemy. Practice reciting mantras while he speaks, focusing deeply on replacing the words you hear with something positive. The words of your favorite song, poem or prayer may be appropriate for these occasions.

   3. Get rid of your enemy. Indifference can be a powerful and effective tool in the fight against enemies. Bullies, half-friends-half-enemies and frenemies all want attention. They want an audience and will tease people to elevate themselves and stand out from the crowd. The best way to disarm him? Don't pay any attention to them at all.

      • When your enemy is nearby, literally act as if nothing happened. No sounds, no other people. Give them absolutely no reaction. Even if your enemy is standing two steps away from you and shouting your name, just ignore him and talk to your friend as if nothing is happening.

   4. Find safety in a group. There is an old true saying about enemies: the enemy of your enemy is your friend. It is likely that your enemy is pushing away not only you, but much more more people. Find other people with whom you share a mutual distrust of a common enemy. Then think of a way to take revenge!

      • Bullies are more likely to target individuals who they believe are a threat to beat up their enemy. Although if you have a few good buddies you're hanging out with, you can easily distract one bully by turning the arrows back on them.

   5. Move on. Best revenge? Live well. The best way to kick a bully out of your life is to walk past him and send him to the bins. Or note how stupid your enemy is. Ignore your enemy, get rid of him and get your life back on track. If your enemy sees that he is unable to have a significant impact on your life, he will spend all his energy in unsuccessful attempts to piss you off.

      Throw dust in the enemy's eyes. Under certain circumstances, a real prank may be the best way to put your enemy in his place. This is especially true with a proud or selfish enemy who needs to be knocked down. Common methods of revenge in the form of pranks may include:

      • Hacking your enemy's email to send compromising automated messages that will confuse him.
      • Order something awkward to be delivered to your enemy's office. A large box full of old professional wrestling magazines, adult diaper catalogs, or weird and exotic workplace pornography. Make sure that they are delivered to the building, not to your office number, so that the courier does not have to wander through all the offices and end up finding the tormentor in person.
      • Be rude. Burst a paper bag on your enemy's doorstep? Have you created a “happy cowboy” in the shower? Did you defecate in the toilet cistern? You decide how far to go.

   Self defense

   1. Don't look for a fight, but learn to defend yourself if necessary. You should never allow your enemies to provoke you into a quarrel, but some enemies are determined to force you to show their cards. You will be much more confident in your daily mood in the future if you know that you can handle any situation that arises. Don't live in fear. Be prepared.

      Learn to throw a punch. The fights don't look like they do in the movies, where both people throw a million punches straight to the face until someone gets knocked out. Most contractions end very quickly. Learn to formulate and strike correctly - this will ensure that you will not make a mistake like in the movies if the situation demands it, but will be able to strike accurately and end the fight with a high probability.

      • Make a fist, squeezing your fingers firmly, but not so tightly that you cut off circulation. Wrap thumb around the knuckles, not around index finger or with inside fingers.
      • Extend the middle joint of your middle finger slightly. This is where your fist should close, not the big knuckles where your fingers meet your palm.
      • Strike in a straight line, supporting your elbows and making linear strikes, small round strikes. a straight punch has more power than big swings.
      • Aim for the nose, neck or stomach. Hit to the jaw, cheeks, or forehead will end up hurting you more. Aim for soft spots and swing hard.

   2. Learn to play defensively. Good defensive positioning is just as important as a strong shot, if not more important. Remember, this isn't a Rocky movie: a couple of solid punches to your jaw and you'll be on the ground, where you definitely don't want to end up.

      • Keep your fists loose near your face and shift your weight so that your shoulder and hip on your dominant side are pointing toward your opponent. Do not face your opponent, but turn sideways to make the target smaller.
      • Keep your hands near your chin and to the side of your head the entire time you swing.

   3. Move forward, not backward. When striking, walk straight towards your opponent, keeping your defensive position, and make him your target to knock him down. The best way to do this is to watch as much as possible - and early, early, early. Don't allow yourself to be pushed back.

