Let every breath praise the Lord
Recently, the editor of a book collecting evidence for the existence of God asked me if I had any thoughts on this matter. There is more than enough evidence: both theological and scientific, but, obviously, writers must have some special revelations of their own, which people who do not belong to the writing guild have not yet thought of. I apologized, saying that I couldn’t tell anything original. But, as soon as he said “have me renounced,” he immediately began to reflect on the given topic and remembered several stories about how educated and creative people, as well as those who were not creative or not bookish, talked about God with those who tried to convince them is that there is no God.
Those who have had a personal encounter with God do not need any evidence
Evidence... Those who have had a personal meeting with God do not need any evidence. Everything is clear with theologians. But with scientists and those who believe in science, it’s more complicated. If Pascal and Newton were theologians, and Darwin (even after the story with the monkey) did not cease to believe in God, then his adherents made him an “apostle of godlessness.” Atheism became fashionable, and in the scientific community, the absolute majority was instilled with a new faith - the belief that faith in God is a sign of backwardness and ignorance, incompatible with the title of a real scientist.
Atheist credo: “Science has proven that there is no God, and what it cannot explain now will certainly soon be able to explain.” After all, it moves forward along with progress and will explain everything over time.”
But in the middle of the 20th century, American biologists Watson and Crick made an incredible discovery: DNA molecules are carriers of genetic information about the heredity and characteristics of a living organism. This is text. Who wrote it? Every text has an author. It became clear to many who this Author was. But still, the majority of scientists remained faithful to materialism and continue to vehemently reject the very idea of the existence of a Creator. Hypotheses are put forward, presented almost in the form of laws, about self-generating and self-developing structures. For some reason, they are silent about the fact that all this “self-emerging” does not lead to any complex development. On the contrary, we see an ever-increasing degradation of everything and everyone. But the hypothesis about the origin of man from the ape can be accepted exactly the opposite. Before our eyes, many representatives of Homo sapiens are becoming ape-like lustful creatures with the antics and intelligence of a supposed ancestor, losing the ability to think and express what can hardly be called thoughts.
Watching the discussion between creationists and materialists, you understand that the latter simply remain faithful to the order not to recognize God in any way. They don't want God. For sensible people, it is clear that the countless hypotheses they create are just a smoke screen behind which they hide the obligation to fight the Lord God to the end.
If they do not accept any reasons of theologians in principle, then the sound ideas of their colleagues in the scientific workshop are either suppressed or ridiculed.
I recently learned that the American scientist Peter Stone has come up with an original way to prove that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and the Son of God. He studied 456 fulfilled Old Testament prophecies about Christ and selected 8:
- Birthplace of the Messiah.
- The sermon of the prophet sent before Him (John the Baptist).
- Entering Jerusalem on a donkey.
- Betrayal by His closest disciple.
- The fee for betrayal is 30 pieces of silver.
- Money for betrayal will be thrown in the temple.
- The Messiah will remain silent before his accusers.
- He will be crucified.
Using probability theory and modern calculation methods, he found that the chances of these eight prophecies being fulfilled on one person are equal to 10 to the minus 17th power. For clarity, for his fellow American citizens who highly respect their banknotes, he explained what this means: “If you cover the entire territory of the state of Texas with a layer of 60 cm with one-dollar coins, and then blindfolded try to find a single coin...”. And since, despite all the improbability, everything was exactly fulfilled, as was said by the prophets about the Messiah, then... (think, gentlemen atheists).
I am afraid that the debate between creationists and materialists will continue until the end of time. For those who do not want to see the Truth, it is impossible to prove even what is obvious from the point of view of common sense. This means that there is no need to prove anything, especially since the famous Mr. Gödel states in his theorem: no evidence can prove anything and is itself unprovable.
For those who do not want to see the Truth, it is impossible to prove even what is obvious from the point of view of common sense
I’d rather tell you a few funny stories about how people who are far from modern science talk about God.
