Orthodox teaching on personal salvation. Salvation as a process

Website of the Gorlovka and Slavic diocese

What are Christians being saved from? What does it take to be saved? Will God have mercy on everyone? Is it possible to join a church but not meet Christ? Archpriest Alexander Khvorost, rector of the Church of the Holy Martyr John the Warrior in the city of Druzhkovka, answered us.

The verb “to be saved” in the Christian understanding means “to achieve holiness and enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” What should we save ourselves from and why is this necessary? The fact is that the life of mankind is darkened by sin and its consequences - illness, death, wars, suffering, and so on. During the lives of our ancestors Adam and Eve, already in the first generation of their descendants, human blood was shed, and it is shed to this day. Each person sees that he himself is gradually dying, approaching death through illness, wear and tear of the body, and the world around him is dying - its resources are being exhausted, the environmental situation is deteriorating. What should we, small and unprotected people do?

We need to understand that the Lord did not create us for such a life. The Church teaches that we were created for something else - for a joyful existence without death and suffering. This is possible only in the format of communion with God, that is, when we return to God. A person must know that there is God and strive to get into the Kingdom of Heaven. What is the Kingdom of Heaven? This is a project for the correction of existence: we are promised that there will be a new heaven, a new earth and a new man. The Lord will fix everything, resurrect everyone and call everyone to eternal life. He leads us through the Resurrection to a new life, where a person will be completely happy, and nothing will darken his existence.

How categorically did God set out the conditions of salvation?

Quite categorically:

• Salvation does not imply faith in general, but faith in Christ: “He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is already condemned...” (John 3:18).
• Faith implies belonging to the United Orthodox Church: “and if he does not listen to the Church, then let him be to you as a pagan and a tax collector” (Matthew 18:17). Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16).
• Faith must be apostolic: “But even if we or an angel from heaven preach to you a gospel other than what we preached to you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8-9).
• Faith must be accompanied by corresponding works: “faith without works is dead” (James 2:20).

About Salvation

There is a close connection between the flesh and the spirit. That is why death is mysterious and terrible, precisely like a rupture. That is why the ascetics of the past, by humbling and exhausting one thing (the flesh), achieved the humility of another (the soul). A soul that has not humbled itself cannot worship God as it should. He will demand, as a conscientious citizen, first compensation for humiliation. And instead of leaving its sins behind, like dirt, like an extra burden, such a soul will fight for them, as for a part of itself, as for its right and property.

In essence, a proud sinner is eager to think in legal categories. Patience and humility are absent as old-regime concepts. Love, if there is one, is only sexual. So he brings the terminology of law into the area of ​​relations with God. “I can”, “I have the right”, “don’t touch what’s mine.” Is it worth saying in detail that God does not intend to speak to us in terms of civil or criminal law? Is it worth saying that He disappears (inconspicuously, how is this possible for Him alone) from the area of ​​such conversations, leaving people, instead of His presence, with only the idea of ​​Himself? The idea of ​​God instead of God Himself – this should be understandable to many.

Today, it seems, only athletes subdue the flesh. They are the ones who tear ligaments, lose weight, and faint during training. We are ready to die for the result, and for the country, by the way. That’s why lazy people perhaps love them like ancient heroes. In other places, asceticism is little noticeable. Even the idea of ​​it is missing. But there are Lenten menus in restaurants for the period of Lent. And people are afraid of getting sick, they worry about their figure, they want to live longer and better, and there is no point in arguing with this. Let it be so. After all, just start arguing - in the camp of defenders of carnal knowledge and the laws of this world, you will find many people in office, even in hoods and so on. Come on. This is the spirit of the era, and we are captive to it. Everything, albeit to varying degrees. Not for the first time in history, Christians are simply prisoners of historical time, heatedly arguing about freedom.

But you need to please God. Why live differently? And we must be saved from this evil age. But there is weakness of spirit and body, and not recognizing it is suicidal. You can’t climb the pillar and you can’t put on the chains. Without faith you can barely live. So how can we be saved without the exploits that we read about all the time, as if to heal a wound? There is an answer - the enemies will help.

A Christian has debtors. And he himself must. This is what the Lord's Prayer says. “Enemies” and “debtors” are close concepts. Those who borrowed and did not repay, or those who borrowed from and did not repay, know what we are talking about. We have debts to God, and there are debtors among people. So thank God! The saints, by the way, have the same thing. And they owe, and they have debtors. And they will spit on us, insult us and wish us to burn in hell (Baptized people, by the way, will. For the unbaptized, the idea of ​​Hell does not occupy such a place in the brain). They will turn the whole world of their unresolved passions and secret desires on us in the form of curses, which will amuse the psychoanalysts and sadden us. But we will endure. We will resign ourselves or try to reconcile ourselves, replacing chains with tachycardia and rosary beads with validol. The main thing is to find the enemies correctly. Attention!

Let none of us - those who know the Lord Jesus - suffer as a thief of someone else's property, as a desecrator of someone else's bed! Because here hostility and punishment will be justified and will not entail rewards. But nowadays it’s very easy to earn or make enemies by calling just black black and white white. That's all!

