Life in Christ prayers for the world. John of Kronstadt my life in Christ

– Dmitry, in your opinion, what does a person look for in marriage?

– Every person strives to make his life better, but the concept of “better” is different for everyone, therefore, in marriage, everyone is looking for something different. Thus, a man who is wise in life will look for an assistant and a reliable companion, and in a girl he will value obedience and loyalty. Young people usually value physical beauty. There are also those who, through marriage, hope to get a promotion or improve their financial condition. Indeed, marriage can give a lot. However, the eternal problem is that people often don’t know what they need. You can remove the shell from the bottom, eat the oyster, and throw away the pearl. It’s the same in marriage: you can take advantage of only its most superficial side and not realize its true value until the end of your days. Of course, first of all, you need to pray that God will send you the right person.

At one time, it helped me a lot to understand that it is extremely difficult to convert another person to faith and re-educate him, so I immediately tried to find a believing girl. But then I had not yet thought about such an important gift of marriage as the opportunity to have children. It is now understood that for self-realization it is very important for a man to leave “his mark” in life. Is it possible to leave a better “mark” than to raise your child as a real Christian, a man with a capital “M”? And I think that a father who did not raise his son would not be fully realized.

An even greater gift, although not immediately achievable, is the ability to love and be loved. On the one hand, marriage allows one to legally satisfy carnal desire, which outside of marriage is a sin. But this side weakens over time. Therefore, in order for marriage to bring joy to the spouses, it is necessary to cultivate true love, learn to sacrifice yourself for the sake of another person.

Last year I was offered to head the Klin branch of one social movement. Among other things, we analyze the reasons for marital instability. And the main reasons are the unwillingness of spouses to sacrifice their interests and the lack of true ideals.

– What ideal should we strive for?

– On the one hand, God gives each person the freedom to choose an ideal, but on the other hand, with the commandments he protects from possible error. Happiness does not consist in having a wide choice of roads, but in following your own, the only correct one. The world is designed in such a way that when a person sins, he goes astray from his path, so the family ideal must simultaneously have individuality and, for the sake of the well-being of the person himself, be within the framework established by God.

In hierarchical terms, the Christian ideal involves the submission of the husband to God, the submission of the wife to her husband, and the primacy of parents over children. From a moral point of view, a single marriage between one boy and one girl is considered ideal. The Lord also speaks about the indissolubility of marriage, except in cases of adultery.

Statistics clearly testify in favor of Orthodox ideals. Thus, the most stable marriages are those in which the spouses did not have premarital affairs. It must be said that in the first decade after perestroika, as a result of the promotion of free sexual relations, the level of divorced marriages increased to 80% of the number of prisoners. Now, largely thanks to the growing influence Orthodox Church in society, this figure has returned to the level of the late 80s (about 60%). But there were times in Russia when this figure was 700 times lower (for example, in 1871, 770 divorced marriages were registered throughout the country!). At that time, our state largely adhered to Orthodox norms, and it is worth thinking about how much better the Orthodox ideal is than the modern one, in which no one in the family fulfills their responsibilities.

– It is clear that in a family everyone should have their own responsibilities. Based on your personal experience, tell me, what are the responsibilities of the head of the family?

– Man in to a greater extent why a woman is endowed with the ability for strategic thinking, so necessary for a leader. His first duty, according to the Christian ideal, is to ensure his submission to God. Unfortunately, now the husband usually neglects the laws of God, or, out of pride, accepts them only as recommendations. Accordingly, the wife either ignores the headship of her husband or is united with him common interests as with an equal. In the latter case, when, as they say, the husband and wife look in the same direction, the marriage can already be called happy. It doesn’t hurt the wife’s pride so much and allows the spouses to build life together. But ideally, unity of views is only a good reason for unification, and in marriage itself, the wife must still submit to her husband, otherwise responsibility from the husband as a leader is removed. The second most important duty of the head of the family, I would call the husband’s duty to take care of the salvation of the souls of his household, and, according to the word of the Lord, “everything else will be added.”

Every Christian who once took the Gospel in his hands and mentally followed Jesus to Calvary will never forget this first procession behind Christ, a speculative procession, full of new and vivid impressions and revelations.

How wonderful it is to walk next to Christ, listen to His sermons, feel like His disciple, and in your thoughts be ready to protect Him from the attacks of the Pharisees and pagans! And now you are kneeling next to Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, and you are humanly afraid for His fate, together with Him you pray to the Father to carry this cup past Him...

When in real life we encounter people who follow the same way of the cross towards their Calvary, going through misunderstanding, humiliation, slander and outright ridicule, do we always understand who is in front of us?

And now in our lives, perhaps, holy people live next to us. They are sometimes completely invisible to others, and sometimes people openly despise them and drive them away, showing disgust and irritation. And you involuntarily wonder which side of the street you are standing on when Christ himself walks past you under the yoke of his burden?

Do we always offer our help to people on their path, putting our shoulder under their cross, under the weight of which a person is trying to reach the end - after all, this is exactly what we would do if we were in that crowd watching the Savior carry his cross to Calvary , isn't it?

History shows that an essential characteristic of a person who has holiness is his modesty. But it is impossible for a lamp to go unnoticed in the dark.

Name John of Kronstadt is familiar to all Christians far beyond the borders of Kronstadt, St. Petersburg and Russia. Father was a national shepherd, to whom people from all over the vast country and the whole world aspired.

“In the Garden of Gethsemane”, artist Nikolai Nikolaevich Ge, 1869-1880, State Tretyakov Gallery Moscow

Under the protection of God

October 19, 1829 in poor family sexton Ilia Sergiev and his wife Theodora, in the far North, in the village of Sura, Arkhangelsk province, a child was born, he was so weak that his parents decided to baptize him immediately. The boy was named John.

After baptism, the baby quickly recovered, and his father realized that the child should continue to be closer to the church and be under its protection.

When Vanya was six years old, his father began to teach him to read and write. But the training was difficult. And even then, at such a young age, the boy began to pray for the gift of the ability to learn.

Once, after a fervent heartfelt prayer, as John of Kronstadt himself, whom we are talking about, later recalled,“It was as if a curtain had fallen from my eyes, as if the mind had opened up in my head,” “My soul felt so light and joyful”! From then on, Ivan began to make progress in his studies, graduated from college, the Arkhangelsk Seminary, and was even admitted to the St. Petersburg Theological Academy.

John’s father, Elijah, passed away while his son was studying at the seminary. The family was in dire need of money, but his mother insisted that John continue his education. Combining his studies with clerical work, the future shepherd of all Russia helped his mother with money.

While studying at the Academy, John dreamed of educating the pagan peoples of Siberia and North America. But God's providence was different.

John's prophetic dream about himself

Once John had a dream that he was serving the liturgy in a church unknown to him. As it turned out later, this temple was the Kronstadt St. Andrew's Cathedral. After graduating from the Academy, having received a candidate of theology degree, John Sergiev agreed to marry Elizabeth, the daughter of the archpriest of St. Andrew's Cathedral in Kronstadt. In 1855, on December 12, John was ordained a priest. The dream turned out to be prophetic.

Father John served all his life in Kronstadt. After the wedding, he informed his wife that he wanted to maintain a virgin relationship, since he considered his service to God and people to be his only calling.

“There are many happy families, Lisa, even without us. And you and I, let’s devote ourselves to serving God,” the wife heard on her wedding night.

It was not easy for her to accept this fate. But she resigned herself. The young woman also had to put up with a lot, who at first could not understand who she had married and what kind of cross the Lord God had prepared for her.