      • Although it may seem incredible and will go against your natural instincts, it is much safer and less painful to move into the strikes than to back away from them. Keep moving forward and pushing the enemy back, rather than retreating yourself. If you have to take a hit, stopping it halfway before it reaches full power will hurt less than at the peak of the swing, where you're more likely to get hit. Move forward and make the enemy back away.

   4. Keep moving. Pierce and move, as the boxers say. If you find yourself in a fight, don't just stand there like a rock unless you want your block to get knocked down. Stand on your toes, bouncing a little and moving your head back and forth as if you were dodging pesky bees. Make your head a moving target and you'll be harder to hit.

   5. Again, fighting should always be the last resort to deal with the enemy and should be avoided at all costs.

Warnings

• Don't let events cause you to weaken. Avoid such encounters as much as possible.

– Vladyka, let’s answer a question that often appears in our mail. Its meaning boils down to the following: “Why does God tolerate that people who have unjustly become rich prosper? Why does He allow such injustice? It seems to me that there is some kind of confusion in the concepts of our earthly justice and the Higher, Divine justice.

– It is difficult to talk about justice in our society, because we have quite distorted ideas about it - most often it is understood as a kind of equalization, and this is where the confusion begins. But the world was created by God in a certain hierarchy, and this hierarchy is everywhere, wherever we look. And the leveling approach is taken from our Soviet past and has no basis in religious basis. It assumes that someone will come and decide everything, someone will give these equal opportunities, albeit by force. And it is natural that people are looking for this someone. But this is a completely base view of not only God, but also man! After all, it is understood that the main thing is that everyone has a guaranteed ration, and this turns a person, created in the image and likeness of God, into a social animal, depriving him of the right to individuality, talent, etc. No one can determine how the image of God is embodied in man, the Lord Himself knows this, and God’s creativity in relation to man cannot be regulated and equalized. And in general, when they say: “Why doesn’t the Lord intervene in this or that situation?” – make the grave mistake of assuming that God will administer anything. God, having once given a person free will, cannot take it away.

- Well, what to think, if in front of everyone a villain, on whom there is “no place to put a stigma,” is prospering, and decent people are in poverty, one would like to ask: “How does God tolerate this?”

“And it’s society that endures.” This is not a problem with God, but with society. And if the people themselves tolerate such a villain, then in this society he will continue to flourish. The very position of shifting responsibility is flawed; in it, a person is assigned the role of a commentator who does not want to do anything to change his life. And the word “offensive” is one of those categories when relationships with the world are based on comparisons: “This one lives so well, and we live poorly.” But the fact is that for every person there is God’s Providence, a certain task that this person must accomplish in this world. And if a person disposes his will to realize this Providence of God for himself, then the Lord gives him good. But what is this good? There are standards of society that determine what is good and what is bad; they are not absolute, they are always temporary and can change very dramatically. We can give many examples from our recent history, for example, how the attitude towards money or entrepreneurship has changed dramatically in society.

But God is outside of time, and the good that He bestows is an absolute good.

By the way, questions about Divine justice most often arise during periods of social chaos, when habitual guidelines and values ​​change, and people who are accustomed to living within certain limits begin to rush about. They understand that they do not find support in the new conditions and begin to bring their own vision of how Divine justice should act. And in order to understand this, you just need to read the Gospel.

– Today’s stratification between rich and poor gives rise to many questions. They go to the temple on foot and drive up in jeeps. But what about the words of Christ: “Give everything you have to the poor”?

- Let's read the Gospel carefully. In fact, nowhere does it say that wealth itself is bad. Look, a rich young man who keeps all the commandments comes to Jesus and asks what else he should “do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18). “When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing: sell everything that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow Me” (Luke 18:22). And the young man, having heard this, was saddened, because he was very rich. “Jesus, seeing that he was saddened, said: How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God! for it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God” (Luke 18:24-25). But here we are not talking about wealth itself, but about what owns us. After all, Christ told the young man “give everything away,” because he was attached to wealth, not he, but it controlled him. You can't build a concept on this episode social justice when they say that Christianity is the first communism, and the Gospel is only for the poor.

- Yes, the Gospel mentions the Jewish leader Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea - people who are clearly not poor, secret disciples of Christ, to whom He does not speak the words that He spoke to the rich young man. Apparently, the issue here is not the wealth itself.

