What is hell? The Kingdom of God is a heavenly Eden. Holy Fathers about Hell

Orthodox teaching about Heaven and Hell. Details for “physicists”

Perhaps there is not a single person, even far from faith, who would remain indifferent to the question of his posthumous fate. Some people decide this question for themselves on a purely materialistic level: I’ll die, a burdock will grow, and nothing more. Another cannot remain satisfied with such a decision: after all, why then do I live, why have I been given creative abilities, why do I strive for good? There must be something behind the coffin lid?

Orthodox doctrine tells us about two possible forms of human existence after death: stay in heaven or in hell. These states are directly related to the concept of communion with God and the manifestation of human free will.

Where are heaven and hell?

So, where does a person go after death? Where are these places? According to the patristic teaching, there are no special places in space that limit “heaven” and “hell” in our understanding. The realities of the spiritual world are inexpressible by the categories of the earthly world. The most objective reality that awaits us beyond the grave is the reality of God’s love. Therefore, God himself is heaven for the righteous and hell for sinners.

The essence of heavenly bliss and hellish torment

But how can the same good God be at the same time a source of bliss and torment? We can try to understand this paradox if we take into account that people have different experiences of God. Just as wax softens and clay becomes hard when exposed to the same sun, so the action of God’s love will be bliss for some, and torment for others. The Monk Isaac speaks of paradise: “Paradise is the love of God, in which is the enjoyment of all blessings,” and about the essence of hellish torment he writes the following: “I say that those who are tormented in Gehenna are struck by the scourge of love. And how bitter and cruel is this torment of love!”

Thus, for God, who is Love, Heaven and Hell do not exist, they exist only from the point of view of man .

Details for “physicists”

God's opponents have come up with new questions to which it is impossible to formulate convincing or even understandable answers. For example.
Are the Kingdom of Heaven and Paradise the same thing? If yes, and the Kingdom of Heaven, as we know, is within us, then where is the prudent thief now? In me? I don't watch. Christ Himself told this thief, today you will be with Me in Paradise (Luke 23:43). He didn’t say “in Me,” but “with Me.” Why did it become necessary to understand His words allegorically? And how exactly is it allegorical? There are so many storytellers, excuse me, so many understandings. Maybe the Kingdom of Heaven and Paradise are just different realities?

Satan was expelled from Paradise, but despite this he seduced Eve, as a result of which the first parents were expelled from Paradise. How did Satan manage to get back to Paradise to do his dirty deed? Was it a bad expulsion, did God allow it, or were they not expelled from paradise? And then there’s the related question: where were they expelled? Is it really in Paradise, since Satan ended up there?

Before their fall, Adam and Eve lived in Paradise (well, since they were expelled from there, it means they were there after all): then are Paradise and Eden the same thing? If so, then why do the righteous who have successfully passed the ordeal stay in some third “place of anticipation of future benefits”, and do not return to Eden? If not the same thing, then what is the fate of the uninhabited and uninhabited Eden after the end of the Last Judgment, when the righteous gather in the heavenly Jerusalem? Will Eden be destroyed as unnecessary? Why destroy one Paradise in order to immediately create another? It looks stupid. Or are Eden and the heavenly Jerusalem one and the same thing? But this is impossible, because the Lord said “Behold, I create everything new”(Rev. 21:5), not “Behold, I’m restoring everything old.” In any case, it turns out that Eden is “idle” in vain. Who needs it, without people?

The Church teaches that the Savior destroyed hell, but at the same time warns that we might end up in it because of our sins - where is the logic? If hell was destroyed only by Christ thousands of years after Abraham, then where was Abraham’s bed, the place of residence of the Old Testament righteous? Is it really in hell, in fiery Gehenna? After all, if the Savior brought the Old Testament righteous out of hell, that means they were there.

The Old Testament speaks very reluctantly and secretly about the posthumous fate of the righteous, and only the Gospel teaches about this clearly and definitely - why is this so, why is the doctrine of Paradise brought to New Testament, what is the need for such a division? Did people before Christ really not need the consolation of a future heavenly reward? Not likely. Maybe the later teaching is erroneous, and it’s time to finally return to the concepts of hell and Sheol from the period of the second temple in Jerusalem? And there is no Kingdom of Heaven within us, but we just need to honestly and to the best of our ability fulfill the understandable Old Testament decalogue?

Usually, to questions of this kind, even the most reserved priests give something like this answer: “According to the patristic teaching, there are no special places in space that limit heaven and hell in our understanding. The realities of the spiritual world are inexpressible by the categories of the earthly world. The most objective reality that awaits us beyond the grave is the reality of God’s love.” As if we were asking about places in space, or doubting reality God's love. It is still the most objective reality, and not only after the grave it will become so.

Now judge for yourself. Here before us is a modern person who wants to understand, who is questioning. Not stupid, brought up on trust in science, with the successful use of rational thinking and logic repeatedly justified. On cosmological questions, on the one hand, he has vague explanations from Orthodox priests: they say, “understand spiritually.” On the other hand, there is the usual, consistent logic of Jews and pagans. Which side will the human mind take? We know which one. So is it really impossible to help the mind? Is it really impossible to give clear answers pre-experimentally, before acquiring personal grace-filled knowledge (and we are all in this deplorable state), and thereby clear the way for life-giving faith through the obstacles of the mind?

We believe it is possible and necessary. So let's try it.

Notes on terms .

About space .

The inability to give the usual physical spatial indications of a particular place (coordinates) does not mean the absence of a place as such or a difference between places. Only God is unlimited Who is everywhere, and His creation is limited: if creation (man, Angel) is in one place, it (they) is not in another. The Holy Prophet Daniel waited for three weeks for the Angel sent to him, who was prevented from passing by the satanic army, and who finally passed through only with the help of the Archangel Michael (Dan. 10:12-13). This means that although we are talking about “spiritual realities” to which “our concepts do not apply,” it nevertheless took the Angel three weeks to get where he needed to be. The angel could not be in two “places” at the same time; he needed to “come” from one place to another.

Therefore, when the word “place” is used further, this term will be taken in a broad sense. Whether in five-dimensional space, parallel, spiritual, whatever you like, it doesn’t matter - but this is exactly the place; place as a concept that characterizes the limitations of a creature and is inextricably linked with this limitation.

About time .

The absence of time does not mean the absence of processes and cause-and-effect relationships. We know that there was a “time” when there was no time, and there will be a “time” when there will be no time. This biblical knowledge necessarily implies that neither God nor His creatures need any time in order to live (and not freeze).

It is difficult to even imagine that after the creation of the new earth and sky, all processes will stop. At a minimum, it is known that the righteous in heavenly Jerusalem will glorify God - in the absence of processes this would be difficult.

Man in heavenly Jerusalem will remain in the body, like our Savior. Returning to the body (renewed, spiritual) means for a person the return of the possibility of creativity. Incorporeal Angels are fundamentally deprived of this opportunity. So what, a creative person will live and not create?

When did time appear: before the creation of the world or after? And what is cause and effect: God’s plan for the world and man and, as a consequence, the creation of the world, or vice versa? Causes and effects, despite the lack of time, exist.

In short, lack of time does not mean absence of events, lack of life and creativity .

More likely, time is a service parameter of the damaged Universe , characterizing the non-decrease of entropy (increasing decay until death - the so-called “arrow of time”). Or maybe time is a category necessary to implement the process of changing a person’s state from cascading to non-casual (I may sin, I may not sin, I cannot sin). Unfortunately, it has not yet been possible to find clear indications in Scripture and Tradition.

Significant events in world history .

For our consideration they are recognized as: (1) creation of the world , (2) creation of angels , (3) creation of man , (4) fall of Dennitsa, (5) fall of the ancestors, (6) death of Adam, (7) Resurrection of Christ, (8) Last Judgment . Each of these events significantly changed the composition of the universe and established new connections (and/or changed old ones) between its component parts.

If we try to consistently comprehend the cosmology of the created world from a Christian position, but not as extensively as Archpriest did. Vasily Zenkovsky, we get the following picture.

Stage-by-stage structure of the universe .

1. Creation of the world.

We know that the world, visible and invisible, was created out of nothing. Before the creation of the world, we only know for certain the phenomena of the absence of time, the existence of God and His plan of economy.

