A newsreel of the times of the Great Patriotic War sometimes brings to us amazing footage: here the priest blesses the soldiers going to the front, here the metropolitan hands over a tank column to the army, here the old woman baptizes the walking Red Army men with a weak hand, and the soldiers, in turn, also cross themselves ... They are rare, these frames, they are almost lost in the general stream of newsreels of that time - and their very rarity involuntarily makes the viewer think: what was the true role of Orthodoxy in the great victory of the Russian people over German fascism?

Take Hitler's army: chaplains acted here, here on the buckles of the soldiers "God is with us" flaunted, here the believing soldier was not drawn to account for his faith ... An outsider, indifferent observer, seduced by these external signs, must certainly decide what exactly Germany fought for God's truth ...

And yet, under the sign of the cross, the Nazi army did deeds of darkness. It is no coincidence that His Holiness Patriarch Kirill defined the Nazi regime as man-hating. And the Red Army, with all its political instructors and red stars, was a Christ-loving army that did the work of God and saved the peoples of the world from death - ultimately, in the name of Christ.

Is it a paradox? Maybe. But history knows not such paradoxes.

The point is not even that in 1941 the Orthodox Church, tormented by endless persecution, gathered its last strength, tried to help the Motherland both in word and deed. There is no need to exaggerate the importance of this help: in those years the Church had almost no strength left, and the opposition of state atheism, despite a number of indulgences, was still great.

The strength of Russian Orthodoxy lay in something else: in those years it was preserved in the hearts of men, in the souls of the Russian people. What kind of people were they? These are the infantrymen, who covered the pillboxes with their bodies so that their comrades would stay alive. These are pilots who, having the opportunity to escape, threw their burning planes at the columns of enemy troops - and not for revenge, but so that these columns would not reach Moscow, Leningrad, so that they would not shoot our mothers and children there. These are the soldiers who themselves are barely alive from hunger, were ready to share with the blockade - and they did! - the last piece of bread.

I remember the story of the rector of the Kulich church and Easter, Archpriest Viktor Golubev. He was a blockade boy, he was wounded during shelling; Vitya was barely alive and brought to the hospital, and there the soldiers - the wounded themselves, themselves on the brink of death - gave their blood to the unknown child.

These were those who stood on the roofs of besieged Leningrad, put out lighters, did not allow the enemy to burn the city of St. Peter. Olga Fyodorovna Bergholts has clearly and precisely defined:

Everyone who defended Leningrad
Putting his hand into fiery wounds
Not just a citizen, but a soldier
Similar in courage to a veteran.

Let us add to this that fiery wounds are an image associated with the suffering of Christ, but also with His glorification. It is associated with the assurance of the Apostle Thomas, who, as the Church says, felt the fiery ribs of the Almighty. For us, believers, war is the mystery of people's suffering, the mystery of the cross and resurrection. The best people of the era felt it. I recall the poems of Olga Fedorovna Bergholts about the blockade

Here is a woman standing with a board in her arms;
Her lips are sullenly closed,
A board in nails - like a part of a crucifix,
A large fragment of a Russian cross.

And all this was Orthodoxy! It lived in the hearts of our soldiers, it moved them. Let it not be expressed in the engraved formulas dear to all of us in the Nicheo-Constantinople Creed; our soldiers for the most part could not, did not know how to confess their Orthodoxy in words - but they confessed it in deeds. And let today the one who knows how to speak beautifully about his faith repeat the deeds of these people!

There is a common expression: "The Red Army fought to the death." Try to think about it. Try to imagine yourself in the place of our soldiers - and you will understand that it is impossible to stand to the death, simply by obeying the command of the commander. You need more than an order: you need to have faith in your soul. But belief in what? In advanced productive forces and progressive industrial relations? In the coming distant kingdom of communism? No ... Our grandfathers were supported by a firm belief that they stand for a truly right cause, reflect the onset of universal evil.

I would say this: it is useless for us, the people of the Church, to be magnified beyond measure, to ascribe to ourselves all the glory of this war and to assert that we were going ahead of the troops with banners. What was not, that was not. But on the other hand, brothers and sisters, we have nothing to be ashamed of the people's Victory! There is no need to turn away from the great feat of the Russian people, the Russian spirit, from the Victory, imbued with the Spirit of Christ, built on the Christian understanding of truth. The sacrifice, courage, generosity of the soldiers of the Red Army are the undoubted result of the thousand-year Orthodox history of the Russian people. I'm not even talking about the fact that our soldiers have completely fulfilled the commandment of Christ: "There is no more love than who will lay down his life for his friends."

This great, heavenly dialectic, which we constantly meet in the history of the Great Patriotic War, I once tried to express in the following poem:

If you knew where the truth is and where sin reigns
Who could be baptized and who could not,
But in the name of God you have broken those
Who wore on the buckle "God is with us."

What are the judges to measure our mantle now?
Wasn't our life like this?
“Mom, I'm joining the party now -
Pray to God for me. "

Warriors - brave, warm -
Who among you has not even carried a cross,
We will remember you forever and ever,
For you fought for Christ.

For the 68th time, the great, glorious and holy Victory Day comes for us. By the Providence of God, he always comes on Easter days. This year it is only one day different from the Victory Easter Day, which fell on May 6, 1945, the day of the Holy Great Martyr George the Victorious.

