Saturday of the first week of Lent
“He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me and I in him.”
(John 6:56).
Communion is a sacrament in which a believer, under the guise of bread and wine, partakes (partakes) of the very Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and eternal life.
Orthodox Catechism
About the Sacrament of Communion, if you reflect at length, then you need to reflect for an entire eternity: for this most holy Sacrament is the height of the omnipotence, wisdom and love of God for us.
Innocent Archbishop of Kherson
Think, Christian, what honor have you received? What kind of meal do you enjoy? What the Angels look at with trepidation and do not dare to look at without fear, because of the radiance emanating from here, with this we are nourished, with this we communicate and become one body and one flesh with Christ.
Saint John Chrysostom
Time to start the terrible meal. Let us all approach with worthy wisdom and attention. Let no one be Judas, let no one be evil, let no one hide poison in himself, wearing one thing on his lips and another on his mind. Christ is coming; Whoever approved that Meal now celebrates this one. For it is not man who transforms what is offered into the Body and Blood of Christ, but Christ Himself, crucified for us. The priest stands, wearing His image, and pronounces the words, and the power and grace of God acts, “this is My Body,” He said.
Saint John Chrysostom
The sacred act during which the great Sacrament of Communion is performed is called the Eucharist (thanksgiving) especially because here we have incentives to give thanks rather than to ask; for here we receive more than we ask, and there is not even anything left that God has not given us here.
Jeremiah Patriarch of Constantinople
When we, unworthy, are worthy to partake with fear and trembling of the Divine and Most Pure Mysteries of Christ our God and King, then we will most show sobriety, guarding our minds and strict attention, so that this Divine fire, that is, the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, will consume our sins and ours big and small defilements. For, entering into us, it immediately drives away the evil spirits of malice from the heart and forgives us former sins; and our mind is then left free from the restless bothersomeness of evil thoughts. If after this, standing at the door of the heart, we carefully preserve our mind, then when we are again honored with the Holy Mysteries, the Divine Body will enlighten our mind more and more and make it brilliant, like a star.
Venerable Hesychius
After communion of the Holy Mysteries, having given reverent thanks to the Lord for the great mercy towards you, at this moment revealed as some great and ineffable gift, enter that hour into the innermost places of your heart and, having worshiped the Lord there with a humble feeling, mentally extend the following conversation to Him: “You see, my all-merciful Lord, how easily I fall into sin to my own destruction, and what power the passion that fights me has over me, and how powerless I am to free myself from it. Help me and strengthen my powerless efforts, or even better, take up weapons yourself and with them, instead of me, defeat this frantic enemy of mine to the end.”
Venerable Nicodemus the Holy Mountain
After Communion we need correction, a testimony of love for God and neighbor, thanksgiving, and a diligent striving for a new, holy and immaculate life. In a word, before Communion, true repentance and heartfelt contrition are needed; after repentance, the fruits of repentance are needed, good deeds, without which there can be no true repentance. Consequently, Christians need to correct their lives and begin a new one, pleasing to God, so that Communion will not be a judgment or condemnation for them.
Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk
Is it possible to take a shower or bathe in the spring on the day of Communion?
The basis of preparation for the Sacrament of Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ is our repentance. Of course, there are very specific rules regarding how and how many days to fast or which canons to read, but these rules do not have absolute meaning when it concerns people who are sick, infirm, elderly, pregnant, lactating, in military service or in difficult situations. works. Thus, those recommendations to which we are so accustomed and which many of us seem to be something fundamentally significant, serve only as a certain help for better internal preparation for the Sacrament of Communion, for more in-depth repentance. We can say that if you are aware of your own good preparedness for Communion, it is better not to take communion at all, since this feeling is false - after all, no one can be completely worthy of the bloodless sacrifice of Christ the Savior. On the contrary, awareness of one’s own unworthiness, unpreparedness and spiritual weakness, but at the same time the impossibility of living without Communion, without Christ as a cure for sin, is more salutary, for Christ came not to the righteous, but to sinners to call to repentance (Matthew 9:13; Mark 2:17 ). In this sense, the question of whether it is possible to take a shower on the same day after Communion (and also whether it is necessary to do this the day before) or bathe in a spring is not even just secondary, but belongs to the realm of folk legends, or in some sense superstitions with which modern magical consciousness seeks to surround church Sacraments and rituals. Reasonings like “you can’t swim because grace is washed away” cannot be classified as anything other than folk fables. There are no canonical rules on the topic of “washing” before or after the Sacrament. Another thing is that on the day after Communion it is necessary to avoid unnecessary fuss, idle talk and generally idle pastime. It is better on this day to turn to more careful reading of the Gospel, to prayer or doing good deeds. True, in one of the monasteries especially visited by modern pilgrims, I once heard quite serious recommendations prohibiting bathing in the local holy springs after Communion. The explanation of this prohibition, heard there, does not seem entirely satisfactory: they say, you have already received the fullness of grace in Communion, what else do you need today? If we agree with this kind of “theology,” then we must admit that God gives us grace in a strictly measured measure, and whoever dares to plunge into a holy spring on the day of Communion, therefore violates this measure and becomes displeasing to God. This kind of reasoning smacks of no more and no less than ancient paganism, where a person’s life, due to the impossibility of pleasing each individual idol, could turn into a complete nightmare. It is very strange that modern Orthodox Christians often do this, surrounding themselves with some fantastic rules and customs, many of which are either ridiculous or impossible to implement, while the need to fulfill the Gospel commandments and fight sin is often forgotten.
