A truly good Christian life can only be had by one who has faith in Christ in himself and tries to live according to this faith, that is, fulfills the will of God through good deeds.
So that people knew how to live and what to do, God gave them His commandments - the Law of God. The Prophet Moses received the Ten Commandments from God approximately 1500 years before the birth of Christ. This happened when the Jews emerged from slavery in Egypt and approached Mount Sinai in the desert.
God Himself wrote the Ten Commandments on two stone tablets (slabs). The first four commandments outlined man's duties towards God. The remaining six commandments outlined man's duties towards his fellowmen. People at that time were not yet accustomed to living according to the will of God and easily committed serious crimes. Therefore, for violating many commandments, such as: for idolatry, bad words against God, for bad words against parents, for murder and for violation of marital fidelity, the death penalty was imposed. The Old Testament was dominated by a spirit of severity and punishment. But this severity was useful for people, as it restrained their bad habits, and people little by little began to improve.
The other Nine Commandments (the Beatitudes) are also known, which the Lord Jesus Christ Himself gave to people at the very beginning of His preaching. The Lord ascended a low mountain near Lake Galilee. The apostles and many people gathered around Him. The Beatitudes are dominated by love and humility. They set out how a person can gradually achieve perfection. The basis of virtue is humility (spiritual poverty). Repentance cleanses the soul, then meekness and love for God’s truth appear in the soul. After this, a person becomes compassionate and merciful and his heart is so purified that he becomes able to see God (feel His presence in his soul).
But the Lord saw that most people choose evil and that evil people will hate and persecute true Christians. Therefore, in the last two beatitudes, the Lord teaches us to patiently endure all injustices and persecution from bad people.
We should focus our attention not on the fleeting trials that are inevitable in this temporary life, but on the eternal bliss that God has prepared for people who love Him.
Most of the commandments of the Old Testament tell us what we should not do, but the commandments of the New Testament teach us how to act and what to strive for.
The content of all the commandments of both the Old and New Testaments can be summarized in two commandments of love given by Christ: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. The second is similar to it—thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. " And the Lord also gave us the right guidance on how to act: “As you want people to do to you, do so to them.”
The Beatitudes.
Explanation of the Beatitudes.
The First Beatitude.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit (humble), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
The word "blessed" means extremely happy.
The poor in spirit are humble people who are aware of their imperfection. Spiritual poverty is the conviction that all the advantages and benefits that we have - health, intelligence, various abilities, abundance of food, home, etc. - we received all this from God. Everything good in us is God's.
Humility is the first and fundamental Christian virtue. Without humility a person cannot excel in any other virtue. Therefore, the first commandment of the New Testament speaks of the need to become humble. A humble person asks God for help in everything, always thanks God for the blessings given to him, reproaches himself for his shortcomings or sins and asks God for help to correct. God loves humble people and always helps them, but He does not help the proud and arrogant. “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble,” the Holy Scripture teaches us (Prov. 3:34).
Just as humility is the first virtue, so pride is the beginning of all sins. Long before the creation of our world, one of the angels close to God, named Dennitsa, became proud of the brightness of his mind and his closeness to God and wanted to become equal to God. He made a revolution in heaven and drew some of the angels into disobedience. Then the angels, devoted to God, expelled the rebellious angels from paradise. The disobedient angels formed their own kingdom - hell. This is how evil began in the world.
The Lord Jesus Christ is for us the greatest example of humility. “Learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls,” He told His disciples. Very often, people who are very gifted spiritually are “poor in spirit” - that is, humble, and people who are less talented or completely untalented, on the contrary, are very proud, loving praise. The Lord also said: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12).
Second Beatitude.
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."
Those who mourn are those who recognize their sins and shortcomings and repent of them.
The crying spoken of in this commandment is grief of the heart and tears of repentance for sins committed. “Sorrow for God’s sake produces repentance leading to salvation, but worldly sorrow produces death,” says St. Apostle Paul. Worldly sadness, which is harmful to the soul, is excessive grief due to the loss of everyday objects or due to failures in life. Worldly sadness comes from sinful attachment to worldly goods, due to pride and selfishness. Therefore it is harmful.
Sadness can be useful for us when we cry out of compassion for our neighbors who are in trouble. We also cannot be indifferent when we see other people commit evil deeds. The increase in evil among people should cause us to feel sorrow. This feeling of sorrow comes from love for God and goodness. Such grief is good for the soul, as it cleanses it of passions.
As a reward for those who cry, the Lord promises that they will be comforted: they will receive forgiveness of sins, and through this inner peace, they will receive eternal joy.
The Third Beatitude.
"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth."
Meek people are those who do not quarrel with anyone, but give in. Meekness is calmness, a state of soul full of Christian love, in which a person never gets irritated and never allows himself to grumble.
Christian meekness is expressed in patiently enduring insults. The opposite sins of meekness are: anger, malice, irritability, vindictiveness.
The Apostle taught Christians: “If it is possible on your part, be at peace with all people” (Rom. 12:18).
A meek person prefers to remain silent when insulted by another person. A meek person will not quarrel over something taken away. A meek person will not raise his voice at another person or shout swear words.
The Lord promises the meek that they will inherit the earth. This promise means that meek people will be heirs of the heavenly fatherland, the “new earth” (2 Peter 3:13). For their meekness, they will receive many benefits from God forever, while daring people who offended others and robbed the meek will receive nothing in that life.
A Christian must remember that God sees everything and that He is infinitely just. Everyone will get what they deserve.
The Fourth Beatitude.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
Hungry - those who strongly desire to eat, hungry. Thirsty - those who have a strong desire to drink. “Truth” means the same thing as holiness, that is, spiritual perfection.
In other words, this commandment could be said like this: blessed are those who strive with all their might for holiness, for spiritual perfection, because they will receive it from God.
Those who hunger and thirst for truth are those people who, aware of their sinfulness, fervently desire to become better. They strive with all their might to live according to the commandments of God.
The expression “hungry and thirsty” shows that our desire for truth should be as strong as the desire of the hungry and thirsty to satisfy their hunger and thirst. King David perfectly expresses this desire for righteousness: “As a deer strives for streams of water, so desires my soul for You, O God!” (Ps. 41:2)
The Lord promises those who hunger and thirst for righteousness that they will be satisfied, i.e. that they will achieve righteousness with God's help.
This Beatitude teaches us not to be satisfied with being no worse than other people. We must become cleaner and better every day of our lives. The parable of the talents tells us that we are responsible before God for those talents, that is, those abilities that God gave us, and for the opportunities that He provided us to “multiply” our talents. The lazy slave was punished not because he was bad, but because he buried his talent, that is, he did not acquire anything good in this life.
The Fifth Beatitude.
"Blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy."
Merciful are people who are compassionate towards others, these are people who feel sorry for other people who are in trouble or in need of help.
Deeds of mercy are material and spiritual.
Material works of mercy:
Feed the hungry
Give drink to the thirsty
To clothe the one who lacks clothes,
Visit a sick person.
Often there is a Sisterhood at churches that sends help to people in need in different countries. You can send your financial assistance through the church sisterhood or another charitable organization.
If there is a car accident or we see a sick person on the road, we must call an ambulance and make sure that this person receives medical care. Or, if we see that someone is being robbed or beaten, we need to call the police to save this person.
Works of spiritual mercy:
Give your neighbor good advice.
Forgive the offense.
Teach the ignorant truth and goodness.
Help the sinner to get on the right path.
Pray for your neighbors to God.
The Lord promises the merciful as a reward that they themselves will receive mercy, i.e. at the upcoming judgment of Christ they will be shown mercy: God will have mercy on them.
“Blessed is he who thinks (cares) for the poor and needy; in the day of trouble the Lord will deliver him” (Psalm).
