Bible lessons
Published November 28, 2013
So, the devil's machinations - what is it? In 2 Corinthians 2:11, Paul writes that Satan can do no harm if we know his devices. In any war, when the enemy is preparing an attack, the other side must prepare and prepare a counterattack. Information about everything that is planned against them is always very important, and therefore the best intelligence officers and spies are trained to obtain valuable information. If the attack occurs unexpectedly, and it is unknown on which front line, the battle can easily be lost. But if you prepare well, you can easily hold off one attack after another.
We know that there is a very serious spiritual war going on between Satan and the evil forces on the one hand, and God, His army and us on the other. In order for us to resist the devil, we need to become well aware of his goals, methods and where he intends to attack. By studying the Bible, we will be able to see that he does not have thousands of different ways and methods that we cannot even prepare for, but only 3 main plans that he uses throughout history. Just as Satan tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-6), just as he tempted Christ in the wilderness (Matthew 4), so he tempts each of us (John 2:16). The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life are 3 areas in which we can always expect attack, but let's study them well and prepare for battle.
How to fight
The best remedy in the fight against lust of any nature has always been prayer. A person who lives according to the will of God will always be able to find the strength to fight sinful desires.
A Christian Should Fight Lust Through Prayer
Consciously protecting yourself from the flow of unnecessary information from the outside will also be useful. It is better to read spiritual literature in the evening than to spend time watching another film of dubious content. It is better to play educational games with your child than to sit him down watching TV and go into the virtual reality of his own smartphone.
Advice! When starting a new day, it is best to first pray and ask for guidance from the Almighty. Everything is possible with God's help!
PRIDE OF LIFE
Do not love the world, nor the things in the world: whoever loves the world does not have the Father’s love in him. For everything that is in the world: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but from this world. And the world passes away, and its lusts, but he who does the will of God abides forever.
Apostle John the Theologian
Apostle John the Theologian
The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life are not from the Father...
Do not love the world, nor the things in the world: whoever loves the world does not have the Father’s love in him. For everything that is in the world: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but from this world. And the world passes away, and its lusts, but he who does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:15-17).
Venerable Ephraim the Syrian
The weapon of the evil one is pride, with which he killed our father Adam
He who enters into battle and desires to win, let him put on glorious armor like armor—humility. The weapon of the evil one is pride; with it he killed our father Adam, and with it he kills all his children. And the weapon of our Lord is humility; He prepared this weapon for the evil one, with which He overthrew Satan from the heights of arbitrary rule. The apostles armed themselves with humility, with it the true believers prevailed; it brought victory to both ancient and new. Gird yourself with this weapon, disciples of Christ, because with it you will gain victory and become heirs of the Kingdom. Whoever loves victory, arm yourself with this weapon; whoever wants to enter the Kingdom, enter through these gates. Humility is the path to the Kingdom. This is the door of heaven, this is the ladder along which a person ascends to heaven. Through them God descended from the heights to the abode of the earthly, through them the descendants of Adam ascend from the depths to the abode of the heavenly. By him every good is acquired, by him every misfortune is overcome.
If you want to win victory over the evil one, arm yourself with humility, for the devil, as soon as he sees this weapon on you, will run away from you with trepidation.
The enemy is always awake and always ready to fight, but I am immersed in inaction.
Judge me, O Lord, and judge my judgment (Ps. 42:1) with the merciless enemy.
He made me a target for his arrows. According to Your compassions, may these arrows pierce him. The evil one has entangled me, because I myself taught him this.
The evil one does not see in me any evil that does not come from him, for from him I have become angry, however, I was defeated by him of my own free will, the evil one has entangled me, because I myself taught him to that.
The robber, the stealer of souls, maliciously took away my freedom from me, deceived me and abused me. With the gaze of his eyes he seduced and captivated me, and implanted sinful thoughts. I looked and wished, looked with curiosity, and sinned.
Because I lusted after the world and its impurities, the prince of the world prevailed over me, overthrew and deposed me, and mocked me as he did Adam in paradise.
I have renounced the destroyer, and his wiles, and his destructive deeds, because he tirelessly works to ensnare me with his cunning. If Your strength (Lord) does not strengthen me, and Your cross does not save me, then, of course, I will fall into one of his snares, because he has many wiles. May he not overcome me in battle, after he has been defeated in battle with You, Lord, for there is great shame for him who is defeated by the conquered.