2. Creation of angels.

It happened before the creation of man , as indicated by both the angelic purpose and the general logic of the creation of the world. Let us remember the biblical definition: the habitat of Angels is heaven (and not “paradise”, whatever that means).

3. Human creation.

Created Man Dwells in Eden - and this is also a strict biblical term. He does not live in paradise, but in the Garden of Eden, which with its beauty has earned the sublime metaphor “Garden of Eden.” But this is not a garden in paradise, this is a metaphor. Heaven in the proper sense does not yet exist.

A there is heaven (place of residence of Angels) and Eden(place of residence of a person). Angels travel freely from heaven to Eden (Dennitsa is the guardian angel of the Earth) and back, man is able to communicate with God. There is no mention of communication between people and Angels.

4. The fall of Dennitsa.

According to Tradition, the fall of Dennitsa was a consequence of the creation of man. In principle, Satan’s feelings are clear: “How is this so! I, a planetary angel of the cherubic order, must serve this shabby former monkey, who, you see, has the gift of creativity? No way, I myself am God!” Whether this was true, we don’t know, and it doesn’t matter.
And the important thing is that Satan was cast out of heaven. That is, they stopped Satan and the angels from having free access to heaven. AND he turned out to be able to be only in Eden (and not in paradise), where he successfully seduced our foremother .

5. The fall of the ancestors.

The fall of Satan did not have any influence on the ontological (existential, physical) basis of the material Eden, did not make any change in it. Another thing fall of man , spiritual-physical beings. As a result of his fall, Eden underwent catastrophic changes : the basic law of our world arose - entropy (decay), the food chain (all creation groans and suffers), the earth grew thorns and thistles, animals turned away from humans, death appeared . Eden was damaged because... spiritual-physical man violated the main spiritual law of the universe and, through his dual essence, damaged the material Eden, which turned into the cosmos observed today with stars scattering ugly from each other. It is reliably known that starting at the latest from this stage, time exists in the created world .

As a result we have heaven as a place where angels live , and familiar to us in the scientific sense The Universe, i.e. former Eden, as the place of residence of man and fallen angels.

To prevent free communication between man and demons, the Lord mercifully and providentially dresses us in “leather garments”(from which every psychic strives to jump out). Thus, although we live in the same Universe with demons, we do not see them and do not directly feel them . Is it true, demons see us perfectly well, but cannot influence us directly.

At this stage of world development there is no trace of heaven yet . As, indeed, hell.

6. Death of Adam.

Death is the separation of soul and body. Naked the soul, left without the protection of leather vestments, immediately becomes accessible to Satan and his demons, since the soul is “one-body” with angels in general. In the afterlife the soul retains memory, consciousness, the ability to desire... In a word, the personality is preserved, but its will, understood as the ability to act, completely disappears.

What will Satan want to do when he gets his hands on a weak-willed and helpless Adam? And other demons who have finally reached the human race? Alas, there is no need to guess for long. For the dead, real hell begins. Lord this didn't create hell . The place of torment is our Universe (formerly Eden), but the living in their leather vestments do not see what is happening. Where exactly the place of torment is located is unknown and uninteresting. According to the Tradition of the Church - in the center of the Earth (the earth's firmament for alien, extramaterial souls and demons is no denser than air, which the deceased no longer needs for life). Attention, we restore the biblical definition: this place of torment is called Sheol . This is not hell yet. This is a place of waiting for the final decision of one's fate at the Last Judgment.

Sheol is Just part of the Universe, “equipped” by Satan and demons as torture chambers. Are there boilers and pans there? Maybe there is, I haven't heard of it. Numerous testimonies from those who returned from the other world indicate that Satan has a richer imagination. In any case, some church intellectuals who are willing to experience maximum pangs of conscience in the afterlife will be severely and palpably disappointed. The soul feels the same as the body , if you influence it with the appropriate corporeal tools: “fire”, “cold”, or something else. Satan had plenty of time for experiments and thoughtful choices (Sheol is the part of the Universe in which time flows), and he would find something to surprise the sinner. But we are getting ahead of ourselves.

There is some good news. They are that just as Satan is not the master of the Universe, so he is not the master of Sheol . We know that in “hell”, i.e. in Sheol, there are “circles”: from places where there is no torment, but there is no joy, to the places where Judas is. If Satan were the master of Sheol, he would torture everyone equally and as cruelly as possible, but the Lord does not allow this to happen more than the unfortunate captive deserved during his earthly existence.

A characteristic and sad sign of the universe at this stage of history is the unconditionality of posthumous fate from the degree of righteousness of earthly life. Whether you are a sinner or a righteous person, only Sheol awaits you beyond the grave: demons simply will not allow the soul of the deceased to enter heaven with the angels, and the universe has no other places. The Old Testament has nothing to promise its saints and is silent. He for whom Job cried has not yet come: “My bones stuck to my skin and my flesh, and I was left with only the skin around my teeth... And I know that my Redeemer lives, and on the last day He will raise my decaying skin from the dust, and I will see God in my flesh. I will see Him myself; My eyes, not the eyes of another, will see Him."(Job 19:20-27).

As a result we have: heaven (the place of residence of Angels), the Universe (the place of inhabitants of living people and demons), and Sheol (the place of residence of dead people and the demons tormenting them). Neither heaven nor hell, in the proper sense of these words, still not .

7. Resurrection of Christ.

And finally, the Lord directly includes Himself in the destinies of the world He created, accepting human nature damaged by sin. It is important for us that after glorious Christ's Resurrection Another “place” appears in the Universe: the place where the righteous await heavenly bliss and anticipate future benefits. Where exactly it is located - God knows.

Maybe this is just heaven, the place where angels “register”? This is not revealed to us.

And the structure of the universe now looks like this: heaven, the Universe, Sheol, a place of anticipation of heavenly bliss. And again, neither heaven nor hell. The Lord did not create them.

In the place of anticipation, the soul is freed from torment by demons, but remains outside the body, and therefore is not a full-fledged person and does not live a full life.

Once again, the dead are given the opportunity to escape Sheol by successfully completing the ordeal.

As the gates of Sheol are blown open by the resurrection of the Savior, sinners have the opportunity, through the prayers of the Church, to move on to lighter cycles of torment (if the direction of movement towards Christ coincides with their desire, for the gospel of Christ continues in hell) and even leave Sheol completely. It would be extreme disgrace to leave your dead brothers without prayerful help.

8. Last Judgment.

Everything here is short and simple. Second act of God's creation: " Behold, I create everything new"(Rev.21:5) and the heavens were rolled up like a scroll, and new heaven and new earth . The damaged Universe (formerly Eden) was destroyed, and with it (as those who were in it) Sheol also found its end, since real hell lies ahead, and a place of anticipation of future benefits, since real paradise lies ahead.

The heavens were also destroyed - as unnecessary.

The structure of the Universe is simplified. A new, heavenly Jerusalem appears - the habitat of the righteous and the Ethereal. This is essentially Paradise.

However, it is advisable to separate Satan, his demons, and human goats from heaven, otherwise they will quickly desecrate it, as happened with Eden. AND Gehenna arises . The Lord chose a very good word to designate hell. Gehenna(Aramaic) - this is just a city dump on the leeward side of Jerusalem, where they took out unnecessary garbage, set it on fire, and it always burned and stank. Gehenna is just a garbage dump. And this is real hell - no one needs you, no one educates or punishes you, no one expects or demands anything from you - you were thrown out. Thrown out of life. You are excluded from communication even with sinners like yourself; you are surrounded by pitch darkness and icy silence. Absolute, eternal loneliness, in which your true friends will be the “undying worm” and “unquenchable fire” (black unluminous flame).

Gehenna, that is, hell in the proper sense of the word, is intended primarily for Satan and his angels, but people can easily get there. And if in Sheol demons were “on horseback” and tormented the souls of people, then in Gehenna they are bound and tormented themselves.

The very absoluteness of loneliness is determined by the fact that in Gehenna there is no space (or place); there is nothing, and neither is time - you are simply indestructible as a person, and you are in your own personal hell, which does not have any extension that is not needed - you are bound. And so each of those who went to hell. No place was created for them, they were simply thrown out of heaven, from the place where there is a place. Perhaps the fathers spoke of the “crowding” of hell in precisely this sense.