- Certainly. Christ was surrounded by people who owned property. As for Joseph of Arimathea, after the crucifixion, this secret follower of Jesus went to Pilate and asked him for the Body of the Savior in order to bury Him in a rock - in the place that he had prepared for himself. And Nicodemus, after the death of Christ, brought a composition of myrrh and aloes in order to arrange a proper burial.

“And that’s why they are known to us, that’s why they are depicted in the Gospel, and their money served the Lord.”

– Christ says: “No one can serve two masters: for either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be zealous for one and not care about the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). And of course, if a person is owned not by God, but by mammon, the god of wealth, it is difficult to cope with this. In Psalm 61 there are these words: “... when wealth increases, do not add to him hearts" (Ps. 61:11).

- So, we've sorted out the wealth. Vladyka, may I simultaneously ask you to answer another accusation that is being brought against the Church: “Why are the brothers being buried? How can such a person be brought into the temple at all?”

- Why not? After all, a person. A funeral service is not canonization; after the funeral service no one is made a saint. If a person was baptized and felt Orthodox, how can one refuse this? What are we, prosecutors, judges? When performing the funeral service, we ask that the Lord forgive the deceased his sins. “With the Saints (that is, through the prayers of the saints), rest, O Christ, the souls of your servant, where there is no illness (where there is no illness), no sorrow, no sighing, but endless life.” The priest, reading a prayer of permission, asks the Lord to forgive the deceased his sins, voluntary or involuntary, he reconciles the soul of the deceased with God. And there the Lord will judge; the priest does not take on these functions.

It is said: “Judge not, lest ye be judged, for with what judgment ye judge, like this you will be judged; and with what measure do you measure, like this and they will measure it for you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not feel the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:1–3). This concept of measure is the Divine principle by which human life is measured.

– What does this mean, please explain.

- It is said: “Love your neighbor.” How to love? God has given the measure: “...as oneself” (Matthew 22.39). We often judge, and it is no coincidence that Christ says: “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” After all, when a person begins to judge another, he takes on functions that are not characteristic of him - only God as the Creator of everything, who knows everything, can judge. Or people put in charge of this, to whom society has delegated the rights to judge, but to judge within the framework of the law. And everything that happens besides this relates to sin. And if a person begins to judge everyone and everything, if he falls into condemnation, then this becomes his essence. And then this measure begins to take effect: you judge, and you yourself will be condemned. Or it is said: “And as you want people to do to you, do so to them” (Luke 6:31). These are God-given measures. And it’s tragic when people, in search of justice, begin to introduce earthly, distorted standards. And the tragedy here is that the initial sinfulness of the motivation already makes such a seeker of justice himself an instrument of evil.

- Master, does God punish?

– I think that a separate conversation should be devoted to this topic, and now I will only touch on it. The very concept of “punishment, God’s punishment” is rather metaphorical and poetic. How can God punish a person? When a person lives by his own will, then God can take His blessed cover away from him. In this case, the person punishes himself. The Gospel of John says about Christ: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” (John 1:4–5), and further that it “was the true Light, which enlightens every person who comes into the world” (John 1:9) . “For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him... Now this is the judgment, that light has come into the world; but people loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil; For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed, because they are evil, but he who does righteousness comes to the light, so that his deeds may be revealed, because they are done in God” (John 3 . 17, 19–21). That is, the person himself is the arbiter of this punishment, but God does not punish, He leaves the person, there is such a concept - abandonment by God, when a person is left alone with himself. And this is the greatest punishment.

-What is a test? You often hear: “God sent them a test” when we're talking about about illness or some kind of trouble.

– Concepts such as “test” and “punishment” should not be confused. Job had trials, Abraham had trials of faith, and often, going through the crucible of trials, a person becomes purer, better. But during trials, God does not abandon man. Remember that the Lord answers Satan at the beginning of the Book of Job when he asks God to give Job to him? The Lord responds to this: “Here he is, in your hand, just save his soul” (Job 2.6). But abandonment of God most often comes when a person does not think about what will happen to him in the future, if he lives only within the framework of earthly events, and only this dictates to him the criteria of where is good and where is evil.

- Master, where does evil come from in a person?