Instead of one vigilance... Satan teaches us another, so that we sleep for good deeds, but be vigilant and awake for vile deeds.
Demons, although unclean, profit nothing from their victims. They do not feel hunger and have no need for food, because their nature is higher than the hunger for food. They long to make man, their ruler, their slave.
If you do not know all the shamelessness of Satan, then infer this from the shamelessness of his servants.
The devil puts insolence in us
The devil puts insolence in us, so that if we continue to sin without shame, the more harm we will suffer.
He “the devil” hardens our hearts, so that through this all that is bad may become our gain.
The demon instills laziness in us so that we patiently allow him to finish his work in us.
The devil teaches the impudent sinner to reproach others, and to fear the accuser, lest, through his timidity, the wicked be healed.
Look, the evil one makes us vile on the inside, but on the outside he gives us a beautiful appearance, so that we become a disgusting tomb full of unclean things.
The crafty Satan saw that God was wasting His treasures, therefore he opened his treasury and also scattered his destructive gifts. Gives one arrogance of spirit, another - hardness of heart, makes one inclined to insulting ridicule, another - to abusive words.
The evil one kills us with the help of ourselves, through ourselves this powerless one defeats us.
The evil one, seeing that those clothed with flesh in all degrees ascend to heaven, imposes on them all kinds of burdens, in order to bring them down from the heights, in order to lead them astray, and places many obstacles for them.
Oh, how cunning he entangles us with his bonds! We don’t even feel how entangled we are in them. Oh, how skillful is He who binds us! We don’t even notice how we are imprisoned. His arrows are pleasant to us when he kills the soul with them; the bound and shackled sinner remains silent and remains calm. What subtle cunning is our enemy’s in placing bonds on us! Together we are connected and free. Far from the truth, our spirit is kept in bonds, but, as if it is not bound by anything, it freely strives for vice. He is bound for love, but not bound for hate. He is bound and encounters obstacles to do good, but does evil without hindrance. These bonds that we carry on ourselves are just as cunning and crafty as the one who imposed them on us, they give us freedom to go towards lies, but prevent us from approaching the truth, they allow us to rush to the spiritual part, but do not allow us to go to the right part.
The evil one does not take the trouble to entangle us with various vices; he is glad if he binds us with anything.
Just as God leads us to life by every possible means, so Satan uses every means to kill us.
If the evil one shoots his arrows at us, let prayer be our shield.
If he attacks us with carnal lusts, let fasting be our refuge.
The devil has nothing so harmful that we cannot find a countermeasure against it. There is no such secret network that we do not have information about.
The devil does not have such a plan that even simple people would not turn into nothing.
If you say that the opposing force is stronger and completely possesses a person, then you accuse God of injustice, Who condemns humanity for listening to Satan.
The flesh of Christ first clothed itself with the weapon of abstinence, and then began to fight the devil.
Venerable John of Kronstadt
How can the love of God be in you when... pride reigns in your heart?
Oh, how dearly our Lord Jesus Christ valued our soul and its salvation, coming down from heaven for us, taking upon Himself our soul and body, suffering terribly and dying for us! How do I value my soul, its eternal salvation? Oh, I do not know how to appreciate and have not yet learned to correspond to the love of my Savior, completely clinging to the earth, completely surrendering to laziness and various passions. How can the love of God, the Kingdom of God, be in you, when earthly love reigns in your heart - lust, greed and pride? It is impossible until now until you crucify your flesh with its passions and lusts [Gal. 5:24]: for no one can work for two masters [Matt. 6:24] and the love of this world is enmity to God [Jas. 4:4]. Do not love, it is said, the world, nor anyone else in the world: for all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life... And the world passes away, and its lust, but he who does the will of God abides forever [1 John 2:15 -7].