John of Kronstadt with his wife Elizabeth

Give everything - without a trace

The husband devoted himself entirely to serving God and people. Kronstadt of those times was filled mainly with port laborers, people from the “bottom of society”; many lived in poverty, in shacks, and abused alcohol. Some were expelled from the capital St. Petersburg. People of other faiths and sectarians often met.

It was to these people that I turned righteous John Kronstadt, starting his ministry. He did not limit himself to sermons and calls for righteous life from the pulpit of St. Andrew's Cathedral. He went straight to the families of these people, bringing them his love and care, his earned money, sharing the last with them, giving them everything he had.

At first people thought he was strange. Even the church authorities were perplexed.

The wife insisted that all her husband’s salary be given to her, since the priest himself never brought his earnings home - he gave everything away along the way! One day he came home without shoes, because he had given his shoes to some tramp.

This behavior caused dissatisfaction with his wife, superiors, and misunderstanding among his colleagues. The young shepherd received complaints and even slanderous attacks. But John understood the nature of these troubles and endured them patiently.

“We must love every person both in his sin and in his shame,” said Father John, “there is no need to confuse man - this image of God - with the evil that is in him.”

People who encountered the simplicity and love that the priest radiated began to change, began to value their families, their loved ones, began to reach out to the light, attend services, and join a pious life.

Miracle Worker

Father John even made a handwritten note about his very first miracle. Here she is.

“Someone in Kronstadt fell ill. Asked for my prayer help. Even then I already had this habit: never refuse anyone’s request. I began to pray, committing the sick man into the hands of God, asking the Lord to fulfill His holy will over him. But suddenly I suddenly see an old woman whom I have known for a long time coming to me. She was a deeply religious person, who spent her life as a Christian and ended her earthly journey in the fear of God. She comes to me and insistently demands that I pray specifically for the recovery of the sick person. I remember then I was almost afraid: “How can I,” I thought, “have such boldness?” However, this old woman firmly believed in the power of my prayer and stood her ground. Then I confessed my insignificance and my sinfulness before the Lord, having seen the will of God in this matter, and began to ask for healing for the pain. And the Lord sent him His mercy - he recovered. I thanked the Lord for this mercy. Another time, through my prayer, the healing was repeated. Then in these two cases I already directly saw the will of God, a new obedience from God - to pray for those who ask for it.”

Through the prayers of the priest, miracles began to happen one after another: literally before our eyes, paralyzed people were healed, those possessed by demons, who had been known to others for many years for their illness, came to their senses. People outside the country and in its farthest corners learned about Father John. A stream of people reached Kronstadt. Father John was already healing dozens and hundreds of people.

Miraculous healings began to occur through letters with petitions for healing from various ailments. People sent telegrams.

One day, through the prayer of Father John, a forest fire was extinguished by pouring rain.

The righteous shepherd healed Muslims, Jews, and people of other faiths from abroad. Everyone who turned to him for help. And he never asked for gratitude.

And if anyone insisted on remunerating the priest, then it was all immediately distributed to those in need, of whom there were a great many in Father John’s circle. However, Father John sometimes accepted gifts and wore rich vestments as festive clothing before the Lord during services.

For more than 25 years, Father John was a teacher of the Law of God at a classical gymnasium and at the Kronstadt City School. He literally saved many students from expulsion and put them on the path to correction with his fatherly love and righteousness.

"My life in Christ"

People literally followed Father John in droves. Letters and telegrams from all over the world were delivered to the priest directly to the altar, and immediately Father John prayed for everyone.

Of course, 24 hours was not enough for such continuous service. Father tried to follow the daily routine. After the service in the temple, he, accompanied by a crowd of people, followed calls to the sick, visiting them at home and in hospitals.

The people pursued Father John everywhere. Eyewitnesses said that when he was sailing on a steamer along the river, a huge number of people ran along the shore, accompanying the steamer.

Already during his lifetime, the people revered Father John as a saint, as a true messenger of God.

Probably, in the time of Christ, people also thirsted for miracles and healings, and where the Savior appeared, crowds of people immediately grew. And in these crowds of people there were those who simply came to look at the living prophet, and those who wanted to convict the prophet of some kind of irregularity, untruth, expose and even destroy him. Christ spoke about this to his disciples, warning them that they would be persecuted and killed for His Name.

Often people become unwitting killers of the prophet when they try to blame all their problems and crosses on him, not remembering that in front of them is a man with one heart and one life, and this heart is overflowing with love and compassion for people.

Father John was “a prophet in his Fatherland.” At the end of his life, he became very ill, but rejected the doctors’ insistence not to fast, because Father John took communion every day. He drew strength and grace from the sacrament.

John of Kronstadt was a great preacher. He left behind a book that became a reference book for Anglican priests and which has been translated into several foreign languages. “My life in Christ” is the name of this spiritual diary.

Saint John of Kronstadt prophesied about Russia:“The Russian kingdom is wavering, tottering, close to collapse. If things go like this in Russia, both atheists and mad anarchists will not be subject to the righteous punishment of the law, and if Russia is not cleansed of many tares, then it will be desolate, like the ancient kingdoms and cities, wiped out by God’s justice from the face of the earth for their atheism and for their iniquities."

St. John of Kronstadt

MY LIFE

IN CHRIST

Minutes of spiritual sobriety and contemplation,
reverent feeling, spiritual correction
and peace in God

All things are for Your pleasure, both in thought and in action.
Prayer before the Gospel at the Liturgy.

EXTRACT FROM THE DIARY

IN TWO PARTS

I do not preface my publication with a preface: let it speak for itself. Everything contained in it is nothing other than the gracious illumination of the soul, which I received from the All-Enlightening Spirit of God in moments of deep attention and self-examination, especially during prayer. Whenever I could, I wrote down my blessed thoughts and feelings, and from these notes over many years a book has now been compiled. The contents of the book are quite varied, as readers will see if there are any. Let them judge the content of my publication (preface by St. John of Kronstadt to the lifetime edition).

Holy Righteous John, Kronstadt Wonderworker, was born on October 19, 1829 in the village of Sura, Pinezhsky district, Arkhangelsk province - in the far north of Russia, in the family of a poor rural sexton Ilya Sergiev and his wife Theodora. The newborn seemed so weak and sickly that his parents hastened to immediately baptize him, and named him John, in honor of St. John Rylsky, celebrated on that day by the Holy Church. Soon after his baptism, baby John began to recover quickly. Pious parents, attributing this to the grace-filled effect of the Sacrament of Baptism, began with special zeal to direct his thoughts and feelings towards God, accustoming him to diligent homework and church prayer. From early childhood, his father constantly took him to church and thereby instilled in him a special love for worship.

Living in harsh conditions of extreme material need, the youth John early became acquainted with bleak pictures of poverty, grief, tears and suffering. This made him focused, thoughtful, and introverted, while at the same time instilling in him a deep empathy and compassionate love for the poor. Not being carried away by the games characteristic of childhood, he, constantly carrying the memory of God in his heart, loved nature, which aroused in him tenderness and admiration for the greatness of the Creator.

In his sixth year, the youth John, with the help of his father, began to learn to read and write. But reading and writing was difficult for the boy at first. This saddened him, but his childhood grief prompted him to especially fervent prayers to God for help. His father, having collected his last meager funds, took him to the Arkhangelsk parish school, where John especially acutely felt his loneliness and helplessness: he found all his consolation in prayer. He prayed often and passionately, fervently, asking God for help. And so, after one of these fervent prayers, at night, the boy suddenly seemed to be shocked all over, “as if a curtain had fallen from his eyes, as if the mind had opened in his head,” “it felt light and joyful in his soul”: the teacher of that day clearly appeared to him, his lesson, he even remembered what he was talking about. It got a little light, he jumped out of bed, grabbed his books - and oh, happiness! He began to read much better, began to understand everything well and remember what he read.

