Sermon on the Mount and the teachings of Jesus Christ. This section analyzes the Sermon on the Mount of Jesus Christ

SERMON ON THE MOUNT.
Gospel of Matthew

The "Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew 5:1-7:29; Luke 6:12-41) on our pages is an exact copy text of the Russian Bible synodal translation. In it the Lord Jesus Christ expressed all the essence of His teaching. The most basic is the Beatitudes, but besides them there are many other teachings. The Sermon on the Mount begins with the Beatitudes, and ends with the “Parable of the Prudent Builder” (Matthew 7:24-27), which teaches us on what foundation we need to build our lives and that it is precisely in times of trouble that the advantage of living according to the commandments of the Law of God is clearly visible.

CHAPTER 5 (Arch. Averky)
Beatitudes

Seeing the people, He went up the mountain;
and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
And He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and slander you in every way unjustly because of Me.
Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven:
so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

You are the salt of the earth

You are the salt of the earth.
If the salt loses its strength, then what will you use to make it salty?
She's no longer good for anything
How can we throw it out for people to trample underfoot?
You are the light of the world
You are the light of the world.
A city standing on top of a mountain cannot hide.
And having lit a candle, they do not put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick,
and shines on everyone in the house.
So let your light shine before people,
so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Heavenly Father.
I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets:
I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
For truly I say to you:
until heaven and earth pass away,
not one jot or one tittle will pass from the law,
until everything is fulfilled.
So whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches people so
he will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven;
and whoever does and teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
For, I tell you,
if your righteousness does not exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,
then you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
You can't be angry
Have you heard what the ancients said:
do not kill; whoever kills will be subject to judgment.
But I tell you that everyone
he who is angry with his brother in vain is subject to judgment;
whoever says to his brother: “raqa” is subject to the Sanhedrin;
and whoever says, “You fool,” is subject to fiery hell.
So if you bring your gift to the altar
and there you will remember that your brother has something against you,
leave your gift there before the altar,
and go first and be reconciled with your brother,
and then come and bring your gift.
Make peace with your opponent quickly, while you are still on the road with him,
so that your opponent doesn't hand you over to the judge,
but the judge would not have handed you over to the servant, and they would not have thrown you into prison;
Truly I tell you: you will not come out of there until you have paid the last coin.
You cannot commit adultery in your heart
You have heard what was said to the ancients: Thou shalt not commit adultery.
And I tell you that Anyone who looks at a woman with lust 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, and not that your whole body is cast into hell.
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you, for it is better for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be cast into hell.
You can't get a divorce
It is also said that if anyone divorces his wife, he should give her a divorce decree.
But I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for the guilt of adultery, gives her a reason to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Don't swear at all
You have also heard what was said to the ancients: do not break your oath, but fulfill your oaths before the Lord.
But I say to you: do not swear at all: not by heaven, for it is the throne of God;
nor the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King;
Do not swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black.
But let your word be: yes, yes; no no; and anything beyond this is from the evil one.
Give to the one who asks you
You have heard that it was said: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
But I tell you: do not resist evil. But whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other also to him;
and whoever wants to sue you and take your shirt, give him your outer clothing too;
and whoever forces you to go one mile with him, go with him two miles.
Give to the one who asks from you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
You need to love everyone, including your enemies
You have heard that it was said: love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
And I tell you: 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,
May you be sons of your Father in heaven, for He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what will be your reward? Don't publicans do the same?
And if you greet only your brothers, what special thing are you doing? Don't the pagans do the same?
Be perfect
So be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect.

CHAPTER 6 (Arch. Averky)
Alms should not be given for show

Be careful not to do your alms in front of people so that they will see you: otherwise you will have no reward from your Heavenly Father.
So, when you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that people may glorify them. Truly I tell you, they are already receiving their reward.
When you give alms, let left hand yours doesn't know what your right one is doing,
so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly.
How to pray
And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stop and pray in the synagogues and on street corners in order to appear before people. Truly I tell you that they are already receiving their reward.
But you, when you pray, go into your room and, having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly.
And when you pray, do not say too much, like the pagans, for they think that in their many words they will be heard;
Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
Lord's Prayer
Pray like this: Our Father who art in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name;
let him come Your kingdom; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven;
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors;
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

We need to forgive

For if you forgive people their sins, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you,
and if you do not forgive people their sins, then your Father will not forgive you your sins.
No need to fast for show
Also, when you fast, do not be sad like the hypocrites, for they put on gloomy faces in order to appear to people as fasting. Truly I tell you that they are already receiving their reward.
And when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
that you may appear to those who fast, not before men, but before your Father who is in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly.
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal,
for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
The body lamp has an eye
The lamp for the body is the eye. So, if your eye is clean, then your whole body will be bright;
if your eye is bad, then your whole body will be dark. So, if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness?
No one can serve two masters
No one can serve two masters: for either he will hate one and love the other; or he will be zealous for one and neglectful of the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will wear. Is not the life more than food, and the body than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns; and your Father in heaven feeds them. Aren't you much better than them?
And which of you, by caring, can add even one cubit to his height?
And why do you care about clothes? Look at the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;
but I tell you that Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like any of them;
But if God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, then God will clothe it more than you, O you of little faith!
So do not worry and say, “What shall we eat?” or what to drink? or what to wear?
because the pagans seek all this, and because your Heavenly Father knows that you need all this.
Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things: each day’s own troubles are enough.

CHAPTER 7 (Arch. Averky)
Judge not, lest ye be judged

Judge not, lest ye be judged,
For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not feel the plank in your own eye?
Or how will you say to your brother: “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” but behold, there is a log in your eye?
Hypocrite! First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see how to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Don't give sacred things to dogs
Do not give holy things to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces.
Ask and it will be given to you
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you;
For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Is there a man 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 Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him.
Golden rule
So in everything, whatever you want people to do to you, do so to them, for this is the law and the prophets.
Enter through the narrow gate
Enter in at the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many go in through it;
for narrow is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few find it.
Beware of false prophets
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
By their fruits you will know them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
So every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
So by their fruits you will know them.
Not everyone who says to Me: “Lord, Lord!” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven.
Many will say to Me on that day: Lord! God! Have we not prophesied in Your name? and was it not in Your name that they cast out demons? and did they not perform many miracles in Your name?
And then I will declare to them: I never knew you; Depart from me, you workers of iniquity.
Parable of the Prudent Builder
Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock;
and the rain fell, and the rivers flooded, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it did not fall, because it was founded on rock.
But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand;
and the rain fell, and the rivers overflowed, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and he fell, and his fall was great.
End of the Sermon on the Mount
And when Jesus had finished these words, the people marveled at his teaching,
for He taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes and Pharisees.

Literature on email p.
The Life of the Lord Jesus Christ (according to Temnomerov) (DD-21.1)
Miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ (according to Temnomerov) (DD-21.2)
Parables of the Lord Jesus Christ (according to Temnomerov) (DD-21.3)
The Teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ (according to Temnomerov) (DD-21.4)

Bishop Alexander (Mileant). Sermon on the Mount
http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/russian/mount.htm

Full Bible Text located on email. p. Orthodox calendar for 2002
http://www.days.ru/

Bibliography
Archpriest Seraphim Slobodskoy. God's law for family and school. 2nd edition.
1967, Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, NY., hard copy, 723 pp. Reprinted many times in Russia.
(The best textbook on the Law of God).
Available on the Internet. Email page: http://www.magister.msk.ru/library/bible/zb/zb.htm

Spiritual leaflet “The Road Home. Release DD-38.5 -
Sermon on the Mount. Gospel of Matthew"
email pages: d385nag.html, (09Apr01), 28Nbr02a
TO HOME PAGE

St.

bliss

St.