The Sixth Beatitude.
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."
Pure in heart are those people who not only do not openly sin, but also do not harbor vicious and unclean thoughts, desires and feelings in themselves, in their hearts. The heart of such people is free from attachment to corruptible earthly things and free from sins and passions implanted by passion, pride and pride. People who are pure in heart constantly think about God and always see His presence.
To acquire purity of heart, one must keep the fasts commanded by the Church and try to avoid overeating, drunkenness, indecent films and dances, and reading obscene magazines.
Purity of heart is much higher than simple sincerity. Purity of heart consists only in sincerity, in the frankness of a person in relation to his neighbor, and purity of heart requires the complete suppression of vicious thoughts and desires, and constant thought about God and His holy Law.
The Lord promises people with a pure heart as a reward that they will see God. Here on earth they will see Him gracefully and mysteriously, with the spiritual eyes of the heart. They can see God in His appearances, images and likenesses. In the future eternal life they will see God as He is; and since seeing God is the source of the highest bliss, the promise to see God is the promise of the highest bliss.
The Seventh Beatitude.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”
Peacemakers are people who live with everyone in peace and harmony, who do a lot to ensure that there is peace between people.
Peacemakers are those people who themselves try to live with everyone in peace and harmony and try to reconcile other people who are at war with each other, or at least pray to God for their reconciliation. The Apostle Paul wrote: “If it is possible on your part, be at peace with all people.”
The Lord promises the peacemakers that they will be called sons of God, that is, they will be closest to God, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. By their feat, peacemakers are likened to the Son of God - Jesus Christ, who came to earth to reconcile sinners with the justice of God and to establish peace between people, instead of the enmity that prevailed between them. Therefore, peacemakers are promised the gracious name of children of God, and with this endless bliss.
The Apostle Paul says: “If you are children of God, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him; because I think that the sufferings of this present time are worth nothing in comparison with that glory, which will be revealed in us" (Rom. 8:17-18).
The Eighth Beatitude.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Those persecuted for the sake of truth are those true believers who so love to live in truth, i.e. according to the Law of God, that for the firm fulfillment of their Christian duties, for their righteous and pious life, they suffer persecution, persecution, deprivation from wicked people, from enemies, but do not betray the truth in any way.
Persecution is inevitable for Christians who live according to the truth of the gospel, because evil people hate the truth and always persecute those people who defend the truth. The Only Begotten Son of God Jesus Christ himself was crucified on the cross by his enemies, and He predicted to all His followers: “If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:20). And the Apostle Paul wrote: “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12).
In order to patiently endure persecution for the sake of truth, a person must have: love for the truth, constancy and firmness in virtue, courage and patience, faith and hope in God’s help.
The Lord promises the Kingdom of Heaven to those persecuted for the sake of righteousness, i.e. complete triumph of the spirit, joy and bliss in the heavenly villages.
The Ninth Beatitude.
“Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and say all sorts of unjust things against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven.”
In the last, ninth commandment, our Lord Jesus Christ calls especially blessed those who, for the name of Christ and for the true Orthodox faith in Him, patiently endure reproach, persecution, slander, slander, mockery, disasters and even death.
Such a feat is called martyrdom. There can be nothing higher than the feat of martyrdom.
The courage of Christian martyrs must be distinguished from fanaticism, which is zeal beyond reason. Christian courage must also be distinguished from the insensibility caused by despair and from the feigned indifference with which some criminals, in their extreme bitterness and pride, listen to the verdict and go to execution.
Christian courage is based on high Christian virtues: faith in God, hope in God, love for God and neighbors, complete obedience and unshakable loyalty to the Lord God.
A high example of martyrdom is Christ the Savior Himself, as well as the Apostles and countless Christians who joyfully went to suffer for the Name of Christ. For the feat of martyrdom, the Lord promises a great reward in heaven, i.e. the highest degree of bliss in the future eternal life. But even here on earth, the Lord glorifies many martyrs for their firm confession of faith through the incorruption of their bodies and miracles.
The Apostle Peter wrote: “If they slander you because of the Name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of Glory, the Spirit of God, rests on you. By these he is blasphemed, but by you he is glorified” (1 Peter 4:14).
First, there are the Ten Commandments of God and the Nine Beatitudes. These commandments are different, and since there are many letters about this, it makes sense to talk about this topic.
The Ten Commandments of God say:
1. I am the Lord your God, so that you will have no other God but Me;
2. Do not make for yourself an idol or any likeness in heaven and on earth; (The pagans worshiped animals, birds, etc.);
3. Do not use the name of the Lord your God in vain (that is, when you should not: in jokes, empty conversations, etc.);
4. Remember, the Sabbath day is for good deeds. Dedicate this day to the Lord your God;
5. Honor your father and your mother, and for this you will be rewarded with long life;
6. Do not kill (that is, do not take the life of a person);
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery;
8. Thou shalt not steal;
9. Don’t inform, don’t betray;
10. Do not envy or covet your neighbor’s wife, do not encroach on someone else’s property.
These ten commandments of the Law of God were given by the Lord himself on Mount Sinai through Moses. The first four commandments contain the duties of love for God, and the remaining six commandments call for love for all people.
Now about the nine beatitudes:
1. “Blessed is the poor in spirit, for of them is the kingdom of heaven.”
Translated, this means: happy are those who are aware of their weakness, humble, because they will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven;
2. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
This must be understood this way: happy are people who repent of their sins and lament in tears, for they will receive consolation in the Kingdom of Heaven.
3. Blessed are the great ones, for they will inherit the earth. Happy are those people who are truly meek. They themselves are not angry and they do not anger others and therefore get along everywhere, for which they will receive all the blessings both on earth and in the Kingdom of Heaven for eternal possession.
4. Blessed is he who hungers and thirsts for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
This is what this means: those people who, like the hungry, seek salvation for their souls through true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, will find (be satisfied) with what they were seeking.
5. Blessedness of mercy, for there will be mercy;
Happy (lucky are those) who were sincerely merciful and did good deeds, knew how to forgive everything, therefore at the Last Judgment of God they will be pardoned by God from guilt and condemnation for their sins.
6. Blessed are those who are pure in heart, for they will see God. Those who keep their hearts pure and believe in God are rewarded by seeing God himself, which means they will be happy.
7. Blessed are the peacemakers, for these shall be called sons of God.
What does this commandment say? People who live in peace and reconcile others will truly be called sons of God, since they live in imitation of the Lord Jesus Christ, who reconciled God with sinners by suffering for them on the cross.
8. The blessed ones were expelled for the sake of righteousness, for they are the Kingdom of Heaven.
Happy is truly the one who, during his earthly life, resignedly endured persecution, abuse, and torment and died for his faith in Jesus Christ. It is truly true: from the hands of the Savior this martyr will receive a reward and the Kingdom of Heaven.
9. Blessed are you when they revile you, and despise you, and say all sorts of evil things against you for lying to me for my sake. Rejoice and be glad, for there is much reward in Heaven.
In this commandment, the Lord once again assures those who are truly faithful to him that he will support everyone and will not reject or sell anyone. As a loving Father, He will forgive him his mistakes for the fact that this man endured persecution and oppression and death for the sake of Jesus Christ.
priest Vasily Kutsenko
It was no coincidence that the Lord took the words from this particular psalm. Roman-occupied Judea saw what was said in the quotes just given. The wicked pagans, established in their title of rulers of the world, oppressing the poor and trampling on the holy things, conquered the chosen people of God. And the very hope for the Savior promised by God turned into the expectation of a leader who would lead the army in a war of liberation and conquer and destroy the enemies. But the coming Savior meekly reminds us that it is meekness and patience that will make believers heirs of the promises of God. These words contain a call to rethink the entire order we are accustomed to. And not just rethink it, but change it, starting first of all with ourselves. Be gentle, loving, patient, and not bold, proud, hateful and vindictive. Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who use you and persecute you. ().