From that time on, the youth John began to study well: he was one of the first to graduate from college, the first to graduate from the Arkhangelsk Theological Seminary and was admitted at public expense to the St. Petersburg Theological Academy.

While still studying at the seminary, he lost his dearly beloved father. As a loving and caring son, John wanted to look for a position as a deacon or psalmist straight from the seminary in order to support his old mother, who had no means of support. But she did not want her son to lose his highest position because of her. spiritual education, and insisted on his admission to the academy.

Having entered the academy, the young student did not leave his mother without care: he obtained a clerical job for himself from the academic board and sent all his meager earnings to his mother.

While studying at the academy, John was initially inclined to devote himself to missionary work among the aborigines of Siberia and North America. But God’s Providence was pleased to call him to a different kind of pastoral activity. One day, the future great ascetic was reflecting on his upcoming service to the Church of Christ during a solitary walk through the academic garden. Returning home, he fell asleep and in a dream saw himself as a priest serving in the Kronstadt St. Andrew's Cathedral, which, in fact, he had never been to before. He took this as an order from above. Soon the dream came true with literal accuracy. In 1855, when John Sergiev graduated from the academy with a candidate of theology degree, he was asked to marry the daughter of the archpriest of the Kronstadt St. Andrew's Cathedral, Konstantin Nesvitsky, Elisaveta, and to be ordained a priest to serve in the same cathedral. Remembering his dream, he accepted this offer.

On December 12, 1855, he was ordained to the priesthood. When he first entered the Kronstadt St. Andrew's Cathedral, he stopped almost in horror at its threshold: this was exactly the temple that had long before appeared to him in his childhood visions. The rest of life is about. John and his pastoral activities took place in Kronstadt, which is why many forgot even his surname “Sergiev” and called him “Kronstadtsky”. And he himself often signed this way.

Marriage o. John, in which, according to the Statutes of our Church, a priest serving in the world should be a member, was only fictitious, which he needed to cover up his selfless pastoral deeds: in reality, he lived with his wife, like brother and sister. “There are many happy families, Lisa, even without us. And you and I, let’s devote ourselves to serving God,” he said to his wife on the very first day of his married life, remaining a pure virgin until the end of his days.

Although once Fr. John said that he does not lead ascetic life, but this, of course, was said to them only out of deep humility. In fact, carefully hiding his asceticism from people, Fr. John was the greatest ascetic. The basis of his ascetic feat was unceasing prayer and post. His wonderful diary "My Life in Christ" clearly testifies to this ascetic struggle of his with sinful thoughts, this " invisible warfare", which is commanded to all true Christians by the ancient great ascetic fathers. Strict fasting, both mental and physical, naturally required of him the daily celebration of the Divine Liturgy, which he set for himself as a rule.

At the first meeting with his flock, Fr. John saw that here he had no less field for selfless and fruitful pastoral activity than in distant places. pagan countries. Unbelief, heterodoxy and sectarianism, not to mention complete religious indifference, flourished here. Kronstadt was the place of administrative expulsion from the capital of all kinds of vicious people. In addition, there were many laborers who worked mainly in the port. They all lived, for the most part, in miserable shacks and dugouts, begging and drinking. City residents suffered a lot from these morally degenerate people, who were called “posadskys.” It was not always safe to walk through the streets at night, because there was a risk of being attacked by robbers.

It was on these that it seemed moral dead people, despised by everyone, and turned his attention, filled with the spirit of genuine Christ's love our great shepherd. It was among them that he began the wondrous feat of his selfless pastoral work. Every day he began to visit their wretched homes: he talked, consoled, looked after the sick and helped them financially, giving away everything he had, often returning home undressed and even without boots. These Kronstadt “tramps,” “scum of society,” who, by the power of the compassionate pastoral love of Fr. John became people again, regaining the human image they had lost; they were the first to “discover” the holiness of Fr. John. And this “discovery” was then very quickly accepted by the entire believing people of Russia.

He tells an unusually touching story about one of these cases of spiritual rebirth thanks to Fr. To John, one artisan: “I was then twenty-two or twenty-three years old. Now I am an old man, but I remember well how I saw the priest for the first time. I had a family, two children. I worked and drank. The family was starving. My wife was slowly traveling around the world I was collecting. We lived in a crappy kennel. I came one day, not very drunk. I saw some young priest sitting, holding his little son in his arms, and the child was listening to him seriously. It seemed to me that the priest was like Christ in the picture.” Blessing of the children." I wanted to swear: they were wandering around... but the father’s gentle and serious eyes stopped me: I felt ashamed... I lowered my eyes, and he looked, looking straight into my soul. He began to speak. I don’t dare tell everything he said. He said that there was paradise in my closet, because where the children were, it was always warm and good, and that there was no need to exchange this paradise for the tavern’s child. He didn’t blame me, no, He justified everything, but I had no time for justification. He left, I sit and remain silent... I don’t cry, although in my soul it’s like before tears. My wife is watching... And since then I have become a man..."

Such an unusual pastoral feat of the young shepherd began to cause criticism and even attacks on him from all sides. Many for a long time did not recognize the sincerity of his mood, mocked him, slandered him verbally and in print, and called him a holy fool. There was a time when the diocesan authorities forbade even giving him a salary, since he, having received it in his own hands, distributed every last penny to the poor; they demanded an explanation from him. But all these trials and mockery of Fr. John endured it courageously, without changing anything to please those who attacked him in his adopted way of life. And, with God's help, he defeated everyone and everything, and for everything that in the first years of his pastorate they laughed at him, reviled him, slandered and persecuted him, they later began to glorify him, realizing that before them was a true follower of Christ, a true shepherd who believed his life for his sheep.

“You must love every person in his sin and in his shame,” said Father John. “You must not confuse man—this image of God—with the evil that is in him.”... With such consciousness he went to people, all of them. conquering and reviving with the power of his truly pastoral compassionate love.

Soon opened in o. John and the wondrous gift of miracles, which glorified him throughout Russia and even far beyond its borders. There is no way to list all the miracles performed by the holy righteous John. Our unbelieving intelligentsia and its press deliberately suppressed these countless manifestations of the power of God. But still, many miracles are recorded and stored in memory. An exact recording of the story of Fr. himself has been preserved. John about his first miracle, which he told his fellow priests about. This story breathes with deep humility. “Someone in Kronstadt fell ill,” Fr. John told about it. “They asked for my prayerful help. Even then I already had this habit: not to refuse anyone’s request. I began to pray, committing the sick person into the hands of God, asking The Lord fulfills His holy will over the sick. But suddenly one old woman comes to me, whom I have known for a long time. She was a God-fearing, deeply religious woman who spent her life in a Christian way and ended her earthly journey in the fear of God. She comes to me persistently. demands from me that I pray for the sick person only for his recovery. I remember then I was almost afraid: how can I, I thought, have such boldness, however, this old woman firmly believed in the power of my prayer and stood her ground? Then I confessed my insignificance and my sinfulness to the Lord, saw the will of God in this whole matter and began to ask for healing for the sick man. And the Lord sent him His mercy - he recovered. I thanked the Lord for this mercy another time through my prayer. the healing was repeated. Then, in these two cases, I directly saw the will of God, a new obedience from God - to pray for those who would ask for it."