St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)

St.

St. Filaret (Drozdov)

St.

prot. Alexander Glebov

archim.

prot.

prof.

Trinity leaf

prof. CM. Sarin

HELL. Trinity

priest Vladislav Kumysh

Sermon on the Mount- a sermon that expresses the essence of the New Testament moral law (moral teaching) and its difference from.

The Sermon on the Mount was preached on a hill near Capernaum in Galilee, following the calling of 12. The content of the sermon is set out in the Gospel of Matthew ch. 5-7 and Luke ch. 6, 17-49.

Sermon on the Mount

Archpriest Alexander Glebov

Biblical history of the New Testament

Only in the Gospel of Matthew there is a coherent speech of Christ, consisting of separate sayings. These sayings relate to a person’s moral life and behavior. This speech is called the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is a very careful composition. It is presented in one block by the Evangelist Matthew in the fifth, sixth and seventh chapters, that is, it occupies three chapters. But, of course, it was not pronounced as described by the Evangelist Matthew. For example, in the Evangelist Luke, the themes touched upon by the Sermon on the Mount are scattered throughout the Gospel, which is probably more consistent with how Christ delivered his moral teachings. We cannot talk about the Sermon on the Mount as if it were a separate sermon preached in one place. There are strong and convincing arguments that the Sermon on the Mount is much more than just one sermon. Simply, the Evangelist Matthew, for convenience, collected all the sayings of the Savior that relate to the moral life of man and relationships between people, and combined them into one composition. For example, anyone listening to the Sermon on the Mount for the first time as it is presented in Matthew would simply be overtired long before it ends. There is too much in it for it to be absorbed at once. After all, it’s one thing to sit and read, lingering, stopping while reading, comprehending what you read. It’s quite another to listen to it spoken for the first time. We can read as we are used to, at the speed we are accustomed to, but to hear it for the first time means to be overloaded with an excess of information, which means losing sight of much of the important content contained in this sermon.

The Gospel of Matthew is, first of all, the Gospel Christian teaching. It is characteristic of Matthew that he collects the teachings and actions of Christ into separate blocks. There is a section devoted to parables, another to miracles, and another to the doctrine of the end of the world. It is on this principle that Matthew collected the moral teaching of Christ together for the convenience of studying it. In the Gospel of Luke, the Sermon on the Mount immediately follows the election of the twelve apostles. In the person of the apostles, Christ chooses his assistants, but in order for these assistants to be able to successfully and effectively carry out their work, they must first be trained. Therefore, in the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord gives instructions to his apostles, and through them to all of us. Since the Lord himself did not write down anything, everything that we know about him came to us from his disciples, which is why it is called “Apostolic”. Therefore, one theologian called the Sermon on the Mount: “the sermon on the occasion of the ordination of the twelve.” Just as a young priest entering the ministry for the first time must be given a task, so Christ preached a sermon to the twelve disciples before they began to fulfill their tasks. There is an assumption that, having finally chosen the twelve apostles, Christ retired with them for a week, maybe even more, to some quiet place and taught them during this time, and the Sermon on the Mount is already summary that teaching. But this, of course, is just a guess.

There is probably no other material in the Gospel that has been discussed as thoroughly as the Sermon on the Mount. The debate began already in the first century of Christianity and continues to this day. Some understand the commandments literally, others symbolically, and many divisions have occurred in Christianity due to different understandings of the words of the Sermon on the Mount. Some movements that arose under the influence of the Sermon on the Mount in Russian culture are well known to us, for example, the Tolstoyans are followers of the religious teachings of the great Russian writer, Count Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. Tolstoy understood in his own way some of the provisions of the Sermon on the Mount, for example, about non-resistance to evil. Tolstoy took this literally and much more, with which he opposed himself official Church. Some see in the commandments of the Sermon on the Mount requirements that cannot be fulfilled in full, and therefore talk about symbolic meaning commandments. Others see specific directions and talk about their literal meaning. When reading the Sermon on the Mount, we must not forget our personal experience. It is unlikely that there is any other gospel text that made such demands on us personally, on our conscience, as the Sermon on the Mount. We must take into account that the Sermon on the Mount was not delivered for our specific society, but was delivered in a specific historical setting. After all, it was not Christians who listened to this sermon, but Jews. It must be remembered that the commandments of the Sermon on the Mount were preceded by a thousand-year religious history of the Jewish people - a cult law, an ethical law. Therefore, the words of the Sermon on the Mount are addressed not just to the first person they meet, but to people who have already gone through long haul religious and moral development. This must be taken into account when we read the Sermon on the Mount.

Let's talk about the form of the Sermon on the Mount. Evangelist Matthew tries to imitate the Torah. Christ ascends the mountain before delivering the Sermon on the Mount, from where He gives commandments to people and proclaims His moral law. In the minds of the Jews, all this was associated with the giving of the Old Testament commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai. Here the Evangelist Matthew shows Christ as the new Moses. Christ began to teach when he sat down. This is very important. Christ sat on the pulpit as a teacher. During formal teaching, the Jewish rabbi always sat. The Greek word for "pulpit" means "seat", and in many European languages It is still said that the professor’s desk is the department. By the way, the Pope, when he speaks ex cathedra, from his seat, from his throne, when he speaks from the pulpit, then he is proclaiming a doctrine. This is precisely what the dogma of papal infallibility is based on. The rabbi often taught while pacing or walking, but he began formal teaching when he took his seat in the pulpit. Thus, the very indication that Christ sat down before he began to teach his disciples indicates that this teaching occupies a central place and is, as it were, official.

Before considering the very content of the Sermon on the Mount, we need to think about how to understand what Christ said in it. This is an important question, for it is obvious that Christ here offers his teaching in a completely different way from the ethics textbooks and even differently from how ordinary people express the same thoughts. Being good teacher, Christ naturally uses forms of language and expression that mean a lot to those who listen to Him. His teaching contains at least three distinctive properties.