Please note - Lord of Hell again didn't create - Gehenna is simply an “out of place” for those who are thrown out. The source of torment for the unfortunate inhabitants of Gehenna is divine love, which did not take life, and their own hatred of it, combined with complete helplessness, absolute loneliness, and the absence of any hope of changing their condition. There is nothing to wait - nothing will change.

The Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of light. Let's take a wooden box, paint the inside with black paint and nail it. What will be in it? Darkness. And we will bring this box, full of darkness, into a bright room and open it. We will see that there is no darkness there anymore, the box is full of light. This means that the darkness has disappeared. That's why a dark soul cannot enter the Kingdom of God - because it will have to disappear there. That's why Before entering the Kingdom of God, you need to fill your soul with light. Light is like light. Therefore, if we become sons of light, then we will enter the Kingdom of God (Arch. Dmitry Smirnov, sermon on the celebration of Easter, Holy Cross Church, May 30, 1984).

The free choice of a free rational being, made in time, led to eternal consequences. Not to “temporary” consequences in “eternity,” as many would like, but simply to ongoing ones. They warned us.

The structure of the Universe is simple - only heaven, the heavenly Jerusalem.

Conclusion .

No wonder The Orthodox Church has no dogmatic teaching about hell. The Lord did not create it and will not create it.

No wonder Instead of the teaching about heaven, our Church has predominantly the teaching about the Kingdom of Heaven, which is inside each of us.

From the point of view of the Lord, there is no heaven, but there is a space for the normal life of not unlimited creatures, free and reasonable.

It only remains to add that The Kingdom of Heaven is a state, and heaven is a place. It is those who achieve the Kingdom of Heaven in their souls who will be able to get to that place, which will first be called the place of anticipation of heavenly bliss, and then simply the heavenly (real, normal, righteous, correct) Jerusalem.

Amen.

Unknown Orthodoxy

The second passage that speaks of heaven is found in the Epistle of the Apostle Paul; he is connected with him personal experience: “And I know about such a person (I just don’t know - in the body or outside the body: he knows) that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words that a person cannot retell” ().

Interpreting this place Rev. Nicodemus The Svyatogorets says that “paradise is a Persian word meaning a garden planted with various trees...” At the same time, he says that the “rapture” of the Apostle Paul into paradise, according to some interpreters, means that “he was initiated into the mystical and ineffable words about paradise, which are hidden from us to this day.” As St. Maximus the Confessor says, during his contemplation the Apostle Paul ascended to the third heaven, that is, he passed through “three heavens” - active wisdom, natural contemplation and occult theology, which is the third heaven - and from there he was caught up into paradise. Thus he was initiated into the mystery of what the two trees were - the tree of life, which grew in the middle of paradise, and the tree of knowledge, into the mystery of who the cherub was and what the fiery sword with which he guarded the entrance to Eden was, and also into all the other great truths presented in the Old Testament.

The third place is in the Revelation of John. Among other things, the Bishop of Ephesus is told: “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God” (). According to St. Andrew of Caesarea, the tree of life allegorically means eternal life. That is, God gives the promise to “participate in the blessings of the next century.” And according to the interpretation of Aretha of Caesarea, “paradise is a blessed and eternal life.”

Therefore, heaven, eternal life and the Kingdom of Heaven are one and the same reality. We will not now delve into the analysis of the relationship between the concept of “paradise” and the concepts of “Kingdom of God” and “Kingdom of Heaven”. The main thing is obvious: heaven is eternal life in communion and unity with the Trinity God.

The word “hell” (Greek κολασε - torment) comes from the verb κολαζο and has two meanings. The first meaning is “to trim the branches of a tree”, the second is “to punish”. This word in Holy Scripture is used mainly in the second meaning. Moreover, in the sense that it is not God who punishes man, but man himself who punishes himself, because he does not accept the gift of God. Severance of communication with God is punishment, especially if we remember that man was created in the image and likeness of God, and this is precisely the deepest meaning of his existence.

Let's look at this topic in more detail, outlining the teachings of some Church Fathers.

I believe that we should start with St. Isaac the Syrian, who very clearly shows that there is heaven and hell. Speaking about heaven, he says that heaven is the love of God. Naturally, when we talk about love, we mainly mean the uncreated energy of God. The Monk Isaac writes: “Paradise is the love of God, in which is the enjoyment of all bliss.” But when talking about hell, he says almost the same thing: hell is the scourge of divine love. He writes: “I say that those tormented in Gehenna are struck with the scourge of love. And how bitter and cruel is this torment of love!”

Thus, hell is torment from the influence of God's love. The Monk Isaac says that sorrow from sin against the love of God is “more terrible than any possible punishment.” Indeed, what a torment it is to deny someone’s love and go against it! What a terrible thing it is to behave inappropriately towards those who truly love us! If what has been said is compared with the love of God, then it will be possible to understand the torment of hell. The Monk Isaac considers it inappropriate to assert “that sinners in Gehenna are deprived of the love of God.”

Consequently, even in hell people will not be deprived of divine love. will love all people - both righteous and sinners, but not everyone will feel this love to the same extent and in the same way. In any case, it is inappropriate to say that hell is the absence of God.

From this it is concluded that people have different experiences of God. Each will be given from the Lord Christ “according to his worth,” “according to his valor.” The ranks of teachers and students will be abolished, and the “sharpness of every aspiration” will be revealed in everyone. One and the same God will equally give His grace to everyone, but people will perceive it in accordance with their “capacity.” The love of God will extend to all people, but it will act in two ways: it will torment sinners, and delight the righteous. Expressing Orthodox Tradition, St. Isaac the Syrian writes: “Love, with its power, acts in two ways: it torments sinners, as here it happens to a friend to suffer from a friend, and it brings joy to those who keep their duty.”

Therefore, the same love of God, the same action will extend to all people, but will be perceived differently.

But how does such a difference arise?

God said to Moses: “I will have mercy on whomever I have mercy on, and I will have mercy on whomever I have mercy on” (). Apostle Paul, citing this passage Old Testament, adds: “So he has mercy on whomever he wants; and he hardens whomever he wants” (). These words must be interpreted within the framework of Orthodox Tradition.

Consequently, the fire of Gehenna will not be bright and will be deprived of its ability to enlighten. And the light of the righteous will not burn, it will be deprived of the property of scorching. This will be the result of different perceptions of God's action. In any case, this implies that a person will receive the uncreated energy of God in accordance with his condition.

This understanding of heaven and hell is characteristic not only of St. Isaac the Syrian and St. Basil the Great, but this is the general teaching of the holy fathers of the Church, who interpret eternal fire and eternal life apophatically. When we talk about apophatics, we do not mean that the holy fathers allegedly reinterpret the teachings of the Church, reasoning too abstractly, philosophically, but that they offer an interpretation that is not associated with the categories of human thought and images of sensory things. Here there is an obvious difference between the Orthodox Greek fathers and the Franco-Latins, who perceived the reality of the future century as created.

This important truth, which, as will become clear, is of great importance for the spiritual life of the Church, is developed by St. Gregory the Theologian. He invites his listeners to perceive the teaching about the resurrection of bodies, judgment and reward for the righteous in accordance with the tradition of the Church, that is, in the perspective that the future life “for those who are purified in mind is light,” given “to the extent of purity,” and we call this light the Kingdom Heavenly. But “for the blind in the sovereign” (i.e., the mind) it becomes darkness, which in reality is alienation from God “to the extent of local myopia.” That is, eternal life is light for those who have purified their minds; it is light for them to the extent of their purity. And eternal life becomes darkness for those who are blind in mind, who have not been enlightened in earthly life and have not achieved deification.

We can understand this difference using the example of sensory objects. The same sun “enlightens the healthy eye and darkens the sick.” Obviously, it is not the sun that is to blame, but the condition of the eye. The same thing will happen at the Second Coming of Christ. One and the same Christ “lies for the fall and the rising: for the fall of the unbelievers, and for the rising of the faithful.” The same Word of God now, in time, and even more so then, in eternity, “both by nature it is terrible for those who are unworthy, and for the sake of love for mankind it is suitable for those who have adorned themselves properly.” For not everyone is worthy of being in the same rank and position, but one is worthy of one, and another of another, “to the extent, I suppose, of his purification.” In accordance with the purity of their hearts and their minds, people will each, in their own measure, taste the same uncreated energy of God.