Through the prayer of the wondrous wonderworker John, what actually happened, and now, after his blessed death, many wondrous miracles continue to happen. They were healed by prayer and the laying on of hands by Fr. John the most serious illnesses, when medicine was lost in its helplessness. Healings were performed both in private and in front of a large crowd of people, and very often in absentia. Sometimes it was enough to write a letter to Fr. John or send a telegram for the miracle of healing to happen. Particularly remarkable was the miracle that happened in front of everyone in the village of Konchanskoye (Suvorovskoye), described by chance by the Suvorov commission of military academy professors that was then there (in 1901). A woman who suffered from demonic possession for many years and was brought to Fr. John in an unconscious state, after a few moments she was completely healed by him and returned to normal condition quite healthy person. Through the prayer of Father John, the blind received their sight. The artist Zhivotovsky described the miraculous shedding of rain through the prayer of Fr. John in an area suffering from drought and threatened by forest fire. O. John healed not only Russians with the power of his prayer Orthodox people, but also Muslims, Jews, and foreigners who approached him from abroad. This great gift of miracles was naturally the reward of Fr. John for his great deeds - constant prayer, fasting and selfless deeds of love for God and neighbors.

And soon all believing Russia flowed to the great and wondrous miracle worker. The second period of his glorious life and his exploits has begun. At first, he himself went to the people within the confines of one of his cities, and now the people themselves from everywhere, from all over Russia, rushed to him. Thousands of people came to Kronstadt every day, wanting to see Fr. John and receive some kind of help from him. He received countless letters and telegrams: the Kronstadt post office was supposed to open a special branch for his correspondence. Along with letters and telegrams flowed to Fr. John and huge sums of money for charity. Their size can only be judged approximately, because, receiving money, Fr. John immediately gave everything away. According to the most minimal estimate, at least one million rubles passed through his hands a year (a huge amount at that time!). With this money Fr. John fed a thousand beggars every day, he set up a wonderful institution in Kronstadt - the “House of Industriousness” with a school, church, workshops and shelter; in his native village he founded convent and erected a large stone temple, and in St. Petersburg he built a convent on Karpovka, in which he was buried after his death.

To the general sorrow of the residents of Kronstadt, in the second period of his life, the period of his all-Russian glory, Fr. John had to leave teaching the Law of God at the Kronstadt City School and at the Kronstadt Classical Gymnasium, where he taught for over twenty-five years. And he was a wonderful teacher of the law. He never resorted to those teaching methods that often took place then in our educational institutions, that is, neither to excessive severity, nor to the moral humiliation of the incapable. U o. John, the measures of encouragement were not marks, nor the measures of intimidation - punishment. His success was born of his warm, sincere attitude both towards the very work of teaching and towards his students. Therefore, he had no “incapables.” In his lessons, everyone, without exception, eagerly listened to his every word. They were looking forward to his lesson. His lessons were more of a pleasure, a relaxation for the students, than a heavy duty and work. It was a lively conversation, a fascinating speech, an interesting, attention-grabbing story. And these lively conversations of the shepherd-father with his children were deeply imprinted in the memory of the students for the rest of their lives. This is the way he teaches in his speeches addressed to teachers before starting academic year, explained by the need to give the fatherland, first of all, a person and a Christian, relegating the question of science to the background. There were often cases when Fr. John, having interceded for some lazy student sentenced to expulsion, himself began to correct him. Several years passed, and the child, who seemed to show no hope, became a useful member of society. The special significance of Fr. John emphasized the reading of the lives of saints and always brought separate lives to lessons, which he distributed to students to read at home. The nature of such teaching of the Law of God by Father John is clearly captured in the address presented to him on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his teaching at the Kronstadt gymnasium: “You did not teach dry scholasticism to the children, you did not teach them dead formulas - texts and sayings, you did not teach lessons memorized only by memory demanded from them; on bright, receptive souls you sowed the seeds of the eternal and life-giving Word of God."

But Father John had to leave this glorious feat of fruitful teaching of the law for the sake of an even more fruitful and broad feat of his all-Russian spiritual care.

You just need to imagine how Fr.’s day went. John in order to understand and feel the full weight and greatness of this unparalleled feat of his. Fr. got up. John every day at three o'clock in the morning and prepared for the service of the Divine Liturgy. At about four o'clock he went to the cathedral for Matins. Here he was already met by crowds of pilgrims, eager to receive at least a blessing from him. There were also many beggars there, to whom Fr. John gave alms. During Matins, Father John always read the canon himself, giving this reading great value. Before the start of the Liturgy there was confession. Confession, due to the enormous number of people who wanted to confess to Fr. John, was introduced by him, out of necessity, general. This general confession made a stunning impression on all participants and eyewitnesses: many repented out loud, loudly shouting out their sins without shame or embarrassment. St. Andrew's Cathedral, which could accommodate up to five thousand people, was always full, and therefore Communion took a very long time and the Liturgy did not end before twelve o'clock in the afternoon. According to eyewitnesses and co-workers, Fr. John, the performance of Fr. John's Divine Liturgy defies description. A tender gaze, sometimes touching, sometimes sorrowful, in the face the radiance of a well-disposed spirit, prayerful sighs, sources of tears exuding internally, impetuous movements, the fire of priestly grace penetrating his powerful exclamations, fiery prayer - these are some of the features of Father John during the divine service. Father John's service was a continuous fervent prayerful outburst to God. During the service, he was truly a mediator between God and people, an intercessor for their sins, he was a living link connecting the earthly Church, for which he interceded, and the Heavenly Church, among whose members he hovered in spirit at those moments. Reading about. John on the choir - this was not a simple reading, but a lively, enthusiastic conversation with God and His saints: he read loudly, clearly, soulfully, and his voice penetrated the very soul of those praying. And during the Divine Liturgy, all the exclamations and prayers were pronounced by him as if with his enlightened eyes, face to face, he saw the Lord before him and spoke with Him. Tears of tenderness flowed from his eyes, but he did not notice them. It was obvious that Fr. During the Divine Liturgy, John experienced the entire history of our salvation, felt deeply and strongly all the Lord’s love for us, felt His suffering. Such service had an extraordinary effect on everyone present. Not everyone came to him with firm faith: some with doubt, others with distrust, and others out of curiosity. But here everyone was reborn and felt how the ice of doubt and unbelief gradually melted and was replaced by the warmth of faith. Those taking communion after general confession it always happened so much that sometimes there were several large bowls on the holy altar, from which several priests gave communion to the faithful at the same time. And such communion often lasted more than two hours.

During the service, letters and telegrams were brought to Fr. John directly to the altar, and he immediately read them and prayed for those whom he was asked to remember.

After the service, accompanied by thousands of believers, Fr. John left the cathedral and went to St. Petersburg on countless calls to the sick. And he rarely returned home before midnight. It must be assumed that he spent many nights completely without sleep.

It was possible to live and work like this, of course, only in the presence of God’s supernatural, gracious help!

But the very glory of Fr. Joanna was his greatest feat, his hardest work. Just think that wherever he appeared, a crowd instantly grew around him, eager to even just touch his clothes. His admirers even rushed after a fast-moving carriage, grabbing it by the wheels with the danger of being mutilated.

At the request of the believers, Fr. John had to travel to different cities of Russia. These trips were a real triumph for Christ's humble servant. The crowd of people was in the tens of thousands, and everyone was overwhelmed with feelings of heartfelt faith and reverence, the fear of God and the thirst to receive a healing blessing. While passing about. John on the steamer, crowds of people ran along the shore, many knelt down as the steamer approached. In the Ryzhovka estate, near Kharkov, where Fr. John, grass, flowers, and flower beds were destroyed by a crowd of thousands. Thousands of people spent days and nights camped near this estate. Kharkov Cathedral during the service of Fr. John on July 15, 1890 could not accommodate the worshipers. Not only the entire cathedral, but also the area near the cathedral could not accommodate the people, who even filled all the adjacent streets. In the cathedral itself, the singers were forced to sit in the altar. Iron bars were broken everywhere due to the crush. July 20 Fr. John performed a prayer service at Cathedral Square- there were more than sixty thousand people. Exactly the same scenes took place in the Volga cities: Samara, Saratov, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod.

