MODERN PATERIK
Reading for the discouraged
Maya Kucherskaya
The death of a sinner is brutal

One man went on a pilgrimage. It was his neighbor, Sergeevna, who advised him. She herself recently returned from a pilgrimage, with a healed leg. I went not so far, to the Bobrenev Monastery. There were no special shrines kept in Bobrenev, there was only the Feodorovskaya icon Mother of God. The icon is an ordinary one, painted in Sofrino, but people have long been saying that the icon is miraculous. Sergeevna, approaching the icon, did not know what to ask for, somehow everything jumped out of her head, but suddenly it hit her, and she asked: “Mother of God, may my knee go away!” The next morning, the knee was completely gone, it went away, Sergeevna began to walk like a girl. And, returning home, she shared the miracle with her neighbor. The neighbor remembered how Sergeevna limped, was surprised and, although he didn’t believe it, also decided to go. Interesting after all.
He arrives, but cannot approach the icon. Some force won't let him in. He is this way and that, and on the right, and on the left, and in front! Stop, that's all. Can't get closer than a meter. And everyone came up: children, women, and some crazy guy, everyone. Not him. And the man became so angry that his face turned black. He goes to the monk who sells candles and asks him what’s the matter. Maybe there are some special words you need to know. And the monk looked through his glasses and said:
- The Mother of God does not allow you to visit her. Apparently for sins.
- For what other sins! - the man yelled.
And the monk flashes at him again through his glasses!
- Screaming in the temple of God is not allowed.
The guy, what can you do, fell silent. And the monk presses further, he is also already gone:
- Repent. Tomorrow morning there will be a service, confession will begin at eight, come to confession. Have you gone to confession before?
- Never.
- Well, now the time has come. Just remember everything carefully.
The man wanted to tell him that he had nothing to remember, but he just spat. True, already when I left the church. And then he ran back, back, straight to the icon, I thought about taking it on the fly.
For a meter - boom! - wall! And the man hit his forehead against it, as if against a tree, although there was no wall in sight. There is only one air. The man grabbed his forehead and, without looking at anyone, looked at the train! “Here is your icon. Dogs, not people." That's what he thought as he drove home. And at home he looks, Sergeevna digs potatoes behind the fence in the garden and does not limp. The man thinks: I’ll come up from behind and strangle you. But Sergeevna noticed him, called out to him, ran up to the fence, cooed - like you, like an icon, like grace. Well, the man stood there, stood there, didn’t say a word to her, turned around and walked away. He was black all week. And he didn’t talk to anyone about anything. And a week later he died.
Sergeevna, of course, couldn’t stand it, she went to the monastery to find out what happened to her neighbor, that a man even died. And in the monastery, when they learned about the neighbor’s death, they shook their heads - many saw how a man hit an invisible wall. And the smart one, in glasses, who sold candles, just shrugged his shoulders: “What’s surprising here?”

From the life of young mothers

Tonya got pregnant. The future paratrooper, from a military school, met at a disco. Of course, I had no intention of getting married. And Tonya is seventeen years old, at the prom she already danced with her belly. When my mother found out, she was happy - it’s good that she didn’t have an abortion, my daughter, it’s okay, we’ll feed her. Suddenly the doctors say: “The fetus is entwined with the umbilical cord, it’s very unfortunate, it will suffocate during childbirth.” And they began to advise Tonya to have a caesarean section. Here mom and doctors are at the same time. But Tonya doesn’t want to cut her belly, after all, it’s her own beautiful belly, and suddenly you cut it with a knife!
Tonya tells the doctors: “I’m afraid.” And the doctors to Tone: “You will kill the child.” And Tonya felt sad. But then they advised my mother - in Bobrenev, after the roundabout, the first turn to the right, there is a monastery, there is the Feodorovskaya icon, you need to pray to it, and everything will be fine. But Tonya is already in her ninth month, she will give birth today or tomorrow, and there is no transport to Bobrenev. He walks only until the turn, then walks three kilometers across the field. It's winter, late November. But mom took Tonya by the hand, we got on the bus, got off, and went ahead. The wind is blowing, it’s slippery, but it’s okay, they’re somehow stomping.
In general, we barely made it. The cast iron gate was pushed open. They entered the territory, approached the church, and the church was closed. Tonya is in tears. Mom rushed around the monastery. Then a monk comes out of some stone building and explains: we only have services on Sundays, but we don’t refuse anyone to venerate or light a candle. And with a huge key he opens the church. When Tonya walked in, she went straight to the icon, although no one told her what kind of icon it was, but she felt it in her heart. Well, we stood there, crossed ourselves, lit a candle, but it was unclear what to do next. Tonya is still sad and very scared. And then you have to walk back across the field. The monk who opened the door for them comes up to her and says:
- I don’t know what happened to you. But you just stay here or sit, pray, and everything will be fine.
Tonya sat down on a bench, her mother next to her, they sat, rested a little, and left.
Two months later, my mother comes to the monastery and says:
“As soon as we left the monastery that day, Tonya suddenly screamed: “Mom, what’s happening to me!” I thought: contractions. “Tightening in the lower abdomen?” - “No, mom, no! Pulls up." And she almost runs. I'm following her. Tonya, it's slippery, Tonya, wait! We reached the turn. A bus arrived immediately. Two days later the contractions actually started. Boy. Healthy, strong, 4 kg, doctors gathered from all over the department to look at Tonya and the child, one even, like a professor, said: “For the first time in my medical practice!” Just arrived home from the hospital, a cadet comes from the military school, a friend of the unlucky one from whom the child is born, and asks: “Don’t you need a dad?” We were confused. He again: “What about your husband?” It turns out that he had his eye on Tonya for a long time and would have come long ago, but his parents were strongly against it. But he persuaded them anyway and immediately came running to us. We signed the day before yesterday.
Another month later the baby was brought to the monastery to be baptized. Tonya was completely different, serious and very calm. At the christening, the boy never cried out, he just hummed quietly. Mom really wanted her daughter to tell her again how and what happened, but Tonya was shy. She only said:
“Then, on the field, when we left the monastery, it was as if something grabbed me, so I felt at ease. And I realized that there was nothing to be afraid of anymore.

Pansies

Father Antipas received a blessing to live in a nearby hermitage, which was located five kilometers from the monastery. A landscaper by his worldly education, Father Antipas turned the desert into a wonderful garden - all kinds of flowers grew in his flower beds, from the first days of spring until late autumn. On windy days, the fragrance from his garden wafted up to the monastery walls. Even in his cell, he set up a small greenhouse, corresponded with the academy, received seeds of new varieties in envelopes, while being in constant prayer, always remaining joyful and cheerful. The brothers who visited him in solitude invariably admired the fruits of his labors, but Father Antipas usually answered: “How I wish I could smell the fragrance of the flowers of paradise.” One perspicacious Abba, who came to him one day, answered him: “You won’t have to wait long.” A few months later, Antipas' father died. stood late fall, the first snow fell, and the Lord showed a miracle to the brethren. The day after the funeral of the father-gardener, pansies sprouted and bloomed on his fresh grave. So they bloomed for several days, without fading from either the cold or the wind, until the snow completely covered them.