Saint Philaret of Moscow
“Pride of life”, the desire to exalt oneself above others
The Apostle John writes: “all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the self, and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but is of this world” (1 John 11:16). Saint John, for the most convenient overview of the lusts warring against us, indicates their three main groups. This is the essence, firstly, of “carnal lust,” about which we have already given the concept; secondly, “lust of the eye”, the uncontrollable desire of unsatiated eyes, which does not want to use the objects of the visible world wisely, but greedily enjoy or take possession of it - covetousness, love of vain decorations, passion for spectacles; thirdly, “worldly pride”, the desire to exalt oneself above others, and to see others below oneself, the tendency to boast and be vain about certain advantages of the visible and temporary world, some worthy of some respect, such as: birth, rank, knowledge, extraordinary deeds; partly vain and insignificant, such as: wealth, pomp and luxury. All these types of lusts can be called “carnal”, as they were called by the Apostle Peter, because their source and goal is the flesh, and not the spirit, and “worldly”, as by the Apostle Paul: because they take food for themselves from the visible and temporary peace.
From what has been said so far, one can see how significant the Apostle’s brief exhortation is: “to be robbed of carnal lusts.” He teaches to move away from intemperance, from drunkenness, from carnality, from covetousness, from love of vain decorations, from passion for spectacles, from pride, from vanity, from the desire to humiliate others before oneself, which can easily turn into a desire for harm to one’s neighbors. And moreover, it teaches us to withdraw not only from deeds in which these passions and vices are manifested, but also from disordered and passionate desires that have not been put into action, from lusts that have not yet given birth to actual sin. A vicious deed defiles the whole person, from the soul to the body, which more or less serves the vicious deed: but one who is pure from an external vicious deed is not yet completely pure if carnal or worldly lust nests in his soul.
If you, Christians, according to the word of the Apostle, “are the temple of God” (1 Cor. 3:16), and “the temple of God is holy, as you are” (1 Cor. 3:17); if, therefore, your body should be recognized as a more external part of the temple of God, and your soul, heart, mind, as an internal sanctuary in which Christ should dwell and breathe the Holy Spirit: then are you sufficiently protecting the holiness of this temple of God if you cleanse only the more external part? him, and in the inner sanctuary you blithely allow inner uncleanness? A passionate thought established in the mind is an idol placed in the sanctuary of God, a lustful desire dominating the heart is an abomination of desolation in a holy place. Ordinary people do not see this inner impurity: but God, the knower of the heart, and His Angels, and the souls of the Saints, whose inner thoughts are open, see it. If we are ashamed when people like us see the revealed impurity of our deeds: let us be a thousand times more ashamed when the all-pure God and His Saints see in us the hidden impurity of passionate thoughts and lustful desires. That which in an external act of sin seems disgusting even to people who are themselves not without vice, already lies in internal lust, like grass in a seed, like a progeny in an embryo: because “lust, when conceived, gives birth to sin: but sin committed gives birth to death.” (James 1:15). So, hasten to throw out from your soul the impurity that has not yet been born, so that when it opens, it does not stink your entire being. Hurry to weed out the tares that barely emerge from the earth of the heart, so that they do not grow and choke the wheat. Hurry to crush the snake's eggs before a poisonous and deadly serpent is born. Hasten to remove from the inner sanctuary the idol of passionate thought and lustful desire before it demands murderous sacrifices. “I pray that you be freed from carnal lusts.”
Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov)
The victory that has conquered the world is our faith
Saint John the Theologian, who proclaimed that the victory that conquered the world is our faith, greets the true children of Christ, who conquered the world, with victory over the fallen angel and the host of spirits at his side: I am writing to you, young men, he says, because you have overcome the evil one.
Here Christians, renewed by Divine grace, are called youths. When a servant of Christ displays the necessary courage and constancy in the fight against the spirits of evil, then Divine grace descends into his soul and grants victory: then his youth is renewed like an eagle, that ageless youth with which he was adorned by the Creator at creation, which he replaced with incurable old age at his own discretion. falling. Do not love the world, nor what is in the world: if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him: for everything in the world, carnal lust, and the lust of desire, and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from this world. And the world passes away, and its lust: but he who does the will of God abides forever. Pride of life is vanity.
The Apostle John, having become the abode of the Holy Spirit, combines in the following wise saying human lusts into three divisions: everything in the world, carnal lust, and the lust of self, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). Carnal lust is in the satiation of the belly and in many varied dishes, which, of necessity, will be followed by defilement by voluptuousness. Lust is when, due to sight, we are carried away to do the things of this world, or unclean images are imprinted on the heart. Worldly pride is vanity, with which our spirit is cursed and drawn to perishing and vain cares.