Become like Christ
The Lord Jesus Christ spoke about Himself: I am meek and lowly in heart(). The meek become like Christ. But Christ promised the meek to inherit the earth. What land and where? And did He Himself inherit, being meek? Of course, it would be a mistake to see the promise of a comfortable plot of land in the words of Christ. After all, the Promiser Himself did not own anything in earthly life - He did not even have a place where He could bow your head(). And again we have a paradox before us - Christ, as God, is the Ruler of the world, but at the same time - he is the poorest of all - foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests(), and He is nothing. Nothing from earthly goods, nothing that sometimes turns into an idol to which everything is sacrificed. The Lord promises the meek a land where they live and do not die - land of the living(), eternal life with God, the life that Christ Himself lives. And only those who were meek, who were patient and kind, who were ready to open their love to others can accept this gift. Only the sincere and selfless can truly possess. God loves a person not because he wants to receive something in return for this love (and does God need anything in our sense?), but because He Himself is Love. Therefore, the signs of meekness can be called sincerity and selflessness - the desire to give oneself without expecting a reward. Because the reward from God is beyond any expectations. The apostle Paul expressed this idea best when he wrote to the Christian community of the city of Philippi that Christ He emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant, becoming in the likeness of men, and becoming in appearance like a man; He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even to the point of death, even death on the cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth. ().
In the famous book by Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) “The Screwtape Letters,” where the old experienced demon Screwtape gives advice to his young nephew, the tempting demon Gnusik, a simple and very deep idea is expressed that when a person sincerely and selflessly enjoys whatever it is, he thereby protects himself from the most subtle demonic temptations. Because meekness, combined with sincerity and selflessness, opens the way for God in a person’s heart.
This is the answer to the question posed at the beginning of our discussion - how can one be meek in this world? Genuine meekness, meekness in all its fullness, was revealed by Jesus Christ. And this means, in order to be meek, you need to be like Christ. Is this possible for humans? Man cannot become Christ in the literal sense, because Christ is the eternal God. But each of us - and all of us together in the Church, the Body of Christ - can become godlike, that is, similar to Christ. The power of Christ was revealed precisely in the seeming defeat - rejection by the people, crucifixion and death. Crucifixion and death were not an inglorious end, but an eternal victory over sin. Victory came from where it would have been hardest to expect. Therefore, our victory is connected with those virtues that are least valued in this world. Probably, this can be called one of the properties of God - to reveal Himself through something that no one expects. And one of the most striking manifestations of the power of God is this appearance to the prophet Elijah: And the Lord said to Elijah: Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, and behold, the Lord will pass by, and a great and strong wind will rend the mountains and break the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord will not be in the wind; after the wind there is an earthquake, but the Lord is not in the earthquake; after the earthquake there is fire, but the Lord is not in the fire; after the fire there is a breath of quiet wind...(). We see God not in the destructive and uncontrollable elements, but in the refreshing and gentle touch of a quiet wind, barely audible rustling the leaves. Quiet and gentle touch of God...
Life according to God's truth. About the Fourth Beatitude
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” ()
At first glance, it may seem that Christ praises the hungry (Church Slavonic “to hunger” means “to experience hunger”). But the Gospel repeatedly testifies: Christ Himself ate and drank and even made wine from water (see). Moreover, Christ’s participation in meals was so open that some said about Him: “Here is a man who loves to eat and drink wine, a friend of tax collectors and sinners” ().
It turns out that Christ Himself did not strive to become hungry and thirsty, but called others to this. And even more strange are the words of Christ that feeding the hungry and giving drink to the thirsty is one of the greatest virtues: “For I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink... Then the righteous will answer Him: Lord! when did we see you hungry and feed you? Or to the thirsty and gave them something to drink? And the King will answer them: “Truly I say to you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did it to Me” (). Or perhaps the beatitude in question has a different meaning?
The center of the fourth beatitude is the word “truth.” Those who hunger and thirst for the fourth commandment are those who seek righteousness, and yet do not want anything in return. A hungry person first of all wants to satisfy his hunger and thirst; he is unlikely to be interested in anything else. Believers must strive first of all for truth.
But what is truth - honesty, justice or something else? Perhaps Christ wants believers to be sincere, truthful people? This is a very useful quality for any person, not only for a believer. But still we are talking about something a little different. The word “truth” means righteousness (this is how the original Greek can be translated). This means that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are those who seek righteousness and want to be satisfied with righteousness. Hunger and thirst are constant companions of man. How many times a day do we eat and drink? The same is true in spiritual life. You cannot get enough of righteousness once. The desire for righteousness should always accompany the believer.
The great missionary, the Apostle Paul, spoke best about righteousness: “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for Him I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish, that I may gain
Christ and be found in Him, not with your own righteousness, which is from the law, but with that which is through faith in Christ, with the righteousness from God by faith" (). The Apostle Paul wanted only one thing - to be with Christ. These are the hunger and thirst that we hear about in the Beatitudes.
The Gospel of Matthew contains a story about the temptation of Christ by the devil. Before going out to preach, Jesus Christ stays in the desert for forty days, observing fasting. And so the tempter comes to Him and says: “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. He answered him, “It is written: Man will not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (). Righteousness is what becomes the content of human life. There is a famous saying: “We are our desires.” These words have no place in the Gospel. Because at the very beginning of the Gospel, Christ shows that man lives not only to satisfy his desires. Christ suffers hunger, but rejects temptation. And then Christ endures suffering and death, but restores life to everyone. Therefore, the only possible truth and righteousness is life with Christ and becoming like Him.
The gospel is a call to feel our dependence on God, dependence on righteousness. This call runs like a red thread through all the bliss. See your poverty before God, mourn your sins, become meek, hunger and thirst for the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God becomes the only criterion or measure of our lives. If we consider the expression: “Everyone has their own truth” to be correct, then where to look for this truth and how then to distinguish sin from virtue? If for us the truth is enclosed within the narrow framework of personal interests (after all, this is where the temptation lies: “Say, and the stones will become bread,” and even earlier the tempting serpent offered the first people: “Taste the fruit, and you will be like gods” (see) ), then we are already doomed to slavery to our own flesh. But God calls us, reminding us that we do not gain true life by bread alone.
But what kind of satisfaction does Christ promise to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness? The psalmist exclaims: “Those who seek the Lord do not lack any good” (). And the Lord asks a question, to which He Himself answers: “Is there such a person among you who, when his son asks him for bread, would give him a stone? and when he asks for a fish, would you give him a snake? So if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him” ().
Christ compares God to a father of a family, who is always ready to take care of his children, even if he himself is evil or dishonest. This does not mean that God is also angry and dishonest. It’s just that even if sinners love their children, then God loves us even more and is ready to share everything with us. Just as Christ shared with man even death itself. The only question is, how often do we ourselves seek the truth that the Gospel constantly calls us to search for? You can't be righteous on a schedule. You cannot answer Christ: “My working day as a righteous man has ended for today.” Christianity is not a job, a hobby or a club of interests. Christianity is life. Life with God. All our needs find meaning only in God. It is very convenient to believe that God is somewhere far away and has nothing to do with me personally. It is much more difficult to feel God here and now. Because this obliges us to seek Him, to strive for Him. But “The Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force, and those who use force take it away” ().
Blessed are the merciful. About the Fifth Beatitude
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy (). What does it mean? What does it even mean to be merciful? At first glance, this is one of the easiest commandments to understand...