Not in vain

Nina Andreevna became a believer at the age of forty. Her beloved husband left her, and her heart turned to God. She had three children and she felt very sorry for them. Like any mother, she really wanted their life to turn out bright and straight. So that God does not punish them for her and their father’s sins, which, as she read in one Orthodox book, accumulate and weigh on many generations to come. And she had no doubt that there were a lot of these sins - her father and grandparents were atheists, and in her husband’s family there were generally many non-Orthodox and unbaptized.
And then one day, from a deceased woman, Nina Andreevna received an old and somewhat strange icon with the inscription “Tsar”. It was a dark time for the church - the early 1980s; real, non-Sofrin icons painted on wood were a rarity. And Nina Andreevna was very happy about the icon.
The icon depicted a saint with a spear in his hands, wearing a crimson royal purple - which means this was the king, but it was not clear which one, his name was not written. Then Nina Andreevna showed the icon to a priest she knew. He read it strange word and explained to her that “Uar” is written on the icon. Only in Church Slavonic, so “u” looks like “ts”, and at the end there is “er”. Nina Andreevna found the life of this saint in the Menaion and learned that they pray to the martyr Uar for unbaptized relatives, both living and deceased. So, through the intercession of the martyr, your family, which has accumulated sins, is freed from all these heavy tons of ugliness. This was exactly what was needed.
From the same priest who helped her read the inscription, Nina Andreevna took a blessing - to read the canon to the martyr Uar every day, simultaneously remembering her relatives, both on her husband’s side and on her own. And so all Lent. Every day. Father blessed her.
Nina Andreevna waited all day and couldn’t wait until late evening. And in the evening, having done all the work and put the children to bed, she lit a lamp in front of the icon of Uara, opened the book with the canon and prayed. And after each song of the canon, she remembered all her and her husband’s relatives, living and dead, everyone she remembered and knew and whose names she could find out from relatives.
She really liked to pray. After the canon, joy settled in my soul, the world was illuminated with light. It was not clear whether all those remembered were forgiven of their sins? Or not yet? Three weeks passed, the veneration of the cross began, Nina Andreevna prayed. But more and more often I thought: “Lord, am I doing all this in vain?”
And now, already in the fifth week of Lent, late at night, she suddenly woke up from a terrible scream. "Mother! Open the window!" - shouted her younger son, seven-year-old Vanechka. Nina Andreevna ran to the nursery, opened the window, and Vanya sat on the bed and rubbed his eyes.
“It smells very bad,” he said much more quietly.
-Did you dream about something?
- It was as if it was not a dream, but the truth. I was lying here on my bed, and suddenly in that corner,” Vanya pointed with his hand, “he appeared, wearing a purple crown, but not a real one, but from the glare of light. He was very small, the size of a palm, but he walked straight at me and said: “Cursed be the day when you learned the name of Christ. Cursed be the day you were baptized,” Vanechka sighed. - But then the martyr Uar appeared opposite him, just as small, only bright rays emanated from him, and one of him hit him, and the purple one wriggled and kept trying to dodge, but could not - and suddenly burst!
Immediately a terrible stench spread through the room, from which Vanya woke up.
The mother kissed her son on the forehead, stroked his head, and the boy fell soundly asleep, snoring quietly in his sleep.
Nina Andrevna told everyone she met and knew about this amazing incident and repeated every time: “You should never test the Lord and ask Him stupid questions, because no effort is in vain.”

Damaged wardrobe

One girl secretly prayed to God from her parents. When they went to bed, she moved the books from the shelf of the bookcase, put up the icons, lit the lamp and began to read the rule and the psalter. And then one day she was so carried away by prayer that she did not notice how the fire of the lamp became very high and began to burn through the closet. She blew out the flame, but it was too late - the fire created a black hole in the top panel of the cabinet.
The girl was horrified. What will the parents say? And she began to pray that the hole would somehow miraculously heal and the closet would become as good as new. “I believe that the Lord can do this,” the girl repeated. She stood praying for an hour and another, closing and opening her eyes in the hope that a miracle would happen, but the black circle never disappeared. In grief, the girl went to bed.
The next morning she immediately looked at the shelf - the hole was there. And it was impossible to hide it; even tall books did not obscure it. The girl was waiting for defeat. But then her mother came in and didn’t notice anything. Dad came in and didn’t say anything either. They looked straight at the closet and didn't say anything! Only three years later, the girl’s mother noticed that the closet was burned through; by that time, she herself began going to church, and understood everything. But they bought a new wardrobe anyway, this one completely fell apart.

FATHER PAUL AND AGRIPPINA
1. To distant lands

Once upon a time there lived a girl, Grunya. She grew up in a pious merchant family, grew up and thought: I’ll grow up big, I’ll become a nun. Soon she really grew up, quite big, and entered nursing courses at the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent. There she was given a cassock, and Grunya began caring for the sick. She really liked all this. One day, Elizaveta Feodorovna herself gave her a photograph of herself with a dedicatory inscription on Angel Day. But then the Bolsheviks came, Grand Duchess killed, and her monastery dispersed.
Grunya began going to the Danilov Monastery and met a young hieromonk there. His name was Father Pavel. He had a strict life, he spoke sternly to his children, and Gruna was close to this; she could not stand lisping. She had a strong character and loved a firm hand.
The Bolsheviks reached Danilov, Father Pavel was arrested and sent to prison. He didn’t even know at first that a girl was following him; his child, 28-year-old Grunya, was coming to feed him and not let him die. It was one old schemamonk of the Danilov Monastery, Father Simeon, who blessed her to go after Father Pavel, and Grunin’s father and mother agreed to this. And so Grunya rode, half-heartedly. Prisoners were traveling in some carriages, while in others ordinary people. No one knew when the prisoners would be dropped off; it had to be monitored. Grunya looked out the window, listened, and did not sleep. And she always popped up at the right moment. But then she had to wait for the next train and get on it, again with the group, and each time she persuaded, begged to take her, and she was put in the car next to the prisoners. She saw Father Pavel only from afar and not every time.
Suddenly, in one of the prisons, Grune was allowed a visit. Seeing the girl, Father Pavel did not even smile and knitted his eyebrows.
- Who blessed?
“Father Simeon and parents,” answered Grunya. Only then did the priest soften a little.