This coincidence is no coincidence. Marshal of Victory - a believer - was also called George. The memory of Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov is deeply honored by the now living veteran of the Great Patriotic War, Elder Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov). We won the victory with great pain, suffering and sorrow, the martyrdom of 27 million of our people, those who defended the Brest Fortress to the last, stopped the enemy on the approaches to Leningrad and Moscow, liberated Russia and Europe from the fascist plague, those who took Berlin, who burned in tanks and planes. And also everyone who suffered during the occupation was dying of hunger. They all laid down their souls for their relatives. As Anna Andreevna Akhmatova wrote in 1944:

Behind Narva was the gate,
There was only death ahead ...
So the Soviet infantry went
Straight into the yellow vents of the Bert.
They will write books about you:
"Your life for your friends",
Unpretentious boys -
Vanka, Vaska, Alyoshka, Grishka,
Grandchildren, brothers, sons!

Victory in the Great Patriotic War, according to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, is the secret of the Providence of God. This is the secret of Divine love for mankind, the secret of Divine justice and the secret of Divine mercy. It was the victory of light over darkness, truth over lies, sacrifice over racist and capitalist egoism.

Back in 1942, Metropolitan Sergius said that darkness cannot defeat light. Hitler and his henchmen had the audacity to say that Christ is outdated, and now they will inherit the earth. For these impudent insane words, the Lord struck them with heavenly judgment and the power of Russian weapons. Indeed, as Patriarch Alexy wrote in his Easter message, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace in good will among men." Let us preserve this peace, preserve it, so as not to let the new fascist plague spread throughout the world and in our Fatherland. "

Goals and objectives of the conversation:

Raising a sense of love and respect for the history of Russia, the Cossacks;

Education of moral qualities of a person;

Formation of spiritual values.

Conversation progress:

Coming to this topic, the mentor should note that faith is one of the most important components of the spiritual culture of the people. For the Kuban Cossacks, Orthodoxy became the national religion. It is no accident that the Cossacks were called "the army of Christ". Since ancient times, the Cossack was considered a knight of Orthodoxy, a defender of the Faith and the Fatherland.

Faith determined the life of the Cossack from the first day of his life, it was also the most important way to maintain the military spirit and the entire military system of the Cossacks. The rule of Cossack life is to keep battle banners in the church, solemnly carry them out before the Cossacks are sent on a military campaign, the obligatory prayer service and the priest's parting words before the campaign, a solemn meeting with the divine service upon their return - all this united the Cossacks, it was intended to emphasize the unity of the Kuban Cossack army.

The Cossacks associated all their military successes with the intercession of God. Grace from above was clearly linked to success in business: "Lord, bless!" - said the Kuban people, starting any business.

For centuries in the Cossacks, the Orthodox foundations of life were formed, the gospel laws were firmly observed - both in the family and in society; duty and honor, courage and courage, love for the Fatherland and readiness to give their lives for Faith and Fatherland were always valued above all else.

Further, it is necessary to tell how, when the Cossacks moved to the Kuban, from the first months of their stay, the Cossacks began to build temples and found monasteries. The first church was built on Taman in the name of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos. And it was the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on this two-century "segment" that was the very first building.

“It was laid down by order of the judge of the Black Sea Cossack army, Anton Holovaty, in 1793. The church was built on the site of the former Turkish garden. Golovaty personally chose the most beautiful place, saying, according to legend, the following: "Let the temple of God flaunt in heavenly height, and let holy prayers rush from us straight from the earth to the throne of the Lord God."

The Cossacks built the church, living in dugouts and huts. The material was the wreckage of a Turkish fortress. The stone was held together with raw clay; the roof was made of iron. We did it in a year.

The belfry was attached to the pillars. The bell weighing 3.2 tons was cast from Turkish copper cannons in the city of Nikolaev. It was heard even in Kerch. Unfortunately, during the Great Patriotic War, the bell was hidden from the Nazis - they were buried somewhere. Where exactly, there were no witnesses, but the rector of the temple, Father Victor, hopes that this relic will be found.

In 1794, the temple was consecrated by the military archpriest Roman Prokhonya. "

"K.V. Rossinsky was born on March 17, 1775. in the city of Novomirgorod. There is no information about the mother, Father Vasily Rossinsky came from a clergy, was a priest. The father paid much attention to the children, gave them an excellent education. Even his daughter Theodosia could read and write, which at that time literate women were rare. A distinctive feature of the family was compassion, readiness to help at any moment. Thanks to his father, little Cyril joined religion. In 1798, K.V. Rossinsky. graduated from seminary. After some time he was granted priesthood. They began to talk about him as a good priest. The rumor reached the Cossack villages of the Kuban. Young Rossinsky moved to the Kuban, where there were no schools, no hospitals, etc. Rossinsky was an outstanding personality. He was sent to Yekaterinodar as a new military priest. Rossinsky read a lot, wrote poetry and even had a reputation as a skilled doctor.

He opened 27 churches in the Kuban, created a military singing choir, compiled and published textbooks for a folk school in Kharkov, described interesting natural phenomena. Rossinsky began to build schools in the Kuban.