THE CHURCH IS THE BODY OF CHRIST
In the Theanthropic Body of the Church there is present all the grace of the Trinity Divinity, saving from sin, death and the devil, regenerating, sanctifying, transforming, uniting us with Christ.
Venerable Justin (Popovich)
Jesus Christ (Savior)
Take, eat: this is My Body
And while they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take, eat: this is My Body.” And, taking the cup and giving thanks, he gave it to them and said: drink from it, all of you, for this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I tell you that from now on I will not drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink new wine with you in the kingdom of My Father (Matt. 26:26-29).
Apostle Paul
You are the body of Christ
And you are the body of Christ, and individually members. And God appointed others in the Church, firstly, apostles, secondly, prophets, thirdly, teachers, then, to others he gave miraculous powers, also gifts of healing, help, administration, and different languages. Are all Apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are everyone miracle workers? Does everyone have gifts of healing? Does everyone speak in tongues? Are everyone interpreters? Be zealous for greater gifts, and I will show you an even more excellent way (1 Cor. 12:27-31).
Reverend Simeon the New Theologian
The Church is the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ.
Just as in the eternal abodes God gives each saint his due part... so in the body of the Church everyone is considered to be such a member of Christ as he is worthy to be. Since the Church is the Body of Christ and the bride of Christ, and the world on high, and the temple of God, and the members of this body are all saints, and yet they have not yet been born and have shown themselves to be acceptable, it is clear that the Body of Christ is not yet a complete whole , that the upper world has not yet been filled, that is, not the entire host of people has yet entered the Church of God. But even to this day there are still many unbelievers in the world who have to believe in Christ, there are many sinners who have to repent, there are many rebellious ones who have to submit to Christ; many are yet to be born and please God before the last trumpet sounds. So, all those foreknown from God must be born and filled with the world that is above this world, the Church of the Firstborn, the Heavenly Jerusalem; and then the fullness of the Body of Christ will be completed, having received into itself all those predestined by God to be conformed to the image of His Son, who are the sons of light and day. All of these are predestined, and pre-written, and included among the saved, and have the ability to unite and combine with the Body of Christ, which will then become the completely complete and perfect Body of Christ, and it will no longer lack a single member.
Just as the mental orders of the Heavenly Powers are illuminated by God in order, so that the Divine illumination penetrates from the first order into the second, from this into the third, and so on into all, so the saints, being illuminated by the holy Angels, are connected and united by the union of the Holy Spirit, and become equal in honor with them and the like. Then the saints who appear from generation to generation, from time to time, after the saints who preceded them, through the fulfillment of the commandments of God, cling to them - to those former ones and, receiving the grace of God, shine like them - nevertheless, they consistently constitute, thus , a kind of golden chain, each being a special link in this chain connecting with the previous one through faith, good deeds and love - a chain that, confirmed in God, is indestructible.
Saint John Chrysostom
(Conversations on 1 Corinthians)
“And you are the body of Christ, and individually members” (1 Cor. 12:27).