To be merciful is to be tolerant, kind, merciful. To be merciful means to be ready to respond to someone else's pain and problem. The psalmist exclaimed: All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth (). God is merciful, and His mercy has no boundaries or conditions: “The Lord is generous and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in mercy: He is not angry until the end, and is not always indignant. He did not deal with us according to our iniquities, nor did He reward us according to our sins: for as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is the mercy of the Lord toward those who fear Him” (). Therefore, every believer must be merciful. Grace becomes a condition of faith, a condition of religious life.
At the same time, from the words of the Psalm we see that mercy is also forgiveness. Or rather, the ability to forgive. The ability to show mercy and love to someone who could not do this for me personally.
Here lies the biggest difficulty. How to be merciful to someone who has offended, insulted or deceived? I think that many will agree that it is pointless to harbor a grudge or desire revenge. It’s better to just forget everything and be indifferent to the offender. But will this be mercy? “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who use you and persecute you,” the Lord tells us, “so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven, for He makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" ().
Christ did not say, “forget about your enemies,” but called us to respond with mercy and love to evil and insults. Is this achievable for us? Achievable. Not in one second or instant. But still achievable. If Christianity is a denial of oneself for the sake of love for Christ, then this refusal is manifested precisely in mercy and mercy.
There is an amazing saint - Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna (1864-1918) - daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt Ludwig and granddaughter of the English Queen Victoria. She became the wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov. Sergei Alexandrovich was killed by a terrorist bomb in February 1905. Three days after this, the prince’s wife went to the prison where the murderer was placed to convey to him forgiveness from herself and from her deceased husband. This is an exceptional example. But exceptions, as we know, confirm the rules. Grace is a manifestation of true greatness, the depth of the human soul, overflowing with love. There is no place for hatred in mercy. In mercy only love is possible. “Father! forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” () - the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, nailed to the cross.
But if you look at everyday life, where and when can we show mercy, or rather, to whom? The Lord gives the answer to this question in the parable of the Good Samaritan (see). A Samaritan could pass by - after all, a resident of Jerusalem beaten and wounded by robbers was not his relative, friend, or fellow tribesman, and even moreover, the Samaritans and Jews were at enmity and did not communicate with each other. But mercy to the one who needs it here and now becomes a bridge stretching over all human discrepancies and divisions.
To show mercy - to help another person - means to overcome yourself, to leave your affairs and worries in order to take on other people's pain and grief. Help no matter what. Sometimes this is exactly what we miss so much. Why doesn't anyone see or notice my pain? How often do I myself notice the pain of others? “Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you” (). It is these gospel words that raise the greatest number of questions: what to do with those who ask not for good or to harm themselves? The Lord does not set conditions for mercy and alms, He simply says “give.” Give something of yourself, help the one who asks.
Recently on one forum I saw a discussion about a request for help. A young girl, a single mother who had no means of support, asked for help. Several times in the discussion the argument was made that “it was my own fault” and “I should have thought about it.” In its own way, this has its own logic and truth. We are always to blame for our problems, not someone else. But mercy and sympathy are always above our human logic and truth. An illustration of this is the parable of the Prodigal Son (see) - “the gospel within the Gospel,” as it is also called. The son asks his father for his due inheritance (it was possible to receive the inheritance only after the death of his father), leaves home and spends everything he had. His father could not accept him, could not forgive him, could have done everything that logic and justice sometimes demand. But instead of all this, we again see the depth of mercy of a loving heart. When the father saw his son walking along the road to the house, he “took pity and, running, fell on his neck and kissed him” (). Perhaps mercy and logic will never be compatible. But it is in such “illogicality” that Christianity is revealed.
The Lord says that the merciful will themselves receive mercy. They will be pardoned by God. They learn a hundredfold the mercy of God towards themselves - in response to the mercy shown to others. But doesn’t it turn out that works of mercy become a kind of attempt to “buy” God’s mercy? And this has its own logic - I will do a good deed so that I myself will feel good later. But the less logic there is in good deeds, manifestations of mercy and mercy, the less the desire to “buy” or acquire benefits for ourselves dominates us. Therefore, mercy should have no reason: I show mercy not because the person in need deserves it, but precisely because he needs it.
The main thing is to learn to feel other people's need and suffering. Don’t pass by, don’t leave a good deed “for later.” But in order to learn this, you need to recognize yourself as needing God, His love and mercy, His righteousness and truth. If I need God, the gospel call to mercy is a call to rise above the harsh reality of the world. Because only mercy and mercy can overcome cruelty.
Pure at heart. About the Sixth Beatitude
The sixth beatitude shows a very important thing - purity makes a person able to see God: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (). Of course, we are talking not just about purity as the absence of dirt, but about purity of heart. Purity of heart usually implies sincerity and openness. There is even such a word - “sincerity”.
The word “heart” is also familiar to all of us. And not as one of the vital organs of the human body, but as a center of feelings and emotions. We “love with all our hearts”; from an excess of joy, the heart can “burst out of the chest.” And it also happens that the heart is “overflowing with anger.” Our condition and attitude towards the people around us depends on what is in our heart.
Christ teaches that the human heart must be pure. It is not external cleanliness that is important, but internal cleanliness. Elsewhere in the Gospel of Matthew
The Lord answers the accusation that His disciples do not wash their hands when they eat bread (). Among the Pharisees - zealots of the law - the practice of washing was considered very important, although the basis of this tradition lay not in the Law of Moses itself, but in the traditions of the elders. The words of Christ are amazing: “Whatever goes into the mouth passes into the belly and is cast out, and what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, this defiles a person, for from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, blasphemy - this defiles a person.” ; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person” (). What's the point
of these words? Christ does not neglect hygiene. He says that washing hands before eating does not make a person internally clean, just as unwashed hands do not make us internally or spiritually unclean or filthy. A person is desecrated, first of all, by unclean thoughts, which nest where such virtues as love, mercy, and meekness should reside. Let us remember the main commandment: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (). This is what our heart should be filled with, or better yet, what it should live with. So the center of our feelings, our vital spiritual organ (by analogy with the physical heart) must live with love for God, transmitting this impulse to everything: soul, mind, feelings.
But if the heart lives in the opposite way - malice, lust, envy - then there is no place left for love. This is what truly defiles a person. This is the filth of sin from which we can be washed through repentance. True spiritual purity is internal purity. External cleanliness can be deceiving. We are accustomed to chasing the external. But sometimes external purity becomes a screen for internal filth, which, one way or another, manifests itself outside.
The sixth beatitude teaches us that the moral life of a Christian is focused on the inner life, because the outer state also depends on it. Otherwise, some of the commandments would look, at least, strange. For example, do not kill () and do not commit adultery (). Is every person capable of murder or adultery? And it’s good that not everyone does. It’s good that we have a conscience holding us back. But then why were these commandments given and aren’t there other evils to which “thou shalt not” could be pointed out? The Lord Jesus Christ answers this: “You have heard that it was said to the ancients: do not kill; whoever kills will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that everyone who is angry with his brother without cause will be subject to judgment; whoever says to his brother: “raka” (“empty man”) is subject to the Sanhedrin; and whoever says: “crazy” is subject to fiery hell” (). The commandment “do not kill” is violated by the one who allows irritation, anger and malice into his heart, by the one who insults another, but you can kill with a word. Then the Lord says: “You have heard that it was said to the ancients: You shall not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye offends you, pluck it out and throw it away from you, for it is better for you that one of your members perish, rather than your whole body being cast into hell. And if your right hand offends you, cut it off and throw it away from you, for it is better for you that one of your members perish, and not that your whole body is cast into hell" (). These words do not mean that you really need to tear out your eyes and cut off your hands. First of all, we need to cut off and drive away unclean thoughts from ourselves - thoughts, by agreeing with which we move on to sinful actions. Purity of heart is the absence in the heart, soul and mind of everything that distances us from God.