2. Running after the sleigh

Grunya followed Father Pavel further. The last two hundred kilometers remaining to the place of exile, the city of Akmolinsk (now Astana), had to be traveled by sleigh. The criminals, Father Pavel and the convoy got into the sleigh, the horse moved off, Grunya behind her. The horse was heavy, the sleigh was full of people, it wasn’t going very fast, and still a man on foot couldn’t keep up. Grunya ran. The criminals felt sorry for her. They began to persuade the soldiers to let her into the sleigh, and they stopped the horse and called the girl to them. Grunya ran up. “What, are you going to run all two hundred miles like this?” She replied: “I will.” And they put her in a sleigh.
They rented a room with Father Pavel in the city, hung a rope in the middle of the room and divided the room with a sheet. Father Pavel served the liturgy, and Grunya sang along, and also cooked food, did housework, and did laundry. One day a drunk policeman, a Kazakh, came to them and began to demand money from Father Pavel. But Father Pavel had no money. Then the policeman shot the priest at point-blank range. But I didn't hit it. I ended up in Grunya because she managed to block Father Pavel with herself. The bullet hit her in the cheek, the wound was not terrible, but she still had to go to the hospital. And again Father Pavel cursed: “Is this possible? What are you doing?!"

3. Go again

One winter, the house ran out of water. Grunya took the bucket. A blizzard was howling outside the window, carrying a full bucket was slippery and difficult, and Father Pavel said: “Bring half a bucket.” But when she arrived at the river, Grunya thought: “Well, shall I bring half a bucket and go a second time? No, I’ll bring it full right away!” And she brought it full. Father Pavel looks: the bucket is full, Grunya didn’t listen! “Go back, pour half the bucket into the river.”

4. Without words

Father Pavel spent more than twenty years in exile and camps. In 1955, he settled in seclusion in the Tver region. Apart from two cell attendants and Agrippina Nikolaevna (of course, no longer Grunya), no one knew where his house was. From seclusion, Father Paul wrote letters to some priests and laity. The persecution subsided, but the life of the priests was still very difficult. Father Paul helped them walk correctly, and his letters were awaited as if they were a meeting with the Lord God, because the priest knew the will of God. There was only one person he did not write letters to - Agrippina Nikolaevna. “What to write, everything is clear, I love you and I’m praying for you. And your confessor will tell you the rest,” Father Pavel told her. And Agrippina Nikolaevna was not offended. She believed that this was necessary. I lived without letters. Everyone around said: “You saved his life!” She answered: “What to write about, everything is clear. Father loves me and prays for me. And my confessor tells me the rest.”

5. Save me from Agrippina!

Father Paul blessed 56-year-old Agrippina to marry a sick old man in order to care for him and prevent him from dying without care. They did not get married and, of course, were husband and wife only on paper. Agrippina Nikolaevna looked after him until his death.
And then she ended up in the house of an elderly priest, very good and very famous, Agrippina Nikolaevna became his housekeeper and spiritual daughter. Father Pavel began writing letters to this priest. And in almost every letter he consoled him and asked him not to be angry with his Agrippina. Because Agrippina turned out to be impossible! Her unbending character turned the other way. The old priest, experienced, wise, intelligent, could not get along with her. And he complained about her to Father Paul. But Father Paul answered: “This is the will of God, be patient, the will of God.” And then I got tired of repeating the same thing and wrote - you can let her go and do what’s easier, but only... it’s God’s will to be with her.

6. Demise

Agrippina Nikolaevna died as a very old woman in 1992. 15 priests performed her funeral service, and could not decide who would bear the coffin - everyone wanted it. The coffin was carried around the church, the Church of St. Nicholas in Kuznetsy, they sang and cried.

7. Saw what I wanted

All these were stories about Agrippina Nikolaevna, but it was impossible to write about Father Pavel. Scary.
He spent the last thirty-odd years in seclusion, but he saw what was happening thousands of kilometers away from him, heard conversations that were said in other cities, read thoughts that a person had never revealed to anyone. He wrote letters to those he chose, sometimes sent telegrams and recounted these conversations, named the names of people he had not met, sent them to addresses in places he had never been. That is, I saw it and was there, but somehow in my own way, it’s unclear how, one might say “in the spirit,” but that doesn’t make it any clearer. Often the letters contained answers to questions that they were just about to ask him. All specific examples are from the field of science fiction.
Only one. During the operation of Father Vsevolod Shpiller, Agrippina Nikolaevna was just visiting Father Pavel; Father Pavel treated her to tea and, among other things, asked her about Father Vsevolod’s son: “Why is Ivan Vsevolodovich standing at the door to the operating room all the time?” But then I realized: “Oh yes, you can’t see this!” That's all true, of course. Ivan Vsevolodovich stood at the door to the operating room the entire time his father was being operated on.
Father Pavel died in November 1991 at the age of 98. Nobody knows where his grave is or under what name he is buried. It was as if he had come to visit the 20th century from the times of Abraham and Isaac, when the Holy Spirit breathed in the nostrils of the forefathers, and they heard the voice of God just as people now hear the sounds of the radio and the noise of cars under the window.

Letter from the Heavenly Office

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you"
(Matt. 7:7).

A table with a simple snack, a burning candle in the middle. Five for funeral meal ninth day. After the first traditional toasts, one of those sitting asks to tell more about the life of a person who has already passed into eternity. And this is what we hear...
- My mother was orphaned when she was two and a half years old. My grandfather, her father, wanted to chop all the icons in a fit of rage. Mom told me that we had large ancient icons in silver frames. Mom managed to save several of them. She, a three-year-old baby, began to drag them to the river bank and lower them into the water. Then she stood and watched as they were slowly carried away by the current. Soon my grandfather brought his roommate. The stepmother began to demand: “Take the children away. Put them wherever you want." And then one night the cat woke up my mother, meowing wildly and scratching her hand. Waking up, she shouted to her brother: “Kolka, let’s run, dad wants to kill us.” In surprise, my grandfather dropped the ax, which was already raised above them by the sleeping people. The children ran away. That's why mom loved cats so much. For saving a life.
After some time, the grandfather hacked his partner to death with an ax for treason and went and surrendered to the authorities. He was sentenced to twelve years and exiled. Mom and brother were left completely alone.
Now I’m even scared to imagine how she, a four-year-old child, walked barefoot in the snow and collected alms in Georgheti. Apparently, this was also necessary. Despite her harsh childhood and youth, my mother was a rare lover of life, she never became discouraged and did not allow us to do so, she said: “The Lord will not leave anything.”
Then my mother was taken in by one servant of God, although she herself was in poverty. Then my mother was adopted by a Georgian family. I still remember these people as my grandparents. They are, of course, long gone. They gave her their last name. They sent me to study at a technical school.
Soon her father’s brother came from the front and took her to Tbilisi, to the FZU at Trikotazhka. The relationship with my aunt and uncle’s wife did not work out, and she had to move to a dormitory.
The Lord, like every orphan, invisibly guided and protected her. Once, in a moment of despair, at nineteen years old, she prayed: “Lord, if You exist, give me happiness!”
And that same night He came to her in a dream and said: “Correct your sins, then you will get happiness.”
When she woke up, the first thing she did was throw cards into the stove (before that she was an excellent fortune teller). And she went to church. I began to pray and confess.
There is a large ancient icon of the Mother of God “Smolensk” in the Alexander Nevsky Church. Mom prayed before her that the Most Holy Theotokos would arrange her life. Soon she met my father. Then we got married. Dad, having just been demobilized, got a job at Knitwear as an apprentice master, where my mother was already working as a spinner. She worked at the plant for forty years. Anyone who knows this profession will understand what this figure is. These were the post-war years. It was difficult for everyone, and even more so for my parents, because they had to start everything from scratch. At first they ate on the windowsill and slept on the floor. Here a new problem arose. They had no children for three years. In front of the same icon, the mother begged for the child. And somehow I saw a dream that an old man in a white cassock was knocking on our dorm apartment (there were four rooms, each with a family living in it) and calling out to my mother:
“You have a letter from the Heavenly Office!” - and hands her a piece of paper.
“But I don’t understand anything,” mom answers.
“They will read it to you on the second floor,” the old man answers and disappears.
And mom sees a star fall from the sky - and right into her hands.
When my mother woke up, she thought about it and remembered that a nun and her daughter lived on the second floor of our hostel, and she went to them for clarification. The nun listened to all this and said: “This means that your prayer has been heard and you will soon have a child. Most likely a girl."