Saint Theophan the Recluse
Pride is an insatiable desire for exaltation
All vicious dispositions or all moral evil flow from pride, as Theodore, Bishop of Edessa, says. “Pride is the mother of unimaginable evils. He who is conquered by it enters into union with all other passions.” It is not difficult, however, to notice that among these passions there are the most basic and inaccurate ones, standing at the head of others, themselves headed by pride. These first generation of selfhood are pride, or in general the thirst for exaltation, greed, or covetousness, and carnality, or more fully, the thirst for all-round pleasures and pleasures. This is confirmed by experience and simple guidance that no matter what passion you take, always, going back to the source, you will come to one of the initial passions shown. Therefore says St. Maxim the Confessor: “Keep away from your mother evil self-esteem. From this, the first three passionate thoughts are born: gluttony, love of money and vanity, from which the entire evil council is then born” (the same in Theodore of Edessa, ch. 61, 62 and in Gregory of Sinai in the Philokalia). The world is materialized self-love or is the totality of its creations in persons and actions, for St. John the Theologian divides everything in the world into three classes: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the mind and the pride of life (1 John 2:16), that is, that everything there moves according to the action of these three passions. It is the field where the activity of the sinful will develops in all its breadth.
Each of these initial passions in turn is revealed by many others, filled with its spirit and character. They put their stamp both on all the powers of a person and on all his activities and thereby complicate his passion and multiply passions.
The lust of the flesh is an insatiable desire for pleasure, or a continuous search for objects that can delight the internal and external feelings of the soul. It forces one to set one’s own pleasure as the only goal, or to live for one’s own pleasure, and to direct everything one encounters and everything one undertakes towards this end. The variety of private inclinations arising from it depends both on the objects of pleasure and on the organs with which it is tasted. Thus, from the pleasures of taste are born voluptuousness, drunkenness, gluttony, and from sexual passions, debauchery in various forms; from the organs of movement, absent-mindedness or laziness, from spiritual feelings, vicious love and dreamy voluptuousness through imagination, etc. Its main products are gluttony, fornication, laziness, amusements and pleasures.
Whoever has this passion, it forces him to act everywhere according to its quality and imprints its spirit on everything.
Thus, in relation to religion, in the knowledge of God, sensualists, due to their characteristic frivolity and almost exclusive appeal to the outside, do not take the truths of God deeply to their hearts, which is why these truths not only remain fruitless as having no root, but are also subject to strong attacks within from inclinations directed towards a different order, and this last circumstance of a person devoted to pleasure either inevitably puts him in a state of indifference to the truths of faith, or, even worse, plunges him into doubt about them. In worshiping God, they need a pleasant sacred act, and in temples they seek not the glory and honor of God, but the pleasure of hearing and sight. In the innermost reverence for God, they primarily seek sweet movements of the heart and evoke them with effort, which is why they fall away during adversity (Luke 8:13), when for the sake of the truth it is necessary to experience sorrow, either internal or external. They are the enemies of the cross; God is their belly (Phil. 3:18).
In relation to yourself. The sensualist is completely occupied with pleasures and, moreover, only present ones, saying to himself: yes, pits and drinks, we will die in the morning (Isa. 22: 13, 56, 12; 1 Cor. 15:32; Wis. 2:6) about the future, he does not thinks and therefore does not care about the consequences of his life, even those that are about to begin, even when he suddenly encounters illness, poverty, and disgrace. His soul is in contempt, his body alone is abundantly fed (Titus 1:12; 1 Tim. 5:6). Because of this, you will not find in him either precise and worthwhile concepts, or firm rules of life. Both in his actions and in his thoughts he blows like dust in the wind. He is alien to solid, constant, intense, long-term activities, which is why he cannot imagine anything on his own behalf that could survive him.