But what does the end of the commandment mean: “They will see God”? To see is to see. How can you see God, and what does that mean? After all, the Gospel of John says that no one has ever seen God (). Contradiction? No, because then the Evangelist John adds: “The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has revealed” (). The Son of God, who became man, reveals God to us, makes us able to see God. The word “see” or “behold”, like the word “heart”, carries a spiritual meaning. In general, in the Holy Scriptures, seeing often means “to cognize holistically, to see with spiritual eyes.” A soul stained and defiled by sins cannot see or know God. Only after being cleansed of defilements do we become capable of knowledge. After all, sometimes even in ordinary life we can see the light: see something as it really is, correctly understand and assess the situation. Something similar happens in spiritual life: a pure heart begins to see and sees God, knows Him, and is filled with His love. The great Russian ascetic and saint of the 20th century, the monk taught: “To know the Lord, one does not need to have either wealth or learning, but one must be obedient and self-controlled, have a humble spirit and love one’s neighbor, and the Lord will love such a soul, and He will reveal Himself to the soul , and will teach her love and humility, and will give her everything useful so that she can find peace in God,” and, “no matter how much we study, it is still impossible to know the Lord if we do not live according to His commandments.”
All the virtues that Christ spoke about in the previous beatitudes become components that prepare a person for the “vision of God.” It is paradoxical that you can know a lot about God, you can read all the Holy Scriptures and the works of the holy fathers of the Church, but at the same time you cannot see God, you cannot know Him with your heart and soul. Knowing God is not limited to accumulating information. Knowing God is the path of a Christian’s entire life. At the same time, God Himself comes to meet us. The main thing is not to pass by.
Blessed are the peacemakers. About the Seventh Beatitude
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God” (). What associations does the word “peacemaker” evoke in modern people? It can be assumed that for most of us a peacekeeper is a man in camouflage, combat boots, body armor, a helmet and with a machine gun at the ready.
One popular online encyclopedia reports that peacekeeping forces are used “for the purpose of preventing or eliminating a threat to peace and security through joint coercive actions (military demonstration, military blockade, etc.), if measures of an economic and political nature are or have proven to be insufficient” that is, one way or another, peace is maintained at best by a demonstration of the force of arms, and at worst...
But the Gospel clearly does not speak about modern camouflaged and armed peacekeepers, because then, during the life of Christ and the writing of the Gospel, there were no such peacekeepers. Actually they were. They just had a slightly different name and were armed differently. The thing is that their weapons were no less deadly than modern ones. There is even a special term “PaxRomana” - “Roman Peace” (sometimes “Peace of Augustus”, named after Emperor Octavian Augustus). This is a period of Roman history marked by relative calm. The number of military conflicts in the Roman Empire was reduced to a minimum.
But in reality, the Roman world was a peace maintained by the strength of the Roman military legions dispersed along the borders. Thus, the territory of the Roman world became a territory where there was no civil war - barbarians fought outside the borders of the empire. It often happened that the legions rebelled and proclaimed a new emperor. Modern military-political alliances are, in fact, a continuation of the idea of PaxRomana, so armed peacekeepers were invented not today or even yesterday, but a very, very long time ago. Jesus Christ could not help but see the Roman garrisons that maintained peace in the by no means restless Judea. But it is hardly possible for Christ to call the pagans who despised the Israeli people and their faith sons of God.
The Lord's words imply a different world and completely different peacemakers. Christ addresses the disciples: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you" (). Any other world, be it the Roman world or something else, will remain imperfect and artificial in comparison with the peace that Christ gives to believers. The peace of Christ, or the peace of God, is the state of a person free from evil and sin, that is, this peace can be achieved by the “pure in heart” from the previous beatitude.
In one ancient anonymous commentary on the Gospel of Matthew there are wonderful words: “The only begotten God (that is, the Son of God - Christ) is the peace of the spirit, about which the apostle says: “For He is our peace” ()... But not only those who are called peacemakers are called peacemakers. who unites enemies in peace, but also those who do not remember evil - they love peace. After all, many willingly reconcile the enemies of others, but they themselves never reconcile with their enemies from the bottom of their hearts. Such people only depict the world, but do not love it. Peace is the bliss that lies in the heart, and not in words. Do you want to know who is truly a peacemaker? Listen to the words of the Prophet: “Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful words” ().”
We become peacemakers when we get rid of our own evil, which deprives us of peace with God and other people. And this task is much more difficult than reconciling the warring parties. Why? Because it is much easier to see the lack of peace and strife among others than to find peace in your own soul. Saint Augustine of Hippo believed that peacemaking lies primarily in the absence of resistance to God and mastery over sinful passions. Only through this can a person remain in a peaceful state. “Peacemakers are those who, having pacified and subordinated the movements of their soul to reason, that is, mind and spirit, and managed to curb carnal lusts, achieve the Kingdom of God.” Without peace in your own soul, without a constant desire to be at peace with God, it is impossible to bring peace to other people.
You can see that the nine beatitudes describe a kind of circle: Christ promises the Kingdom of Heaven to the poor in spirit, and the same promise is given to those persecuted for the sake of righteousness. A circle is a line without beginning or end. The path of life according to the Beatitudes becomes not a movement from point A to point B, but a constant movement in a circle. Stopping the Earth rotating around the Sun will mean its death, because it is this rotation that determines vital earthly processes. Spiritual life can also be compared to such rotation. Man revolves around the center, which is Christ. The beatitudes become the orbit or trajectory of this movement. They are inextricably linked and have only one goal. And this goal is the Kingdom of Heaven, or the Kingdom of God - being with Christ.
The very first article on the beatitudes said that the blessed is the happy. But those whom Christ calls happy do not fit into modern ideas about happiness and the position of man in the world and society. And in the last commandments the Lord says that those who believe in Him will be expelled, persecuted and slandered, that is, they will be rejected by the world and become outcasts. But their reward is great, because this has always been done to those who are faithful to God. This is how they persecuted the former prophets.
It is interesting that the word “prophet” has two meanings in the Bible, one of which has been almost completely forgotten by modern people. Nowadays, the word “prophet” in most cases will mean someone who foresees the future. In the Bible, prophets were called not only those messengers of God who spoke about future times (although many prophets, indeed, by the inspiration of God, revealed to people the secrets of future times, especially about the time of the coming of the Messiah promised by God), but also those who spoke about the present time. The prophet appealed to the conscience of those who had forgotten about their conscience, buried it under a pile of sins and untruths, retreated from God and wallowed in lies. Essentially, the prophet's preaching was a call to righteousness.
In the fourth beatitude, Christ spoke about those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, where the righteousness of God was called righteousness. The word “truth” is used in the same sense in the eighth commandment. Those expelled for the truth are not dissidents, oppositionists or fighters against social inequality. These are, first of all, those whose righteous life has become a denunciation of the untruths of this world.
When the truth gets in the way
One might argue: after all, Christ Himself denounced the rich and powerful, challenged the inviolability of the religious traditions of his contemporaries, and was essentially a dissident. Yes, in the Gospel you can find many accusatory words addressed to those who are now commonly called the elite. But Christ denounced, first of all, that the craving for worldly goods and successes completely drowned out the desire for the Divine.
The Lord denounced the rich for their lack of mercy and love, and the scribes and Pharisees for the fact that their imaginary righteousness had turned into pride and exaltation over others. With His life, Jesus Christ showed that the only true power is the power of God, and every believer must first of all seek “the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” (). But many wanted to see the Savior as a king leading the people to earthly prosperity. But the Lord calls for righteousness.
Righteousness is living before God. Openness to God, faithfulness to the Divine word. The life of a righteous person should be a testimony of Divine truth to other people.