Visual aids for a lesson on this topic : Icons of Jesus Christ, the Mother of God, portrait of K.V. Rossinsky.

The lesson can be held with the children in the church, invite a priest for a conversation, prepare a story about the construction of a temple in your city, village, or farm.

Literature for preparing for the lesson:

P.Z. Frolov "The Cossack's Pearl Tear"

P.Z. Frolov "Life, customs and traditions of the Kuban Cossacks"

A.V. Maslov "Kuban antiquity"

materials from the site of the Kuban Cossack Host slavakubani.ru (section "Orthodoxy").

Appendix to the topic Orthodoxy in the life of a Cossack

Proverbs:

Do not boast before, but pray to God.

God is not without mercy, the Cossack is not without happiness

The Cossack is not afraid of death, he knows our God

Cossack happiness also helps the Cossack.

Not by the cholovic mind, but by God's judgment. "

- "On te Cossack narodivsya, shob God and the king."

In the Moscow studio of our TV channel, the doctor of theology, a specialist in healthcare organization, cleric of the Gorodnitsky St. George Monastery, Archimandrite Alexander (Globa), answers questions.

(Transcript is done with minimal editing of spoken language)

Today the topic of our program is “Christian as a Warrior of Christ”. Why are there so many parallels between spiritual life and military affairs? We say: the warrior of Christ, the heavenly host, we call the Archangel Michael the Archangel, and the Mother of God - “ Climbed Voivode ". Why are such parallels?

The question is very deep. One involuntarily ponders ... Human life begins - and this is a struggle for existence. Biologists would especially agree; people who face certain difficulties will agree. But all this is the visible result of our invisible spiritual life, which is very often impossible to see with simple eyes. If a person begins to live a spiritual life, then these parallels are drawn in order to especially clearly, tangibly feel that it is necessary to be with God. It is possible to be with God only when you consciously go through difficulties, temptations, through the intrigues of the evil one, who is called upon to destroy the human race, from his inner devilish nature to make so that a person does not receive joy, is called upon to envy human joy in God. He was called not by God, but by his dislike, so that a person would not be with God. Therefore, every Christian is in a certain sense a soldier of Christ.

The fact is that when a person follows God, he must leave everything that hinders him from going - internal, external problems and affairs, must choose the main thing. From this main thing, isolate the most necessary things that are needed in order to be close to God, to be in the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, a person has to fight, as if to stand on guard, to show a certain spiritual strength in order to repel the attack of the enemy - demons, thoughts that are sent by demons, to resist everything that prevents a person from uniting with God. All life is our spiritual battlefield, because the Lord promises us the Kingdom of Heaven as a reward.

- Is every Christian called to this field, without exception?

Of course, a person who is baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, as soon as he puts on the weapon of salvation - the cross of Christ (which is the instrument of our salvation), puts on special snow-white clothes - then the baptized slave is named (name) and is called the Holy Warrior Church Christoff.

- What requirements does this title impose on a person?

First of all, special requirements. Parallel requirements for a future warrior: let's say, in order to take a person into the army, to assign him somewhere, to some army, a group of troops, he must meet certain requirements (what is his physical, moral and psychological state, what qualities). Then a professional selection is carried out, and the person is assigned to any group of troops, where he carries a certain obedience, service. So it is here. We, Orthodox Christians, have, one might say, a spiritual selection, which is determined from the people of believers and non-believers. We, of course, take those who believe in Christ, and preach Christ to unbelievers. Such a person should possess the most important quality - the affinity of the soul for Christ, for the Kingdom of Heaven. That is, a person must have a conscious message from within - to follow the Church, follow Christ for the sake of eternal salvation, for the sake of eternal stay with God in the Kingdom of Heaven.

You said that a kind of spiritual selection is taking place. Can a person with disabilities be called a soldier of Christ?

Sure. The fact is that a person with limited abilities, capabilities, people who suffer from certain physical, mental ailments, can also be soldiers of Christ, because the army is not of this world. Those duties that a person must bear, fulfill, have a spiritual character, namely, that the human soul wants to sing the Divine song: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts, as the angels sing this song. So that the human soul strives to be cleansed of the sins that every person has, so that the soul ultimately wants to be with Christ. And it is not at all necessary, if a person has certain disorders due to illness, injury, he can be a soldier of Christ. This is a spiritual quality.

The Lord tells us through the Holy Scriptures that a person is likened to a seed that dies, and he is sown into the ground, so that at a certain point in time this seed will sprout and bring a harvest. That it was a new plant - perfect, with its own root, stem, leaves, its own system of certain spiritual perfect values \u200b\u200bthat will have weight in the Kingdom of Heaven. Such a person is transformed. Any person - both beautiful and ugly, and the one who can do something according to his strength, and cannot; a person is perfect and imperfect from the point of view of human reasoning (physiological, medical, if you will) - in the eyes of God stands at a certain height. The Lord is able to make the most perfect out of the most imperfect person. The transforming power of Divine love, grace is able to transform a person.

But the Lord requires of us one thing - to cut off all untruth, impurity, not to follow the dark forces, not to follow the demons, after those who take us away from God; not follow paths that do not lead to God. And this is a certain struggle, a choice, because very often a person has to give up many things, as it seems to him, good. But these "good" things are not necessary or useful to a person going into the Kingdom of God.