Lest anyone say: what does the example of the body have to do with us? after all, it is arranged this way by nature, and our perfections depend on the will - (the apostle) applies this example to our circumstances and shows that we, too, must have the same agreement that those (members of the body have) by nature: “and you” , he says, “the body of Christ.” If there should be no discord in our body, then much more so in the body of Christ, and even more so since grace is stronger than nature. “And separately - members.” We, he says, are not only the body, but also the members. He talked about this and that above, combining many into one and showing that everyone composes something one, in the likeness of a body, and that this one is made up of many and is in many, and many are contained in it and receive the opportunity to be many. What does “separately” mean? How much does this concern you, and how much is up to you to be part of. He said: body, and since the whole body was not the Corinthian church, but the universal one, he added: in parts, i.e. your church is part of the universal Church, a body made up of all churches, so you are obliged to be at peace not only with each other, but also with the entire universal Church, if you are truly members of the whole body. “And God appointed others in the Church, firstly, apostles, secondly, prophets, thirdly, teachers; further, to others he gave miraculous powers, also gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues” (v. 28). He is now doing the same thing that I said before; The Corinthians boasted of the gift of tongues, which is why he places it in last place everywhere. It is not in vain that he says here: firstly, secondly, but he places the most excellent gift above, and then points to the lower. Therefore, first he names the apostles, who had all the gifts in themselves. He did not simply say: God appointed others in the Church as apostles or prophets, but added: firstly, secondly, thirdly, expressing exactly what I said. "Secondly by the prophets." Then prophesied, for example, the daughters of Philip, Agabus and those of the Corinthians themselves, about whom he says: “let two or three prophets speak” (1 Cor. 14:29), and in the letter to Timothy: “do not neglect those who are in you.” the gift that was given to you by prophecy" (1 Timothy 4:14).
Venerable Gregory of Sinaite
We are the Body of Christ and partake of it
The divine Apostle says: we are the body of Christ and partake of it (1 Cor. 12:27); and again: one body, one spirit (Eph. 4:4). Just as a body without a spirit is dead and insensitive, so one who has been killed by passions through neglect of the commandments of baptism becomes inactive, as if he is not enlightened by the Holy Spirit and the grace of Christ: for although he has the Spirit by faith and regeneration, He is inactive and motionless in him due to spiritual deadness . We have one soul, and there are many members of the body, but it holds them all, gives life and moves them - those, however, that are capable of receiving life are the same ones that, due to some accidental weakness, have dried up, like dead and motionless, although it holds in themselves, but lifeless and insensitive. So the Spirit of Christ, abiding entirely in all the members of Christ, moves and life-giving those of them who can be involved in life, but also those who are incapable of this due to weakness, philanthropically holds, as if they were their own. Thus, every faithful person, although by faith he participates in spiritual sonhood, is, however, inactive and unenlightened due to negligence and unbelief, deprived of the light and life of Jesus, so that although every faithful person, as a member of Christ, has the Spirit of Christ, he remains different inactive and motionless, as incapable of receiving the sacrament of grace.
Venerable Nicodemus the Holy Mountain
EVERGETIN
From Saint Maximus
To have the mind of Christ means to think the same way as He does, and always think about Him. We are also the body of Christ, as it is said: And you are the body of Christ, and individually members (1 Cor 12:27) not because we lose our own body by becoming Christ’s, and not because the body of Christ passes to us hypostatically or undergoes division into members, but because in the likeness of the Lord’s flesh we distance sinful corruption from ourselves. Just as Christ was clearly sinless by human nature both in flesh and soul, so we, who have believed in Him and have been clothed with His spirit by our own decision, can abide in Him without knowing sin.
Venerable Justin (Popovich)
Theanthropic Body of the Church
In the Theanthropic Body of the Church there is present all the grace of the Trinity Divinity, saving from sin, death and the devil, regenerating, sanctifying, transforming, uniting us with Christ and with the entire Trinity Divinity and making us part of Them. But each of us is given this grace “according to the measure of the gift of Christ” (Eph. 4:7). And the Lord Jesus Christ measures grace to everyone according to his work (1 Cor. 3:8): according to work in faith, in love, in mercy, in prayer, in fasting, in meekness, in repentance, in humility, patience and in other saints virtues and holy sacraments. Foreseeing with His Divine Omniscience how each of us will use His grace and gifts, the Lord Jesus Christ divides His gifts “to each according to his strength” (Matthew 25:15). However, our place in the life-giving Theanthropic Body of Christ - the Church, which, as a single and indivisible heavenly and earthly Theanthropic being, extends from the earth and above all the heavens above the heavens, depends on our personal labor and the multiplication of the Divine gifts of Christ. The more fully a person lives in the fullness of Christ’s grace, the more he has gifts and the more abundantly the Theanthropic powers of the Church are poured out on him, as on a partaker of Christ, cleansing us from all sin and transforming us into living Godlikeness. Moreover, each of us lives in everyone and for everyone, for we are all one body. That's why everyone rejoices at the gifts of their loved ones, especially when they surpass his own gifts.