Father John was in the royal palace in Livadia during last days the life of Emperor Alexander III, and the very death of the Sovereign followed in his presence. The sick Emperor met Fr. John with the words: “I did not dare to invite you myself. Thank you for coming. Please pray for me. I am very unwell”... This was October 12, 1894. After the joint kneeling prayer of the Sovereign alone with Fr. John saw a significant improvement in the patient’s health and raised hopes for his complete recovery. This went on for five days; On October 17, the deterioration began again. In the last hours of his life, the Emperor spoke of Fr. John: “You are a holy man. You are a righteous man. That is why the Russian people love you.” “Yes,” answered Father John, “your people love me.” Dying, after receiving the Holy Mysteries and the Sacrament of Anointing, the Emperor asked Fr. John to lay his hands on his head, saying to him: “When you keep your hands on my head, I feel great relief, but when you take them away, I suffer greatly - do not take them away.” Father John continued to hold his hands on the head of the dying Tsar until the Tsar gave up his soul to God.

Having reached high degree prayerful contemplation and dispassion, Fr. John calmly accepted the rich clothes presented to him by his admirers and dressed himself in them. He even needed this to cover up his exploits. He gave away all the donations he received, down to the last penny. So, for example, having once received a package from the hands of a merchant in front of a huge crowd of people, Fr. John immediately handed it over to the poor man’s outstretched hand, without even opening the package. The merchant got excited: “Father, there are a thousand rubles!” “His happiness,” Fr. calmly answered. John. Sometimes, however, he refused to accept donations from certain people. There is a known case when he did not accept thirty thousand rubles from one rich lady. In this case, the foresight of Fr. John, for this lady received this money through unclean means, for which she later repented.

Was. John and a wonderful preacher, and he spoke very simply and most often without special preparation - impromptu. He wasn't looking beautiful words and original expressions, but his sermons were distinguished by extraordinary strength and depth of thought, and at the same time exceptional theological scholarship, with all their accessibility to understanding even ordinary people. In every word he felt some kind of special strength, as a reflection of the strength of his own spirit.

Despite all his extraordinary busyness, Fr. John, however, found time to keep a kind of spiritual diary, writing down daily his thoughts that came to him during prayer and contemplation, as a result of “the gracious illumination of his soul, which he received from the all-enlightening Spirit of God.” These thoughts formed a whole wonderful book, published under the title: “My life in Christ.” This book represents a genuine spiritual treasure and can be placed on a par with the inspired works of the ancient great fathers of the Church and ascetics of Christian piety. IN full meeting essays about. John's 1893 edition of “My Life in Christ” occupies three volumes of more than a thousand pages. This is a completely unique diary, in which we find an unusually instructive reflection of the author’s spiritual life for every reader. This book will forever remain a vivid testimony of how our great righteous man lived and how all those who want to not only be called, but actually be Christians should live.

A remarkable monument to the holy personality of Saint Righteous John and inexhaustible material for edification are also the three volumes of his sermons, containing a total of up to one thousand eight hundred pages. Subsequently, many more individual works by Fr. John, published in separate books in a huge number. All these words and teachings by Fr. John is a genuine breath of the Holy Spirit, revealing to us the unsearchable depths of the Wisdom of God. They are striking in their marvelous originality in everything: in presentation, in thought, in feeling. Every word is from the heart, full of faith and fire, in thoughts there is amazing depth and wisdom, in everything there is amazing simplicity and clarity. There is none extra words, there are no “nice phrases”. You can’t just “read” them - you must always re-read them, and you will always find in them something new, living, sacred.

“My Life in Christ” soon after its publication attracted everyone’s attention so much that it was translated into several foreign languages, and even became a favorite reference book among Anglican priests.

The main idea of all written works of Fr. John - the need for true ardent faith in God and life by faith, in a constant struggle with passions and lusts, devotion to faith and the Orthodox Church as the only one who saves.

In relation to our Motherland - Russia, Righteous John of Kronstadt revealed the image of a formidable prophet of God, preaching the truth, denouncing lies, calling for repentance and predicting the imminent punishment of God for sins and apostasy. Being himself the image of meekness, humility and love for every person, regardless of nationality and religion, Fr. John treated with great indignation all those godless, materialistic and free-thinking liberal movements that undermined the faith of the Russian people and undermined the thousand-year-old state system of Russia.

“Learn, Russia, to believe in God Almighty, who rules the destinies of the world, and learn from your holy ancestors faith, wisdom and courage... The Lord has entrusted to us, Russians, the great saving talent of the Orthodox faith... Rise up, Russian people!.. Who are you? taught disobedience and senseless rebellions, which had never existed before in Russia... Stop being crazy! Enough of drinking the bitter cup full of poison - both you and Russia.” And he menacingly prophesies: “The Russian Kingdom is wavering, tottering, close to falling.” “If things go like this in Russia, and the atheists and anarchist madmen will not be subject to the righteous punishment of the law, and if Russia is not cleansed of the multitude of tares, then it will be desolate, like the ancient kingdoms and cities, wiped out by God’s justice from the face of the earth for their atheism and for their iniquities." “Poor Fatherland, someday will you prosper?! Only when you cling with all your heart to God, the Church, love for the Tsar and the Fatherland and purity of morals.”

The subsequent bloody events in Russia: the revolution and many years of the godless, misanthropic regime showed how right the great righteous man of the Russian land was in his dire warnings and prophetic foresights.

To the difficult feat of serving people in recent years life o. John was beset by a painful illness - an illness that he meekly and patiently endured, never complaining to anyone. He resolutely rejected the orders of the famous doctors who used him - to support his strength with modest food. Here are his words: “I thank my Lord for the suffering sent down to me to purify my sinful soul. Revives - Holy Communion". And he continued to receive communion every day.

On December 14, 1908, having gathered the rest of his forces, Fr. John committed himself for the last time Divine Liturgy in the Kronstadt St. Andrew's Cathedral. And at seven hours and forty minutes on the morning of December 20, 1908, our great righteous man peacefully departed to the Lord, having predicted in advance the day of his death.

At the funeral of Fr. John was attended by tens of thousands of people, and many miracles were performed at his tomb both then and in subsequent times. It was an extraordinary funeral! Throughout the entire space from Kronstadt to Oranienbaum and from the Baltic Station in St. Petersburg to the Ioannovsky Monastery on Karpovka there were huge crowds of crying people. Until that time, such a number of people had never been at any funeral - this was a completely unprecedented event in Russia. The funeral procession was accompanied by troops with banners, the military sang “How Glorious Is,” and troops lined trellises along the entire road through the city. The funeral service was performed by St. Petersburg Metropolitan Anthony at the head of a host of bishops and numerous clergy. Those who kissed the hand of the deceased testify that the hand remained neither cold nor numb. Funeral services were accompanied by general sobs of people who felt orphaned. Exclamations were heard: “Our sun has set! To whom has our dear father abandoned us? Who will now come to the aid of us, the orphaned and the weak?” But there was nothing mournful in the funeral service: it rather resembled a bright Easter matins, and the further the service went, the more festive the mood among the worshipers grew and increased. It was felt that some kind of gracious power was emanating from the coffin and filling the hearts of those present with some kind of unearthly joy. It was clear to everyone that a holy righteous man lay in the tomb, and his spirit hovered invisibly in the temple, embracing with his love and affection all those gathered to pay his last debt to him.