Consequently, according to St. Gregory the Theologian, both heaven and hell are the same God, because everyone tastes His energy in accordance with their mental state. In one of his doxologies, Saint Gregory exclaims: “O Trinity, by whom I have been honored to be a servant and preacher without hypocrisy! O Trinity, Who will one day be known by all, some in radiance, others in torment.” So, the same Trinity is both illumination and torment for people. The words of the saint are direct and unambiguous.

I would also like to mention St. Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessaloniki, who also insisted on this teaching. Turning to the words of John the Baptist, which he said about Christ, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (;), Saint Gregory says that here the Forerunner reveals the truth that people will perceive, respectively, either the tormenting or the enlightening properties of grace. Here are his words: “He, says (the Forerunner), will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire, revealing an enlightening and tormenting property, when each person receives what is appropriate for his disposition.”

Of course, this teaching, expressed by St. Gregory Palamas, must be considered in conjunction with the teaching about the uncreated grace of God. The saint teaches that all creation participates in the uncreated grace of God, but not in the same way and not to the same extent. Thus, the sharing of God's grace by the saints differs from the sharing of it by other rational creatures. He emphasizes: “Everything participates in God, but the saints participate in Him to the greatest extent and in a significantly different way.”

In addition, from the teaching of the Church we know that the uncreated grace of God receives different names depending on the nature of the action it performs. If it purifies a person, it is called purifying; if it enlightens him, it is called enlightening; if it deifies him, it is called deifying. Also sometimes it is called natural-giving, sometimes life-giving, and sometimes wisdom-giving. Consequently, all creation partakes of the uncreated grace of God, but partakes in different ways. Therefore, we must distinguish for ourselves the deifying grace that the saints partake of from other manifestations of the same divine grace.

All that has been said applies, of course, to the action of God’s grace in eternal life. The righteous will partake of the enlightening and deifying energy, while sinners and the unclean will experience the scorching and tormenting action of God.

We find this same teaching in the ascetic works of various saints. For example, let us cite St. John the Sinaite. He says that the same fire is called both “a consuming fire and an illuminating light.” This refers to the holy, heavenly fire of God's grace. The grace of God that people receive in this life “sears some for lack of purification,” while others “enlightens them to the extent of perfection.” Of course, the grace of God will not cleanse unrepentant sinners in eternal life - what St. John of Sinai says is happening at the present time. The ascetic experience of the saints confirms that at the beginning of their journey they feel the grace of God as a fire scorching passions, and later, as their hearts are purified, they begin to feel it as light. And modern God-seers confirm that the more a person repents and in the process of his feat receives the experience of hell by grace, the more this uncreated grace can, unexpectedly for the ascetic himself, be transformed into light. The same grace of God, which first purifies man as fire, begins to be contemplated as light when he reaches a great degree of repentance and purification. That is, here we are dealing not with some created realities or subjective human sensations, but with the experience of experiencing the uncreated grace of God.

HEAVEN AND HELL IN CHURCH LIFE

The writings of the holy fathers of the Church (we analyzed the testimonies of some of them above) have significance for us only within the framework of church life. After all, the holy fathers are not just thinkers, philosophers, reflecting on doctrinal topics. No. They express the experience of the Church and interpret the Revelation entrusted to it.

I will give two simple examples to show that the above teaching is the conviction and experience of the whole Church.

The first example is the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ. Divine Communion operates in accordance with the human condition. If a person is unclean, it scorches him, but if he struggles for his purification, or even more so is already in a state of deification, it acts in a different way.

The Apostle Paul writes about this to the Corinthians: “Whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord ().” Below he confirms his thought: “That is why many of you are weak and sick, and many die” (). And this happens because “whoever eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks condemnation for himself” (). Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, becoming life for purified and deified people, is condemnation for the unclean and - even physical death. Many illnesses, and sometimes even death, as the Apostle Paul states, are caused by unworthy Communion of the Honest Gifts. Therefore, the Apostle gives this advice: “Let a man examine himself, and in this way let him eat of this bread and drink of this cup” (1 Cor. I: 28).

The phrase of the Apostle Paul “let him try” should be compared with the spirit of all his Epistles. According to them, the grace of God should enlighten a person’s heart, which is confirmed by the following quote: “For it is good to strengthen hearts by grace” (). From here it is obvious that, when approaching Divine Communion, a person must experience what spiritual state he is in. For for those who are cleansed, Communion becomes purification, for those who are enlightened - radiance, for those who are deified - deification, and for the unclean and unrepentant - judgment and condemnation, hell.

That is why the priest in liturgical prayers begs God that divine Communion would not be for judgment and condemnation, but for the remission of sins. Saint Chrysostom is very indicative: “Grant us to partake of Your heavenly and terrible Mysteries, sowing sacred and spiritual meals, with a clear conscience, for the remission of sins, for the forgiveness of sins, for the communion of the Holy Spirit, for the inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven, for boldness towards You, not to court or to condemnation."

We see this same spirit of repentance in the prayers of “Following to Holy Communion.”

When God appears at the Second Coming, the same thing will happen that is already happening now during Holy Communion. For those who have cleansed themselves and repented, it will become paradise. For those who have not purified themselves, God will become hell.

Another example comes from icon painting, which, of course, is a visible expression of the teachings of the Church. In the image of the Second Coming, as it is presented in the vestibules of monastery churches, we see the following: from the throne of God comes light, embracing the saints, and from the same throne of God comes a river of fire, scorching unrepentant sinners. The source of both light and fire is the same. This is a wonderful expression of the teaching of the holy fathers of the Church - the teaching we discussed above about two actions of divine grace - enlightening or scorching - depending on the state of a person.

THEOLOGICAL AND SPIRITUAL ASCETICIAN CONCLUSIONS

Everything that has been said is not an abstract theoretical truth, but has a direct connection with church life. After all, the teaching of the holy fathers about heaven and hell is the key to understanding both the Holy Scriptures and the patristic works, and church life in general. In this chapter we will take a closer look at the spiritual and practical consequences that flow from the Orthodox understanding of heaven and hell.

The Orthodox Fathers teach that heaven and hell exist not as reward and punishment from God, but as, respectively, health and illness. The healthy, that is, those who have been cleansed of passions, experience the enlightening effect of divine grace, while the sick, that is, those who have not been cleansed, experience a scorching effect.

In some cases, heaven is called not only light, but also darkness. From a linguistic point of view, these words express opposite meanings: light is the opposite of darkness, and darkness is the opposite of light. But in the patristic tradition, the divine light “because of the lightness that surpasses all things” is sometimes called darkness. Hell is also described in the image of “fire-darkness.” Although these two words are also opposite to each other.

That is, hell is neither fire nor darkness in any of the senses known to us. Likewise, heaven is neither light nor darkness as we know them. Therefore, the holy fathers, in order to avoid confusion of concepts, prefer apophatic terminology.

One thing is clear: both heaven and hell are not created realities - they are uncreated. Both the righteous and the sinners will see God in the future life. But while the righteous will remain in blissful communion with Him, sinners will be deprived of this communion. This is clear from the parable of the crazy rich man. The rich man saw Abraham and Lazarus in his bosom, but had no communication with God and therefore burned in fire. He perceived God as an external scorching action. That is, this parable expresses the actual state of affairs. conveyed in the form of allegory.

b) The difference in the experience of perceiving divine grace will depend on the spiritual state of people, on the degree of their inner purity. Therefore, purification is required already in this life. Purification, according to the holy fathers, must be accomplished mainly in the heart and mind of a person. The mind is the “dominant” of the soul; through the mind, a person communes with God. As a result of the Fall, man's mind became darkened. He was identified with logical thinking, merged with passions, and mixed with the world around him. Now it is necessary to cleanse the mind.