But why does the Lord say that the righteous will be driven out for their righteousness? The Lord Himself gives the answer to this question in another place in the Gospel: “People loved darkness more than light, because their deeds were evil” (). A righteous life becomes a denunciation of a sinful life, a life of evil. Christ comes to call sinners to repentance in order to demonstrate the righteousness of God to everyone. Did everyone hear His call and follow Him?
But if we take into account all the previous words of Christ that it is necessary to strive to realize one’s poverty before God, to acquire meekness, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be merciful, does all this mean that one must specifically strive to be persecuted and slandered for the sake of Christ? After all, they persecuted the prophets...
The words of Christ do not mean that everyone should recognize himself as a prophet and go to denounce neighbors, relatives or anyone else. The Lord calls us, first of all, not to be afraid of our own faith, not to be ashamed of it, not to hide it from others. If we are Christians, then we should not be afraid of the misunderstanding of others.
In the first three centuries of our era, misunderstanding of the Christian faith on the part of the pagan world often ended in persecution and death penalties for those who did not understand. The same thing happened again in the 20th century in Russia, and in some places it’s still happening now. But still, the majority of Christians are not persecuted and persecuted, are not sent to prison and are not led to execution. But this does not mean that the world accepted Christ and came to terms with His preaching. Therefore, a Christian must be prepared to testify to his faith before the modern world. The modern world does not threaten death and reprisals to those who strive to live according to the truth of Christ, but the threat lies elsewhere. The modern world is trying to present Christian righteousness as something unnecessary, outdated, depriving a person of freedom. Why do you need all this? Live your life to the fullest, cross out all these outdated norms and rules.
Are we now ready to respond with our lives to the challenges of the modern world? Every Christian can ask this question to himself. And this challenge has been and will always be as long as the world exists. Therefore, as long as the world exists, believers in Christ must be prepared to endure the sorrows of this world. It is no coincidence that the Lord said: “You will have sorrow in the world” (). But the sorrow will not be hopeless, because the Lord continues: “But take heart: I have overcome the world” (16, 33). The promise of the Kingdom of God to the exiled and slandered, and in fact to all who have remained faithful to God, is the promise of victory over a world lying in evil. God conquers the world with the Cross, and those who believe in Him - with the righteousness that God has given us through the Cross and Resurrection.
Newspaper "Saratov Panorama" No. 30 (958), No. 31 (959), No. 40 (968), No. 46 (974), No. 49 (977), No. 50 (978), No. 2 (981), No. 4 ( 983)
Lesson 9. Blessed (“the Beatitudes”)
Target: teach teenagers to strive for God’s values in life, standards of happiness, as Jesus taught, and not for worldly ones
Interest 1: road signs (application)
- What is this? (road signs)
- How are they different? (some prohibit, others report)
– Do you know such a sign? (the teacher hangs a special sign on the board (application))
– What do you think it symbolizes? (happiness)
- talks about “chain letters”
- "Audacity second happiness"
- well-being
- luck
- love, etc.
But let's remember how much Solomon had (gardens, enormous wealth, wisdom from God...). However, later he himself wrote: “vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
Interest 2: bubble
– Tell me, can this be called happiness? (No)
- Why, aren’t they beautiful? (they disappear quickly)
In the same way, what is considered happiness in the world is fleeting. And you won’t notice how all the beauty that surrounded you will burst like a soap bubble.
– What is true happiness?
Matthew 5:1-12 (read together)
Blessed means more than happy. Bliss is the highest form of happiness.
Then we write down in a column on the board everyone who is listed in this passage of Scripture (poor in spirit, hungry and thirsty for righteousness, etc.)
- Does it look like happiness? (Not good)
Then let's figure out together why they are blessed.
Poor in spirit
– What does “poor in spirit” mean? (these are those who need God and trust in Him)
In the world people rely on themselves, however, this is the wrong approach. Let's look at those characters in the Bible who sought the Lord.
Examples: David, Moses, Gideon
We must understand that without God we cannot do anything.
Crying
There are different reasons for tears:
- happiness
- in prayer (contrition)
Let us remember the “crying” heroes of the Bible.
Examples: Hezekiah, Anna, Jacob
We must understand that God wipes away every tear and gives comfort here on earth, but there will be no tears in heaven.
The meek
-What kind of person can we call meek? (polite, patient, gentle)
But this word does not at all mean a weak-willed, weak-willed, downtrodden person.
– Which of the people was the meekest? (Moses)
– Who is the ideal of meekness? (Jesus)
Meekness is strength, not weakness.
So, they are happy because they will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.
Hungering and thirsting for truth
-Who are the hungry? (those who want to eat)
- And those who are thirsty? (those who are thirsty)
– What does the word “truth” mean? (righteousness)
So this whole phrase means people who really want to be righteous and are constantly looking for it.
– Where can we find out how to act correctly? (in the Bible)
And for us, the meaning of this passage is that we must constantly read the Word of God and feed on it.
Example: Daniel
5. Gracious
To have mercy means to have pity. And pardon is undeserved good from someone. As applied to our lives, the word “mercy” means charity. And we also know that with God, mercy is exalted over judgment. Let's remember the merciful people from the Bible.
Examples: Good Samaritan, Joseph, Moses
6. Pure at heart
– Who are the “pure in heart”? (sincere)
We must realize that if our thoughts are pure, then our heart will also be pure.
Example: David
We see that David sinned greatly against God. However, he was sincere and confessed his sin to Him, after which he was forgiven. In the same way, we must be sincere before God and confess our sins to Him.
- Peacekeepers
It is probably easy to understand who the peacemakers are. There are peacekeeping troops in the world. That is, troops called to one or another corner of the earth to end the war and bring peace (that is, to establish political stability). In the biblical understanding, the world is something else. Jesus spoke to us about God's peace. And among Jews there is still a greeting - “shalom”, which means: “peace be upon you” or “may the Lord bless you.” This means that in the biblical understanding, peace is the blessing of the Lord. We must be peacemakers, i.e. those who bring God's blessing to the world. Let us remember the biblical examples of peacemakers.
Examples: Solomon, Isaac, Abigail
8. Banished for the Truth
– What kind of “truth” can they expel us for?
- if we rebuke someone
- if we testify for Jesus Christ
- if we act differently from everyone else (behave strangely)
That is, to be expelled for speaking the truth means to meet the disapproval of others, perhaps even contempt. Of course, who wants to be persecuted? However, we know that for all the sorrows we endure on earth, we will be rewarded in heaven. Let's look at biblical examples of exile for truth.
Examples: Stephen, apostles
Let us note that they rejoiced when they were persecuted. After all, they understood that to suffer for Christ is a great honor.
Result: The New Testament commandments are not a prohibition, but the mercy of God given to us so that we may have eternal life and reward in heaven.
And to reinforce the material, we’ll play a little game (something like “pilgrim”). Each student (or two) is given a card with a task (application). The guys act out a skit or give one of the students a test (based on a card), the rest must guess which of the passed “blessed” this may concern. In some cases, you will also need to answer the speaker’s question and give him advice.
Ask someone to help (for example, you need to write something or ask to erase it from the board), and then start unfairly blaming, reproaching (you did it wrong as soon as you thought of doing it, etc.).
GRACEFUL
Portray a person who strictly judges others, for example, his classmates (they do wrong, they need to be punished, under no circumstances communicate with them, etc.).
PURE IN HEART
Depict a person who talks about how pure his heart is, that he doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke, doesn’t fight, and acts quite decently. He asks if this is enough for him to enter heaven, because nothing unclean will enter there.
CRYING
Portray a person who is crying (very upset), regretting his wrong actions.