First. Most of the Sermon on the Mount is poetry, although it is difficult for us to recognize it as poetry, since our poetry is built on the effect of rhyme and stress. Jewish poetry was different. It was built on the effect of parallelism, that is, correspondence of thoughts. Similarities of thought or differences. European poetry and Middle Eastern poetry, including Jewish poetry, are built on completely different principles. We are accustomed to the so-called syllabic, rhythmic poetry. Any of our poems is divided into syllables, the stress falls on the syllables and a certain rhythm is obtained: “Frost and sun, a wonderful day...”. Syllabic rhythm creates our European poetry; it seems to come from music. But the poetry in the Bible is completely different, and the Bible is permeated with poetry. There are a lot of poems there, but when we read the Bible, the Old Testament, we don’t notice this, because we are used to other poetry. In the Bible there is not a rhythm of syllables, but a rhythm of concepts, a rhythm of words, a rhythm of symbols, and this happens in the following way. For example, any psalm is poetry. "Psalm" means "song". It is divided into lines, and when the second line in meaning repeats the first line or negates it, then these lines are parallel or antiparallel. When the second line repeats the first line in meaning, it is called synonymous parallelism. There are many examples of this in the psalms and other poetic sections of the Old Testament. Any psalm, for example, the most famous, the 50th psalm, begins like this: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy” - this is the first line. “And according to the multitude of Your compassions, cleanse my iniquity” is the second line. They are similar in meaning, just in different words the same idea is expressed. “Wash me above all from my iniquity” - the first line. “And cleanse me from my sin.” But “washed from iniquity” and “cleansed from sin” are one and the same thing. In poetry this is called parallelism or rhythm by parallels. This structure permeates almost the entire Bible, because the entire Bible is very poetic. In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord follows this poetic tradition of his people. For example, Christ says: “Do not give what is holy to dogs and do not throw your pearls before swine.” What we have before us is genuine Jewish poetry, in which the second line repeats the thought, that is, parallels the first, but simply uses a different image. The psalm consists of stanzas, each stanza has two lines, but each line can be not only parallel, but also antiparallel to the other. The antiparallel type of Hebrew poetry is called antithetical parallelism. There are also many examples of antiparallelism. For example: “Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit” or “He who believes in Me has eternal life, but he who does not believe goes to destruction.” Both lines contain similar lessons, but the idea is expressed using exactly opposite concepts. Such poetry is also often found in Old Testament. Even the Lord's Prayer can be arranged poetically.

The second property of Christ’s teaching is its imagery. Sometimes the teaching is given in the form of parables, other times it is simply living illustrations from everyday life. Many parables teach moral lessons, but the Sermon on the Mount uses more images from real life. We often talk about ethics in the abstract, but Christ always deals with concrete things. For example, we can say this: “Materialism can be a hindrance spiritual growth" And Christ said this: “No one can serve two masters. You cannot serve God and mammon,” that is, more specifically.

Third. Christ teaches very vividly. He often resorts to exaggeration to emphasize meaning. For example, He says that “it is better to pluck out an eye or cut off a hand than to commit adultery.” It is clear that Christ does not call us to self-harm, but He uses such extravagant language to make His listeners feel the seriousness of His message. Or, for example, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he was drowned in water.” deep sea" Of course, this is not a call for murder. Here we're talking about about the increased responsibility of those who, by their words or actions, can shake people’s faith. He also says: “Have faith in God, for truly I say to you, if anyone says to this mountain, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, whatever he says will be done for him.” . But this does not mean that the degree of one’s faith should be tested in this way - by commanding the mountains to fall into the sea. With this comparison, the Lord makes it clear what power faith in Him has. For unshakable faith, nothing is impossible, because for God nothing is impossible. When we read the Sermon on the Mount, we need to keep in mind these various techniques used by Christ in his evangelism. Recognition various forms can help us better understand what Christ meant and what He spoke about.

So what kind of ethics did Christ propose? What principles of behavior should guide those who accept the divine will in their lives? There are two points that distinguish New Testament ethics from most other ethical systems.

First. The ethical teaching of Christ is completely inseparable from His teaching about the power of God in the lives of people. Without understanding this, it is very difficult to understand the meaning of the Sermon on the Mount. All ethical systems have a foundation on which they are built. The ethical teaching of Christ is based on the claim that the God who created all things and acted in the history of Israel in the Old Testament can be known in a real, personal way. The behavior and lifestyle of His followers is the way to know God. This principle has always been central to Judaism. The Old Testament itself was based on a principle that is fundamental to the teaching of Christ and in the New Testament. This basis is that human goodness has its origin in God. The central tenet of one section of the Old Testament law was the statement: “You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am Holy.” And Christ says in the Sermon on the Mount: “Be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” In the Old Testament, the Lord calls people to holiness, but why does he call? Why should people be saints? Because God is holy and people should be like Him. “Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” And Christ gives the same justification for his moral teaching: “Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect,” that is, we must be perfect because God is perfect. Ethical Standards that God's people were required to achieve were no less than a reflection of the character of God himself. It is important for us to understand why we were given the moral law. It is completely wrong to think that if we fulfill the commandments, then when we die we will receive a reward for it, just as a child is rewarded by his parents for good behavior. And if we do not comply, then retribution awaits us in the future. Of course, retribution exists, and each of us will receive what he deserves, but divine retribution is not a judge’s sentence to a criminal for a crime committed. God in the legal sense does not punish or reward. It just brings out inner world every person and the state of this world either dooms a person to suffering or reveals to him the joy of communication with God. In the Gospel there is a story about the Lord healing a demon-possessed man. It is interesting that when Christ began to approach him, the demoniac shouted: “Don’t torment me.” This means that God, who is love, was the source of torment for the demon with which a person was possessed, which means that if people liken themselves to a dark force, if they do the will of the devil, and not the will of God, then standing before God will become torment for a person. Not in the sense that God will begin to torment a person, but in the sense that a person will feel his complete incompatibility. After all, everyone feels comfortable only in a world that is natural to them, among like-minded people. For everyone normal person If someone accidentally stumbles, going to prison will be torment, because he finds himself in a world completely alien to him: with its own laws, concepts, vocabulary, views on life, and so on. But on the other hand, when an inveterate repeat offender is released, he cannot find himself among normal people. This normal world is alien to him, he suffers in it. Such people often commit crimes again not for profit, but only in order to again end up on the bunk, in the world of unfreedom, which is so frightening for any person, but for a criminal it is natural. He is in the cell like a fish in water. This, of course, is a comparison, and although every comparison is fraught with inaccuracy, it can still help us understand the nature of the suffering of a sinner. human soul when she appears before God. In order for there to be no suffering, so that the world of God becomes close to the world of man, we must take upon ourselves the work of forming the world of God within ourselves. And the commandments and, in general, all the moral provisions of the Gospel teaching, set forth in the Sermon on the Mount, are those mechanisms, those tools with the help of which a person forms in himself the qualities of God. God is not something amorphous, God is a living person, which means He has a character, has some qualities, properties. In our series of conversations, I have already mentioned that man is created in the image and likeness of God. Similarity is the goal of human existence. As a result of life, a person must become like God, become like Him. Having committed sin, people lost this ability because they broke the connection with God, but in Christ the communication between God and people was restored. God entered the world by the power of his grace, and the goal of becoming like God became real again. The gift of grace is what God has done for us, and in the Sermon on the Mount the Lord tells us what we need to do to achieve this goal. With the help of the moral law, man - the image of God - develops himself to God-likeness. By fulfilling the commandments, a person develops in himself the qualities of God, His character, acts as Christ acted, and, as we know, like is recognized by like. Introducing after physical death in the face of God, a person finds himself in the world of the Kingdom of God that is close and natural to him.