And in relation to others he is no better. True, he is reluctant to personally offend others, because this may be accompanied by troubles. But anyone who is not similar to him in character, who is not ready to share his affairs with him, is not only a stranger to him, but also an enemy. Moreover, if there is only a need, he is ready for all sorts of injustices: deception, failure to keep his word, false promises, cunning tricks. He has a penchant for friendship, but usually his friends are not chosen according to their true merit and are short-lived. In the address there is a desire to show politeness, but then there are barbs, witticisms, ridicule, and sometimes impudence.
Little good comes from such people both in everyday life and in civil life. Actually, they are neither able to command nor obey properly. A voluptuous father, husband, master, boss is the worst of all. Children, wife, family, entrusted ones, perish. The reason for everything is the negligence associated with it and false meekness or indulgence, because discipline is often accompanied by trouble. Among the lower ones in all forms there is no outrageous resistance, but there is always almost murmuring, slowness, laziness; in general, they are more hearers than creators of the law (James 1:22).
Self-interest is an insatiable desire to have, or the search and acquisition of things under the guise of benefit, only to say about them: mine. There are many objects of this passion: a house with all its parts, fields, servants, and most importantly money, because you can get everything with it. Others, however, are exclusively addicted to silver and gold. Because of this, this passion can be seen primarily in two forms: love of money and covetousness, or acquisitiveness. Judging by its usage, under the influence of vanity it is pomp, from pride and lust for power it is a worldwide resourcefulness, seeking to seize all trade into its own hands, and from madness it is stinginess. Continuously accompany this passion. tormenting care, envy, fears, sadness and sorrow. The title befitting the person who possesses it is interesting, because he will not take a step without it bringing him benefit, and everything that his hand touches, a word, a thought, everything bears its tribute to him. Then, when the thing came into his domain, he says: mine forever... This exclusivity of ownership, decisive, heartfelt, like a fence around his things and cuts off all others.
In relation to religion. He has no time to know God: therefore, he contains faith as he heard and accepted and as he can imagine with a soul cluttered with sensory things. He is most prone to superstition, anthropomorphism, and idolatry. His strong and exclusive love for things makes his internal worship of God suspicious, for, as the Lord says, it is impossible for God to work for mammon (Matthew 6:24). Therefore, he is directly called an idolater (Eph. 5:5; Col. 3:5; Matt. 19:22; Job 31:24; Ps. 119:36). He seems to honor God, but not with his heart, but with something external, and, moreover, not otherwise than in anticipation of an increase in profits or out of fear of losing and the desire to preserve what he has. Therefore, he is inclined to external worship of God and loves wealth and splendor in it. The passion for acquisition, with a lack of direct paths, sometimes leads him to magic and other absurdities (1 Tim. 6:9).
In relation to yourself. For the covetous, the appearance of certain virtues is striking. He seems to be thrifty, but at the same time stingy, his work and vigilance are only for self-interest, abstaining from pleasures and pleasures only so as not to be spent. He, in fact, has no concern for either soul or body: he sacrifices himself to things. Care does not give him time to enjoy his acquisitions, and therefore there is no peace in his soul. If misfortune happens, he is ready to fall into despair, easily loses his mind and becomes crazy, and sometimes commits suicide.
In relation to others, he is inhuman, envious, treacherous, treacherous, and a litigator; He doesn’t like to do good for nothing, unless vanity overcomes him, and he doesn’t know short friendships. There is no unrighteousness that the selfish would not decide to commit, as Judas showed himself (Matthew 26:15). From him is theft, sacrilege (Joshua 7:1; Acts 5:1), murder, betrayal.
A selfish, worthless member of the home, society and Church (Prov. 15: 27, 29; 2 Kings Chapter 5; 1 Tim. 3:3; Phil. 2: 20-21; 1 Pet. 5:2). The lowest of them are usually submissive, thrifty and work to somehow save a penny, but they are inclined to deceive the master or boss, somehow steal for themselves and hide the ends, and immediately leave them if they are in some kind of trouble. Higher or superiors in any form are nothing worse in their carelessness and carelessness about others. They have no need for anyone, neither for the truth, nor for people. They don’t like a boss like that, because he always wants to steal a penny, so they are unfaithful to him and try in every possible way to outwit him. In the house he poorly supports everyone, as well as himself, neglects the children and the whole family. This is how rudeness and ignorance are established.