Indeed, soon I was born, a sinner,” the narrator smiles. - Who this elder was, my mother found out later, when the Lord called me to faith and the whole family joined the church, began to fast, confess and receive communion. Somehow she recognized this old man on the icon. It was Venerable Seraphim Sarovsky. We lived very meagerly. There wasn't even enough bread. From my childhood I remember pasta and apples, which we mainly ate. But mom never complained. One day a priest knocks on our common door. All four housewives came out, everyone was interested: “Who did they come to?” And he looks at his mother and says: “I’m coming to you.”
Mom, of course, invited him to come in. He says: “Give me a piece of bread and a glass of water.” Mom took out two hundred grams of bread - one day's norm, there was no more. The priest began to pray, then said: “You will always have bread.” And he hurried away. When she ran out after him to thank him and ask why he came to us, our guest was no longer anywhere. I ran around four floors, asked everyone, but it turned out that no one had seen him. When telling this incident, my mother always cried: “Who was it? Why did he disappear? Maybe it was the Lord who visited me? Soon after this event, my father’s pilot friends were transferred to Vaziani, and they began to visit us often. They lay their overcoats on the floor and spend the night. They often gave us their military rations. Somehow life gradually got better. When I was twelve years old, my parents got married. All these years they collected money for rings by pennies. Both really wanted to accept this Sacrament. Mom was extremely loving and wise man. In my entire life I don’t remember her speaking badly about anyone. I will probably never reach her level of love for people and all living things. Even being paralyzed, you all saw how happy she was with all of you and how resignedly she bore the cross of illness. It was revealed to her that her illness was for the sins of her father.
The kingdom of heaven, eternal peace to her.
Let mommy, if she has boldness before the Lord, pray for all of us, so that we too have the same love for people and resignation to bearing our cross.
- Amen! - those sitting at the table said and crossed themselves.
Narrated May 14, 1998

Church Sacraments

“My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations”
(Mark 11:17).

“A sacrament is such a sacred action through which the grace of the Holy Spirit is secretly, invisibly given to a person,” explains the “Law of God.” Many believers, not to mention atheists, perceive the Church Sacraments as simply a dogmatic tradition. Few people expect a miracle from baptism or confirmation. And miracles are always a surprise. Here are some of them, told by different people.

On January 7, 1999, several people gathered to celebrate Christmas. After the festive toasts, the conversation at the table turned to how someone came to the Church.
“Listen to me,” says M., an elderly woman with strong-willed manners. - I came to church by chance. More precisely, nothing is accidental, as I now know, but God’s Providence. Here is how it was. About a year ago I was walking along Rustaveli past Kashveti. I had never looked at a church in my life and in general I was an ardent atheist, I always spoke at party meetings. I myself am from Kursk, I worked as a demolition worker in a mine. And here I am walking, and suddenly it hit me in the head, let me think, I’ll go in and see what’s inside. I’ve never been to church either in Russia or here, but here I wanted to. Well, I chest forward and went as if for an attack. Without a scarf, of course. Yes, if someone tried to tell me something: it’s impossible, they say, - in no time I would have put me in my place. My character is so decisive... In general, I go in. It’s a little dark, the candles are burning, they’re singing something drawn out. And in the middle there is a line. I am like soviet man I have an instinct: where is the line, go to the end and ask “who is last,” and then figure it out. So I stood in line and moved slowly towards the altar. Everyone, I see, folded their arms across their chests in a cross, and I, like a monkey, did the same. I reached the priest. He is the name
asks. I gave my name.
“Open your mouth,” he says.
Opened it. And he puts something in there for me and announces: “The servant of God is taking communion...”. Then he wiped my lips and gave me the Cup to kiss. Like an automaton, I kissed him and went outside. I cannot describe the grace I felt. I’m walking, I can’t feel my feet under me. And the sun shines differently for me, and people smile towards me. Everything is somehow unusual. For a week I lived as if in paradise, I was still surprised at how good I was and didn’t want to quarrel with anyone. Then I thought - why is this? I went to church again, began to delve into it, wondering what it was and when it would happen again. So gradually, gradually I came to faith. Now I try not to miss a single service. How many times did I take communion after that, everything was according to the rules, fasting was a must, I read the rules, but I didn’t feel the same grace as the first time. Why this is so cannot be explained. That's why it's a Sacrament.
…
In 1997, in a completely different environment, another person of the same age, social status and with a similar straightforward character said the following:
- These sectarians have multiplied - it’s scary. They run around and shove their books at everyone: read it - I don’t want to. Even though I am a ignorant person in religion, I just know for sure that all these sects are not serious. I myself am a former Molokan. In Ulyanovka (a Molokan village not far from Tbilisi) everyone is believer, and the presbyter is good. But you still can’t compare it with the church. There is something there that you won’t find in any sect. This happened to me about twenty-five years ago. I then worked at Knitwear as a spinner. A friend and her husband asked their child to be baptized.
“I’m not baptized,” I say. - It seems like I can’t do it your way.
“Come on,” her husband says. - Nobody will know. We also do not comply with anything. Your business is small: stand nearby and hold the child, and my friend buys the cross and pays for everything. The priest doesn't need you for a hundred years. - In general, they persuaded me. My godfather and I went on the appointed day to the Alexander Nevsky Church.
I even put on a headscarf. Somehow it’s not suitable without a headscarf.
We went to where they were baptizing. I turned the child around and held him in my arms. Father began to read something over the water. My godfather and I stand without a clue, looking. Suddenly the priest comes not to the child, but to me and begins to sprinkle water on me. It was like boiling water poured over me inside. Really, I think, did he find out? It’s still good, the godfather helped out and said: “You, father, started to baptize the wrong one, we came because of the child.”
“Oh,” says the old man, “sorry.”
And he began to baptize the boy...
I could barely wait until he finished. I jumped out into the yard and let my godfather sneeze.
“All of you,” I shout, “and your friend are to blame, they led me into sin.” Because of you, the priest was deceived.
And my godfather himself is not happy that this happened, he justifies himself:
- How did I know that this would happen? I thought, just give him the money.
Then my conscience tormented me for a long time because of that incident. After some time, I myself was baptized, and so were my sons. I go to church from time to time, I light candles when it’s hard. I don’t know the rest of what’s going on in the church. I heard that you need to confess. Yes, somehow I still don’t have enough courage.
…
The priest told this story. Once a woman approached him with a request to serve a memorial service for her husband. The priest approached the Crucifix and began to light the censer. After making several unsuccessful attempts and seeing that the incense did not light, he asked:
“Aren’t you ordering a memorial service for a living person?”
He looked around, and the woman was blown away by the wind. Apparently, the assumption turned out to be correct.