A resident of the Tver village, Baba Panya, sits on a rubble with her neighbor, a tractor driver, and he scolds her for going to church in the regional center.
- What, Panya, didn’t you see in this church? Are you shaking on the train or on the bus for 20 miles early in the morning? It would be better if I slept better on Sunday. Everyone knows that there is no God.
- Wow, there are drunken tractor drivers, but there is no God?!
- Here I am, sitting with you. Can you see me. Who has ever seen God?
“I see and hear him with my heart.” Before I even have time to do anything bad, he tells me: “Don’t do this, Panechka, don’t do it.” Right now I want to hit you in the face with a rag so that you don’t blaspheme, but He says to me: “No need, Panechka, what will you take from him?! You’d better go to the hut, out of harm’s way.” I'll go. Conscience in me is the voice of God. And you, drunkards, have drunk your conscience away, and that is why you do not feel God.
She said to her grandson, who had entered the institute, and was trying to turn her away from the faith: “When your science makes a machine into which they put hay, and milk flows out of it, like from our little cow, then I will believe your science.” I witnessed this conversation and asked the young man to trace the evolutionary chain from the cosmic dust of the First Explosion to the most seedy Burenka (even the one that milks less than a goat).
He referred to the fact that he was still only a first-year student, and promised to continue the conversation in 5 years, when he becomes a scientist. I don’t know what kind of scientist he became, but after 3 years he completely stopped coming to the one who raised him and fed him from the cradle. Baba Panya lived after that conversation for another 10 years and ended her days in a nursing home, where she fought off unbelieving neighbors, orderlies and nurses until her death. When I visited her shortly before her death, she, sitting on the bed in a sweatshirt and felt boots, deftly fought off a nurse dressed in a faux fur coat (then there was almost no drowning at all).
– What should I, Galya, talk to you about God? Here I am in fufan. It is sewn from natural fabric. Both natural cotton wool and wool in felt boots - everything is made from what God created. I'm warm too. And you’re wearing a short fur coat made from oil (or some other chemical). There is little heat in it, but electricity... Look how sparks fall from it when you take it off, pure fireworks - even plug in Ilyich’s light bulb. You, who wear such fur coats, can be used instead of the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station...
This is how the theological conversation turned out.
About 30 years ago, an elderly Tajik told me why he believes in God.
“We had such a case in our village.” A snake crawled to my neighbors house. Huge - more than a meter. All wounded. The eagle tore it with its claws. She lay down at the threshold. The owner wanted to kill her, but his wife persuaded her not to kill her. I poured milk into her bowl. I started feeding. The snake settled under the stairs and did not crawl anywhere, and drove away other snakes. And we have a lot of this goodness. One day the neighbors went up the mountain to mow. The snake is behind them. They hung their child in a cradle on a tree and mowed it down. And the child kicked and fell out of the cradle. I rolled down the slope, and there it was not far from the cliff. So the snake caught up with him, wrapped it around him, grabbed the root of some bush with its teeth and held him for a long time on the edge of the cliff, until his mother and father came running to the cry. Who taught this snake this? Instinct, would you say? There is no such instinct to save children who have fallen out of the cradle. And I’ll tell you, God can even send a snake to save you!
This story is incredible. It is difficult for even a believer to believe in it. But the narrator was a communist and the chairman of a collective farm. There was no way he would lie, since this public was strictly forbidden to believe in God. He told me this in great confidence.