Venerable John of Kronstadt
The Church is the Body of Christ with whom faithful Christians are inseparably united
What a wonderful, holy, captivating mind, heart and will idea about the universal Church of Christ, headed by its Founder Himself - Christ God! In the Gospel and in the liturgy, as in a mirror, all the goodness and truth of God, all the love, all the wisdom of God, all the omnipotence of God, all the wondrous economy of God for the salvation of the human race, all the Divine assessment of fallen humanity, created in the beginning in the image of God, are reflected. all the wonderful communication of God with regenerated people, all the deification, the raising of human nature into heaven and its landing with God. How wonderfully blissful it is with what physical and spiritual labor the saints completed their life’s preparatory path and how they were glorified by God during life and after death! How they were fragrant in spirit and body and appeared alive even after death! Delve into this idea of the Church, the idea of the liturgy, this preparatory part of it (proskomedia), as well as the liturgy of the catechumens and the liturgy of the faithful, look at the idea of the Church as the Body of Christ, with whom faithful Christians are inseparably united; look at the interaction of the members of one on the other, earthly and heavenly, prophets, patriarchs, apostles, martyrs, saints, saints and all saints; Look at the care of the earthly Church for the underworld, or for the dead. See what kind of communication the earthly Church has with the inhabitants of heaven, or the perfect members of the Church of Christ, who have received incorruptible, eternal blessings; look what kind of communication we have with all the saints, we glorify them, please them, magnify them, we beg them to help us in the matter of victory over our passions and invisible enemies, how we thank God that He glorified them and made them prayer books for us, especially the Most Holy Theotokos, and To top off all our wonder at God’s mercy, we partake (some) daily of the most pure Body and Blood of Christ, sincerely communicating with the Head of the Church Himself, as a guarantee of eternal life in heaven. O Holy Church! O Divine Liturgy! How Divine, holy, life-giving you are!
Venerable Anatoly of Optina
People who are in the Orthodox Church are directed to the Heavenly Jerusalem, that is, to the Kingdom of Heaven, in the right way: they sail on the sea of life in a boat, where the Pilot is Christ Himself; those who are outside the Church strive to cross this sea on one board, which, of course, is impossible, and perish irrevocably.
Saint Luke of Crimea
“Take, eat: this is My Body”
Every day you hear completely extraordinary, terrible, terrifying words of Christ: “Take, eat: this is My Body, broken for you, for the remission of sins. Drink of it, all of you: this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you and for many, for the remission of sins.”
Oh my God! How terrible are these words of yours! How they shake the heart of every person, every believer! How terrible are these words of Christ! How will You give us Your Flesh for food?! How is it that You, the Son of God, the Savior of the world, came down from heaven like heavenly bread, in order to endure truly terrible torments with your flesh and give it as food to the faithful?! How can one eat the Body of Christ - the genuine, true Body of Christ, for the Lord Himself is in it! Oh, how scary it is to drink the Blood of Christ, that Blood that streamed down His forehead from the thorny branches of the crown of thorns, that Blood that streamed along the cross of Christ from His hands and feet pierced with nails, that Blood that poured out from His heart, pierced by a spear. Oh, how scary it is! What could be worse than this?! But this happens to us every time we partake of the true Body and Blood of Christ. Then we truly eat His Flesh, we drink His Blood.
Oh, how terrible are the other words of Christ! “If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood; then you will have no life in you” (John 6:53). It is obligatory, obligatory for all of us to eat His Flesh in order to have eternal life. It is obligatory, obligatory for everyone to eat the Flesh of Christ and drink His Blood in order to have life in themselves. You will say: what about those who do not eat His Body and do not drink His Blood, do they not have life, do they die? Yes, they live, they have the same life as all living things. But is this the kind of life the Lord is talking about? Of course not! The Lord speaks about eternal life, about life in God. No one has this eternal life who does not drink His Blood and eat His Body. “Whoever eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me, and I in him” (John 6:56). Again amazing words! How is it, Lord, that You abide in them, in those who drink Your Blood and eat Your Flesh?! But if He Himself said this, then it is so, it means that He really abides in us. How, in what way does Christ dwell in us with His Body, His Blood, and His Spirit?