Father John was buried in the church-tomb, specially built for him in the basement of the monastery he built on Karpovka. This entire church was remarkably beautifully lined with white marble; The iconostasis and tomb are also made of white marble. On the tomb (on the right side of the temple) lay Holy Gospel and a carved miter, under which an unquenchable pink lamp burned. Many expensive, artistically executed lamps constantly glowed over the tomb. A sea of light from thousands of candles lit by pilgrims floods this marvelous shining temple.

This was how it was before the tragic events in Russia:

During the hard years, the monastery on Karpovka was closed; the name itself is right. John of Kronstadt was dangerous to say out loud. But the people of God turned to their beloved saint: people came to Karpovka and reverently kissed the wall former temple with the tomb of the righteous.

In June 1990 decision local council Patriarch Alexy II was elevated to the primate throne of the Russian Orthodox Church. Almost immediately after his enthronement, His Holiness left for St. Petersburg to glorify the great wonderworker of the Russian land, Father John of Kronstadt. Now, as before, pilgrims flock to the restored St. John’s Monastery. Prayers are served in the burial vault church; people fervently pray for healing, admonition, weakness in sorrows, and help comes continuously. Holy righteous Father John, pray to God for us.

Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt. My life in Christ. - M.: "Blagovest", 2001. - 800 pp., ISBN 5-7854-0099-5

Everything is for Thy good pleasure, both in thought and in action.

(Prayer before the Gospel at the Liturgy).

I do not preface my publication with a preface: let it speak for itself. Everything contained in it is nothing other than the grace-filled illumination of the soul, which I received from the all-enlightening Spirit of God in moments of deep self-attention and self-examination, especially during prayer. Whenever I could, I wrote down my blessed thoughts and feelings, and from these records of many years, books have now been compiled. The contents of the books are very diverse, as readers will see. Let them judge the contents of my publication.

The spiritual one claims everything, but he himself claims not one thing.

Archpriest I. Sergiev.

Volume 1

1–100

1. You have abundantly revealed to me, O Lord, Your truth and Your righteousness. Through educating me through the sciences, You revealed to me all the riches of faith and nature and human reason. I have known Your word - the word of love, which comes to the division of our soul and spirit [Heb. 4. 12]; studied the laws of the human mind and its philosophy, structure and beauty of speech; penetrated partly into the secrets of nature, into its laws, into the abyss of the universe and the laws of circulation; I know the population of the globe, I know about individual peoples, about famous persons, about their deeds that have taken their course in the world; I partially learned the great science of self-knowledge and approaching You; in a word - I learned a lot, a lot - so that the essence of the human mind is shown by me [Sirach. 3, 23]; and I still learn a lot. I have a lot of books with varied contents, I read and re-read them; but still not satisfied. My spirit still thirsts for knowledge; my whole heart is not satisfied, not full, and from all the knowledge acquired by the mind, it cannot receive complete bliss. When will it be satisfied? - He will be satisfied when He is revealed to Your glory [Ps. 16, 15]. Until then I won't get enough. He who drinks from the water of sowing (from worldly knowledge), he will thirst again: but he who drinks from the water that I will give him, he will not thirst forever; but the water that I will give him, there will be in him a fountain of water flowing into an everlasting belly [John. 4, 13, 14], said the Savior.

2. How do the saints see us and our needs and hear our prayers? Let's make a comparison. May you be transported to the sun and united with the sun. The sun illuminates with its rays the whole earth, every grain of sand on the earth. In these rays you also see the earth; but you are so small in relation to the sun that you constitute only one ray, and there are infinitely many of these rays in it. By its identity with the sun, this ray closely participates in the sun’s illumination of the entire world. So the holy soul, uniting with God, as with the spiritual sun, sees through the medium of its spiritual sun, illuminating the entire universe, all people and the needs of those who pray.

3. Have you learned to envision the Lord before you as an omnipresent Mind, as a living and active Word, as a life-giving Spirit? Scripture- this is the realm of Mind, Word and Spirit - God of the Trinity: in it He manifests himself clearly: the verbs that I spoke to you, the spirit and the life [John.

6, 63], said the Lord; writings of St. fathers - here again is the expression of the Thought, Word and Spirit of the hypostatics, with the greater participation of the human spirit; the writings of ordinary secular people are a manifestation of the fallen human spirit, with its sinful attachments, habits, and passions. In the Word of God we see face to face God and ourselves, as we are. Recognize yourself in it, people, and always walk in the presence of God.

4. Man, you see for yourself, does not die in his words; He is immortal in it and speaks after death. I will die, but even after death I will speak. There is so much of this immortal word among people, which was left behind by those who died a long time ago and which sometimes lives on the lips of an entire people! How tenacious is the word, even a human one! Moreover, the Word of God: it will survive all centuries and will always be alive and active.

5. Since God is a creative, living and life-giving Thought, those who, with the thoughts of their spirit, deviate from this hypostatic Thought and are concerned only with material, perishable objects, thereby materializing their spirit, sin greatly; Particularly sinful are those who, during Divine services or home prayer, completely deviate in their thoughts and wander into different places outside the temple. They extremely insult the Divinity, into which our thoughts should be fixed.

6. What does fasting and repentance lead to? What is the labor for? Leads to cleansing of sins, peace of mind, union with God, sonship, and boldness before the Lord. There is something to fast about and confess with all your heart. The reward will be invaluable for conscientious work. How many of us have a feeling of filial love for God? How many of us boldly, without condemnation, dare to call upon Heavenly God the Father and say: Our Father!... Isn’t it the other way around, in our hearts such a filial voice is not heard at all, muffled by the vanity of this world or attachment to its objects and pleasures? Is not the Heavenly Father far from our hearts? Shouldn’t we, who have moved away from Him to a land far away, imagine Him as God’s avenger? - Yes, for our sins we are all worthy of His righteous wrath and punishment, and it’s amazing how He is so patient with us, how He does not cut us down like the barren fig trees? Let us hasten to appease Him with repentance and tears. Let us enter into ourselves, examine our unclean heart with all severity and see what a multitude of impurities block the access of divine grace to it, we realize that we are spiritually dead.

7. The loving Lord is here: how can I allow even a shadow of malice into my heart? May all malice die within me, may my heart be anointed with the fragrance of kindness. May the love of God conquer you, evil Satan, inciting us evil-willed to evil. Anger is extremely deadly for the soul and body: it scorches, crushes, torments. Let no one bound by malice dare to approach the throne of the God of love.

8. When praying, we must certainly take control of our heart and turn it to the Lord. It must not be cold, crafty, untrue, or double-minded. Otherwise, what is the use of our prayer, of our fasting? Is it good to hear an angry voice from the Lord: these people draw near to Me with their lips, and with their lips they honor Me, but their heart is far from Me [Matt. 15, 8]. So, let us not stand in church with spiritual relaxation, but let each one burn in his spirit, working for the Lord. And people do not value very much the services that we do coldly, out of habit. And God wants our heart. Give Mi, son, your heart [Prov. 23, 26]; because the heart is the most important thing in a person, his life; more - our heart is man himself. Therefore, whoever does not pray or does not serve God with his heart is the same as not praying at all, because then his body prays, which in itself, without a soul, is the same as the earth. Remember that when you stand in prayer, you stand before God, who has the mind of all. Therefore, your prayer should be, so to speak, the whole spirit, the whole mind.