Saint Gregory the Theologian speaks about this succinctly: “Therefore, first cleanse yourself, and then converse with the Pure One.” If someone wishes to reach God and acquire knowledge of Him, without first going through the appropriate test, which consists in cleansing the heart, then what we see so often in the Holy Scriptures will happen, which is what St. Gregory speaks about. What will happen is what happened to the people of Israel, who could not look at the face of Moses shining with the grace of God. What happened to Manoah, who exclaimed: “We perished, wife, because we saw God” (cf.). What happened to the Apostle Peter, who after the miracle of catching fish said: “Depart from me, Lord! because I am a sinful man" (). The same thing will happen as with the Apostle Paul, who, not yet cleansed, suddenly saw Christ being persecuted by him and lost his sight. What happened to the centurion who asked Christ for healing may also happen. He trembled and therefore prayed to the Lord not to enter his house, for which he received praise from Him. Citing the last example, the saint makes one remark. If one of us is still a “centurion,” that is, working for the “prince of this world” and therefore unclean, let him acquire the sensations of a centurion and say with him: “I am not worthy for You to come under my roof” () . However, let him not always remain in this conviction. But having desired to see Christ, let him do what Zacchaeus did: having first climbed the fig tree, that is, “mortifying his earthly members and surpassing the body of humility,” let him accept God’s Word into the home of his soul.

We need awareness of our impurity and a feat to cleanse and heal it. Having cleansed our soul, we need to decorate it, enlightened by Christ's power and Christ's action. For if we protect our soul with every kind of guarding, if we apply sobriety to our heart and thereby prepare it for spiritual ascents, then “we ourselves will be enlightened by the light of knowledge and we will proclaim the wisdom of God, hidden in mystery, and we will shine forth to other people.” In conclusion, Saint Gregory the Theologian aptly notes: “For now, let us try to purify ourselves and thus make a sacrifice to the Word, for first of all we should benefit ourselves by accepting the coming Word and becoming God-like.”

Thus, Orthodoxy, in accordance with the teachings of Christ, always speaks of cleansing and repentance: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near” (). Only through repentance does a person experience God, because knowing God is not an epistemological theory or idea, but active contemplation.

V) The most important work of the Church is the healing of a person, the cleansing of his mind and heart. Having purified himself, a person must acquire an enlightened mind in order not only to see God, but to become for him paradise and the Kingdom of Heaven.

This happens thanks to the sacraments and feat. And indeed, the sacraments and ascetic deeds must be combined with each other. The feat, as the patristic tradition says, precedes Baptism and follows it, precedes Communion and follows it. When we separate the sacraments from the ascetic deed, and the deed from the sacraments, then we distort church life.

If you carefully study the Orthodox breviary, you can be convinced that it represents a course of treatment. It is, to put it figuratively, a spiritual and medical collection on the therapy of the human soul. And this therapy, as is clearly seen from the prayers of the sacraments, is aimed mainly at treating the mind, at enlightening it. Therefore, performing the sacraments is not “selling tickets” to heaven, but healing a person, so that God, when he sees Him, becomes heaven for him and not hell (but all of us - both righteous and sinners - will see God). Upon careful study of Latin “asceticism” it becomes clear that its goal is the vision of God. But this is not the problem - after all, in any case, all people will inevitably see God, everyone will meet Him “face to face” (in the Gospel reading about the future Judgment, the Lord Himself speaks about this). The problem is different: it is necessary for a person to see God while being spiritually healthy.

Orthodoxy has a method of healing. This is emphasized by the subtitle of the Philokalia: “The Philokalia of the Holy Fathers, in which through action and contemplation the mind is purified, enlightened and becomes perfect.”

G) We should not strive at all costs to see the glory of God, like some overly curious people who are ready to use any methods, even Eastern meditation, to achieve this goal. Such curiosity can not only lead a person astray, but also directly plunge him into a state of spiritual delusion. IN Orthodox Church The most important task is considered to be the purification of the soul, and precisely for the reason that for the unclean, the vision of God becomes hell. Purification of the soul leads to the healing of a person, and healing is, of course, the acquisition of selfless love.

d) Hell is not the absence of God, as is often said, but His presence, the vision of Him as fire. And, as already mentioned, we can taste heaven or hell now. To be more precise, the nature of our meeting with God at His Second Coming will completely depend on the experience of contact with Him that we already have.

According to the Venerable Elijah the Presbyter, heaven is the contemplation of mental things. He who has acquired purity and knowledge of God “enters through prayer into contemplation as into his home.” But an active husband, that is, still going through the stage of purification, “looks like a passer-by,” because although he has a desire to enter, he cannot - his young spiritual age serves as an obstacle to him. there is dispassion, which in reality is the transformation of the desirable part of the soul. The Venerable Elijah the Presbyter says that the paradise of dispassion is hidden within us, and it is “an image of that paradise that will receive the righteous.”

According to St. Gregory of Sinaite, the fire, darkness, worm and tartarus that make up hell are “various voluptuousness, the all-consuming darkness of ignorance, an unquenchable thirst for sensual pleasure, trembling and the fetid stench of sin.” Thus, voluptuousness and sensuality, ignorance and darkness, the thrill of passion and the stench of sin already here become a taste of hell. All this is “pledges and thresholds of hellish torment” even in this life

CONCLUSION

From the analysis carried out, the following final conclusions can be drawn. is a hospital, a clinic that heals a person. Healing souls is the most important work of a priest. Of course, while doing it, you can do other things: participate in solving earthly problems, do charity work, give alms, and the like. However, the main occupation of a priest remains the spiritual healing of a person.

This is an exclusively humane matter, for it has eternal consequences. What is the use of being interested in earthly needs and remaining indifferent to your eternal future? A secularized Church ceases to be Christ’s. After all, man was not created by God so that his life would be exhausted only by this transitory world. Human life continues in another eternal world. And the Church is obliged to take care of the whole person, consisting of soul and body.

Some people condemn her for being indifferent to the needs of society and not doing any socially useful things. Of course, no one will contradict that the Church should extend its activities to these needs as well. But here it is appropriate to pose the following question. Isn't death a problem for society? Not only is each of us depressed by the inevitability of our own death, which we carry within ourselves from birth, so that it seems that we are born only to die. But the death of the people we love brings us immeasurable mental anguish. So is death really neither a personal nor a social problem? So the Church deals with this terrible problem and helps a person overcome it through life in Christ.

Even the very fact that he is constantly engaged in spiritual “therapy” of the human mind and human heart directly affects society. A spiritually healthy person is peaceful, sincere, and selfless. As a result, he is a good family man, a good citizen and the like. Therefore, just as the hospital continues its work during various social upheavals, so the Church, despite any upheavals, must not forget its most important “therapeutic” ministry and treat people spiritually and morally.

Living in the Church, we must heal ourselves by taking advantage of what it offers. medicinal products- sacraments and feats - so that already here and now, but mainly then, at the Second Coming of Christ, the grace of God acts in us as light and salvation, and not as darkness and torment.

Application

ABOUT TORMENTALS

Some argue that the idea of ​​"ordeals and aerial spirits" came from Gnosticism and pagan myths that were widespread at the time.

Indeed, the fact that such a teaching can be found both in Gnostic texts and in pagan - Egyptian and Chaldean - myths does not raise any doubt. However, it must be taken into account that the Christian fathers, borrowing the doctrine of ordeals, cleansed it of pagan and Gnostic elements and placed it within the church framework. The Holy Fathers were not afraid of such creative reworking.

There is no doubt that in a number of other particular provisions of their teaching, they just as creatively and effectively assimilated many theories and views of the pagan world, giving them church content. It is known that, for example, the fathers adopted the idea of ​​the immortality of the soul and its tripartite nature, its contemplative ability and dispassion, and much more from ancient philosophers and from ancient religious traditions. But it is also obvious that they gave these ideas a completely different perspective and filled them with different content. After all, we cannot reject the immortality of the soul only for the reason that ancient philosophers spoke about the same thing. No. But we must see in this presentation the content that the holy fathers put into it.

The same can be said about the doctrine of ordeals. Of course, no one argues that ancient pagan legends and Gnostic heresies spoke about the “chiefs of the cosmic sphere”, and about the “gates of the heavenly path”, and about “airy spirits”. Similar phrases can be found in the Holy Scriptures and in the works of the Holy Fathers. And as we have already noted, although many Church Fathers spoke about ordeals and aerial spirits, they put a completely different meaning into these images. The patristic teaching on ordeals should be understood based on the following four provisions.