PEACEMAKERS It is necessary to depict a dispute about some insignificant subject so that both points of view are equal (for example, which subject at school is more interesting, how to properly cook scrambled eggs, dig potatoes, etc.). Ask to judge.
POOR IN SPIRIT
Depict a person, a Christian, who has many plans, assumptions, dreams. He wants to do everything himself and asks for advice on how to do it all.
HUNGING AND THIRSTING FOR TRUTH (RIGHTEOUSNESS)
Portray a person who sits in despair because he again failed to do the right thing. “Maybe there is no point in doing the right thing, nothing will work out anyway.”
EXILED FOR THE TRUTH (BLADE, AND PERSECUTION, AND IN EVERY WAY UNJUSTIFIC TO BLAME FOR GOD)
Tell a case (can be fictitious) about how you are asked to act dishonestly (for example, sign an exaggerated accusation against a teacher who everyone doesn’t like), ask what is the right thing to do in this situation (after all, if you refuse, everyone will be against you).
Golden Verse:
Jesus Christ brought the New Testament to humanity, the meaning of which is that now every person who believes in God can be freed from the sins that make his life difficult and joyless.
The Gospel conveys the Lord's Sermon on the Mount, in which He told people the nine beatitudes. These are nine conditions, subject to which a person can gain eternal life in the abode of the Almighty.
By His death on the cross, Jesus Christ atoned for the sins of people and thereby gave them the opportunity to discover the Kingdom of Heaven within themselves during their earthly life. But in order to experience this grace, you need to fulfill the beatitudes listed in the Sermon on the Mount.
The modern Gospel differs significantly from the original source. This is not surprising - it has been translated and rewritten many times. The surviving Ostromir Gospel, dated to the mid-11th century, most accurately conveys the content of the 9 Beatitudes, but it is almost impossible for an ordinary person without special education to understand it. Not only is the Old Church Slavonic alphabet radically different from the Russian alphabet, but the Gospel uses words, expressions and concepts that have long been outdated and have fallen out of circulation. Theologians and philosophers all over the world have been and continue to be engaged in the interpretation of the Beatitudes.
The meaning of the word "bliss"
First you need to understand what the word “bliss” means. The closest synonym is bliss. When we say that we are blissful, we mean that we are basking. In the gospel understanding, beatitude means something slightly different. Christian Bliss - To experience bliss in the Christian sense is to be in a state of serene peace. In modern language, do not experience anxiety, doubt, or anxiety. Christian bliss is not analogous to the serene peace of Buddhists or Muslims, since it can manifest itself in the physical world during earthly life as a result of a conscious choice and renunciation of the manifestations of the forces of evil. The interpretation of the Beatitudes explains the meaning of this choice and self-denial.
Purpose of the commandments
The biblical commandments mark milestones in the development of man as an individual, the evolution of his spiritual world. On the one hand, they indicate what should be the goal of a person’s life, on the other, they reflect his nature and reveal what a person has an inner attraction to. The Gospel beatitudes echo those of the Old Testament. The 10 Beatitudes given by the Lord to Moses relate more to the material world and physical relationships between people in society. They indicate what a person should do, but do not affect his state of mind.
The seven prohibitions listed in the Sermon on the Mount are sometimes mistakenly called the 7 Beatitudes of Jesus Christ. It is not right. Christ did not reject the prohibitions of killing, envying, creating new idols, adultery, stealing and gluttony, but said that the result of the eradication of these sins is the emergence of pure love between people. “Love one another,” the Lord commanded, and thereby directed people not to keep track of misdeeds, but to treat each other with mercy, understanding and compassion.
The 9 Beatitudes were interpreted by such outstanding thinkers as Henri Bergson, Ignatius Brianchaninov, Nikolai Serbsky and others. Let's look at each commandment in detail.
About spiritual poverty
The first commandment of the beatitude of the Lord says that the first condition of bliss is the feeling of being spiritually poor. What does it mean? In earlier times, the concept of poverty did not mean a difficult financial situation, lack of money or property. A beggar was a person who asked for something. Poor in spirit means asking for spiritual enlightenment. Happy, or blessed, is the one who does not ask or seek material benefits, but the one who acquires wisdom and spirituality.
Bliss does not lie in experiencing satisfaction from the lack of material wealth or from its presence, but in not feeling superior to others if you have material wealth or oppressed if you do not have it.
The Beatitudes of Jesus Christ encourage the acceptance of earthly life as a means to achieve the Kingdom of Heaven, and if material wealth serves a person to increase spiritual wealth, then this is also the right path to God.
It is easier for a poor person to come to God, since he is more concerned about his own survival in the material world than a rich person. It is believed that he turns to God for help more often, and he has a greater chance of connecting with the Creator. However, this is an overly simplified idea of what constitutes the path to achieving spiritual wisdom and bliss.
Another interpretation of the commandment is based on the translation of the word “spirit” from the ancient Aramaic language. Then its synonym was the word “will”. Thus, a person who is “poor in spirit” can be called “poor of his own free will.”
Comparing both meanings of the expression “poor in spirit,” we can assume that Christ meant by the first beatitude that the Kingdom of Heaven will be achieved by those who voluntarily choose as their goal only the achievement of wisdom. And he will direct his will and mind to her alone.
About comforting those who cry
Happy are those who mourn, for they will be comforted - this is how the second beatitude sounds in the modern presentation. You should not think that we are talking about any tears. It is no coincidence that this commandment comes after the one that speaks of spiritual poverty. It is on the first commandment that all subsequent ones are based.
Crying is sorrow and regret. The poor in spirit regret the years spent searching for and accumulating material things. He is sad that he did not gain wisdom earlier; he remembers his actions and the actions of other people, which destroyed their lives, as they were aimed at achieving worldly joys. He regrets the wasted time and effort. He cries that he sinned against God, who sacrificed His own Son to people in order to save them, mired in worldly squabbles and worries. Therefore, you need to understand that not every cry pleases God.
For example, a mother’s cry that her son has become a drug addict or a drunkard is not always pleasing to God - if a mother cries that she will be left alone in old age, without the care and concern that she expected to receive from her adult son, then she cries only because she is disadvantaged pride and disappointment. She cries because she will not receive worldly goods. This kind of crying will not lead to comfort. He can turn a woman against other people whom she will assign to blame for what happened to her son, and the unhappy mother will begin to think that the world is unfair.
And if this woman begins to cry because her son stumbled and chose a disastrous path because of her own oversight, because from an early age she instilled in him only the desire for material superiority over others, but did not explain the need to be kind and honest , merciful and condescending to the shortcomings of other people? With such repentant tears, a woman will cleanse her soul and help her son to be saved. It is about this kind of crying that it is said: “Blessed are those who mourn who are sad because of their own sins. The Lord will find consolation for them, for the sake of such tears the Lord will show mercy and give the miracle of forgiveness.”
About the meek
Christ called meekness the third beatitude. It seems that there is no point in explaining this bliss. Everyone understands that a person who does not object, does not resist, and humbles himself before people and circumstances is called meek. However, not everything is so simple here either. A person who does not contradict those who are stronger and more powerful than him cannot be considered meek in the gospel understanding. Divine meekness comes from the first two beatitudes. First, a person realizes his spiritual poverty, then he repents and cries for his sins. Sincere contrition for them makes a person tolerant of the evil shown by other people. He knows that they, like himself, will sooner or later come to understand their own guilt for the troubles happening to them, realize their responsibility and guilt for the injustice and evil that they do to others.
A repentant sinner, like no one else, knows well that before God all people are equal. The repentant does not put up with evil, but, having experienced many sufferings, he comes to understand that man’s salvation is only in the hands of God. If He saved him, then He will save others too.