Very often a person struggles in this life. Every day we get up, and we are already beginning to be overcome by some temptations, thoughts often sent from demons, spiritual laziness, unwillingness to improve in God, in God's truth. All this bears a certain belligerent character on the part of the forces of celestial malice. A person must every day come into contact with this state of a spiritual warrior, a real Christian, who will be the sword of righteousness, the sword of the word of God to slash the evil that the devil offers us through his henchmen.

- How can a person fight spirituallaziness and kindle a warrior spirit?

First of all, the Apostle advises each person, when he rises from sleep, to put on the clothes of truth, clothes, maybe fun, tighten the belt tighter, which allows the person to stand up straight, to optimize his spiritual strength as much as possible. The belt is prayer, it is the willingness to serve Christ. These are all spiritual meanings. They carry, of course, for example, and the monk has a certain symbolic meaning, but under this symbolic meaning there is a spiritual, main, real meaning of what every person owes. The monk is always in srachice are white clothes. When he puts on a cassock, he girdes himself with a leather belt, takes a rosary (this is a sword that cuts off all evil), puts on a cowl - a helmet of salvation, which allows him to think about God all the time, to cut off the arrows of the wicked one.

All of this has a certain deep spiritual meaning, so that a person who himself was worthy of wearing this spiritual garment, as if, speaking in a civil language, promoted the Kingdom of God, “advertised” it. So that he would initiate and attract more and more people, so that people also strive for the Kingdom of God, so that they more deeply, consciously, and correctly understand what is written in the Holy Scriptures. After all, if the images from Holy Scripture are not alive, then there will be a temptation that these images are invalid, people will not understand them. Then why did the apostles bring these images? In order to arouse love in people, striving for God, so that a person consciously understands and tries on these clothes for himself.

And so the monks especially remind people of this, so that a person, getting out of bed in the morning, from his bed, praises the name of God, puts on this garment of love and mercy. So that he also girded himself with the desire and desire to serve God, he took the spiritual sword (prayer book, the same Patriarchal calendar, which contains prayers, certain sayings of the holy fathers, certain readings for every day - from the Apostle, from the Old Testament, gospel readings). All this is a spiritual sword, so that a person in a certain way attunes himself to spiritual warfare, which he must bear.

- What is the main weapon of a Christian as a spiritual warrior?

The main weapon, probably, is love, which should cover and disarm the enemy.

- Disarm.

Yes. But the apostle also advises: in order to acquire this love - this special gift of God, it is necessary to try on oneself and the study of the Holy Scriptures, in a certain way to try on special spiritual clothes - kindness, mercy. The Apostle also says: put on the weapon of God, so that you can stand up against the wiles of the devil, because our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the spirits of evil in high places. That is, against the information that is in the air, if you will. A person susceptible to being infected with a demonic idea, a devilish shooting, arrows of the hand, which carry the dangerous property of igniting the target, - all this is, as it were, in the air, in the heavenly realm.

The Apostle says that this is such a spiritual substance, which can only be fought by spiritual methods, by means of prayer, spiritual understanding. Suppose a person is visited by some kind of malicious intent. And here the struggle begins in the human heart. He starts thinking with his mind. If a person's mind is focused on Holy Scripture, then it is very easy for him to defeat the wicked shooting, it is easy to defend himself against them. Because this sword is so sharp and the shield is so reliable that the devil cannot strike such a person, since he constantly asks God for spiritual support, spiritual intercession, and improvement in repelling devilish attacks. Therefore, the Apostle calls us not only to put on these outer garments, but to be internally ready to repel the attacks of the evil one, which are only of a spiritual nature.

- And keep your sword in combat, sharp.

Required. This means praying all the time. A monk always has a rosary on his hands, there are certain monastic rules, rules for rosary. This is a certain sword. A monk always has the Holy Scriptures with him. A monk can remember a lot from the Holy Scriptures. Very often, monks communicate with each other precisely in the words of Holy Scripture, in order to fulfill also the blessing of the apostles, the blessing of our Lord Jesus Christ, so as not to fall asleep in the night of unrighteous life. When Christ prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, He asked the apostles not to sleep, but to support Him with prayers, with their special spiritual standing, spiritual guardianship, in order to be ready to accept everything that will happen after. Because the Lord came to earth to accomplish a great and saving mission. The Lord, as it were, had been preparing them from the Garden of Gethsemane, and we remember what happened after the Lord was seized. Many fled because they were confused, there was no spiritual support, because they were sleeping, because they were gullible about the words of the Lord Savior. When He prayed, bloody sweat, bloody tears flowed from His eyes. Even this had no effect on the apostles who were near Him, because sleep, human weakness took over. This is also a spiritual state, warlike. When a soldier of Christ stands on guard, he must be able to bear this guard of his spiritual life, so that the devil does not take advantage of the weakness, that gap in the life of a person, a Christian, in order to strike some blow, cause harm. Therefore, we must be sober all the time. Holy Scripture says: the spirit is cheerful, but the flesh is weak.

- What does military duty, military honor and military glory mean when translated into spiritual language?