9. The saints of God live even after death. I often hear in church how the Mother of God sings Her wonderful song, passing through the heart, which She composed in the house of Her aunt Elizabeth, after the Annunciation of the Archangel. Here I hear the song of Moses, the song of Zechariah - the father of the Baptist, Anna - the mother of the prophet Samuel, the song of the three youths, the song of Mariam. And how many New Testament saints? singers to this day delight the ears of the entire Church of God! What about the Divine Service? What about the sacraments? What about the rituals? Whose spirit moves there and touches our hearts? - The Lord God and the saints of God. Here's proof of immortality human soul. How is it that people died and control our lives after death; they died and still speak, teaching, edifying and touching us!

10. Just as breathing is necessary for the body, and without breathing a person cannot live, so without the breath of the Spirit of God the soul cannot live true life. What air is to the body, the Spirit of God is to the soul. The air is somewhat like the Spirit of God. Wherever the Spirit wills, it breathes... [John. 3, 8].

11. When you are faced with a temptation to sin, then vividly imagine that sin greatly angers the Lord, Who hates lawlessness. For God does not want iniquity, Thou art [Ps. 5, 5]. And in order for you to understand this better, imagine a truthful, strict father who loves his family, who tries by all means to make his children well-behaved and honest, in order to reward them for their good behavior with his great riches, which he prepared for them with great difficulty, and who between Thus he sees, to his regret, that the children do not love him because of their father’s love, do not pay attention to the legacy prepared by their father’s love, live dissolutely, and rush rapidly towards destruction. And every sin, mind you, is death for the soul [James. 1, 15, etc.], because it kills the soul, because it makes us slaves of the murderous devil, and the more we work for sin, the more difficult our conversion, the more certain our destruction. Fear all sin with all your heart.

12. When your heart wanders into the thoughts of evil and the evil one, as they say, begins to wash away your heart so that it is completely moved from the stone of faith, then say to yourself internally: I know my spiritual poverty, my insignificance without faith; say: I am so weak that I only live in the name of Christ, and I am at peace, and I am glad, I am expanding in my heart, but without Him I am dead spiritually, I am worried, I am embarrassed at heart; Without the cross of the Lord, I would long ago have been a victim of the most severe sorrow and despair. Christ keeps me in life; The cross is my peace and consolation.

13. We can think because there is an infinite thought, just as we breathe because there is an infinity of air space. This is why bright thoughts about any subject are called inspiration. Our thought constantly flows precisely under the condition of the existence of the boundless thinking Spirit. This is why the Apostles say: we are not content to think of anything from ourselves, but our contentment is from God. That is why the Savior said: do not worry about what you say or what you say, for fear he will give you what you say [Matt. 10, 19]. You see, both thought and even the word itself (inspiration) come to us from outside. This, however, is in a state of grace and in case of need. But even in our ordinary situation - all bright thoughts are from the Guardian Angel and from the Spirit of God; whereas, on the contrary, unclean, dark - from our damaged being and from the devil, who is always close to us. How should a Christian behave? God Himself is active in us [Philip. 2, 13]. In general, everywhere in the world we see the kingdom of thought, as in the entire composition visible world, so in particular - on earth, in the circulation and life of the globe - in the distribution of the elements of light, air, water, earth, fire (in secrecy), while other elements are diffused in all animals - in birds, fish, reptiles, beasts and man - in their wise and purposeful structure, in their abilities, morals or habits, - in plants, in their structure, in nutrition, etc., in a word - we see the kingdom of thought everywhere, even in a soulless stone and grain of sand.

14. Priests of the Lord! be able, with the consolation of faith, to turn the bed of sadness of a Christian sufferer into a bed of joy, be able to turn him from the most unhappy person, in his opinion, into the happiest man in the world, assure him that having been punished in a small way, he will be greatly benefited [Wis. 3, 5] after death: and you will be friends of humanity, comforting angels, organs of the Comforter Spirit.

15. If we do not warm the warmth of faith in our hearts, then faith in us may completely extinguish due to negligence; Christianity, with all its sacraments, may seem to completely die out for us. The enemy is only trying to extinguish faith in the heart and bring all the truths of Christianity into oblivion. That is why we see people who are Christians in name only, but who are perfect pagans in deeds.

16. Do not think that our faith is not life-giving for us - shepherds, that we serve God hypocritically. No: we are the first to benefit most from the mercies of God and we know from experience that for us the Lord with His sacraments, that His Most Pure Mother and His saints. For example, when we partook of the life-giving Mysteries of the Body and Blood of the Lord, we often, often experienced their life-giving nature, the heavenly gifts of peace and joy in the Holy Spirit; We know that the merciful royal gaze of the last of his subjects does not please as much as the gracious gaze of our heavenly Master, as His Mysteries do. And we would be extremely ungrateful before the Lord and hardened in heart if we did not tell about this glory of the life-giving Mysteries to all the beloved of God - if we did not glorify His miracles that take place in our hearts at every Divine Liturgy! We also often experience the invincible, incomprehensible, divine power of honest and life-giving cross The Lord and by His power we drive away passions, despondency, cowardice, fear and all the snares of demons from our hearts. He is our friend and benefactor. We say this sincerely with the consciousness of all the truth and power of our words.

17. You want to comprehend the incomprehensible; But can you understand how internal sorrows befall you, killing your soul, and find means - outside the Lord - how to drive them away? Find out with your heart how to free yourself from sorrows, how to make your heart calm, and then, if necessary, philosophize about the incomprehensible. Even if you can do the least bit, why do you care about others? [OK. 12, 26]

18. Think more often: whose wisdom is manifested in the structure of your body, constantly supports it in being and functioning? Who prescribed the laws of your thought, and does it still follow them among all people? Who inscribed the law of conscience on the hearts of all people, and to this day it rewards good and punishes evil in all people? God Almighty, All-Wise and All-Good! Your hand is constantly on me, a sinner, and there is not a moment when Your goodness leaves me. Grant me to always kiss Your right hand with living faith. Why should I go far to look for traces of Your goodness? Your wisdom and Your omnipotence? Oh! These traces are so clearly visible in me! I, I am a miracle of God's goodness, wisdom and omnipotence. I, in a small form, am the whole world; my soul is a representative of the invisible world; my body is a representative of the visible world.

19. Brothers! what is the purpose of our life on earth? So that, after our testing by earthly sorrows and disasters and after gradual improvement in virtue with the help of grace-filled gifts taught in the sacraments, we may rest upon death in God - the peace of our spirit. That is why we sing about the dead: rest, O Lord, the soul of Your servant. We wish the deceased peace as the end of all desires and pray to God for this. Isn’t it therefore foolish to grieve a lot over the dead? Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest [Matt. 11:28], says the Lord. Here are our dead, who have fallen asleep through Christian death, come to this voice of the Lord and rest in peace. Why mourn?

20. People who try to lead a spiritual life experience the subtlest and most difficult war through their thoughts every moment of their lives - a spiritual war; You need to be a bright eye every moment in order to notice the thoughts flowing into the soul from the evil one and reflect them; Such people should always have their hearts burning with faith, humility, and love; otherwise, the wickedness of the devil will easily take up residence in him, behind the wickedness is lack of faith or unbelief, and then all kinds of evil, which you can’t soon wash away with even tears. Therefore, do not allow your heart to be cold, especially during prayer, avoid cold indifference in every possible way. It often happens that there is prayer on the lips, but in the heart there is crafty lack of faith or disbelief; with the lips it is as if a person is close to the Lord, but in the heart he is far away. And during prayer, the evil one uses all measures to cool and deceive our heart in the most imperceptible way for us. Pray and be strong, strengthen your heart.