The second foundation of New Testament ethics—what is it? One scholar, summing up all the points of the Sermon on the Mount, described biblical ethics as “the science of human behavior as determined by divine behavior,” that is, people should act as God acts. One of the most characteristic features God's action in Israel's experience is His willingness to care for people who do not even think about Him. Abraham was called out of Mesopotamia and was given new country, but not because of any moral or spiritual superiority that he possessed, but simply because the attention and love of God were poured out on him. Subsequently, Israel was preserved through all the difficulties of the exodus from Egypt and what followed, not because of its own moral perfection, but simply because of its care loving God. Based on these unmerited acts of grace, God made certain demands on his people. After all, the Ten Commandments begin with the statement: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery,” and so on. This is the premise on which the commandments are based. Because God has done something for His people, they must repay Him with love and obedience. The same can be found in other places of the Old Testament law: “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God delivered you, therefore today I command you...”, then what He has already commanded. New Testament ethics has exactly the same basis. For example, it is striking that the Apostle Paul, in wanting to stop the strife going on in the Philippian church, does not appeal to ordinary common sense to solve the problem, but to precisely the same aspect of God's character that we saw in the Old Testament. He gives an example of how God in Christ gave Himself for our salvation. I will read this passage: “For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: He, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery equal to God; but he made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, becoming in the likeness of men, and becoming in appearance like a man; He humbled himself and was obedient even to the point of death, even death on the cross” (). This is what the Apostle Paul makes the basis of his moral call to his readers: since Christ gave up everything for us, we must be willing to sacrifice our selfishness in order to be pleasing to Him. We must act in the same way as Christ did: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Elsewhere the apostle will say that we must have “the mind of Christ” (). What is meant, of course, is not Divine Wisdom, but the human mind of Christ. We must think in the categories in which He thought. And what these categories are is clear from the commandments and ethical teaching of the Sermon on the Mount.

This means that there are two points on which New Testament ethics is based. First: we must be perfect and holy, because God is perfect and holy, and people must be like him. And second: we must treat God the way He treats us. Ultimately, this is what Christ Himself proclaimed as the highest and twofold commandment of love for God and neighbor. Our love for God is demonstrated through love for our neighbor. When we love our neighbor, we try to treat God the way He treats us.

Sermon on the Mount(Matthew 5-7; Luke 6, 12-49) - the sermon of Jesus Christ, which contains the entire essence of the gospel teaching.

The Sermon on the Mount was delivered by the Savior on a low mountain in Galilee near Lake Gennesaret between Capernaum and Tiberias, after He chose 12 apostles from His disciples. He and the newly elected apostles descended from the top of the mountain, where he had spent the whole night in prayer to God, and stopped on a ledge of the mountain, which was a flat place of considerable space.

The election of the twelve apostles led many to think that He would finally establish the long-promised kingdom of God. Proud of his chosenness and could not come to terms with the loss of his independence Jewish people began to dream of the coming of a Messiah who would free them from foreign rule, take revenge on all enemies, reign over the Jews and enslave all the peoples of the earth to them, and give them purely fabulous prosperity. With such false dreams of earthly bliss that the Messiah would give them, they surrounded Jesus Christ.

And in response to these thoughts and feelings of theirs, the Lord revealed to them His Gospel teaching about the beatitudes, radically destroying their delusions. He showed the spirit of His kingdom, taught that in this life we need to be spiritually reborn, in order to thereby prepare for ourselves bliss eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus Christ showed how we must fulfill the law of God in order to receive blessed (that is, extremely joyful, happy), eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven. For this purpose He gave the nine beatitudes. Then the Lord gave teachings about the Providence of God, about non-judgment of others, about forgiveness of neighbors, about love for them, about prayer and fasting, about almsgiving and much more.
So, in the clear spring day, with a quiet breeze of coolness from Lake Galilee, on the slopes of a mountain covered with greenery and flowers, the Savior gives people the New Testament law of love and grace.

St. Apostle Matthew ends his narration of the Sermon on the Mount with testimony that the people marveled at the teaching of Christ, because Christ taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes and Pharisees. The teaching of the Pharisees consisted, for the most part, in trifles, in useless word developments and word debates - the teaching of Jesus Christ was simple and sublime, for He spoke as the Son of God, as no one had spoken before, and spoke personally on His own: “But I say to you,” - in His words the Divine power and strength was clearly felt.

After the election of the apostles, Jesus Christ came down with them from the top of the mountain and stood on level ground. Here His many disciples and a great multitude of people who had gathered from all over the Jewish land and from the places neighboring it were waiting for Him. They came to listen to Him and receive healing from their illnesses. Everyone tried to touch the Savior, because power emanated from Him and healed everyone .

Seeing a multitude of people before Him, Jesus Christ, surrounded by disciples, ascended to a high place near the mountain and sat down to teach the people .

First, the Lord indicated what His disciples, that is, all Christians, should be like. How they must fulfill the law of God in order to receive blessed (that is, extremely joyful, happy), eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven. For this He gave nine beatitudes. Then the Lord gave teachings about the Providence of God, about non-judgment of others, about the power of prayer, about almsgiving and much more. This sermon of Jesus Christ is called upland.

So, in the middle of a clear spring day, with a quiet breeze of coolness from Lake Galilee, on the slopes of a mountain covered with greenery and flowers, the Savior gives people the New Testament law of love .

In the Old Testament, the Lord gave the Law in barren desert, on Mount Sinai. Then a menacing, dark cloud covered the top of the mountain, thunder roared, lightning flashed and a trumpet sound was heard. No one dared to approach the mountain except the prophet Moses, to whom the Lord entrusted the Ten Commandments of the Law .

Now the Lord is surrounded by a close crowd of people. Everyone tries to come closer to Him and touch at least the hem of His robe in order to receive grace-filled power from Him. And no one leaves Him without consolation .

The Old Testament Law is the law of strict truth, and the New Testament law of Christ is the law Divine love and grace, which gives people the power to fulfill God's Law. Jesus Christ Himself said: “I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it” (Matt. 5 , 17) .

Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, as loving Father, shows us the ways or deeds through which people can enter the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God. To all who will fulfill His instructions or commandments, Christ promises, as the King of heaven and earth, eternal bliss(great joy, highest happiness) in the future, eternal life. That's why He calls such people blessed, i.e. the happiest.

Matt. 5:3 blessed ones in the spirit: for to them is the kingdom of heaven.

Poor in spirit- these are people who feel and recognize their sins and spiritual shortcomings. They remember that without God’s help they themselves cannot do anything good, and therefore they do not boast or be proud of anything, either before God or before people. These are humble people.

Matt. 5:4 Blessed are the mourners: for they shall be comforted.

Crying- people who grieve and cry about their sins and spiritual shortcomings. The Lord will forgive their sins. He gives them consolation here on earth, and eternal joy in heaven. .

Matt. 5:5 Blessed are the brethren: for they will inherit the earth.

The meek- people who patiently endure all sorts of misfortunes, without being upset (without grumbling) at God, and humbly endure all sorts of troubles and insults from people, without getting angry with anyone. They will receive possession of a heavenly dwelling, that is, a new (renewed) earth in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Matt. 5:6 Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness: for they shall be satisfied.

Hungering and thirsting for truth- people who diligently desire righteousness, like the hungry (hungry) - bread and the thirsty - water, ask God to cleanse them from sins and help them live righteously (they want to be justified before God). The desire of such people will be fulfilled, they will be satisfied, that is, they will be justified.

Matt. 5:7 Blessed And lostivii: I like you there will be ilovani.