To an open-minded person, everything around us speaks of God's greatness
To an open-minded person, everything around us speaks of God's greatness. Even television programs about nature: about millions of species of birds, animals, fish and flowers - can convince you that the world was created by a Great Creator with an incomprehensible artistic taste and “engineering genius.” May the Lord forgive me for these poor words, unable to reflect the depth of admiration for the beauties of God's world. You can spend hours looking at the raging sea, at the sunset, at the fire of the fire, at the mountains covered with snow, at the steppe in the bright lights of blooming poppies, at the blossoming apple and cherry trees, at the fast mountain rivers and the slow waters of wide lowland rivers. No matter where you look, there is evidence of God's work. And every breath praises the Lord! And how the tiny nightingale praises Him, singing without recharging all night long! And the forests and oak groves rustling under the strong wind! And the meadows in the river valleys! What kind of artist would be able to decorate green grass with thousands of different colors like that... You’ll admire it, look up, and there such pictures of white clouds drawn across the blue sky will take your breath away! And then suddenly a menacing color will swirl and fall, and it’s no longer azure above you, but a black-blue gloom. And from it - cranked arrows of lightning, and thunder - thousands of guns cannot thunder like that...
This is probably not exactly what the editor asked me to do. Many will say that these stories about the faith of uneducated people in God are not proof! So Gödel says that nothing can be proven...
Eh, gentlemen, atheists, where have you lost your heart, capable of feeling the One who called you from oblivion?! We are poor, poor...
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Prot. Dimitry Smirnov:Actually, to be honest, it says “let him praise the Lord,” but the meaning does not change because our Lord is our God.
“Every breath” refers to every creation of God. All the creatures of God that breathe - birds, amphibians, animals, and plants, because everything that God created, He created for His glory.
God for us, His creations, is absolutely invisible and incomprehensible, which is expressed in these words: “No one has seen God anywhere” (John 1:18).
But we can observe the greatness of God in His creation. We see the tit, its beauty - and praise God.
And the tit, chirping, praises God. And so is every living being.
A beautiful shell glorifies its Creator, because the mollusk does not have a developed brain; it could not create such a structure itself. This is the Lord.
Or the structure of a hive - an insect, a bee, cannot create it, God created it. And the beehive with its most intelligent structure glorifies God. All fish and all animals praise God. Every breath glorifies the Lord by its existence.
And God desires that a person who has been given the great gift of reason, speech, marriage, the ability to know God, through religion, which God also gave to man, glorify God through shame and conscience.
This is a call to all creation.
But, of course, it is not only creatures that are living beings who glorify God. The mountains, as has been said, and the rivers and seas praise God. So everything created by God praises Him.
The universe especially praises God.
Anyone who looks at the sky can feel this, seeing its bottomless size and absolutely divine beauty - especially in our nature and region, this is the August night, which shows us the greatness of God the Creator.
I remember, as a small child of about five years old, the sight of the sky put me in such a state that I still remember this event when I paid attention to it.
Since then I have been under this impression and, when I find myself in front of a clear sky dotted with stars, I remember this childhood impression, and it continues to affect me.
Volcanoes also praise God, now Etna is erupting. What kind of energy power is concentrated inside our planet, and how did God arrange that the earth’s crust holds this power within itself, and only at certain points shows us what is inside - such temperatures that we can only reproduce for a few seconds with the help of our technology. But for God this is not something transcendental. Real plasma is very close, and the Lord will protect us. Prot. Alexander Berezovsky: And God’s highest creation – man – falls out of this common orchestra. Prot. Dimitry Smirnov: Yes, a person has a journey ahead of him. He must use the precious gift of freedom in order to also glorify God with his life. So that people see a person’s good deeds and glorify the Heavenly Father. ……………………………………. Answer: Father Dimitry Smirnov
Stichera of the Book of Hours for Great Compline, after the third Trisagion
Stichera 1 of Great Compline after the 3rd Trisagion, tone 6:
Lord of strength, be with us, / for what other help to you in sorrows are not the imams // Lord of strength, have mercy on us. Verse 1: Praise God in His saints, // praise Him in the strengthening of His power. Lord of hosts, be with us... Verse 2: Praise Him according to His strength, // praise Him according to the abundance of His majesty. Lord of hosts, be with us... Verse 3: Praise Him with the trumpet, // Praise Him with the psaltery and harp. Lord of hosts, be with us... Verse 4: Praise Him in the tympanum and face, // praise Him in the strings and organ. The Lord of hosts, be with us... Verse 5: Praise Him with the cymbals of good acclaim, // Praise Him with the cymbals of shouting. Lord of strength, be with us... //Let every breath praise the Lord. Lord of hosts, be with us... Praise God in His saints, // praise Him in strengthening His power. Lord of strength, be with us, / for what other help to you in sorrows are not the imams // Lord of strength, have mercy on us.