21. If you want to ask God for some good from God through prayer, then before praying, prepare yourself for undoubted, strong faith and take remedies in advance against doubt and unbelief. It is bad if, during the prayer itself, your heart becomes weak in faith and does not stand in it: then do not even think that you will receive what you asked God for in doubt, because you have offended God, and God does not give His gifts to a scolder! Everything, said the Lord, if you ask in prayer, believingly, you will receive [Matt. 21, 22], and, therefore, if you ask unbelievingly or with doubt, you will not accept. If you have faith and do not doubt, He also says, then you can move mountains [Matt. 21, 21]. This means that if you doubt and don’t believe it, you won’t do it. Let (every person) ask by faith, without hesitating, says the Apostle James... let him not doubt, for he will receive anything from God. – A double-minded husband is unsettled in all his ways [James. 1, 6–8]. A heart that doubts that God can grant what is asked is punished for doubt: it painfully languishes and is embarrassed by doubt. Do not anger the Almighty God with even a shadow of doubt, especially you, who have experienced God’s omnipotence many, many times. Doubt is blasphemy against God, a bold lie of the heart, or a spirit of lies nesting in the heart against the Spirit of truth. Fear him like poisonous snake, or not, what I'm saying is, neglect it, don't pay the slightest attention to it. Remember that God, at the time of your petition, expects an affirmative answer to the question He internally offers you: do you believe that I can do this? Yes, you must answer from the depths of your heart: I believe, Lord! And then it will be according to your faith. May the following reasoning help your doubt or unbelief: I ask God 1) for a good that exists, not just an imaginary, not a dreamy, not a fantastic good, but that everything that exists received its being from God, because without Him nothing could have come into being [John. 1, 3], and, therefore, nothing happens without Him, what happens, but everything either received existence from Him, or by His will or permission happens and is done through the medium of His powers and abilities given to creatures by Him, - and in The Lord is the sovereign Lord of all things that exist and happen. Besides. He calls the things that are not, as if they are [Rom. 4, 17]; This means that if I asked for something that does not exist, He could give it to me by creating it. 2) I ask for the possible, and for God our impossible is possible; This means that there is no obstacle on this side either, because God can do for me even what, according to my concepts, is impossible. Our misfortune is that our faith is interfered with by myopic reason, this spider that catches the truth in the nets of its judgments, conclusions, and analogies. Faith suddenly embraces, sees, and reason, in a roundabout way, reaches the truth: faith is a means of communicating spirit with spirit, and reason - the spiritual-sensual with the spiritual-sensual and simply material; that one is spirit, and this one is flesh.

22. All the blessings of the soul, that is, everything that constitutes true life, peace and joy of the soul, comes from God! Experience. Then my heart says to me: You, Holy Soul, are the treasure of good things!

23. Having Christ in your heart, be afraid lest you lose Him, and with Him the peace of your heart; It is bitter to begin again; efforts to cleave to Him again after falling away will be difficult and will cost many bitter tears. Hold on to Christ with all your strength, gain Him and do not lose holy boldness before Him.

24. You look at the icon of the Savior and see that He is looking at you with the brightest eyes - this looking is the image of the fact that He really looks at you with His clearest eyes of the sun and sees all your thoughts, hears all your heart desires and sighs. An image is an image; in features and signs it represents that which is indescribable and insignifiable, but comprehensible only by faith. Believe that the Savior always looks at you and sees you all - with all your thoughts, sorrows, sighs, with all your circumstances, as in the palm of your hand. Behold, your walls have been written in My hands, and you are always before Me, says the Lord [Isaiah 49, 16]. How much consolation and life there are in these words of the Almighty Provider! So, pray before the icon of the Savior, as if before Him Himself, the Lover of Mankind is inherent in it with His grace and with the eyes written on it, as if looking at you: His eyes look in every place [Pr. 15:3], which means that both on the icon and with the hearing depicted on it, he listens to you. But remember that His eyes are the eyes of God, and His ears are the ears of the omnipresent God.

25. In well-intentioned writings of people, respect the light of Christ, which enlightens every person coming into the world [John. 1, 9], and read them with love, thanking the Light-Giver Christ, who endlessly sheds His light to all who are zealous.

26. Wherever I am, as soon as I lift my heart’s eye in my sorrow to God, the Lover of Mankind immediately answers my faith and prayer, and the sorrow now passes. He is near me at all times and at every hour. You just don’t see, but you vividly feel Him in your heart. Grief is the death of the heart; and it is a fall from God; the breadth and calmness of the heart with living faith in Him proves more clearly than day that the Lord is always with me and He lives inside me. What intercessor or angel will deliver us from sins or sorrows? No one but one God. That is experience.

27. We will measure the dignity of our prayer by human standards, by the quality of our relationships with people. How are we like with people? Sometimes we coldly, without the participation of the heart, out of position or out of decency, express to them our requests, praise, gratitude, or do something for them; and sometimes with warmth, with the participation of the heart, with love, or sometimes feignedly, sometimes sincerely. We are just as different from God. But it’s not necessary. We must always express praise, thanksgiving, and petition to God from the bottom of our hearts; one must always do every deed before Him with all his heart; Always love Him with all your heart and hope in Him.

John of Kronstadt

MY LIFE IN CHRIST

MINUTES OF SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY AND CONTEMPLATION, REVERENT FEELINGS, SOUL CORRECTION AND PEACE IN GOD

Everything is for Thy good pleasure, both in thought and in action.

(Prayer before the Gospel at the Liturgy).

I do not preface my publication with a preface: let it speak for itself. Everything contained in it is nothing other than the grace-filled illumination of the soul, which I received from the all-enlightening Spirit of God in moments of deep self-attention and self-examination, especially during prayer. Whenever I could, I wrote down my blessed thoughts and feelings, and from these records of many years, books have now been compiled. The contents of the books are very diverse, as readers will see. Let them judge the contents of my publication.

The spiritual one claims everything, but he himself claims not one thing.

Archpriest I. Sergiev.

3. Have you learned to envision the Lord before you as an omnipresent Mind, as a living and active Word, as a life-giving Spirit? The Holy Scripture is the realm of the Mind, Word and Spirit - God of the Trinity: in it He manifests himself clearly: the verbs that I spoke to you, spirit and life [John. 6, 63], said the Lord; writings of St. fathers - here again is the expression of the Thought, Word and Spirit of the hypostases, with greater participation of the human spirit itself; the writings of ordinary secular people are a manifestation of the fallen human spirit, with its sinful attachments, habits, and passions. In the Word of God we see face to face God and ourselves, as we are. Recognize yourself in it, people, and always walk in the presence of God.

5. Since God is a creative, living and life-giving Thought, those who, with the thoughts of their spirit, deviate from this hypostatic Thought and are concerned only with material, perishable objects, thereby materializing their spirit, sin greatly; Particularly sinful are those who, during Divine services or home prayer, completely deviate in their thoughts and wander in different places outside the church. They extremely insult the Divinity, into which our thoughts should be fixed.

9. The saints of God live even after death. I often hear in church how the Mother of God sings Her wonderful song, passing through the heart, which She composed in the house of Her aunt Elizabeth, after the Annunciation of the Archangel. Here I hear the song of Moses, the song of Zechariah - the father of the Baptist, Anna - the mother of the prophet Samuel, the song of the three youths, the song of Mariam. And how many New Testament saints? singers to this day delight the ears of the entire Church of God! What about the Divine Service? What about the sacraments? What about the rituals? Whose spirit moves there and touches our hearts? - The Lord God and the saints of God. Here is proof of the immortality of the human soul. How is it that people died and control our lives after death; they died and still speak, teaching, edifying and touching us!