Gracious- people who have a kind heart - merciful, compassionate towards everyone, always ready to help those in need in any way they can. Such people themselves will be pardoned by God, and God’s special mercy will be shown to them.

Matt. 5:8 Blazheni h And people with their hearts: as they see God

Pure at heart- people who not only guard against bad deeds, but also try to make their soul pure, that is, they keep it from bad thoughts and desires. Here too they are close to God (they always feel Him in their souls), and in future life, in the Kingdom of Heaven, will forever be with God, see Him.

Matt. 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for these shall be called the sons of God.

Peacekeepers- people who do not like any quarrels. They themselves try to live peacefully and amicably with everyone and to reconcile others with each other. They are likened to the Son of God, Who came to earth to reconcile sinners with the justice of God. Such people will be called sons, that is, children of God, and will be especially close to God.

Matt. 5:10 Blessedly, drive out the truth for the sake of: for to them is the kingdom of heaven.

Banished for the Truth- people who so love to live according to the truth, that is, according to God's law, according to justice, that they endure and endure all sorts of persecutions, deprivations and disasters for this truth, but do not betray it in any way. For this they will receive the Kingdom of Heaven.

Matt. 5:11 Blessed is it when they revile you, and deprive you, and say every evil verb against you, a liar, for my sake:

Matt. 5:12 rejoice and be merry And Be sure that your reward is many in heaven: for the prophets cast out, And same [besha] before you

Here the Lord says: if they revile you (mock you, scold you, dishonor you), use you and falsely say bad things about you (slander, unfairly accuse you), and you endure all this for your faith in Me, then do not be sad, but rejoice and be merry, because a great, greatest reward in heaven awaits you, that is, a particularly high degree of eternal Bliss.

ABOUT GOD'S PROVIDENCE

“Do not worry (overly) about what you will eat or what you will drink or what you will wear,” said the Savior. “Look at the birds of the air: they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into a barn, and your heavenly Father feeds them; and are you not much better than them? Look at the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. But I tell you that Solomon in all his glory did not dress like any of them. But if God clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, then how much more do you, O God the Father, of little faith! your Heavenly One, knows that you need all this. Therefore, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." .

ABOUT NON-JUDGEMENT OF YOUR NEIGHBOR

Jesus Christ did not say to judge other people. He said this: “Judge not, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Because with the same judgment you judge, you will also be judged (i.e., if you are lenient with the actions of other people, then God’s judgment will be merciful to you). And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye (that is, every other person), but do not feel the plank in your own eye (Does this mean? : Why do you like to notice even minor sins and shortcomings in others, but don’t want to see big sins and vices in yourself?) Or, as you say to your brother: let me take the speck out of your eye, but there is a beam in your eye? Hypocrite! First take the beam out of your own eye (try first of all to correct yourself), and then you will see how to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (then you will be able to correct the sin in another without insulting or humiliating him).

ABOUT FORGIVING YOUR NEIGHBOR

“Forgive and you will be forgiven,” said Jesus Christ. “For if you forgive people their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive people their trespasses, then your Father will not forgive you your trespasses. ".

ABOUT LOVE FOR YOUR NEIGHBOR

If you love only those who love you; or will you do good only to those who do it to you, and will you lend only to those from whom you hope to receive it back? Why should God reward you? Don't lawless people do the same thing? Don't the pagans do the same? ?

Be ye therefore merciful, even as your Father is merciful, be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect?

GENERAL RULE FOR TREATING YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

How should we always treat our neighbors, in any case, Jesus Christ gave us this rule: “in everything, as you want people to do to you (and we, of course, want all people to love us” do to us good and forgave us), do the same to them." (Do not do to others what you do not want for yourself).

ABOUT THE POWER OF PRAYER

If we earnestly pray to God and ask for His help, then God will do everything that will serve for our true benefit. Jesus Christ said this about it: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you; for everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Is there a man among you who, when his son If he asks him for bread, would he give him a stone? And when he asks for a fish, would he give him a snake? If you then, 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.”

ABOUT ALMS

We must do every good deed not out of boasting to people, not to show off to others, not for the sake of human reward, but for the sake of love for God and neighbor. Jesus Christ said: “See that you do not do your alms in front of people so that they will see you; otherwise you will have no reward from your Heavenly Father. So, when you do alms, do not sound a trumpet (that is, do not publicize it) before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that people may glorify them. Truly, I say to you, they already receive their reward from you, when you do alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing (that is, before yourself). do not boast about the good that you have done, forget about it), so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret (that is, everything that is in your soul and for the sake of which you do all this), will reward you openly" - if not now, then at His last judgment.

ABOUT THE NECESSITY OF GOOD DEEDS

So that people know that to enter the Kingdom of God it is not enough to good feelings and desires, but good deeds are necessary, Jesus Christ said: “Not everyone who says to Me: Lord! Lord! - will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only he who fulfills the will (commandments) of My Heavenly Father,” that is, it is not enough to just be a believer and pious, but we still need to do those good deeds that the Lord requires of us.

When Jesus Christ finished His preaching, the people marveled at His teaching, because He taught as one having authority, and not as the scribes and Pharisees taught. When He came down from the mountain, many people followed Him, and He, in His mercy, performed great miracles.

“When He saw the people, He went up into the mountain; and when He sat down, His disciples came to Him.
And He opened His mouth and taught them..." (Matthew, V 1-2)

First the Lord indicated what His disciples should be like, that is, all Christians. How they must fulfill the law of God in order to receive blessed (that is, extremely joyful, happy), eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven. For this purpose He gave the nine beatitudes. Then the Lord gave teachings about the Providence of God, about non-judgment of others, about the power of prayer, about almsgiving and much more. This sermon of Jesus Christ is called the sermon on the mount.

The Old Testament law is the law of strict truth, and the New Testament law of Christ is the law of Divine love and grace, which gives people the power to fulfill God's Law. Jesus Christ himself said: “I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it” (Matthew 5:17).

(according to "The Law of God". Archpriest Seraphim Slobodskaya
-http://www.magister.msk.ru/library/bible/zb/zb143.htm)

THE HAPPINESS COMMANDMENTS

" If you love Me, keep My commandments ".
GOSPEL OF JOHN, chapters 14, 15.

Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, as a loving Father, shows us the ways or deeds through which people can enter the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God. To all who will fulfill His instructions or commandments, Christ promises, as the King of heaven and earth, eternal bliss (great joy, highest happiness) in the future, eternal life. That is why He calls such people blessed, i.e. the happiest.

1. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for to them is the kingdom of heaven.	1. Blessed are the poor in spirit (humble): because theirs is (that is, the Kingdom of Heaven will be given to them).
	The poor in spirit are people who feel and recognize their sins and spiritual shortcomings. They remember that without God’s help they themselves cannot do anything good, and therefore they do not boast or be proud of anything, either before God or before people. These are humble people.
2.Blessed are those who cry, for they will be comforted.	2. Blessed are those who mourn (for their sins), for they will be comforted.
	Weeping people are people who grieve and cry about their sins and spiritual shortcomings. The Lord will forgive their sins. He gives them consolation here on earth, and eternal joy in heaven.
3. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.	3. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit (take possession of) the earth.
	The meek are people who patiently endure all sorts of misfortunes, without becoming upset (without grumbling) at God, and humbly endure all sorts of troubles and insults from people, without getting angry with anyone. They will receive possession of a heavenly dwelling, that is, a new (renewed) earth in the Kingdom of Heaven.
4.Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.	4. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (desiring righteousness); because they will be satisfied.
	Hungering and thirsting for truth- people who diligently desire righteousness, like the hungry (hungry) - bread and the thirsty - water, ask God to cleanse them from sins and help them live righteously (they want to be justified before God). The desire of such people will be fulfilled, they will be satisfied, that is, they will be justified.
5. Blesseds of mercy, for there will be mercy.	5. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
	Merciful - people who have a kind heart - merciful, compassionate towards everyone, always ready to help those in need in any way they can. Such people themselves will be pardoned by God, and God’s special mercy will be shown to them.
6.Blessed are those who are pure in heart, for they will see God.	6. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
	Pure in heart are people who not only guard against bad deeds, but also try to make their soul pure, that is, they keep it from bad thoughts and desires. Here too they are close to God (they always feel Him in their souls), and in the future life, in the Kingdom of Heaven, they will forever be with God and see Him.
7.Blessed are the peacemakers, for these shall be called sons of God.	7. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called (called) sons of God.
	Peacemakers are people who do not like any quarrels. They themselves try to live peacefully and amicably with everyone and to reconcile others with each other. They are likened to the Son of God, Who came to earth to reconcile sinners with the justice of God. Such people will be called sons, that is, children of God, and will be especially close to God.
8. Blessed is the expulsion of truth for the sake of them, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.	8. Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
	Banished for the Truth- people who so love to live according to the truth, that is, according to God's law, according to justice, that they endure and endure all sorts of persecutions, deprivations and disasters for this truth, but do not betray it in any way. For this they will receive the Kingdom of Heaven.
9. Blessed are you when they revile you, and ridicule you, and say all sorts of evil things about you lying, for my sake. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is abundant in heaven.	Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and slander you in every way unjustly because of Me. Rejoice and be glad then, for great is your reward in heaven.
	Here the Lord says: if they revile you (mock you, scold you, dishonor you), use you and falsely say bad things about you (slander, unfairly accuse you), and you endure all this for your faith in Me, then do not be sad, but rejoice and be glad, because a great, greatest reward in heaven awaits you, that is, a particularly high degree of eternal bliss.

ABOUT GOD'S PROVIDENCE

Jesus Christ taught that God provides, that is, cares for all creatures, but especially provides for people. The Lord takes care of us more and better than the kindest and most reasonable father takes care of his children. He provides us with His help in everything that is necessary in our life and that serves for our true benefit.

“Do not worry (overly) about what you will eat or what you will drink or what you will wear,” said the Savior. “Look at the birds of the air: they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into a barn, and your heavenly Father feeds them; and are you not much better than them? Look at the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. But I tell you that Solomon in all his glory did not dress like any of them. But if God clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, then how much more do you, O God the Father, of little faith! your Heavenly One, knows that you need all this. Therefore, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all this will be added to you.”

ABOUT NON-JUDGEMENT OF YOUR NEIGHBOR

ABOUT FORGIVING YOUR NEIGHBOR

“Forgive and you will be forgiven,” said Jesus Christ. “For if you forgive people their sins, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive people their sins, then your Father will not forgive you your sins.”

ABOUT LOVE FOR YOUR NEIGHBOR

Jesus Christ commanded us to love not only our loved ones, but all people, even those who offended us and caused us harm, that is, our enemies. He said: “You have heard what was said (by your teachers - the scribes and Pharisees): love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you: love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. "That you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."

If you love only those who love you; or will you do good only to those who do it to you, and will you lend only to those from whom you hope to receive it back? Why should God reward you? Don't lawless people do the same thing? Don't the pagans do the same?

Be ye therefore merciful, even as your Father is merciful, be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect?

GENERAL RULE FOR TREATING YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

How we should always treat our neighbors, in any case, Jesus Christ gave us this rule: " in everything you want people to do to you(and we, of course, want all people to love us, do good to us and forgive us), do the same to them". (Don't do to others what you don't want to do to yourself.)

ABOUT THE POWER OF PRAYER

ABOUT ALMS

ABOUT THE NECESSITY OF GOOD DEEDS

So that people know that to enter the Kingdom of God, good feelings and desires alone are not enough, but good deeds are necessary, Jesus Christ said: “Not everyone who says to Me: Lord! Lord! will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only he who does the will (commandments) of My Heavenly Father,” that is, it is not enough to just be a believer and a pious person, but we must also do those good deeds that the Lord requires of us.

When Jesus Christ finished His preaching, the people marveled at His teaching, because He taught as one having authority, and not as the scribes and Pharisees taught. When He came down from the mountain, many people followed Him, and He, in His mercy, performed great miracles.

NOTE:
See in the Gospel of Matthew chapters - 5, 6 and 7, from Luke, ch. 6, 12-41.
and "God's Law". Prot. Seraphim Slobodskaya-http://www.magister.msk.ru/library/bible/zb/zb143.htm
Prayers on the Internet.

Beatitudes
What is their meaning and difference from the Old Testament commandments
(conversation with professor of the Moscow Theological Academy Alexei Ilyich Osipov)

When it comes to Christian commandments, these words usually mean what everyone knows: “I am the Lord your God<…>May you have no other gods; do not make yourself an idol; Do not take the name of the Lord in vain...” However, these commandments through Moses were given to the people of Israel one and a half thousand years before the birth of Christ.

In Christianity, there is a different code of relations between man and God, which is usually called the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12), about which modern people know much less than about the Old Testament commandments. What is their meaning?
What kind of bliss are we talking about? And what is the difference between the Old Testament and New Testament commandments?
We talked about this with a professor at the Moscow Theological Academy Alexey Ilyich Osipov.

- Today the word “bliss” for many means the highest degree of pleasure. Does the Gospel presuppose precisely this understanding of this word or does it give it some other meaning?
- In the patristic heritage there is one common thesis, found in almost all the Fathers: if a person views Christian life as a way to achieve some kind of heavenly pleasures, ecstasies, experiences, special states of grace, then he is on the wrong path, on the path of delusion. Why are the holy fathers so unanimous on this issue? The answer is simple: if Christ is the Savior, therefore, there is some kind of great trouble from which we all need to be saved, then we are sick, we are in a state of death, damage and spiritual darkness, which does not give us the opportunity to achieve that blissful union with God, which we call the Kingdom of God. Therefore, the correct spiritual state of a person is characterized by his desire for healing from all sin, from everything that prevents him from achieving this Kingdom, and not by the desire for pleasure, even heavenly. As Macarius the Great said, if I’m not mistaken, our goal is not to receive something from God, but to unite with God Himself. And since God is Love, then union with God introduces us to that highest thing that in human language is called love. There is simply no higher state for a person.

Therefore, the very word “bliss” in this context means communion with God, who is Truth, Being, Love, the highest Good.

What is the fundamental difference between the commandments of the Old Testament and the Beatitudes?