These are all beautiful words that a person should at least occasionally remember. Each of these words has a specific meaning and weight. Military glory is, of course, beautiful, grandiose: when military parades are going on, military equipment is demonstrated, fireworks sound beautifully, people enjoy the beauty and enchanting spectacle, watching the parades of the military passing through the streets at one time or another of the military holiday. But in the case of a Christian, everything is different. Military glory is redirected here from the man-warrior towards God. He must do everything, fight for the sake of God in fulfillment of God's commandments, God's blessing, in order to be sober, vigorous and be called exactly the one in whose name such a person is called. Christian means Christ.

Military honor for a Christian should have a special meaning in our earthly life, because a person must be honest. Should not be proud, but should be honest, that is, know the honor, be able to properly reward the main thing and cut off the secondary. If he is honest, then he knows that the service of God must be ruled honestly, always be at a certain height and not lower the honor of the Divine service below the level that is characteristic of it.

Military duty is when a person must fulfill his obligations. Why did he take on the title of Christian? Why did you join the army of Christ? After all, he gave some vows - to live an honest, blameless life in God, not to commit iniquity, but to do good, to follow Christ. This debt can be traced back to every Christian, because very often Christians forget that this debt belongs to them. Very often they think that if they put on the instrument of truth and made a promise, they will not be asked to answer. And the Lord will exact from every person. The Lord will show every person every moment of life. If it is found that such a person promised a lot, but did nothing, there will be a terrible answer. It will be a shame before God to give a complete answer. And he will be very serious, very strict. Therefore, a person making promises before God must remember that he will have to give an answer.

Of course, every soldier of Christ must remember that he must sacrifice his life for his neighbor, because the Lord says: there is no more love when a person sacrifices his life for his neighbor. Every soldier, going to the military field, to the war, knows that at best the Lord will have mercy on him. What does he think in the worst case? The Lord will accept him into the Kingdom of Heaven, because a person who gives his life for another, according to the word of the Savior (and it cannot be impracticable, because the Lord Jesus Christ Himself gave him), goes to such a thing with confidence, overcoming all his doubts, all his fear, all those thoughts that visit him at a very terrible and responsible moment.

- What is the role of self-discipline and discipline in spiritual life? How are discipline and freedom combined?

You said well. A person is free when he is collected, disciplined. Such a person is free. Even when a person knows the rules - the rules of the game, the rules of inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven. These are also certain rules. And the Lord says the rules are very simple. Ten rules (decalogue) He, the Lord Jesus Christ, provided us. The Ten Commandments are all rules. The Lord also says: Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself. In this lies the entire Old Testament and the prophets, according to the word of our Savior and our Lord Jesus Christ. This is also a rule. Also, the Lord told us a lot of parables, so that it is especially easy and understandable to convey to each person the rules of how not to act and what needs to be done in order to reach the Kingdom of Heaven.

But Scripture also warns us not to act according to the letter of these rules, because the letter is good for those who understand the meaning, the spirit of Scripture. But those who do not understand the spirit of Holy Scripture, do not understand the meaning of the Lord's call to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, such people very often fall into the traps of the evil one, who slams this trap. Such people begin to grow in their pride, vanity and misunderstanding, distance from God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, in the life of an Orthodox person, a Christian, freedom consists in fulfilling everything that the Lord Jesus Christ told us: to have love, to strive for love, to have everything that binds us to the Kingdom of Heaven - mercy, goodness, patience, joy. ... All this clothe us in garments suitable for a wedding feast. Therefore, together with you and with all people who go to Christ, for Christ, we must see in these rules a certain freedom, a path, if you like, a railing on a high bridge that protects us from the abyss. And, relying on them, we are not afraid to go forward through this abyss.

In spiritual life, as in battle, there are defeats and victories. How should a Christian respond to spiritual victory and spiritual defeat?

First of all, as to a certain spiritual experience, because in both cases it is a positive spiritual experience. Each person learns how to live and how not to. In life, probably, everyone was shocked. Someone in childhood always thrust a hairpin, a plug, or a screwdriver into the socket and received a certain portion of the response from the socket. Is this good or bad? It's bad when he kills, but it's good when he teaches that you don't need to stick your fingers where you don't need to. This is also a life experience.

Spiritual experience teaches us to improve a person in a positive spiritual experience; so that, having a negative spiritual experience, he does not repeat it. And people who intend to commit this negative spiritual experience knew how to convince them. Therefore, this experience is only positive. The Lord gave us a mind, and the mind should be focused on the spiritual knowledge of God, on the spiritual comprehension of our life. When a person has a certain experience, through comprehension he gives birth to a new product that is needed in the Kingdom of God, which will have weight in the Kingdom of God.

Therefore, here you only need to advise people to have spiritual guidelines for themselves. People who live in the world need to look at a certain spiritual reference point. We love to look at God at once. But we must not forget that Christ said to His disciples: on this stone (that is, on human faith) I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail her... The Lord does not say right away: run, turn to God, because in seeking God, we can find God with a small letter. Looking for God not in the right directions, directions, we can find a God who will satisfy only us, which can be Satan himself. A person can serve his passions and consider these passions, this wrong way of life, as his god. He will think that it is god. But the Lord says that we need to follow the True God, and with a capital letter, and use a certain algorithm in life through a certain life landmark - the Church of Christ and her disciples, her apostles, priests. That is, the institution of the Church established by God is traced here, which is capable of leading us into the Kingdom of Heaven. This is a ship that calls for all people who want to be saved in the vast ocean of various everyday adversities.