– It is naive to believe that evil has only social roots. The social background can only strengthen something, but the root cause of evil is that satanic path, the path against God, which, oddly enough, exists in man. Let me clarify: there is no natural damage in a person, there is only a tendency to sin, as a consequence of the Fall - that is why we baptize infants. Sin is attractive, sin is a disease, but it is a curable disease.

- Master, but evil is not abstract, man becomes the bearer and arbiter of evil, and the arena of evil is the human heart. How should a Christian treat those who do this evil?

– The Apostle Paul says “that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against... the spirits of wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12). That is, you cannot hate a person; you must direct all efforts to free him from evil.

- That is, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21). But how is this possible?

– It’s one thing when evil is obvious and a person fights on the side of good. It’s another matter when a person decides for himself what evil is, judges himself and tries to become the arbiter of destinies. There can be many situations, but the main thing is what a person is guided by when performing this or that action. When one protects the sacred gift of life, stopping evil, this is one thing, but when the situation is not so obvious, in order not to fall into the net of evil oneself, one must be guided by the words of the Apostle Paul: “Overcome evil with good.” In essence, there is only one way to fight evil: figuratively speaking, in order for there to be more light, for the darkness to recede, you need to light a candle. And not just study what this darkness is. We always have a spiritual way to solve a problem - prayer. You can fight evil by stopping it within yourself, without allowing yourself to be provoked into retaliatory evil. But often, when answering, a person does even greater evil, believing that he has the right to do it. But even Christ said that He does not judge from Himself: “...My judgment is righteous; for I do not seek My will, but the will of the Father who sent Me” (John 5:30).

Above we talked about the human court and the Higher, Divine Court. But there is another judgment that we don’t have to wait long to understand whether this is how we live. This is the judgment of our conscience, and conscience is also called the voice of the Guardian Angel in us.

Prayers for protection from offenders

Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos before Her Icon

“Softening Evil Hearts”, or “Seven Shot”

Troparion: Soften our evil hearts, Mother of God, and extinguish the misfortunes of those who hate us, and resolve all the tightness of our souls. Looking at Your Holy Image, we are touched by Your suffering and mercy for us and we kiss Your wounds, but we are horrified by our arrows, tormenting You. Do not let us, Mother of the Compassionate, perish in our hardness of heart and from the hardness of our neighbors. You truly are evil hearts softening.

Kontakion: To the chosen Virgin Mary, above all the daughters of the earth, the Mother of the Son of God, Who gave salvation to the world, we cry with tenderness: look at our many-sorrowful life, remember the sorrows and illnesses that you endured, like our earthly-born, and do with us according to Your mercy, yes call T:

Rejoice, much-sorrowful Mother of God, transforming our sorrow into joy.

Prayer: Oh, long-suffering Mother of God, Higher than all the daughters of the earth, in Her purity and in the multitude of sufferings You have brought to the earth, Accept our much-painful sighs and keep us under the shelter of Your mercy. You know of no other refuge and warm intercession, but, as you have boldness in the One who was born of You, help and save us with Your prayers, so that, together with all the saints, we may sing praises in the Trinity to the one God, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Prayer for reconciliation between warring parties

Lord, Lover of Mankind, King of the ages and Giver of good things, who destroyed the enmities of the mediastinum and gave peace to the human race, grant now peace to Thy servant, root in them Thy fear and establish love for each other: quench all strife, remove all discord and temptations. For You are our peace, and to You we send glory, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

A. A. Golenishchev-Kutuzov

There are times when the right hand of God,

As if withdrawing from the world and people,

Gives victory to evil - even in the darkness of troubled days

Hostility and lies, violence and anxiety reign;

When the covenant of centuries past is forgotten,

And the meaning of the future is still shrouded in fog,

When the voice of truth is silent in powerlessness

Before triumphant deception.

On such days, praise be given to him who, from above

Looking at the orgy of passions with a sober eye,

Walks the straight path into a lonely consciousness

The madness and evil of all this fuss;

Who is in the middle of the crowd, not intoxicated by battle,

Neither fear, nor enmity, nor flattery,

He responds to the abuse of those at war with prayer:

“Forgive them, Lord, they don’t know what they’re doing!”