This is a mystery, a great mystery, but can we lift the veil of this mystery a little. Don’t you know in what close mutual communication, in the communication of spirit, thoughts and desires and aspirations, there are people who love each other: good and pure spouses, full of love, their children, who love their parents with all their hearts? Is it not possible to say to some extent that they live in each other with their soul, their spirit? Yes, it is possible, and if we think about it, it will not be strange to say that Christ can abide in us, spiritually abiding by His love and His spirit. He dwells in us together with the Father and the Spirit, for the Trinity is indivisible: where the Father dwells, there are the Son and the Holy Spirit. So remember that in those who eat the Flesh of Christ and drink His Blood, the Holy Trinity abides. Abides, of course, spiritually; with His love he enters the heart of a person who has tasted the Flesh and Blood of Christ, enters a heart washed with tears of repentance from spiritual impurity, enters as if into His temple, and dwells there.
But do not think that our Lord Jesus Christ unites with us only through His Divine love. Oh no, much more: He unites with us in a completely real, substantial way, through His true Blood and His Body, which He gave to us to be eaten for the sins of the whole world - and for our sins. How do we understand this when we say that our Lord and Savior unites with us not only spiritually, but also really, even substantially? There is nothing strange about this. If He said: “My Flesh is truly Food, and My Blood is truly Drink” (John 6:55), it means that when we partake of the Body and Blood of Christ, we perceive Divine, mysterious, holy food, true Food and true Drink, and with this food it will be the same as with any ordinary food we take. We assimilate this food, this drink, it undergoes the processes of digestion and absorption, enters our blood; and the Blood of Christ and the body of Christ will circulate in our blood.
And if in our blood there is an admixture of the Blood of Christ and the Body of Christ, then doesn’t this mean that we truly feed on the juices of the Vine, which is the Lord Jesus Christ? From the root of this Vine we perceive the Divine juices, feeding on the Body and Blood of Christ, and we become our own to God. He unites with us, lives in us, the Holy Spirit lives in our body, as in a holy temple, and sanctifies and enlightens us with an immeasurably brighter light of truth than the brightest sunlight. This Divine light shines within us. The Flesh and Blood of Christ, received by us, penetrate with Divine light into all our organs, our brain and heart, which are the organs of the soul and spirit. Everything is imbued with the Holy Spirit, inseparably united with the body and Blood of Christ. This is what these amazing words of Christ mean: “He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:54). “Eternal life,” for if God dwells in us, then eternal life is assured for us. This is what I could tell you from my meager mind about these terrible words of Christ. Remember the other words of Christ: “The Spirit gives life, but the flesh does not profit in the least.” What Spirit gives life? The Holy Spirit gives life, from Him is true life, from Him, as the primary source, eternal life begins. By Him we exist, we move, He gives life to our flesh, that flesh that is hostile to us, from which we receive so many temptations. He gives life, sanctifies our flesh, makes it the same as the flesh of all the saints was.
There were people who remembered and never forgot the word of Christ, the great word: “The Spirit gives life, the flesh profiteth nothing.” They also remembered the words of Christ: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). They believed this, they sought, first of all, this spiritual, this Divine food, they wanted to live “not about bread alone, but about every word that comes from the mouth of God.” They devoted their lives to the study of the word of God: their goal in life was to penetrate into the mysteries, into the very depths of the Holy Scriptures. They rejected the world; it lost all attractiveness in their eyes. Their eyes were fixed only on the Holy Scriptures, they lived by every word coming from the mouth of God, and cared extremely little about the flesh. Do you know how many of them fasted? They often ate bread and water, often eating them every other day, and sometimes after several days. This was all they gave to their flesh. Do you remember the ascetics of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra who lived in caves for decades, not seeing the light of the sun, eating bread and water? Don't you know how necessary sunlight is for all living things? According to the laws of physiology, people who live in darkness should reach extreme exhaustion and die from exhaustion. No, no, it wasn’t like that: these great ascetics laughed at all the laws of physiology and nutrition and lived for a hundred years or more. Isn’t this a miracle? Is it therefore impossible to say that even to this day miracles are being performed that people do not want to see?