What is martial art translated into spiritual language? What are the tactics and strategies of defense and attack in spiritual life?

We watched films that show heroic military actions, when our fathers liberated our land from invaders, when they laid down their lives so that we had a place to live, there was a place to thank God, serve God, enjoy the gifts of Divine love. Everything is clear here - tactics, strategy, everything was done in order to produce victorious actions in the correct way of the least losses and the greatest efficiency.

In the spiritual life, everything is about the same, but there are some differences. The art of military doing, military Christian life must first of all begin with the fact that a person feels a certain need for God. Such a person should know why he wants to do it, why he should defend himself and from whom he should defend himself. In order to defend against the enemy, you need to know who your enemy is. In our life, the enemy will probably be the one who wants to harm you, take possession of your property, and maybe life. Such a person will be our enemy, that is, he wants to stand against you and live at the expense of you. Moreover, violating all boundaries, agreements, rules and laws. A person will always see that with someone who is his enemy, he is not on the way. The Church offers us a certain art of prayer, the art of comprehending the will of God.

And the will of God is for everyone people be saved, as the Holy Scriptures say. Through this will of God, we must study the law of God together with you, comprehend what is good in Christ, joy in Christ, what the Kingdom of Heaven is and what must be sacrificed in order to get into this Kingdom of Heaven. That is, there must be a certain value that every person should be afraid of losing. What value is a warrior afraid of losing? He knows that behind him the Motherland, the children, there is some value that must be protected. Likewise, an Orthodox person, a Christian, should know that there is value that cannot be lost. If a person loses it, then the system of value coordinates will be violated. Such a person will already be lost in time and space and will no longer represent anything valuable as a unit in this world. A warrior is valuable when he knows how to defend these values, when he knows about them. An Orthodox Christian must remember that this value is the Lord Jesus Christ, through whom salvation; these are our shrines, temples, our holy faith, which saves a person, both the believer and those for whom the believer prays.

The tactics and strategy of our salvation, which is comprehended through the military spiritual art, is the ability to listen to the Mother of the Church, to her Primate - the Holy Patriarch; to the bishops of the Church, priests. And the most important thing is to participate in the sacraments of the Church. All these are tactics and strategies for saving each person. Demons, sometimes, act on a person directly, and sometimes - indirectly, through someone. They can captivate, capture, enslave, they can act on a person so that he would act on a believer. Maybe convince this person to lose his bearings in the Church, so that the value of the Church would fall in the eyes of a person, so that the clergy would also be destroyed ("priests are the same people, you don't need to listen to the Church, everything that is said in the Church has no weight ..." ).

Why is this done? Because there is a war going on. When a person loses a system of values, take him prisoner and do with him what you want. This is all that the enemy of the human race has been doing from time immemorial. The devil does just that. Every person should remember this. And every person must remember that if he does not have this value, this beacon of salvation, then he will not succeed. They asked John of Kronstadt whether they would be saved in other religions. He replied: I don't know. Knows! He said the most important thing: "In Orthodoxy, only I can be saved" (he said to himself). It was a call to every person, so that everyone should look first of all within themselves and strive to be saved precisely in Orthodoxy, because this is that faith, that means, which was transmitted by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself to the human race, so that through this true, pure faith to comprehend the Kingdom of Heaven.

- What about offense and defense?

Attacks from which side? From the side of the enemy or from the side of the spirit bearer?

- From the side of the spirit carrier. At what point does he defend himself and at what point does he attack?

First of all, we must remember that a warrior is a person who is able to bring peace, love, initially to be enlightened by this peace and love and is able to give this peace and love to the people around him. Sometimes you need to make people love. Sometimes people need to be made enlightened. But when they attack the army defending their borders, you need to fight back with weapons. In a spiritual sense, this also happens. But there must be spiritual methods. If they attack, you need to defend yourself with prayer, faith. You remember, it is not for nothing that Psalm 90 ("Alive in help ...") is indicated when we ask God. We have prayers addressed to the disembodied heavenly powers, to the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and all the heavenly hosts, so that they help us cut off the arrows of the wicked one.

Of course, we must attack the evil one when we struggle with our laziness, unwillingness to sharpen our sword, that is, to honor prayers, Holy Scripture. When we must make our spiritual life the most effective in order to penetrate into the Kingdom of Heaven. The kingdom of God is in need of power. Therefore, we must attack our passions, deal with them in such a way that no trace of them remains, attack the passions in society. We must protect society with prayers and the ability to resist the destructive action that may arise in this or that society. Maybe not by force of arms - by the power of prayer, word, persuasion and complete reliance on the all-transforming, all-loving grace of our God.

- What qualities should a Christian possess as a soldier of Christ?

I'll probably say how the apostle says:

So, be strong, my son, in the grace of Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in front of many witnesses, convey to faithful people who would be able to teach others. So, endure suffering like a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No warrior binds himself to everyday affairs in order to please the commander (2 Tim. 2: 1-4).