First. Correct interpretation is absolutely essential to the symbolic language of Scripture. Stopping only at literally understood images distorts the Gospel message. For example, the statements of Holy Scripture about hell by themselves, without identifying their deep theological meaning, cannot be correctly understood. This is also true with regard to the doctrine of ordeals. When we talk about them, we should not at all imagine in our minds the image of a modern border customs through which each of us will have to pass. The symbolic image is intended to give us only some idea of ​​spiritual reality, but in order to understand its true meaning, this image must be interpreted Orthodoxy.

Second. Demons - angels of darkness - are individuals and therefore free. If a person uses his freedom for evil, they, by God’s permission, gain dominion over him. After the departure of his soul from his body, due to his unrepentance, they gain power over it and demand it as their own. In Christ’s famous parable about the crazy rich man there is a phrase: “Mad! this night your soul will be taken from you; who will get what you have prepared? (). Those who took the soul of the crazy rich man after its departure from the body are, according to the patristic interpretation, demons.

Third. Demons have no power over the people of God. Those who are united with God, that is, those in whose souls the uncreated divine energy resides, cannot be under their domination. Thus, deified souls will not go through ordeals.

Fourth. According to the teachings of the Holy Fathers, demons act through passions. Passions that can no longer be satisfied after the soul leaves the body become spiritual suffocation for it.

So, the idea of ​​​​ordeals is appropriate and justified, if, of course, we consider it in precisely this theological context. Based on any other views, this idea will undoubtedly lead us astray from the right path.

Paradise (Gen 2:8, 15:3, Joel 2:3, Luke 23:42,43, 2 Cor 12:4) is a word of Persian origin and means garden. This is the name of the beautiful dwelling of the first man, described in the book. Genesis. The paradise in which the first people dwelt was material for the body, like a visible, blissful dwelling, and for the soul it was spiritual, like a state of grace-filled communication with God and spiritual contemplation of creatures.

The blessed dwelling of the celestials and the righteous, which they inherit after the Last Judgment of God, is also called Paradise.

Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev):

Heaven is not so much a place as a state of mind; just as hell is suffering resulting from the inability to love and non-participation in the Divine light, so heaven is the bliss of the soul resulting from the excess of love and light, to which the one who has united with Christ fully and completely participates. This is not contradicted by the fact that heaven is described as a place with various “abodes” and “chambers”; all descriptions of paradise are only attempts to express in human language that which is inexpressible and transcends the mind.

In the Bible, “paradise” (paradeisos) is the garden where God placed man; In the ancient church tradition, the same word was used to describe the future bliss of people redeemed and saved by Christ. It is also called the “Kingdom of Heaven,” “the life of the age to come,” “the eighth day,” “the new heaven,” “the heavenly Jerusalem.”

The Holy Apostle John the Theologian says: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the former heaven and the former earth had already passed away, and the sea was no more; And I, John, saw the holy city Jerusalem, new, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying: Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, they will be His people, and God Himself with them will be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death: neither crying, nor crying, nor pain will be any more, for the former things have passed away. And He who sat on the throne said: Behold, I am creating all things new... I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end; to the thirsty I will give freely from the fountain of living water... And the angel took me up in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, holy Jerusalem, which came down from heaven from God. He had the glory of God... But I did not see a temple in him, for the Lord God Almighty is his temple, and the Lamb. And the city has no need of either the sun or the moon for its illumination; for the glory of God has illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The saved nations will walk in its light... And nothing unclean will enter into it, and no one devoted to abomination and lies, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Rev. 21:1-6, 10, 22-24, 27 ). This is the earliest description of heaven in Christian literature.

When reading descriptions of paradise found in hagiographical and theological literature, it is necessary to keep in mind that most writers of the Eastern Church talk about the paradise that they saw, into which they were raptured by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Even among our contemporaries who have experienced clinical death, there are people who have been to heaven and talked about their experience; in the lives of saints we find many descriptions of paradise. St. Theodora, St. Euphrosyne of Suzdal, St. Simeon the Divnogorets, St. Andrew the Fool and some other saints were, like the Apostle Paul, “caught up to the third heaven” (2 Cor. 12:2) and contemplated heavenly bliss.

This is what Saint Andrew (10th century) says about heaven: “I saw myself in a beautiful and amazing paradise, and, admiring the spirit, I thought: “What is this?.. how did I end up here?..” I saw myself clothed in the very a light robe, as if woven from lightning; a crown was on my head, woven from great flowers, and I was girded with a royal belt. Rejoicing at this beauty, marveling with my mind and heart at the indescribable beauty of God's paradise, I walked around it and had fun. There were many gardens with tall trees: they swayed with their tops and amused the eyes, a great fragrance emanated from their branches... It is impossible to compare those trees to any earthly tree: God’s hand, and not man’s, planted them. There were countless birds in these gardens... I saw a great river flowing in the middle (of the gardens) and filling them. On the other bank of the river there was a vineyard... Quiet and fragrant winds breathed there from four sides; from their breath the gardens shook and made a wonderful noise with their leaves... After that we entered into a wonderful flame, which did not scorch us, but only enlightened us. I began to be horrified, and again the one who guided me (the angel) turned to me and gave me his hand, saying: “We must ascend even higher.” With this word we found ourselves above the third heaven, where I saw and heard many heavenly powers singing and praising God... (Rising even higher), I saw my Lord, like Isaiah the prophet once, sitting on a high and exalted throne, surrounded by seraphim. He was clothed in a scarlet robe, His face shone with an indescribable light, and He turned His eyes towards me with love. Seeing Him, I fell on my face in front of Him... What joy then overwhelmed me from the vision of His face is impossible to express, so even now, remembering this vision, I am filled with indescribable sweetness." The Venerable Theodora saw in paradise "beautiful villages and numerous abodes prepared for those who love God,” and heard “the voice of joy and spiritual gladness.”

In all descriptions of paradise, it is emphasized that earthly words can only to a small extent depict heavenly beauty, since it is “inexpressible” and surpasses human comprehension. It also speaks of the “many mansions” of paradise (John 14:2), that is, of different degrees of bliss. “God will honor some with great honors, others with less,” says St. Basil the Great, “because “star differs from star in glory” (1 Cor. 15:41). And since the Father has “many abodes,” he will rest some in a more excellent and higher state, and others in a lower state.”3 However, for each, his “abode” will be the highest fullness of bliss available to him - in accordance with how close he is to God in earthly life. All the saints who are in paradise will see and know one another, and Christ will see and fill everyone, says St. Simeon the New Theologian. In the Kingdom of Heaven, “the righteous will shine like the sun” (Matthew 13:43), become like God (1 John 3:2) and know Him (1 Cor. 13:12). Compared to the beauty and luminosity of paradise, our earth is a “dark prison,” and the light of the sun, compared to the Trinitarian Light, is like a small candle. Even those heights of divine contemplation to which the Monk Simeon ascended during his lifetime, in comparison with the future bliss of people in paradise, are the same as the sky drawn with a pencil on paper, in comparison with the real sky. According to the teachings of the Monk Simeon, all the images of paradise found in hagiographic literature - fields, forests, rivers, palaces, birds, flowers, etc. - are only symbols of the bliss that lies in the unceasing contemplation of Christ.

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh:

Adam lost paradise - it was his sin; Adam lost paradise - this is the horror of his suffering. And God does not condemn; He calls, He supports. In order for us to come to our senses, He puts us in conditions that clearly tell us that we are perishing, we need to be saved. And He remains our Savior, not our Judge. Christ says several times in the Gospel: I came not to judge the world, but to save the world (John 3:17; 12:47). Until the fullness of time comes, until the end comes, we are under the judgment of our conscience, we are under judgment Divine word, we are under the judgment of the vision of Divine love embodied in Christ - yes. But God does not judge; He prays, He calls, He lives and dies. He descends into the very depths of human hell, so that only we can believe in love and come to our senses, not to forget that there is heaven.