In October 1995, several people got together. The meeting was rare and significant. One of those present came up with the idea: to cut for this occasion the blessed egg that had been lying since Easter in the holy corner in front of the icons.
- Yes, it deteriorated a long time ago. How much time has passed! - the others doubted.
- It is consecrated. Let's see. May we have Easter joy today!
They cut it.
- Wow! - someone burst out.
The egg turned out to be fresh, as if it had been boiled yesterday, not only in appearance, but also in taste.
Recorded June 2000


“Not for the wedding, please...”

“Whoever receives one of these children in My name receives Me.”
(Mark 9:37).
- Well, how did you go? - I ask my friend after a trip to Russia.
- Yes thank God. Everything turned out so well that I didn’t expect it. When I received the telegram that my daughter-in-law was dead, my brother was in prison, and their four children were left to their own devices, I couldn’t remember myself at all. Fire in the head. How could this happen? I talked to my husband: what should I do? You know, he has a complex character, and his health is not the same (he is blind in one eye), and on top of that, he is 68 years old, not a boy. We are both disabled. He says: “We need to take the children.” We borrowed one hundred dollars and went. First by bus, then by train, then transfer again. It’s no joke to travel from Tbilisi to the Russian wilderness across ten borders (who set them up?!). Moreover, we are going and don’t know how much money we will get back from there. We've arrived. Brother in the bullpen, in the regional center. The daughter-in-law has already been buried. Killed in a fight by drunks. She was only twenty-nine years old. Kingdom of Heaven, eternal peace... The children are frightened, traumatized, the eldest is ten, the rest of the girls are eight, six and three years old. We need to go urgently. I found out that my brother, before all this happened, earned two million in Russian money (old money) on the farm. I went to the cashier. The answer is well known: “There is no money. The entire Ivanovo district has not received any salaries or pensions for six months.” I tell them:
- Find some money for me. I don't live across the street from you. That's where she came from! I need to take out orphans. I'm not asking you for a wedding!
And why I gave them such a comparison - I don’t know. Apparently, God gave me some advice. I just saw that the cashiers were whispering and quietly telling me: “Come tomorrow, we’ll give it out.”
I came the next day, received the money and went to pack the children for the trip. As we leave, we hear a commotion in the village council. The village finally found out that they had given me money. The chief accountant arrived and scolded the cashiers: why did they give away two million? It turns out that her daughter is getting married soon, so she hid this amount for her daughter’s wedding. And when I accidentally mentioned the wedding, the cashiers decided that I knew everything, they got scared and therefore gave me away. Although I don’t particularly understand religion, I only heard that God helps orphans. Now I think it’s true... A year ago, you know, I was dying and survived. Everyone said it was a miracle. And now it’s clear why. For their sake - she nodded at the girls - my life was extended. All my life I dreamed of having a child, and it was not given, but now at fifty years old I got two (relatives took the other two). And, you know, I never cease to be amazed. I was driving here and wondering what I would wear them with. So my friends came running when they found out what had happened, they brought rags with their bags - there was nowhere to put them. And we got money. True, my husband works like a convict, seven days a week. The main thing is that we don’t live in poverty. And I was very afraid of this. Three-year-old Svetka calls us mom and dad...
Happened in September 1996.

At all times, man has strived for a miracle, longed for supernatural fulfillment of desires or resolution of problems. Not long ago people got carried away science fiction, but now, having had enough of scientific and technological progress, they are drawn to mysticism. But is it as innocent and safe as it might seem at first glance? What is a miracle in our life and how to distinguish a true miracle from a false one - the famous Orthodox theologian Deacon Andrei Kuraev discusses this.
– Father Andrey, what, in your opinion, is a miracle and what role do miracles play in the life of modern man?

– I think every person is doomed to reproduce the situation of his own spiritual birth. It turned out that I did not come to God, to the Church through miracles. I was faced with a philosophical question: the search for truth, the meaning of life. I became a believer through an effort of will and thought, I was not shocked by this or that miracle. And therefore, to this day, I am not inclined to put miracles at the head of spiritual life. A miracle in itself only proves that the world is not reduced to meaningless acts of nature, to a material structure, that there is a superhuman, super-everyday reality. But what is this reality, what is its name, what is its plan for us? Different religious traditions answer this question in their own way. And therefore, a miracle cannot prove the truth of Orthodoxy or Christianity.

I remember walking along Arbat in 1988. At that time, Arbat was an open area; the first street preachers, mostly Hare Krishnas, roamed there. I started a conversation with one of them. And he says: “Yes, your Christ, he is just a loser yogi. I, too, can fly through the air.” I had to answer that I do not doubt his abilities and do not even ask to demonstrate them, since I am not an atheist, but a Christian, for me there is no problem that there are miracles, I have a question - what kind of spirit are you, what is the source of your miracles. I also remember talking with one Hare Krishna girl. She still wore ordinary secular dress, which means she had not been in the sect for long. And so I ask her: “Please tell me, during your communication with these guys, has something changed in you?” ” – Yes, of course, I learned to experience the transcendental pleasure of Mahamantra! She gives so much!” - “Tell me, what has changed in your life besides this?” The girl was surprised and asked what exactly could have changed. I explained: “Well, maybe the attitude towards people, towards friends, towards parents. Maybe there is more love for these people.” “No,” he says, “perhaps not.” Everything remains the same.”

This is significant for me. After all, the main miracle that can happen in the world is not the rearrangement of Everest from place to place, but the rearrangement of the mountains of one’s sins, addictions, and habits. Christ does not say, “blessed are those who perform miracles,” but “blessed are those who have mercy.”

In Orthodoxy, the main thing is to change your inner world. So the truth of Orthodoxy is proven not so much by miracles or prophecies, but by the fact that people, from whom it would seem impossible to expect any repentant changes, change.