Here, as with humility. Usually they think that you need to humble yourself if you have sinned. You have sinned, they say, now sit and reproach yourself: I am a sinner, I am this, I am that. This is true. But not all of it. Christ had no sin. However, he says: I am meek and lowly in heart. That is, humility is not directly related to the sin committed. You can humble yourself without sinning. You can humble your pride by seeing the greatness of God’s works and comparing them with your own smallness. Or, delving into the historical fate of Providence. You can humble yourself through active compassion. There are many ways.

It's the same with enemies. It is possible, without offending anyone personally, to have many enemies. To do this, you just need to take a specific sin, pull it out of the darkness of everyday life under the spotlight of public attention and slap it in the face. Sin, of course. You will be surprised, but many will refuse to talk to you after this. And many more will burst into such sailor abuse that you did not even imagine with their diplomas. Let me give you a theoretical example.

There is a commandment to honor father and mother. The commandment does not stipulate the moral qualities of parents and does not make honoring them dependent on the “goodness” of the latter. However, it does not require love, but only reverence. Interpretations are needed. But at the same time, “he who curses his father and mother will die.” Moreover, he raises his hand against elderly parents. And so you happened to speak passionately on this topic, whether on air or in company. You described the abomination of violence against old age, which gave you life. And they didn’t mince words. Two or three people who heard this speech silently nodded their heads. And one (one) suddenly blushed (la) and fidgeted in his chair. Then he said: Well, you know... There are all sorts of parents! There is, you know, such a thing! And in general, who gave you the right to judge thousands of different destinies so categorically? And anyway (increasingly heated) who are you? Yes, I love you... Yes, I love you! (Here things can easily escalate to assault). But it’s obvious - “while tearing apart a pile of manure, you suddenly found a grain of pearl.” Sin has been exposed and the sinner has given himself away. Now perhaps he is your enemy, for you are the revealer of his shameful secret.

The same will happen with the rest of the sinful price list. You yourself are not sinless, so you won’t get much thunder and lightning from you - your conscience hurts. But even if you casually bypass the ills of society, you will certainly come across defenders of theft from the budget (which seems to be a hint). You will also come across defenders of sexual freedom before marriage, abortion, divorce, and smoking marijuana. For lovers of piercings, adherents of suicide, advocates of pederasty, atheism, gluttony, pagan sacrifices, and so on. All this “seems to hint”, which means that you, as an unwitting developer of other people’s “tricks”, strangely combined with a cross on your chest, will not have a good time. Personalities are not affected, but enemies have appeared.

It is this infernal reality that you will come to terms with. It will be a good humbling experience. Without public swearing (because it’s useless), without personal curses and denunciations (because it’s impossible!), but only for real holiness against real sins and with real bumps and mental fatigue. So, if sin is not dear to you, and your mouth has not yet been stuffed with clay, and you speak clearly without any “heavy talk” about modern life, you will have more than enough enemies. In all strata of society. And the Church... It’s a pity.

Obviously, priests, journalists, and teachers with a clearly expressed position in life fall into the category of lightning rods that collect the peals of hatred. Well, yes – politicians. And the enemies are not asphalt pavers or ticket takers at the theater box office. The enemies are still the same priests, as well as teachers and journalists, politicians with the opposite position or without any. All the boring preachers of morality in the spirit of “no matter what happens” are there. All the tenderly sublime ones, which, most likely, it was not the mother who gave birth in screams and blood, but some stork who slowly and softly brought them to the cabbage field - also there. And whoever is not there! The pen will be exhausted to describe. The pen breaks and the lead of the pencil is erased to the root. I assure you, Noah’s Ark, in its diversity of composition, is very similar to this virtual council of “moral watchmen.”

And these are your chains, friends. You who do not agree to bless everything, and who clearly distinguish what can be blessed from what should be cursed. You cannot demolish some faiths, and you cannot avoid these. Unless we accept ahead of time the feat of remaining silent about the things happening around us. Then there will be more peace. Will there be more benefit - I’m silent. For once I remain silent.

It's hard to talk if you're in chains. Specific.

How interconnected and free are people in salvation?

It is obvious that a child raised in a dysfunctional family, for example, in a family of drug addicts or simply atheists, initially has fewer opportunities to know God than a child from a relatively prosperous Christian family. People influence each other, for example, we see numerous examples in the world around us when one person kills or maims another. Nevertheless, everyone can achieve salvation, because God has given each of us an internal guide—conscience—and calls every person to His Church. “...And from everyone to whom much is given, much will be required; and to whom much is entrusted, they will require more from him” (Luke 2:48).

Christianity

At birth, a person receives human life from God and from his earthly parents. According to the teachings of the church, this is a temporary and imperfect life, and eternal, perfect, incorruptible life (divine life) is given to a person only upon “being born again” (John 3:3-8), that is, for this one must be born of God, become His child, through faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God and His atoning sacrifice.