The preaching of the Beatitudes is not divorced from real life. The Lord Jesus Christ was meek, but he angrily attacked the merchants who exchanged sacrificial doves and candles for money in the temple, but He did not give us the right to do the same. He commanded us to show meekness. Why? Because He Himself commanded that the person who shows aggression will suffer from aggression.
The Lord teaches us that we must be thoughtful, but thinking about our own sins, and not about others, even if they are committed by a priest of the highest rank. John Chrysostom interprets this beatitude this way: do not object to the offender, lest he hand you over to the judge, and he, in turn, to the executioner. Injustice often rules in worldly life, but we should not complain. We must accept the world as God created it and devote our energy to improving our own personality.
It is interesting that many modern authors who have written instructions on how to make friends, how to become happy and successful, how to stop worrying and start living, give the same advice as Christ, but their advice does not work well. This is explained by the fact that they are not coordinated with each other and do not have outside support. In these pieces of advice, a person is opposed to the whole world and must cope with it alone, and following the Gospel, a person receives help from God Himself. Therefore, all such books quickly go out of fashion, but the Gospel continues to remain relevant for more than 2,000 years.
About those who thirst for truth
At first glance, this beatitude appears to repeat the first. The poor in spirit seek divine truth, and the hungry and thirsty seek the truth. Are they not acquiring the same thing?
Let's consider this example. A certain person says about himself: “I don’t know how to lie. I always tell the truth to everyone.” Is it so? Thirsting for the truth of the Gospel does not mean telling it to everyone all the time. That lover of truth, whom we called “a certain person,” often turns out to be just a boor who bluntly tells his opponent, who does not share his opinion or has made some mistake, that he is stupid. Not only is this lover of truth not distinguished by great insight and he himself does not always do everything right, he is unlikely to tell this truth of his to someone who is stronger and more powerful than him.
So, what is Divine truth and the desire for it, and what does it mean “those who thirst for truth will be satisfied with it”? John of Kronstadt explains this very clearly. A hungry man craves food. After being full, some time passes, and he is hungry again. This is natural in the case of food. But as far as Divine truth is concerned, everything is somewhat different. God loves those who have received the first three beatitudes. For this he gives them a calm and peaceful life. Such people, like a magnet, attract others to themselves. So, Emperor Leo left his throne and went to the desert where Saint Moses Murin lived. The emperor wanted to know wisdom. He had everything he wanted, could satisfy any of his worldly needs, but he was not happy. He longed for wise advice on what to do to regain the joy of life. understood the emperor’s mental anguish. He wished to help the worldly ruler, thirsted for divine truth and received it (was satisfied). Like grace, the holy elder poured out his wise speeches on the emperor and restored his peace of mind.
The Old Testament Adam and Eve lived in the presence of God, and His truth accompanied them at every moment of their lives, but they did not thirst for it. They had nothing to repent of, they did not experience any torment. They were sinless. They did not know losses and sorrows, therefore they did not value their well-being and, without any doubt, agreed to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For this they lost the opportunity to see God and were expelled from paradise.
God gave us an understanding of what we should value and what we should strive for. We know that if we strive to fulfill His commandments, He will reward us and give us real happiness.
About the merciful
There are several parables about mercy in the Gospel. These are the parables of the publican and the mite of the poor widow. We all know that giving alms to the poor is a God-pleasing act. But even if we approach this issue wisely and give the beggar not money, which he will most likely spend on alcohol, but food or clothing, we are not like either the tax collector or the widow. After all, by giving alms to a stranger, we, as a rule, do not infringe upon ourselves. Such mercy is commendable, but it cannot be compared with the mercy of God, who gave people His Son, Jesus Christ, for salvation.
The Beatitudes are not as easy to fulfill as they seem at first glance. However, we are quite capable of them. How often, having learned about the troubles of a person, do we utter the following phrases: “Never mind - you have a lot of problems of your own,” “His fate, of course, is difficult, but everyone has their own cross,” or “Everything is God’s will.” " By saying this, we are removed from the manifestation of true, Divine mercy.
True mercy, subject to a person, can be expressed in such sympathy and desire to help another, which will make a person think about the cause of this misfortune, that is, take the path of fulfilling the first bliss. The greatest mercy is that, having cleansed our own hearts and souls from sin, we ask God to help a stranger to us so that He hears and fulfills it.
About the pure in heart
Mercy must be done only with a pure heart. Only in this case will it be true. Having performed an act of mercy, we are often proud of our action. We rejoice that we have done a good deed, and we rejoice even more that we have fulfilled one of the important beatitudes.
Orthodoxy and other Christian religions encourage free material assistance that people provide to each other and the church. They thank donors, call their names during sermons, award certificates, etc. Unfortunately, all this does not at all promote purity of heart; on the contrary, it encourages vanity and other, no less unpleasant qualities inherent in human nature. What can I say? God loves the one who, in the silence of his home, prays with tears for the granting of health and daily bread to some unfortunate person, about whom he only knows his name.
These words are not a condemnation of those who donate to churches or show their generosity clearly and publicly. Not at all. But those who do mercy in secret maintain purity of heart. The Lord sees this. Not a single good deed goes without reward for him. The one who has received recognition from people has already been awarded - he is in a good mood, everyone praises and honors him. He will not receive the second reward, which is from God, for this deed.
About those who bring peace
The 7th Beatitude speaks of peacemakers. Jesus Christ considers peacemakers to be his equals, and this mission is the most difficult. In every quarrel there is the fault of both one and the other side. It is very difficult to stop hostility. It is not those who have known divine love and bliss who quarrel, but, on the contrary, people who are preoccupied with worldly problems and grievances. Not everyone can establish peace between people obsessed with hurt pride, envy, jealousy or greed. Here it is important to choose the right words and to calm the anger of the parties so that the quarrel stops and does not happen again. The peacemakers will be called the sons of God. This is what Christ, the Son of God, said, and His every word is filled with great meaning.
About those expelled for the truth
War is an excellent way to solve the economic problems of one state at the expense of another. We know examples of how the high standard of living of some peoples is supported by the fact that the governments of their countries start wars around the world. Honest diplomats, journalists, politicians and military personnel who have the opportunity to influence public opinion are always persecuted. They are imprisoned, killed, and defamed with lies. It is impossible to imagine that any of the world wars would end after an honest peacemaker brought to the attention of the general public information about the personal interest of a certain representative of the royal family, the presidential clan, a financial or industrial magnate in the production and supply of weapons to the warring parties.
What pushes famous and authoritative people to speak out against unjust wars, despite the fact that they cannot help but understand that their initiative will be punished? They are driven by the desire for a just world, the preservation of the life and health of civilians, their families, homes and way of life, and therefore true mercy.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ communicated the Beatitudes to all who listened to him. These were people of different nationalities and faiths. The Lord said that the feat in the name of peace would make them equal to the Son of God. Does it matter to God what faith they profess? Of course not. The Lord came to bring faith and salvation to everyone. Children's doctor Leonid Roshal and Jordanian doctor Anwar el-Said are not Christians, but they are peacemakers who prevented the death of several hundred people captured by terrorists during a performance in a Moscow cultural center. And there are many such examples.
About those oppressed for the love of God
How many Beatitudes did the Lord give to people? Just nine. The commandment about those persecuted for faith and love of God is the last. It refers to a greater extent to the great Christian martyrs who, by their death, established faith in Jesus Christ on earth. These people remained in history as saints. Thanks to them, Christians can now openly profess their faith and not fear for their lives and for their loved ones. These saints were given the grace to intercede before the Lord for sinners and ask for forgiveness for them. They help believers in God cope with various difficulties - both ordinary, everyday ones, and in the fight against the forces of evil. With their heavenly prayers they keep the world from destruction. Akathists and entire liturgies are dedicated to them, which are read in all churches on the days of their remembrance.