In order not to talk about politicians who once preached one thing and now say something else, let’s remember people who can hardly be suspected of utilitarian thinking or insincerity. Let's say, actress Ekaterina Vasilyeva. The person lived in the theatrical world, the world of the “party”, where everyone catches only their own reflection... She had everything, and above all, a good image in those circles that were authoritative for her. And suddenly she challenges her environment (her own, not the official one, which is much more difficult, since it is easier to go against state power than against court authorities). She leaves the theater and becomes a church elder (now, thank God, the neophyte quarantine is over, and she has begun acting again). Isn't it a miracle?

Or rock musicians. From the point of view of the church, there are no people more distant from it. In the mass church consciousness there is an opinion that rock is Satanism, imbecility, depravity, drug addiction... And suddenly the people who live by this music - Yuri Shevchuk or the leader of the Agatha Christie group - today position themselves as Orthodox. When some religious currents come even from this world, this, in my opinion, is also a miracle.

– Father Andrey, if miracles are not the main thing in religious life, then the question arises: why does the Gospel tell about the miracles that Christ performed, when one could confine oneself to preaching Christianity?

Miracles are evidence that Heaven is getting closer. Miracles are a sign of co-presence, of being met, of not being alone. The path to a meeting does not lie through miracles, but miracles turn out to be signs in church language that this meeting has taken place.

Trying to understand the Church, it is necessary to combine in our minds two things that seem to be opposite.

On the one hand, the Church does not attach much importance to miracles - one cannot look for miracles, demand miracles, or desire something unexpected; on the other hand, each of our prayers is a prayer for a miracle. Ivan Turgenev wrote quite rightly: “Every petition, every prayer comes down to the fact that, Lord, make sure that two and two are five. But at the same time Orthodox man When he prays for anything, from “give us this day our daily bread” and ending with a prayer for the healing of his daughter, he ultimately ends his prayer with a kind of mitigating appeal: “Nevertheless, Thy will be done, God". In that - significant difference between conspiracy and prayer. The conspiracy assumes that the sorcerer has power over the spiritual world and he demonstrates this power, imposing his will on spiritual realities. And a praying person knows that the one to whom he is addressing is infinitely higher than him, and therefore the person asks, and does not dictate his will to God.

So, on the one hand, the Church says “don’t look for miracles,” but on the other, every prayer is a request for a miracle.

But there is also a third side, a third point of this strange triangle. It is that a miracle is natural in the life of a Christian. You see, in the church environment it is not even customary to talk about miracles. It is not miracles that are strange, but their absence. Remember the movie “That Munchausen”? The Baron draws up a daily routine: declare war on England, fly to the moon... That is, miracles are included in his daily schedule. This is, figuratively speaking, the daily routine of a religious person: I go to the temple for a prayer service for water to receive holy water, which will heal me and to defend, - therefore, I have half an hour allotted for this miracle... Miracles quite naturally enter the life of a Christian. A miracle is not always a voice from Heaven or a burning bush. A miracle can come into your life through ordinary person. I am a bookish person, and the miracles in my life are mostly bookish. At the right moment, the right book is found, opens to the right page...

– A What was the main miracle in life for you?
– For me, the most significant miracle is what happened. by me on the day of my baptism. The Lord allowed me to experience the grace of the Sacrament of Baptism; the fullness of joy is much more important to me than other testimonies that I read in books. When I was baptized, I was already nineteen years old. This will be a step from Berdyaev to the Church, from the idea of ​​God to the living Christ. That is, I entered the Church and did not leave... and I hope I will not leave. for me this is the first and greatest miracle.

– What was the last miracle in your life?

– It was March 24, 2003. The Foundation of the Holy All-Praised Apostle Andrew the First-Called on this day at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior held a meeting of the organizing committee on the program of all-Orthodox prayer “Ask for peace in Jerusalem.” At the end of the official part, the president of the foundation, A. V. Melnik, invited me to his office on Ordynka. We decided that our acquaintance and conversation deserved to find an intermediary in the “communication process” - in the form of a bottle of whiskey. And after the toast, I put the glass on the table, and it starts to move. It travels about fifteen centimeters in a straight line to the edge of the table and rotates slowly and unevenly around its axis. All seven present watch her slow journey in amazement. Milovets, sitting between me and Melnik, tries to put his hand on the edge of the table in order to catch it when it does fall. I manage to say: “Yes, you have some kind of poltergeist here!” To be honest, I started this phrase with the intention of joking, but as I said it I realized that this was actually it. And then, instead of touching this glass with my hand, I baptize it from afar. She immediately stood – five centimeters from the edge of the table.

I ask the owner: is your office consecrated? He says: no, we just moved here, not yet a month. And the consecration was planned after Easter... Obviously, the old owners left a bad spiritual legacy. I heard a lot about such events from priests, but this was the first time I saw them myself.

– Does the church keep some kind of register of miracles? Explores them?

- Sometimes. But Orthodoxy is inherently alien to PR technologies. We do not honor publicity.

– If a person who was struck by a miracle that happened to him tells you about coming to Church... Will you believe it?

- Of course it is possible. Only now will I ask a person to build his faith on a more solid foundation, on the word of God, on knowledge of church teaching, so that a new miraculous shock that may happen to him would not push him out of the Church.

– There are miracles that seem to be recognized by science, such as the Turin Shroud, descent of the Holy Fire. But there is an opinion that a miracle is a miracle only when it is not recognized by science.

– The greatest miracle– this is the existence of the world, the existence of human life. And the existence of life is recognized by science. But I am always confused by regularly recurring miracles. When they tell me that a miracle always happens in this place, at this time, I become wary. When they tell me that the sun always shines on Easter or that birds don’t build nests on the Annunciation... This forced me to take a closer look several times. I celebrated Easter 2000 in Prague, and there was just snowfall there, and the sun was completely invisible.

You see, the God of Christians is a considerate God. He does not violate human freedom. And the Lord in the Gospel did not draw out faith by miracles, but in response to faith he worked miracles. You mentioned the Shroud of Turin. This miracle is so tactful that the one who wishes sees it as a miracle, the one who wishes sees it as a fake. There are scientific arguments both in favor of authenticity (i.e., I can recognize the shroud as a print of Jesus of Nazareth, and this would not be a violation of scientific integrity), and in favor of the fact that this is a creation of a later time, unknown as to how it was made. Both points of view have quite compelling arguments that prove they are right. In their incompatibility, they leave a “gap” for your heart, your desire. What you want to see is what it will be for you. If you want to see a fake here, for you it will be nothing more than a piece of ancient fabric, and then your soul will remain simply in the world of things. But if you want a miracle - for you it will be a miracle, holy things, the fifth Gospel... then you will find yourself in a world where everything is meaningful, in a world of signs.

It’s the same with the Holy Fire. Someone sees this as a “natural phenomenon”, says that “it’s all photo flashes, the glare of television cameras” or something else. But for some it is a miracle. This Fire burns some, but not others. It also depends on the person’s mood and feelings. Those. these miracles are not forced upon man. He is given the right to choose whether to believe or not. .

– Can a person create a miracle himself, give birth to it through his own psychological efforts?