Pride is an insatiable desire for elevation, or an intense search for objects through which one could become higher than all others. Self-love is most obvious here. It’s here, as it were, with its own face, because here all the concern is about one’s self. The first product of inner pride is conceit, according to which all others are considered inferior to us, even those who are highly superior to us are not very important in comparison with us. Making its way out, it is already looking for uplifting objects and, judging by them, it itself is changing. Dwelling on insignificant objects, for example, on the strength of the body, beauty, clothing, kinship and other things, it is vanity; referring to the degrees of honor and glory, it is love of power and ambition; enjoying the rumors, talk and attention of people, it is love of popularity. In all of these forms, however, except perhaps conceit, pride is also accompanied by self-will, disobedience, self-confidence, arrogance, pretentiousness, contempt for others, ingratitude, envy, anger to the point of revenge and resentment. However, its main branches can be considered envy with hatred and anger with rancor.
In the Word of God, the proud are also called arrogant (Rom. 11:20; 12:16; 1 Tim. 6:17; Isa. 14:13), pompous (1 Tim. 6:4), high-hearted (Deut. 8:14; 17:20; Ezek. 28:2), disdainful (Luke 18: 9, 11; Gal. 5:26).
Saint Luke of Crimea
The Apostles taught us not to love the world... for all this is the pride of life.
With His great commandments of beatitudes, our Lord Jesus Christ taught us what the true life of the world should be, a life based on the highest truth and love.
He taught us what we should be so that He would count us among His friends and even His brothers.
With all his parables, full of great and perfect truth, He taught us to live as the heavenly angels who do the will of God live.
His great Apostles admonished us not to love the world, nor the things that are in the world, for all this is the pride of life, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes.
These deep truths were understood by people of the highest aspirations, people of deep intelligence and purity of heart. They were indifferent to the earthly paradise, because they thirsted for the highest and eternal truth, which does not exist in the earthly world. They went to the African deserts, to the impenetrable forest wilds of the north, to Mount Athos and there they lived the highest form of life in unceasing prayerful communication with God.
There were countless of them... And the Lord God wanted all people to be at least somewhat like them in their boundless love for our Savior and to follow the thorny path indicated by Him of serving love and truth, for true life is only in our Lord Jesus Christ - He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. And for such a true life in the world, the greatest sacrament of the Bloodless Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of our Savior is performed in our churches.
In the lives of the Saints we see many examples of true life according to God, we see the whole sky dotted with countless stars of shining souls of holy people, and among them there are many stars that are the brightest and never fade before God. Among such stars of the first magnitude shines the great Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonites, miracle worker, saint, to whose memory the second Sunday of Great Lent is dedicated.
Much would have to be said about his great deeds that affirmed Orthodoxy: about his twenty-three-year struggle with the heretic Barlaam, a blasphemer of the Athonite monks for their entire life in God, with this heretic who denied the Divine origin of the light of Tabor, which shone forth by our Lord Jesus Christ.
But we’ll talk about this another time, for I have tired you with my long sermon.
To the One True God, glorified in the Trinity, be glory and honor and worship forever and ever. Amen. Worldly pride is aroused in us when we achieve success.
Not to love the world, not to love the pleasures of the world, not to love the pleasures and delights of the flesh - “for everything that is in the world: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not from the Father, but from this world.” (1 John 2:15-16).
Our eyes seduce us, seduce us both with shameful visions and with visions of how brilliantly rich people live, far from God, from Christ. This is the lust of the eyes.
Worldly pride arouses in us when we achieve success on this path, we become infected with the love of money, and the love of money is the root of all evil, for it pushes us to many bad and criminal things and, in the end, leads us to the gravest passion - pride, which is spiritual destruction . This is what the holy Apostle John says.