All the Old Testament commandments are of a prohibitive nature: “Thou shalt not kill”, “Thou shalt not steal”, “Thou shalt not covet”... They were designed to keep a person from violating the Will of God. The Beatitudes have a different, positive character. But they can only conditionally be called commandments. Essentially, they are nothing more than an image of the beauty of the properties of that person whom the Apostle Paul calls new. The beatitudes show what spiritual gifts one receives new person if he follows the way of the Lord. The Decalogue of the Old Testament and the Sermon on the Mount of the Gospel are two different levels spiritual order. The Old Testament commandments promise a reward for their fulfillment: so that your days on earth will be prolonged. The beatitudes, without canceling these commandments, raise a person’s consciousness to the true goal of his existence: they will see God, for beatitude is God Himself. It is no coincidence that such an expert on Scripture as St. John Chrysostom says: “The Old Testament is as distant from the New as earth is from heaven.”

We can say that the commandments given through Moses are a kind of barrier, a fence on the edge of an abyss, holding back the beginning. And beatitudes are an open prospect of life in God. But without fulfilling the first, the second, of course, is impossible.

- What are “poor in spirit”? And is it true that the ancient texts of the New Testament simply say: “Blessed are the poor,” and the word “by the spirit” is a later insertion?
- If we take the edition of the New Testament in ancient Greek by Kurt Aland, where interlinear references are given to all the discrepancies found in the found manuscripts and fragments of the New Testament, then everywhere, with rare exceptions, the word “by the spirit” is present. And the very context of the New Testament speaks about the spiritual content of this saying. Therefore, the Slavic translation, and then the Russian one, contains precisely “poor in spirit” as an expression that corresponds to the spirit of the entire sermon of the Savior. And I must say that this full text has the deepest meaning.

All the holy ascetic fathers constantly and persistently emphasized that it is the awareness of one’s spiritual poverty that is the basis of the spiritual life of a Christian. This poverty consists in a person’s vision, firstly, of the damage to his nature by sin, and secondly, the impossibility of healing it on his own, without God’s help. And until a person sees this poverty of his, he is incapable of spiritual life. Poverty of spirit in its essence is nothing more than humility. How it is acquired is briefly and clearly discussed, for example, by Rev. Simeon the New Theologian: “Careful fulfillment of the commandments of Christ teaches a person his weaknesses,” that is, reveals to him the illnesses of his soul. The saints claim that without this foundation no other virtues are possible. Moreover, the virtues themselves, without spiritual poverty, can lead a person into a very dangerous state, into vanity, pride and other sins.

If the reward for poverty of spirit is the Kingdom of Heaven, then why are the other blessings needed, since the Kingdom of Heaven already presupposes the fullness of good?

Here we are not talking about a reward, but about necessary condition, in which all further virtues are possible. When we build a house, we first lay the foundation, and only then build the walls. In spiritual life, humility - spiritual poverty - is the foundation without which all good deeds and all further work over oneself becomes meaningless and useless. St. said this beautifully. Isaac the Syrian: “What salt is to all food, so is humility to all virtue. because without humility all our deeds, all virtues and all work are in vain.” But, on the other hand, spiritual poverty is a powerful incentive for correct spiritual life, the acquisition of all other god-like properties and, thus, the fullness of good.

-Then the next question is: are the Beatitudes hierarchical and are they a kind of system, or is each of them completely self-sufficient?

We can say with complete confidence that the first stage is the necessary basis for obtaining the rest. But the enumeration of others does not at all have the character of some logically connected strict system. In the Gospels of Matthew and Luke themselves they have different order. This is also evidenced by the experience of many saints, who have different sequences of acquiring virtues. Each saint had some special virtue that set him apart from others. Someone was a peacemaker. And some are especially merciful. This depended on many reasons: on the natural properties of the individual, on the circumstances of external life, on the nature and conditions of achievement, and even on the level of spiritual perfection. But, I repeat, the acquisition of spiritual poverty, according to the teachings of the fathers, has always been considered as an unconditional requirement, since without it, the fulfillment of the remaining commandments leads to the destruction of the entire spiritual home of a Christian.

The Holy Fathers give sad examples when some ascetics who achieved great talents were able to heal, see the future, and prophesy, but then fell into the gravest sins. And the fathers directly explain: all this happened because they, without recognizing themselves, that is, their sinfulness, their weakness in the feat of cleansing the soul from the action of passions, in other words, without acquiring spiritual poverty, were easily subjected to devilish attacks, stumbled and fell.

- Blessed are those who mourn. But people cry for different reasons. What kind of crying are we talking about?
- There are many types of tears: we cry from resentment, we cry from joy, we cry from anger, we cry from some kind of sorrow, we cry from misfortune. These types of crying can be natural or even sinful.

When the holy fathers explain Christ’s blessing of those who cry, they speak not about these reasons for tears, but about tears of repentance, heartfelt contrition for their sins, about their powerlessness to cope with the evil that they see in themselves. Such crying is an appeal of both the mind and the heart to God for help in spiritual life. But God will not reject a contrite and humble heart and will certainly help such a person to overcome evil in himself and acquire goodness. Therefore, blessed are these who mourn.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. How to understand this? In the sense that all the meek will eventually kill each other, and only the meek will remain on earth?
- First of all, it is necessary to explain what meekness is. Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) wrote: “The state of the soul in which anger, hatred, resentment and condemnation are eliminated from it is a new bliss, it is called meekness.” Meekness, it turns out, is not some kind of passivity, weak character, or inability to repel aggression, but generosity, the ability to forgive the offender, and not retaliate with evil for evil. This property is completely spiritual, and it is a characteristic of a Christian who has conquered his egoism, conquered the passions, especially anger, that push him to revenge. Therefore, such a person is capable of inheriting the promised land of the Kingdom of Heaven.

At the same time, the holy fathers explained that here we are not talking about this, our earth, filled with sin, suffering, blood, but about that earth, which is the abode of the eternal future life of man - the new earth and the new heaven, about which the Apostle John the Theologian writes in his Apocalypse.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. That is, it turns out that God treats the merciful differently than the unmerciful. Does He have mercy on some and not on others?

It would be a mistake to understand the word “pardoned” in a legal sense or to believe that God, having anger at man, but seeing his mercy towards people, turned His wrath into mercy. There is no judicial pardon of the sinner, no change in God's attitude towards him for his kindness. Rev. Anthony the Great explains this perfectly: “It is absurd to think that the Divine would be good or bad because of human affairs. God is good and does only good things, being always the same; and when we are good, we enter into communication with God - out of similarity with Him, and when we become evil, we separate from God - out of dissimilarity with Him. By living virtuously, we become God's people, and by becoming evil, we become rejected from Him; and this does not mean that He has anger against us, but that our sins do not allow God to shine in us, but unite us with demons tormentors. If then through prayers and good deeds we gain permission from our sins, this does not mean that we have pleased God and changed Him, but that through such actions and our turning to God, having healed the evil that exists in us, we again become able to taste God’s goodness; so to say: God turns away from the wicked is the same as saying: the sun is hidden from those deprived of sight.” That is, pardon here does not mean a change in God’s attitude towards man for his mercy, but this mercy towards his neighbor makes the person himself capable of perceiving the unchanging love of God. This is a logical and natural process - like is combined with like. The closer a person becomes to God through his mercy towards his neighbors, the more God’s mercy he becomes able to accommodate.

- Who are the pure in heart and how are they able to see God, who is the Spirit and about whom it is said: no one has seen God?