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Verse No. Vel1kagw Povecheriz, according to G tris™0m, voice ѕ7:
Gdi s1l be with us,/ and aren’t you/ a helper in grief and not our mothers // gdi s1l, have mercy on us. Article No: Praise bGa in s™hx є3гw2,// praise є3гw2 in affirmation of the power of є3гw2. Gdi si1l, be with us: Stjkh v7: Praise є3гw2 on the strength of є3гw2,// praise є3гw2 according to the multitude of majestyz є3гw2. Gdi s1l, be with us: Stjkh G: Praise є3го2 in the voice of trumpets,// praise є3го2 in ralti1ri and3 gyslekh. Gdi si1l, be with us: Stjkh d7: Praise the 3go2 in tmpane and 3 face, // praise the 3go2 in the strings and 3 nrgane. Gdi si1l, be with us: Stjkh є7: Praise є3г2 in the praise of good-willed ones, // praise є3гh2 in the ммvalех exclamations. Gdi si1l, be with us: //All breath and praise gda. Wherever you are, be with us: Praise bGa in s™hx є3гw2, // praise є3гw2 in affirmation of the power є3гw2. Gdi s1l, be with us,/ and aren’t you/ a helper in grief and not your mother // gdi s1l, have mercy on us.
Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit:
Stichera 2 of Great Compline after the 3rd Trisagion, tone 6:
Lord, even if Thy holy one were not in existence, the prayer books had,/ and Thy goodness that has mercy on us:/ how dared the Savior to be in existence, to sing to Thee,/ Whom the Angels incessantly glorify;// Heart-conscious, forgiving dei our souls.
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Verse 1 in 7 great evening, according to G tris™0мъ, voice ѕ7:
GDi, we have not yet bhhom s™y6z yours‰ and3 the martyrdoms,/ and3 your blessing2 merciful to us:/ how dared bhhomj sp7se, peti tS,/ є3g0zhe glorify the unceasing ѓggli;// heart-hearted, have mercy 2 souls of ours.
And now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Stichera 3 at Great Compline after the 3rd Trisagion, tone 6:
O Mother of God, I have many many sins,/ I have come running to You, O Pure One,/ demanding salvation./ Visit my weak soul,/ and pray to Your Son and our God,/ to grant me forgiveness, / Even in the most cruel deeds, // the Blessed One is the only one.
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Verse G ve1kagw in the evening, according to G tris™0m, voice ѕ7:
Many of my1x btsde sins,/ I have come to you with cleanliness,/ sp7seniz demand./ sat2 my weak2 soul,/ and3 prayers2 from your2 and3 bGa of ours,/ on the date of my2 installation,/ ±the same as the fierce ones,// є3di1na blogosvennaz.
Stichera 4 at Great Compline after the 3rd Trisagion, tone 6:
All-Holy Mother of God,/ during my life/ do not forsake me,/ do not entrust me to human intercession, // but intercede Yourself and have mercy on me.
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Verse 1ra d7 ve1kagw vecheriz, according to G tris™0m, voice ѕ7:
Everything is here,/ in the time of my belly2/ do not leave me,/ do not entrust me to human intercession // but intercede2 yourself, and3 have mercy on me.
Stichera 5 at Great Compline after the 3rd Trisagion, tone 6:
I place all my trust in You, Mother of God, // keep me under Your roof.
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Verse 7 great in the evening, according to G tris™0m, voice 7:
I place all my trust in you, m™i b9iz, // keep 1 mz under your 8 roof.
Author: Administrator
Publication date: 02/05/2020
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