Arseny, Metropolitan of Kyiv
Worldly pride, this seed of Satan, does not give room for the action of grace
Jesus Christ offered us the opportunity to become perfect, just as the Heavenly Father is perfect. But this possibility lies not in our own strength, but in the power of the Holy Spirit, who intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be uttered (Rom. 8:26) in the power of Divine grace, without which reason and will, which constitute all the greatness of man and should elevate him to the glory of God Alive, they do not have the slightest dignity. Natural reason with all its powers has so deviated from the proper and unique goal that it almost zealously resists the truth and submits to untruth (Rom. 2:8). Conscience, with its untimely silence, only contributes to the increase of lawlessness and the aggravation of ignorance. The will in natural man, which should be the source of all good desires, is the source of evil. Since the fall, three lusts have appeared in man as three components, opposing the Divine will: “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16), which with the passage of time have become so intensified in him that he is spiritually In his condition, he became flesh, hostile against God... Worldly pride, this satanic seed, does not give room for the action of grace. A small and insignificant creation, man, intoxicated with pride, at the very moment of his fall does not recognize himself as fallen, feeding on the vain hope of sooner or later returning his lost bliss, reaches such self-forgetfulness that he dreams of ascending to heaven and above the stars of heaven to establish the throne of his well-being, not paying attention to that an abyss had already opened up under his feet. So, everything that was given to man by the Trinity Council of the Eternal, in contrast to other creatures, was in a short time destroyed and destroyed by the triple power of lust that dwells in us to this day. And if, through the intercession of Jesus Christ, Divine grace, “always healing the weak and replenishing the lacking,” with its omnipotent power had not helped us in our weaknesses and cleansed our iniquities, then the Spirit of God would no longer dwell in people, “because they are flesh.” "(Gen. 6:3).
Therefore, all our consolation and all hope of salvation lies in the assistance to us of the almighty grace of God. She is the most reliable leader, leading us to the living and eternal. Only with its holy fire everything unclean and nasty is consumed in us and the light of reason and piety, the light of the glory of God, which once shone like noon, is kindled in the soul of man created in the image of God.
Recluse Georgy Zadonsky
(Letters)
And all the worldly pride of the high sages is destroyed
Everything in the world is wrong! What to desire, what to look for from visible bodily things? One spark turns everything into flame. One shaking of the earth scatters all the magnificent buildings like sand, and all the worldly pride of the lofty sages is destroyed like smoke from a chimney:
Know yourself, come to your senses, man! Your life here is insignificant. Why are you clinging to, and what have you been seduced by here?
Do not be arrogant, but humble yourself and ask the Lord that you may receive your fatherland in heaven. I repeat with love: that through many sorrows one must enter into the Kingdom of God. Go ahead, don't stand here.
Maria Petrovna Kolycheva
Monk Simeon of Athos
Living in the world, you will not find humility, just as you will not find real fruits in a picture, for peace is the pride of life.
Monk Nicodemus
Pride is the opposite of love, kindness and humility; pride is evil. By it, the First Angel fell and was expelled from Heaven, and with him a great many fallen angels, who later became demons. By it, Adam and his wife, seduced by sin, fell, became carnal and mortal, and was also expelled from Paradise to earth for disobedience to God’s commandment.
People have become so proud and fallen away from God that they consider even this short earthly life their property, and do in it whatever they want without any fear. In their own false wisdom, they came up with an excuse for evolutionary (natural) origin from primates (monkeys), believed in it and exalted themselves over animals so much that they kill and eat them on an industrial scale, while not at all embarrassed by the suffering of God’s creatures. And they don’t even want to think about the fact that they themselves will die and will have to give an answer at an impartial Judgment for their wicked life in spite of their violated conscience, accepting the death of others as a sudden misunderstanding.
Worldly pride is when every person under its power is subordinate to it like a slave and prisoner. He always wants to be proud of others, to be the first everywhere, he envies and hates those who are higher than him. Therefore, the God-loving Apostle John the Theologian equates it with the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes, which is why one must flee as if from the fire of hell, so as not to destroy one’s soul with it by resisting the Lord’s commandments of love for God and one’s neighbor.
Osipov Alexey Ilyich
Doctor of Theology. Professor MDA
Where is Christianity going?
The main problem that we all face now and from which we will not go anywhere is the question of the direction of development of modern Christianity. Throughout history, two tendencies have been fighting in him. One is the sanctifying Church, the other is the secularizing Church. This struggle is going on with varying success, and if we proceed from the revelation of God, from the words of the Savior himself, then, sad as it is, we should expect victory for the second of them. When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? True, we often repeat something else: I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. But let’s not forget that we are not talking about the external structure of the Church (council-synod-patriarch-bishops-priests-deacons and so on). The Church is not just a society of believers. It is the unity in the Holy Spirit of those Christians who strive to live according to the commandments of Christ. It is in this sense that she is the Body of Christ, the living organism of Christ, which is invincible. And structures, management, institutions, etc. are only a necessary form of existence of the Church in this world under certain historical conditions. The form, of course, may change somewhat. So, as history shows, believers who see the Gospel as the focus of their lives are becoming fewer and fewer.