These blessed people, who exhausted their flesh, kept it in subjection to the spirit. When she disobeyed, they whipped her painfully, punished her and made her a slave of the spirit. They knew that the spirit rules over the flesh, that the spirit is immeasurably stronger than the flesh, that everything that happens in our body is directed by the spirit living in us. Everything is permeated by the Spirit, everything lives, everything is directed. All functions of the body depend on the spirit; it guides our inner life: it gives direction to thoughts, feelings, desires and aspirations. And it is necessary because the spirit should rule over the flesh, it is necessary because all of us, Christians, are not carnal, but spiritual. We must remember the words of the Apostle Paul: “Do not quench the Spirit.” Never extinguish it, let it burn with a bright flame, then your flesh will submit to it, unconditionally submit, like a slave to its master. And when the spirit prevails over the flesh, which will feed not so much on abundant food and drink as on the Body of Christ, then the spirit will produce extraordinary changes not only in the flesh, but in the entire spiritual being of man. And such a person will become God’s servant completely. He will throw off the old man and become completely new, with a renewed mind, with a renewed heart, with a renewed will. He will be completely different from the previous one, he will be as much higher than the people of the earth surrounding him as the cedars of Lebanon and slender palm trees rise above the low-growing grass.
This is what the spirit produces in us. This is what we can be worthy of by worthily communing with the true Blood and Flesh of Christ. And you accept them every time you partake of the Holy Mysteries, for we, Orthodox Christians, believe with all our hearts that in the great sacrament of Communion we receive the true Body and true Blood of Christ. The Lord Himself has given us the power to receive this blessed Food. “My Flesh is truly Food and My Blood is truly Drink.” Oh, how true this is! How many people only care about how to care for and pamper their flesh, how to nourish it extensively, how to strengthen it. How many people go to resorts every year in the hope of preserving the health of their flesh? “But the flesh is of no use.” Such people, if they quench the spirit, if they do not live in the spirit, but live only in their flesh, often die early, suffering from serious illnesses, for nothing gives them life. The flesh does not benefit us at all, not only do we not receive true prosperity from it, but it prevents us from acquiring spiritual benefits, it prevents us from living according to the spirit, it forces us to live as it wants, to serve our passions and lusts. But don’t obey her, remember that “the spirit gives life, but the flesh does not profit at all.”
Strive to be given life by the Holy Spirit, then, even without resorts, and in the poverty in which you spend your life, you can live a long life, and not only long, but also blessed and pleasing to God. This is why it is necessary to partake of the holy Mysteries of Christ, this is what the terrible words mean: “Take, eat, this is My Body, broken for you, for the remission of sins.” At every liturgy this terrible sacrament of transubstantiation of bread and wine into the true Flesh and Blood of Christ is performed. When the choir begins to sing “We sing to you, we bless you...”, then the most important, most terrible part of the liturgy begins. Then the priest or bishop calls on the Holy Spirit to transform the bread and wine into the Flesh and Blood of Christ. When you see that a bishop or priest blesses the bread and wine, saying: “...by translating with Your Holy Spirit” and falls on his face, then you too fall on your face, kneel down and thank God, Who gives you this true Food that makes us spiritual, exclaiming : “Glory to You, God! Glory to You, God! Glory to you, God!” Amen.
December 3, 1949
Monk Nicodemus
The Lord says:
I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
This means that the Church is not a human organization, but a divine structure that lives in Heaven and on earth. The head of the Church is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God and our Savior. So that people may have a correct understanding of His Church, He says:
for where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am in the midst of them,
this means that if there is no Christ in the meeting, then it is not a Church, but simply a meeting of people with similar interests or a legal organization with the same name.
I am the vine, and you are the branches; whoever abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for without Me you can do nothing.
Nothing is done on earth without the wise Providence of God. But He Himself is not everywhere. If people do not follow the path of salvation indicated by Him, but live as they want according to their own will, then Christ is not among them and this is not the Church. And where He is not, there is no life, because only He is the “Way, and the Truth, and the Life.” The sacred duty of the members of the Church through love for Christ is to submit to their Master as sheep to the Shepherd and to follow Him wherever He leads.
My sheep obey My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me...