- Yes, sure. A person can invite “instances” to visit him and perform miracles. And they are again very different. This is what happens in all kinds of sects.

Among believers you can sometimes hear arguments that, they say, there are Orthodox miracles and there are Catholic ones. Catholics don't accept Orthodox miracles, Orthodox - Catholic. But is there any difference between miracles and miracles?

There is God's providence over all humanity. I think even in the life of an atheist there are miracles that he, however, quickly forgets. The Lord sends rain on both sinners and the righteous, and God’s care exists for all of His children, even for those who do not know about Him.

But there are miracles associated with visions. And here an Orthodox person must be careful. Catholics, in my opinion, are less careful here. For example, a Swedish Catholic saint of the early twentieth century had visions and voices that claimed that a civilization of love would come to earth. And allegedly Christ told her: you know, I did not realize myself in love on earth, I was crucified too early, and I want the complete reign of love to come before the end of the world. And therefore, I will make sure that everyone in the world unites - Christians, Jews, Muslims, etc. There will be a single faith, everyone will be friends, and only then the Antichrist will come. The ideology of this saint now underlies the ideology of Pope John Paul II. But no one even thought about what kind of voices they were.

Of course, an Orthodox Christian can also trust what he shouldn’t. The question is the Church's reaction to this mistake. Such mystical states, which in Orthodoxy are considered a failure, in another confession can be assessed as the norm, as a manifestation of holiness, a miracle.

– It’s strange, the Eastern Church is considered the most mystical of all Christian Churches, but at the same time he is more wary of miracles than anyone else.

– I think, deep down, one thing is connected to the other. Anyone who refuses to drink from a roadside puddle eventually digs a well of clean water.

– Myrrh-streaming of icons, their self-renewal– Do you have a suspicion that some of these miracles were not inspired by divine power?

– I have absolutely no such suspicions. Unless there is inspiration not by a person, but by some spiritually opposite force - what in the language of Orthodoxy is called “charm”, such a charm. In some cases this can be suspected. But in any case, demonic tricks are not human fakes.

– This demonic force can manifest itself within the walls of the temple?

– Even within the walls of the temple.

– There is also a miracle of expulsiondemons - is there no catch here too?

– Now there are many miracles associated with negativity. Negative spiritual force manifests itself very clearly, and only in the church is there a means to resist it. In February I was in Magadan. The religious awakening in this city began with the presence of a powerful poltergeist in one apartment. Things literally flew around the rooms, along crooked trajectories, and spontaneously ignited. Neither the police nor the psychics could do anything, and only when Orthodox priests came did all this chaos stop. The struggle for the apartment went on for about six months, all of this was widely covered in the local press, and as a result, this story made a great impression on the city.

However, it seems that I’m already too late to tell one professional joke. Imagine: an Orthodox missionary speaks to a university audience. And in the course of his story, he reaches the moment when he must use an indecent word. He must mention the demon. Since this is not the first time this missionary has communicated with an educated public, he understands perfectly well what the reaction of the audience will be. After all, our post-Soviet intelligentsia still cannot pronounce the word God correctly. She needs something simpler: “cosmic energy”, “bioenergy-information field”, etc. And if they also screw something about the demon, then such a high will rise! “We thought you were an intelligent person! But you are actually an ordinary obscurantist, a reactionary! Talk about demons seriously! Yes, this is the Middle Ages, the Inquisition, the witch hunt!” Etc.

Anticipating this, the missionary decides to express his thoughts in the jargon of an intelligent audience. And he says: “At this moment, the world’s transcendental noumenal-cosmic totalitarian personalized evil is addressing a person...” Then the demon pokes his head out from under the pulpit and says: “What, what did you call me?”

So, in the Church, the demon is not only a character in jokes or folklore. Our practice of confronting the forces of evil head-on has passed through the centuries. In Latin it is an exorcism, in Russian it is a rebuke to the possessed. There is a striking example from the 19th century. The doctor, who is not inclined to believe in religious phenomena, was forced to testify: “Klikusha unmistakably distinguished holy water from simple water, no matter how secretly we gave it. Every time a glass of holy water was brought to her, she would go into fits, often before she even tasted it. The water was fresh, Epiphany water (the study was carried out in mid-January). Both samples were poured into identical glasses in another room, and I brought the ready-made samples to her. After repeated experiments many times gave the same positive result, I mixed both samples of water together, simple and holy, and poured them equally into both glasses. Then the clique began to react to both tests with seizures. Not once did she make a mistake in this recognition of holy water.”

- A Are conversations carried out with the spirits that inhabit the possessed?

- Some priests. But to be honest, I don’t like it. In the New Testament we read that Christ and the apostles avoided accepting any evidence of demonic power. And today, brochures about how hieromonks interview unfortunate possessed people and the forces that have possessed them are in fashion. And they even build entire theological concepts on this. But this is no longer theology, but “theology.” Even twenty years ago it was well known in the church: may God grant the ascetic to heal at least one person from this illness! And bringing whole busloads of people to a “mass session” of reprimanding – this has a taste of some kind of modernism that confuses me.

– Have you yourself witnessed the expulsion of demonic forces?

– Thank God, I had no personal need to go to such services, but it’s not useful to go there for the sake of curiosity .

– Now the so-called miracles of psychics are in great fashion. Why is this happening?

– Behind the boom of extrasensory perception is the original folk understanding of religion: religion is a branch of the national economy. Just as a good household must have an efficiently working dishwasher, a cow or a wife, in the same way there must be an efficiently working religion. We see the conflict between such popular expectations and what Christ brought, already in the Gospel. The Lord says to the crowd gathered around him: “You are looking for Me because you have had your fill.” Indeed, we most often treat God as a generator of humanitarian aid: “You, Lord, appear, do this and that for me, and without this I do not see any meaning or need in this religion and in this veneration.” Nowadays people often look in religion for some kind of success, career, health or something else. But God, it turns out, must be loved for God’s sake, and not for the sake of the benefits that this love can bring. In Christianity, such preaching sounds constantly, and while society, in alliance with the Church, educates the people using such examples, the lower feelings and needs of man are kept in the shadows. But as soon as the bonds of high spiritual culture fall apart, instinct begins to rule the roost, and people turn religion into. It has always been this way. However, at the end of the twentieth century, a special feature appeared. The fact is that we live in a fairly technological industrial society, so modern man He looks for technology in everything. And that’s what attracts people with magic and extrasensory perception: it seems that there is some kind of intelligible technology here. Orthodoxy has no technology, and this lack of technology and lack of guarantees disappoints many and attracts those few who know how to value non-obviousness and freedom.

– How can psychic practice affect the healers themselves?