And heaven was in love; and Adam's sin is that he did not preserve love. The question is not obedience or listening, but that God offered all of Himself, without reserve: His being, love, wisdom, knowledge - He gave everything in this union of love, which makes one being out of two (as Christ speaks of Himself and about the Father: I am in the Father and the Father in Me [John 14:11]; as fire can penetrate iron, as heat penetrates to the marrow of the bones). And in this love, in an inseparable, inseparable union with God, we could be wise with His wisdom, love with all the vastness and bottomless depth of His love, know with all the Divine knowledge. But man was warned: do not seek knowledge through eating the fruit of the tree of Good and Evil, do not seek cold knowledge of the mind, external, alien to love; do not seek the knowledge of the flesh, which intoxicates and stupefies, blinds... And this is precisely what man was tempted to do; he wanted to know what is good and what is evil. And he created good and evil, because evil consists in falling away from love. He wanted to know what it was to be and not to be - but he could know this only by being established forever through love, rooted to the depths of his being in Divine love.

And the man fell; and with him the whole universe was shaken; everything, everything was darkened and shaken. And the judgment to which we are rushing, that Last Judgment that will happen at the end of time, is also only about love. The parable of the goats and the sheep (Matthew 25:31-46) speaks precisely of this: were you able on earth to love with a generous, affectionate, courageous, kind love? Did you manage to feel sorry for the hungry, did you manage to feel sorry for the naked, homeless, did you have the courage to visit a prisoner in prison, did you forget the person who is sick, in the hospital, alone? If you have this love, then there is a way for you into Divine love; but if there is no earthly love, how can you enter into Divine love? If you cannot achieve what is given to you by nature, how can you hope for the supernatural, for the miraculous, for God?.. And this is the world we live in.

The story of paradise is in some respects, of course, an allegory, because it is a world that has perished, a world to which we have no access; we do not know what it is to be a sinless, innocent creature. And in the language of the fallen world, one can only indicate with images, pictures, likenesses what was and what no one will ever see or know again... We see how Adam lived - as a friend of God; we see that when Adam matured, reached a certain degree of wisdom and knowledge through his communion with God, God brought all creatures to him, and Adam gave each creature a name - not a nickname, but a name that expressed the very nature, the very secret of this creatures. God seemed to warn Adam: look, look - you see right through the creature, you understand it; because you share My knowledge with Me, since you can, with your still incomplete maturity, share it, the depths of creation are revealed to you... And when Adam looked at all creation, he did not see himself in it, because, although he was taken from the earth, although he is, through his flesh and soul, a part of this universe, material and spiritual, he also has a spark from God, the breath of God, which the Lord breathed into him, making him an unprecedented creature - man.

Adam knew that he was alone; and God put him into a deep sleep, separated a certain part from him, and Eve stood before him. Saint John Chrysostom speaks of how at the beginning all the possibilities were inherent in man and how gradually, as he matured, both male and female properties, incompatible in one being, began to appear in him. And when he reached maturity, God separated them. And it was not in vain that Adam exclaimed: This is flesh of my flesh, this is bone of my bone! She will be called wife, because she is, as it were, reaped from me... (Gen. 2:23). Yes; but what did these words mean? They could mean that Adam, looking at Eve, saw that she was bone from his bones, flesh from his flesh, but that she had originality, that she was a full-fledged being, completely significant, who was connected with the Living God in a unique way, like and he is uniquely connected with Him; or they could mean that he saw in her only a reflection of his own being. This is how we see each other almost constantly; even when love unites us, we so often do not see a person in himself, but see him in relation to ourselves; we look at his face, we peer into his eyes, we listen to his words - and look for an echo of our own existence... It’s scary to think that so often we look at each other - and see only our reflection. We don’t see another person; he is only a reflection of our being, our existence.

Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin:

The Lord speaks clearly about who exactly will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. First of all, He says that a person who wants to enter this Kingdom must have faith in Him, true faith. The Lord Himself says: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, and whoever does not believe will be condemned.” The Lord predicts the condemnation of people to torment. He does not want this, the Lord is merciful, but at the same time He says that crying and gnashing of teeth awaits people who do not correspond to the high spiritual and moral ideal. We don’t know what heaven will be like, we don’t know what hell will be like, but it is obvious that people who freely chose a life without God, a life that contradicts His commandments, will not be left without a formidable reward, primarily related to the inner mental state of these people . I know that there is hell, I knew people who left this world in a state of ready-made inhabitants of hell. Some of them, by the way, committed suicide, which I am not surprised at. They could have been told that this was not necessary, because eternal life awaited man, but they did not want eternal life, they wanted eternal death. People who have lost faith in other people and in God, having met God after death, would not have changed. I think that the Lord would offer them His mercy and love. But they will tell Him: “We don’t need this.” There are many such people already in our earthly world, and I don’t think that they will be able to change after crossing the border separating the earthly world from the world of eternity.

Why should faith be true? When a person wants to communicate with God, he must understand Him as He is, he must address exactly the one to whom he is addressing, without imagining God as something or someone that He is not.

Now it is fashionable to say that God is one, but the paths to him are different, and what difference does it make how this or that religion or denomination or philosophical school imagines God? There is still only one God. Yes, there is only one God. There are not many gods. But this one God, as Christians believe, is precisely the God who revealed Himself in Jesus Christ and in His Revelation, in Holy Scripture. And by turning instead to God, to someone else, to a being with different characteristics, or to a being without personality, or to a non-being altogether, we are not addressing God. We contact best case scenario, to something or someone whom we have invented for ourselves, for example, to “God in the soul.” And sometimes we can turn to beings who are different from God and are not God. These could be angels, people, forces of nature, dark forces.

So, in order to enter the Kingdom of God, you need to have faith and be ready to meet precisely that God who is the King in this Kingdom. So that you recognize Him and He recognizes you, so that you are ready to meet Him.

Next. For salvation, the internal moral state of a person is important. Understanding “ethics” as exclusively the sphere of interhuman relations, especially ─ in the pragmatic dimension human life: business, politics, family, corporate relations ─ this is a very truncated understanding of ethics. Morality has a direct bearing on what is happening inside you, and this is precisely the dimension of morality that is set by the Sermon on the Mount of Christ the Savior.

The Lord speaks not only about those external norms, the formal norms of the Old Testament law that were given to the ancients. He talks about the state of the human soul. “Blessed are the pure in heart” ─ blessed are those who have no dirt within themselves, no desire to commit vice, no desire to commit sin. And He evaluates this state of the soul as strictly, no less strictly, as the external actions of a person. The God-man Lord Jesus Christ gives new commandments that cannot be contained within the framework of everyday morality. He gives them as completely immutable instructions that are not subject to relativization, that is, to declare them relative. This is an unconditional imperative, from which follows an unconditional demand for a completely new level of moral purity from those who become worthy to enter His Kingdom.

The Savior unequivocally and decisively declares intolerable slander towards neighbors, lustful thoughts, divorce and marriage to a divorced woman, swearing by heaven or earth, resistance to evil committed against oneself, ostentatious acts of almsgiving, prayer and fasting, and receiving appropriate moral rewards from people. ─ all those things that, from the point of view of secular ethics, are normal and natural.

Christ also condemns man’s satisfaction with his moral state, his moral merits. Obviously, such moral standards are not applicable to philistine morality, which comes to terms with a certain amount of evil. A true Christian cannot accept any measure of evil, and the Lord forbids this. He says that any sinful movement of the soul is a path away from the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Lord also says that a person’s faith and moral state cannot but be expressed in what he does. We know the words of the Apostle James: “Faith without works is dead.” In the same way, the vicious state of man is expressed in evil deeds. We do not acquire irrevocable merits for ourselves by our good deeds, as Catholic jurisprudence says about it. A formally done good deed, expressed in dollars, rubles, the number of services provided, and so on, does not provide a person with salvation in itself. It is important with what intention you do this matter. But a person who is truly a believer cannot refuse to help his neighbor, cannot ignore the suffering of a person in need of help. And the Lord says that the standards He set in the area, including good deeds, must many times exceed the standards given for the Old Testament world. These are His words: “I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” What is the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees? This is righteousness the best people a society living without God's grace, a society living according to everyday laws, according to the laws of compromise with evil, according to the laws of fallen human nature. Scribes and Pharisees are not the fiends of hell, they are the moral authorities of a society that lived according to the laws of Old Testament morality. These are smart, enlightened people, very active religiously, not prone to vices, who consider themselves to have the right to expose apostates from the very everyday morality of a people or family. These are not publicans who collected the occupation tax, these are not harlots - prostitutes, not drunkards, not vagabonds. This is saying modern language, classic “decent people”. The Pharisees are the moral authorities of this world who are presented on our television screen as the most worthy people. It is their righteousness that a Christian must surpass, because this righteousness is not sufficient for salvation.