The concept of “secularization” (in pre-revolutionary spelling this word was written with i) is now acquiring extraordinary relevance: it very accurately characterizes the state and the main trend in the development of modern Christianity. The meaning of this concept is revealed by the words of the Apostle John the Theologian: Everything that is in the world: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but from this world (1 John 2:16). Worldliness has captured all confessions without exception. It manifests itself especially strongly in Western Christianity, which is ahead of us Orthodox in this regard. But we are diligently and not unsuccessfully catching up with him.
Western churches at the moment set their main and, in essence, only task to solve the problems of worldly life.
Pride is called the most dangerous passion
The main difficulty in human cognitive activity is that human society as a whole lives by completely different ideals and principles, different from the Gospel. They are beautifully shown in the temptations of Christ in the desert. The Apostle John expressed them in the following words: “For everything that is in the world: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but is of this world” (1 John 2:16). Temptations are not just named, but their relationship with each other, a certain hierarchical subordination, is also shown. In this hierarchy, the final, most dangerous of passions is called pride. More than anything else, it essentially distorts the spirit of a person and thereby closes from him the ultimate goal and the true meaning of life and activity in all aspects. From here it becomes obvious what, first of all, a person’s attention should be paid to - to identifying and objectively assessing what feeds this passion - otherwise knowledge will not only be fruitless, but also destructive for man and humanity.
With a huge variety of manifestations of pride, in a person of our civilization it expresses itself with particular strength and frankness in the cult of reason - the reason, naturally, of the “old man” (Eph. 4:22), that is, the reason that is a slave to its passions (lusts) . This reason is proclaimed by the world as the highest authority in solving all human problems and demands the subordination of all aspects of spiritual life to it.
Lust of the eyes
Genesis 3:6 tells how Eve saw that the fruit of the tree was pleasing to the eyes. That is, the devil tempted and aroused desire through visual images. When Eve looked at the forbidden fruit for a long time, she could no longer resist the strong temptation, and forgot all the prohibitions and warnings of God about all the negative consequences.
It seems that modern advertising works: the more often we see certain things, the more we want them. It often happens that people buy some very expensive things that they don’t need, and then regret the money they wasted.
Scientists have proven that hypnosis works in a similar way. The researchers attached small electrical meters to the entire surface of the brain. When a person was put into a state of hypnosis, either by monotonous words or by various taps or clicks, they began to measure various electrical impulses throughout the surface. Interestingly, in some areas the pulses became very small, leading to the conclusion that some parts of the brain had shut down.
They decided to conduct the same experiment with a person who was watching television. In some parts of the brain, the electrical impulses also decreased very much, so some parts of the brain also shut down. Scientists have realized that due to the fact that on TV we see thousands of monotonous pictures in 1 minute, we seem to fall into a state of hypnosis. They also saw that a person can only be critical of the information presented for a minute and a half, and then the brain simply gives up and switches off. That is, when we start watching or listening to something, we need to quickly decide whether to continue or not, otherwise we may succumb to Satan's attacks on our brain.
In Matthew 4:8-10 it is written how the devil shows Christ all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and says: “I will give all this to you, if you fall, you will worship me,” but Jesus answered: “Worship the Lord God and serve him only.” " Then Satan departed, and the Angels came to Jesus and began to serve Him.
In the same way, the devil comes to us, shows us something, and offers us various rewards if we compromise with the Word of God. He can offer us money, power, satisfaction of all our needs, but for this he will ask for some small favor. We may have to deceive a little (or not tell the truth), steal a little (or take our own), violate someone’s interests (just to achieve our goal), but we will always have to make a choice: either worship the devil or worship God. No matter how hard it is for us, when we make decisions in favor of God, help immediately comes to us, and heavenly forces begin to help us!