At the end of time, all people will be resurrected, judged by God (Rom. 14:10-12), they will receive their reward or punishment according to their lives. All who accept Christ will be glorified and become the corporate expression of the Triune God on the new earth. For believers and those who love God, this life will be so blessed that even those who have received the Spirit from God cannot yet imagine it, “But, as it is written: eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and what God has prepared has not entered into the heart of man.” those who love Him. But God revealed this to us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For which man knows what is in a man except the spirit of man that dwells in him? Likewise, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. But we have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we might know the things freely given to us from God, which we proclaim not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Holy Spirit, comparing spiritual with spiritual” (1 Cor. 2:9-13) .

Those who do not believe and are wicked will not receive the gift of eternal life, they will be damned for eternity “for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life” (Rom. 6:23). Instead of eternal life, eternal punishment is prepared for them: “eternal destruction” (2 Thess. 1:9), “another death” (Rev. 20:15), or “eternal fire” (Matthew 25:41), “unquenchable fire” (Mark 9:43, 45) together with the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41). This punishment and torment will never end for them, it will be eternal.

[edit] Sources

1. Sergius (Starogorodsky), archbishop. Orthodox teaching on salvation. Ed. 4. St. Petersburg, 1910: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Sergij_Stragorodskij/pravoslavnoe-uchenie-o-spasenii/
2. Salvation in Islam: https://www.islamforchristians.com/salvation-islam/
3. Then We (that is, Allah) will save the God-fearing, and leave the wrongdoers there on their knees (Quran 19:73(72): https://ru.quranacademy.org/quran/19:72
4. Allah will save the God-fearing, and they will achieve success (Quran 39:62(61)) https://ru.quranacademy.org/quran/39:61
5. O you who believe! Shall I point you to a trade that will save you from painful suffering? Believe in Allah and His Messenger and fight in the cause of Allah with your wealth and your souls... He will forgive you your sins, He will introduce you to Gardens of Eden in which rivers flow, and to beautiful dwellings in the Gardens of Eden (Quran 61:10(10)- 12(12)): https://ru.quranacademy.org/quran/61:10; https://ru.quranacademy.org/quran/61:12
6. There is only one God. By the grace of the True Guru, He is reached. (Adi Granth) https://adigranth.greenspot.fi/index.html?page=1
7. The wards of the Guru are saved, and the wards of the mind lose their honor. Adi Grath page 180 https://adigranth.greenspot.fi/index.html?page=180
8. O fool! Take care of virtues and remember the all-pervading God. Conceit and selfishness bewitch. Arrogance has deceived everyone. (Adi-Granth): https://adigranth.greenspot.fi/index.html?page=11
9. Without a Name, a person suffers in reincarnation. The love of duality has drowned many people. https://adigranth.greenspot.fi/index.html?page=11
10. The depraved die of thirst for worldly things. They wander in many births. Their fate is so predetermined. Adi Granth page 180 https://adigranth.greenspot.fi/index.html?page=180
11. O Savior, the five absurd vices are the enemies of the lonely, unhappy soul. Save me from them. Adi Grath p.201 https://adigranth.greenspot.fi/index.html?page=201
12. Those who meditated on the Naam - the Name of the Lord, and left here after they worked honestly - O Nanak! their faces at the Court of the Lord shine, and many are liberated with them! (Adi-Granth): https://adigranth.greenspot.fi/index.html?page=1
13. By good actions we obtain the physical mantle, and with the blessing of the Lord, the Gate of Salvation. (Adi Granth): https://adigranth.greenspot.fi/index.html?page=1
14. He who obeys the commands of the Lord reaches the Door of Salvation. He who obeys the commands of the Lord transforms his loved ones and relatives. He who obeys the decrees of the Lord himself is saved and saves the Sikh Guru. (Adi Granth): https://adigranth.greenspot.fi/index.html?page=1
15. Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences "ABSOLUTE SPIRIT". https://iphras.ru/page50973574.htm
16. “Phenomenology of Spirit” https://megatracker.rf/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2422147
17. TECHNOLOGIES OF SALVATION ACCORDING TO THE TEACHINGS OF GRIGORY GRABOVOV https://textarchive.ru/c-1321656-pall.html
18. GRIGORY GRABOVOY Doctrine of Salvation and harmonious development Methods of work of the Soul for control through the Spiritual state. pp. 3-5: https://sphere-academy.com/texts/2003-01-31%20Gr_Grabovoi%20Metody_raboty_Dushi_dla_upravleniya.pdf
19. Perceptual alternation: https://www.coursera.org/lecture/psikhologiya-soznaniya/piertsieptivnoie-chieriedovaniie-Ar8VK
20. World creation. "Save yourself." "Save the world within yourself." “Save the world around you” In 3 volumes Petrov Arkady: https://b-ok.org/book/2733570/4c9353
21. Rescue technologies of Grigory Grabovoi,: https://vita-infinity.com/uchenie-g-grabovogo/124-ob-uchenii-grigoriya-grabovogo-o-spasenii-i-garmonichnom-razvitii