It is obvious that the Lord does not consider the majority of people to be part of God's kingdom. He says: “Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many go there; for narrow is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few find it.” We believe and will always believe in God's mercy for every person, even a sinner, even a criminal, even an unrepentant one. Recently His Holiness Patriarch said that we would discuss in the Church possible forms of prayer for suicides. These will not be the same formulas of prayers that go during an ordinary funeral service or during an ordinary requiem service, when we sing: “Rest in peace, O Christ, the souls of your servant.” This will be a special prayer. Perhaps we will ask that the Lord accept the soul of a person and show him mercy. And we believe in the mercy of God towards every person: the unbeliever, the sinner, the criminal. But entering His Kingdom is a special gift, which, as the Lord clearly says, does not belong to most people.

The Lord Jesus Christ warns people against being carried away by a philistine way of life, He offers His apostles and His followers a different way of life, saying at the same time that not everyone can accommodate it, but He clearly warns about the dangers of a philistine existence. This does not mean that the Lord declares His disciples to be some kind of social or moral elite. The Kingdom of God is open to any person, regardless of educational or intellectual level. But the level of morality required for salvation is radically different from the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, which was revered in the worldly environment or in the Old Testament environment as the highest achievement.

The moral ideal that is given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ is very radical. It cannot be accomplished by human forces. After the Lord answers the man that it is easier for a camel to enter the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God, His apostles ask: “Who can be saved?” He answers that this is impossible for man, but everything is possible for God. The high moral standard set in the Sermon on the Mount is unattainable by human forces. The moral requirements in the Gospel are not just a system of prohibitions that the human will can fulfill. They are so high that no will can fulfill them.

Yes, upbringing and external restrictions are important, but they alone are not capable of leading a person to achieve a moral ideal, and, therefore, to salvation. Rather, what is important is the free choice of the individual, allowing God to act in him, in the soul, in the heart of a person. Christian ethics speaks, first of all, not about strengthening the will, not about self-improvement, not about forcing one to do good, but about the effect of God’s grace on a person, transforming a person so much that the very thoughts of sin become impossible. Without the action of God, without the Sacraments of the Church, a person cannot become moral in the sense laid down in the Sermon on the Mount. Yes, we must, in synergy with God, work on ourselves, do good deeds, and resist sin. But the decisive factor in the moral improvement of the individual is not the action of man, but of God. And understanding this radically distinguishes Christian ethics from other ethical systems.

For paradise is opened to you, the tree of life is planted, the future is prepared, abundance is prepared, a city is built, rest is prepared, perfect goodness and perfect wisdom.

The root of evil is sealed from you, weakness and corruption are hidden from you, and corruption flees to hell and oblivion. The illnesses passed, and at the end the treasure of immortality appeared. Do not try to worry any more about the multitude of those who are perishing.

For, having received freedom, they despised the Most High, despised His law and abandoned His ways, and also trampled His righteous, and said in their hearts: “There is no God,” although they knew that they were mortal.

Just as what was said before awaits you, so will thirst and torment await them, which are prepared. God did not want to destroy man, but the created ones themselves dishonored the name of the One who created them, and were ungrateful to the One who prepared life for them. Ezra.

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I, John, saw the holy city Jerusalem, new, coming down from heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying: Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them; they will be His people, and God Himself will be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death; There will be no more crying, no crying, no pain, for the former things have passed away.

The foundations of the city wall are decorated with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation is jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedon, the fourth esmaragd, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth virill, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh hyacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: each gate was made of pearls. Street cities - clean gold, like transparent glass. But I did not see a temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty is its temple and the Lamb. And the city has no need of either the sun or the moon to illuminate it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp - Lamb. The saved nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates will not be shut by day; and there will be no night there.
Who will not enter paradise: And nothing unclean will enter it, and no one devoted to abomination and lies, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. The Book of Revelation.

Then the wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid; and the calf, and the young lion, and the ox will be together, and the little child will lead them. And the cow will graze with the she-bear, and their cubs will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. And the baby will play over the asp’s hole, and the child will stretch out his hand into the viper’s nest. They will not do evil or harm in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. Book of Isaiah.

Jesus answered them: the children of this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are counted worthy to reach that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, and can no longer die, for they are equal to the angels and are the sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. And Moses showed that the dead will rise again at the bush, when he called the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for with Him all are alive. Luke.

Description of paradise before the Fall (on earth). And the Lord God created man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a paradise in Eden in the east, and placed there the man whom he had created. And the Lord God made every tree grow out of the ground, pleasing to the eye and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good from the earth. A river came out of Eden to water the garden; and then it divided into four rivers. The name of one river is Pishon: it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and stone yonix. The name of the second river is Gihon: it flows around the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is Hiddekel: it flows before Assyria. The fourth river is Euphrates. And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. Being.

Think about these words.

I answered and said: I know, Lord, that the Most High is called merciful, because he has mercy on those who have not yet come into the world, and has mercy on those who live their lives in His law. He is long-suffering, for He shows long-suffering to those who have sinned, as to His creation. He is generous, for He is ready to give according to need, and abundantly merciful, for He multiplies His mercies to those who live now and to those who have lived and to those who will live. For if He had not multiplied His mercies, He could not have continued to live forever with those who dwell in Him.

He gives gifts; for if He had not granted, in His goodness, that those who had committed wickedness would be relieved from their iniquities, then the ten thousandth part of the people could not have remained alive. He is the judge, and if He had not forgiven those who were created by His word, and had not destroyed the multitude of crimes, then those who have now departed from My ways will regret it, and those who rejected them with contempt will remain in torment. Those who did not know Me, receiving good deeds during life, and abhorred My law, did not understand it, but despised it, when they still had freedom and when the place for repentance was still open to them, they will know Me after death in torment. Ezra.

For heaven is open to you , the tree of life is planted, the future is prepared, abundance is prepared, a city is built, rest is prepared, goodness is perfect and wisdom is perfect.

The root of evil is sealed from you, weakness and corruption are hidden from you, and corruption flees to hell and oblivion. The illnesses passed, and at the end the treasure of immortality appeared. Do not try to worry any more about the multitude of those who are perishing.

For, having received freedom, they despised the Most High, despised His law and abandoned His ways, and also trampled His righteous, and said in their hearts: “There is no God,” although they knew that they were mortal.

Just as what was said before awaits you, so will thirst and torment await them, which are prepared. God did not want to destroy man, but the created ones themselves dishonored the name of the One who created them, and were ungrateful to the One who prepared life for them. Ezra.

And I saw something new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I, John, saw the holy city Jerusalem, new, coming down from the God of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice with heaven, saying: Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them; they will be His people, and God Himself will be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death; There will be no more crying, no crying, no pain, for the former things have passed away.
Reasons the walls of the city are decorated with all kinds of precious stones: the first base is jasper, the second is sapphire, the third is chalcedon, the fourth is maragd, the fifth is sardonyx, the sixth is carnelian, the seventh is chrysolite, the eighth is virill, the ninth is topaz, the tenth is chrysoprase, the eleventh is hyacinth, the twelfth is amethyst. And the twelve gates are twelve pearls: each the gate was made of pearl. The street of the city is pure gold, like transparent glass. But I did not see a temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty is its temple, and the Lamb. And the city does not need either the sun or the moon to illuminate it, for the glory of God illuminated it and its lamp is the Lamb. The saved nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates will not be shut by day; and there will be no night there.
Who will not enter paradise: And nothing unclean will enter it, and no one devoted to abomination and lies, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. The Book of Revelation.

Then the wolf will live together with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid; and the calf, and the young lion, and the ox will be together, and the little child will lead them. And the cow will graze with the she-bear, and their cubs will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. And the baby will play over the asp’s hole, and the child will stretch out his hand into the nest of the viper. They will not do evil or harm in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. Book of Isaiah.