Host Denis Beresnev

Recorded by Margarita Popova

Answer from ill Smith Muslim [guru]
Sending His Apostles to preach and knowing with what malice the pagan world would react to the new teaching of love and mercy, Jesus had to warn them of the dangers ahead of them. Their quiet, calm life ends with the removal of Him from them. When they went, according to His commission, to preach in Galilee and Judea, then nothing prevented them from fulfilling their purpose; they did not need anything, although they did not take with them a sack of money, or a bag of bread, or spare shoes. Now, when they have to go to the pagans, they must be especially caring, prudent and courageous, especially since then their Teacher will no longer be there. And if prophecy is fulfilled over Him, and when they crucify Him, they are numbered among the evildoers, then what should they, His disciples, expect? Instability in convictions, lack of faith and weak character must now be replaced by such a force of deeply convinced faith, which even the gates of hell cannot overcome, and such courage in upholding this faith amid all trials and persecutions, which can only be compared with the strength of the sword.
The apostles did not understand these words; they thought that Jesus was commanding them to arm themselves with swords, and naively said to Him: Lord! Now, here are two swords (Luke 22:38).
Seeing that the Apostles did not understand Him, and intending to clarify the same idea to them more clearly in the subsequent conversation, Jesus stopped this conversation, saying to them with a gentle smile: Enough.
Turning again to the question of His departure from this world and wishing that the Apostles would finally guess where He was going, Jesus told them: “Where in time Peter will follow Me, all of you will go; all of you will find a place in the house of my Father, for in the house of my Father there are many mansions (John 14: 2). "
The words - sell your clothes and buy a sword (Luke 22:36) - cannot be taken literally. Christ sent His Apostles to spread His teaching, not by the power of the sword, but by word and example. Having previously commanded not to resist evil with evil, but to conquer it with good, forbidding the Apostles to defend Him by force on the same night and warning them that all who took the sword would perish by the sword (Matthew 26, 52), the Lord could not give them now a new commandment, contrary to all of His teaching. Therefore, the words - buy a sword - must be taken as an allegory. The Lord armed the Apostles with meekness and wisdom, sending them to preach to his own Jews, to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt. 10: 6); they were to bring to the Jews the good news of the coming of the Desired Deliverer, the Messiah; and therefore they did not have to take with them neither a bag of bread, nor spare clothes, nor money, nor shoes: they had to find all this from the hospitable hosts, to whom they carry this good news. Now it's not that; now they have to go to the Gentiles, who are not waiting for the Messiah, who cannot be pleased with the news of His coming; now they will need a bag of bread; and whoever does not have it, let him sell his clothes (of course, spare) and buy it, that is, a bag of bread, as badly needed c. travel to foreign countries; and most importantly, let, in addition to wisdom and meekness, be armed with courage, endurance in enduring all persecutions, such courage that can be compared in strength and strength with the strength of the sword. That the Lord was not now speaking about a sword in the literal sense of the word, is also evident from the fact that in response to the statement of the Apostles about the two swords they have, the Lord said: Enough! This word does not mean at all that two swords will be enough for the Apostles for self-defense; it means: Leave! Enough to talk about it if you do not understand Me. I still have a lot to tell you; but now you cannot contain. When He, the Spirit of truth, comes (John 16, 12, 13), He will teach you everything (John 14:26).

Answer from Crystal[guru]
Everything that has an earthly origin also has a heavenly analogy. Everything earthly is a type of heavenly and repetition only in another high spiritual fulfillment. For example a sword. which was with Peter is reflected in the heavenly as the word of God, which cuts a person to the separation of the spirit from the soul and judges the thoughts of the heart. The Word judges and convicts and forgives and heals and inspires. This is the sword Jesus was talking about.

Answer from . . [guru]
For we, walking in the flesh, do not fight according to the flesh.
The weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but mighty by God for the destruction of strongholds: [with them] we subvert the designs
and every exaltation that arises against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive into obedience to Christ (2 Cor. 10: 3-5)
"And I will be for him, says the Lord, a wall of fire around him and I will be glorified in the midst of him. (Zechariah 2: 5)
And I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud; over his head was a rainbow, and his face was like the sun, and his feet were like pillars of fire; in his hand was an open book. And he put his right foot on the sea, and his left on the earth, and cried out with a loud voice like a lion roars; and when he exclaimed, then the seven thunders spoke with their voices. (Rev. 10: 1-3)
And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, who had the key to the abyss and a large chain in his hand.
He took the dragon, the ancient serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,
and he cast him into the abyss, and shut him up, and put a seal over him, so that he would no longer deceive the nations until the thousand years were over; (Rev. 20: 1-3)

We crossed the snow-covered steppe of the Saraktash region, lifeless like space, in the absolute blackness of an early winter morning. The snowstorm covered the tracks, and the hurricanethe wind threatened to blow the car off the road. We walked "by instruments". “After all, the Ministry of Emergency Situations announces storm warnings not for fun,” I thought through my falling dream. “I wanted to come here for a long time, and so I chose the time…” “It seems that we are in place,” said the driver Vitaly, taxiing up the hill, dimming the headlights.

An illuminated temple was visible in the inky gloom. He, like an orbital station, hung in space. St. Andrew's Monastery.

In order to understand the way of life and thoughts of a monk, you need to be. Believe me, reader, prayer, thoughts, struggle inside another person - this is a universe that we are not given to fly by. Here everyone has their own way. I came here shortly before the Baptism of the Lord in order to at least just SEE.