Under " with a pure heart“The holy fathers understand the possibility of achieving dispassion, that is, liberation from slavery to passions, for everyone who commits sin, according to the word of Christ, is a slave of sin. So, as a person frees himself from this slavery, he truly becomes more and more a spiritual spectator of God. Just as we experience love, we see it in ourselves, so, similarly, a person can see God - not with external vision, but with the internal experience of His presence in his soul, in his life. How beautifully the Psalmist speaks about this: taste and see that the Lord is good!

- Blessed are the peacemakers - who is this said about? Who are the peacemakers and why are they promised bliss?

These words have at least two conjugate meanings. The first, more obvious one, concerns our mutual relations with each other, both personal and collective, public, international. Those who unselfishly strive to establish and maintain peace are blessed, even if this is associated with any infringement of their pride, vanity, etc. This peacemaker, in whom love overcomes his often petty truth, is pleased with Christ.

The second meaning, a deeper one, applies to those who, through the feat of struggle against passions, cleansed their hearts from all evil and became able to accept into their souls that peace about which the Savior said: My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you. This peace of soul is glorified by all the saints, claiming that whoever acquires it acquires true sonship with God.

- Well, last question- expelled for the sake of truth. Isn’t there a certain danger here for a modern person - to confuse your personal problems, which caused unpleasant consequences for you, with persecution for Christ and the truth of God?

- Of course, this danger exists. After all, there is no such good thing that cannot be spoiled. And in this case, all of us (each to the extent of his susceptibility to passions) are sometimes inclined to consider ourselves persecuted for that truth, which is not at all the truth of God. There is an ordinary human truth, which, as a rule, is, to put it mathematical language, establishing the identity of relations: twice two is four. This truth is nothing more than the right to justice. V. Solovyov very accurately said about moral level of this right: “Right is the lowest limit or a certain minimum of morality.” Expulsion for this truth, if we correlate this with the modern context of the struggle for freedoms and human rights, it turns out that is not the highest dignity of a person, because here, along with sincere aspirations, vanity, calculation, political considerations, and other, not always disinterested, often appear , motives.

What kind of truth did the Lord speak about when he promised the Kingdom of Heaven to those exiled for it? Saint Isaac the Syrian wrote about her: “Mercy and justice in one soul are the same as a person who worships God and idols in the same house. Mercy is the opposite of justice. Justice is an equalization of exact measures: because it gives everyone what they deserve... And mercy. He compassionately bows down to everyone: he who is worthy of evil is not repaid with evil, and he who is worthy of good is filled with abundance. Just as hay and fire cannot stand to be in the same house, so justice and mercy cannot be in the same soul.”

There is a good saying: “Demanding your rights is a matter of truth, sacrificing them is a matter of love.” God's truth exists only where there is love. Where there is no love, there is no truth. If I tell a person with an ugly appearance that he is a freak, then technically I will be right. But there will be no God’s truth in my words. Why? Because there is no love, no compassion. That is, God's truth and human truth are often completely different things. Without love there is no truth, even if everything seems quite fair. And, on the contrary, where there is not even justice, but there is real love, condescending to the shortcomings of one’s neighbor, showing patience, true truth is present. St. Isaac the Syrian cites God Himself as an example: “Do not call God just, for His justice is not known by your deeds. Moreover, He is good and gracious. For he says, “It is good for the wicked and the wicked (Luke 6:35).” The Lord Jesus Christ, being a righteous man, suffered for the unrighteous and prayed from the Cross: Father! forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. It turns out that this is the kind of truth one can and should suffer for—for love of man, of truth, of God. Only in this case will those persecuted for the sake of righteousness inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.

Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5, verse 3

After the election of the twelve apostles, Christ descended from the top of the mountain. Here a multitude of people from Jerusalem, Judea and the coastal cities of Tire and Sidon were waiting for Him. People came to listen to the Divine Teacher and be healed of their ailments.

Surrounded by disciples, the Savior began to speak to the people about the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. He indicated what his disciples, that is, all Christians, should be like. How they must fulfill the Law of God in order to receive blessed, eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Then the Lord taught the teaching about God’s Providence, about non-judgment and forgiveness of others, about the power of prayer, almsgiving, about love for enemies and fulfilling the commandments. This sermon of Jesus Christ is called the Sermon on the Mount.
In the Old Testament, God gave the Law to people in a barren desert. Then a menacing, dark cloud covered the top of Mount Sinai. Thunder roared, lightning flashed and a trumpet sound was heard. No one dared to approach the mountain except the prophet Moses, to whom the Lord entrusted the Ten Commandments of the Law.

Now - on a clear spring day, with a quiet breeze of coolness from Lake Galilee, on the slopes of a mountain covered with greenery and flowers - the Savior was surrounded by a close crowd of people. Everyone tried to come closer to Him and touch at least the hem of His clothing in order to receive grace-filled power from Him. And no one left without consolation.

The Old Testament law is the law of strict truth, and the New Testament law of Christ is the law of Divine love and grace. The Lord Jesus Christ shows people the path along which they can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. As the King of heaven and earth, He promises them eternal bliss in the future eternal life. Therefore, the Savior calls such people blessed, that is, the happiest.

The Lord says: "". With these words, Christ announced to humanity a completely new truth. To enter the Kingdom of Heaven, it is necessary to realize that in this world a person has nothing of his own. His whole life is in the hands of God. Health, strength, abilities - everything is a gift from God.
Spiritual poverty is called humility. Without humility, turning to God is impossible, no Christian virtue is possible. Only it opens a person’s heart to perceive Divine grace.
Physical poverty can also serve spiritual perfection if a person chooses it voluntarily, for the sake of God. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself spoke about this in the Gospel to one rich young man: " "
The young man did not find the strength to follow Christ, since he could not part with earthly wealth. However, many Christians, from the first days of the founding of the Church of Christ until our time, acted according to the word of the Savior and were awarded heavenly rewards.

Rich people can also be poor in spirit. If a person understands that earthly wealth is perishable and fleeting, then his heart will not depend on earthly treasures. And then nothing will stop the rich man from striving to acquire spiritual goods, to acquire virtues and perfection.

The Lord promises a great reward to the poor in spirit - the Kingdom of Heaven.
“,” the Savior continued to teach the people. Speaking about crying, Christ meant tears of repentance and sorrow of the heart for the sins committed by man. “,” says the Apostle Paul.

The Lord will comfort those who cry about their sins and grant them grace-filled peace. Their sorrow will be replaced by eternal joy, eternal bliss.

“,” the Savior continued to say to the gathered people. Meekness is a calm, full of Christian love state of the human spirit. A meek person never grumbles either against God or people. He always regrets the hardness of heart of those who offended him and prays for their correction.

The greatest example of meekness and humility was shown to the world by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, when, crucified on the Cross, He prayed for His enemies.
Meekness conquers even the most cruel hearts of people. An example of this is the countless persecutions of Christians. Those whom the fury of the pagans sought to wipe out from the face of the earth defeated their tormentors with patience and meekness. Their faith enlightened the entire Universe.

The Savior promises the meek that they will inherit the earth. The Lord protects them in earthly life, and in the future life they will become heirs of the Heavenly Fatherland - the New Earth with its endless benefits.