In the understanding of many, a monastery is a building with cramped stone cells under the ground, sparingly lit by a candle stub, where water drips from the ceiling, and in the middle sits with an old Gospel, a continuously praying hermit who has not seen white light for years. It's not like that at all. Despite the purpose of this place, I saw that something was happening around me every minute. Divine services in the church twice a day: morning from 7 to 10 and evening from 17 to 20, and between these events the inhabitants of the monastery have many things to do.

First of all, remove the snow: if you miss a day, you won't dig out, bake bread, cook food for the brothers (monks do not eat meat, only fish), clean up their cells, work in the carpentry shop, continue painting the temple and much more.

Idleness is the mother of many sins, it does not live here. It's just that these people perform any action, constantly praying. This makes the food tastier, and the face painted on the wall of the temple is more beautiful.

Mobile phonesonly older brothers use usya and youth - e still undecided novices. Most of them voluntarily give them to the abbot, because there is always a temptation to talk with friends, friends, and calling home, as they say here, is not useful, because a person who has dedicated his life to serving God begins to think about that. The Internet, as one of the brothers told me, is “bad by God's grace,” so e-mails are sent from a smartphone solely for business needs.

However, all these troubles seem to border the main value of this place - people. I spoke with the monks about a lot - the newspaper will not be enough, so I will cite only some excerpts of our conversations.

Hegumen Eulogius, abbot of the St. Andrew's Monastery, monk:

- In my past life, I was fond of many things. At the age of 14 he assembled mopeds with his own hands, then he was engaged in various types of martial arts, most of all wushu, for about three years. Everything worked out, but everything quickly got bored, and more and more quickly over time. He entered and graduated from the Saratov Conservatory. It was during that period that I became a believer. I liked the services, I loved to sing in church. When I first entered the monastery, I still had no plans to become a monk. I thought that this was not for me, that all this was too serious, but a month, six months, a year passed. And the services were difficult, from five in the morning, seven days a week, but I found that it did not get boring, which I really like. I felt that there was something to live for.

Hieromonk Father Dionysius:

“You don’t just become monks. Only by vocation. God is calling.

I entered the art school in Yekaterinburg when I was very young, and it’s good that it then shaped me, gave me an orientation towards art. When I paint an icon, I pray, it brings me satisfaction. And I also have my own interest in this: I paint icons for people, they will pray, maybe they will remember me too. Well, if not them, then the saint whose face I painted will remember. After all, every time I create, I get in touch with the one I am writing, and it is clear that I also enlist his prayer help. We also sing in the kliros. And if you sing something Byzantine, sometimes Byzantine mosaics appear before your eyes. The antiquity of Christianity is revived. Living in a monastery is difficult, but interesting. The difficulty lies in the struggle with your passions, with your weaknesses, with your fallen nature. And when we see how the Lord overcomes in us, it strengthens our faith.

Father Barnabas:
- Monks are people who have set themselves the goal of saving the soul. This is the most important thing for us, and the monastic life form that has existed since the 4th century is as close as possible to solving this problem. If the main thing for you is to make money, you are not here, we take a vow of non-acquisitiveness; if you want pleasure, again by, we keep ourselves in strictness. We are forbidden to marry. People come to the monastery for salvation, for there are many things that hinder the world. I've taught foreign languages \u200b\u200bat the Pedagogical Institute. You start fasting, and people look askance at you. Then they ask, why did you let go of your beard? If you want to pray, but you have a job, different responsibilities, you must go to the dacha on Sunday.

Therefore, when I first visited Optina Pustyn, it seemed to me that this is heaven on earth. One had only to step over the threshold, and my soul said to me: “Well, finally. I've always wanted to be here. And you have been winding me for 30 years, no one knows where ... ”There was a feeling that I had finally come home and did not want to go anywhere. People get here in different ways, but usually it is the call of the Lord. Most often this is dictated by some life circumstances. Mine were mournful, but it was then that I realized God not as an abstract idea, but as a person. Sometimes, doing obedience here, I make cards for Christmas or Easter, I use a camera. Of course, this is not basket weaving, as in ancient times. After all, the main thing in monastic work is that it is not creative, that the mind is free for prayer, and the hands are busy. On the other hand, I treat this whole technique like a hammer or a shovel, like a means. In addition, obedience, the basis of monastic life, forgives a lot, it leads to humility, and humility is the main virtue, without which the path to the Kingdom of Heaven is impossible.

Closing the door to the cell behind me, I gazed aimlessly at the white mountains for a long time. The words of the monks sounded in my head, but most of all I remembered their faces. Spiritualized, wise by experience, KNOWING. And eyes open to the world. They are in front of me now.

The novices again dug up the road to the temple. It's winter in this placeit often sweeps, even when it is quiet a few kilometers from the monastery. Seeing me off, one of the monks said: “You come here without a camera. Pray".

And the car of our editorial driver Vitaly, who was supposed to leave me in the monastery and return to Orenburg, was blown to the side of the road. Pulled out with a tractor. He returned to my monastery again, he did not dare to go further. Element.
And I also know one thing for sure: wherever I am, whoever won in my soul, there, among the snow-covered steppe, monks, despising vanity, pray for me.