“One day a woman came up to me and said: “Why do you priests oppose us, psychics, because we do one thing: you treat the soul, we treat the body.” I try to explain something, but she doesn’t listen: “I know your arguments, then everything is clear... However, that’s not why I stopped you. Maybe you can explain what's happening to me? Yes, I treat people, I have great success, everything is fine, but for some reason I can’t be alone in the apartment in the evenings. As soon as it gets dark, there is a feeling that some force is pushing me into the bath and demanding that I open my veins.” I had to explain that this phenomenon is very well known to us; for example, in the last century, St. Ignatius Brianchaninov described such a case. Once a monk from Athos came to see him (Athos is the peninsular capital of Orthodox monasticism, located in Greece). For any believer, asking an Athonite monk is a great joy. And so Father Ignatius begins to ask about Athos, and the monk answers: yes, everything is wonderful with us - miracles, visions, angels appear, help, etc. Ignatius Brianchaninov was alarmed by this, and it later became clear that at that time Athonite monks read mystical, but not Orthodox literature. What to do? Father Ignatius is a monk of the secular capital, and this is a monk from Athos - the capital of world monasticism, which is impossible to teach. Then he abruptly changes the topic of conversation: “By the way, father, are you staying somewhere in St. Petersburg?” - “No, I’m straight from the station here.” “Then I have a request to you: when you rent a room or apartment, I beg you, no higher than the second floor. Otherwise, your “angels” will appear and offer to move you to Athos, but you will hurt yourself painfully.” And what? – It turns out that the monk already had such thoughts, what kind of high life angels will take him to Athos instead of a train! Therefore, you need to remember Vysotsky’s line: “Not everything that is above is from God”...

- Well But what about at the everyday level? Let's say a person encounters a poltergeist in his apartment or is he haunted by some ghost? go to church?

– Unfortunately, many people go from one demon to another: to various magicians, specialists in removing damage, and others. In this regard, it is appropriate to recall the words of the outstanding Russian demonologist Vladimir Ilyich Lenin that the “blue devil” is no better than the “yellow devil.” Of course, we must go to the temple. The priest’s duty is to repeat over a person overcome by strange phenomena the prayers that were actually already read over him at his baptism. This sacrament begins with prayers of EXORCISM - driving out demons. The Church usually turns to God and people in its prayers, but there is a unique situation when it turns to Satan. The priest turns his face not to the east, but to the west and tells Satan to leave this creation of God. Incantal prayers, however, do not have to be read in the temple - the priest can come to the apartment.

– The main source of miracles is the Lord God. How does the church distinguish between what is from God and what is from the unclean?

– You can recognize it by its fruits: what is generated by this miracle in a person’s soul, whether it leads to a departure from the Christian faith, or whether it gives rise to religious indifference. There is a certain taste sensation here. By the intonation of speech, by the eyes, you can distinguish something like this, even by the pathos with which this person will talk about the miracle. Wherever there is a hint of enthusiasm, there is a reason for distancing.

– What to do if a person is afraid of inexplicable phenomena happening to him?

- Firstly, Christian faith frees you from such fears. I believe in Christ, which means I don’t believe in the evil eye, damage and other nonsense. As the Apostle Paul says, if God is with us, who can be against us? Secondly, there must be a shrine in the house, this is very important. Holy water, preferably Epiphany water. Church candles, incense (which can simply be placed on a burning table lamp). In general, one must realize that the boundary between the spiritual world and the material world is by no means rigid; material objects can be saturated with the energy of the Spirit. Blessed objects should be kept so that they are not desecrated. That is, on a separate shelf, in a separate box. Well, we must try to ensure that there are no unclean objects in the vicinity of the shrine. There is no need to bring satanic, occult, astrological literature into the house; and even more so to use it.

– What can you wish for our newspaper?

“I can’t wish anything for the newspaper, because what can you wish for paper?” Unless it turns yellow too quickly... But I would advise people who make the newspaper not to engage in urine therapy. That is, do not consume your own waste products. If your “karma” is such that you need to work in the press, at least don’t read it or don’t trust it too much. Feed yourself with books, not newspapers, tradition, not ephemera.

Three miracles from God testifying to the truth of the Orthodox faith

Nowadays we hear: “Why do you think that only Orthodox faith- true? But Catholics say that their faith is true." For our pious ancestors, such a doubt was, of course, completely impossible. They knew well that the Orthodox faith was given by the Lord Himself to His apostles and preserved unchanged only in the holy Orthodox Church. Not human vain opinions , and the signs and wonders constantly performed in our lives by the Lord strengthened faith in our people. These signs are still happening today. But they are not talked about by the godless press, radio and television, which report any news around the clock except these most important ones.

Here are three of the most important signs:

Miracle, what is this? If this is “the result of the intervention of an extranatural intelligent force in the natural course of things,” then the concept of a miracle goes beyond the competence of science. And this, of course, is true, but only partly. After all, it is scientists who are able to find objectively correct arguments in favor of the fact that a certain event can be considered miraculous.

However, it should be remembered: not all knowledge in the world is obtained scientifically. Sometimes revelation is given to the chosen ones, and they convey it to others. There is knowledge about which we cannot say at all where it comes from. We simply know that it is so.

Miracles objectively exist, which means that our world is not structured exactly as positivist scientists say. It turns out that scientific picture world is incomplete and even, probably in some cases, incorrectly answers the most important questions for every person.

A miracle is not a collapse of the laws of nature. This is simply the result of an influence from the outside, the result of something that had an impact on nature and brought to life something that nature itself was not able to do.

Belief in a miracle is identical to the essence of faith in general. Religious faith is faith in a miracle; faith and miracles are completely inseparable.

It is known that with the help of physical vision we are not able to see everything that actually exists. Some things may indeed seem strange to us, but this is not a reason to deny them. For example, we cannot see radiation, but only its consequences, but this does not mean that such a phenomenon does not exist.

Art critic A. Saltykov (1900–1959) wrote in his work “On a Miracle”: “A true miracle is never accidental, but appears due to internal spiritual necessity, and its meaning is not at all in the forced mastery of a person’s will by influencing him by an external effect , but in revealing to him the inner, spiritual side of life... A miracle happens only where there is faith, that is, a free readiness to accept the inner meaning it reveals.”

The founders of world religions performed miracles and are demonstrated by modern psychics. Insights, predicting the future, diagnosing by “aura”, healing by laying hands and remotely, telepathic transmission of thoughts and feelings, moving objects “by force of will”, walking on fire, on water and, materialization and dematerialization of things and one’s own body...

Signs and wonders in the spiritual world of man are as important as greatest events in external life. There are true and false miracles, so it is important to know what the scientific interpretation of a miracle is, how science and religion define it.

The relationship between science and miracle is an eternal problem. More than a thousand years ago it was brilliantly resolved by St. Augustine. In his formulation - what are miracles and science and how are they related to each other? – it is stated:

“Miracles do not contradict the laws of nature. They only contradict our ideas about the laws of nature.”

Miracle of the Holy Fire

For the church, a miracle is something ordinary. Most often, icons are “renewed” or myrrh streams, or healing occurs with the help of icons. There is also a miracle that takes place every year, for more than one and a half thousand years, in front of thousands of pilgrims. This miracle of finding the Holy Fire in the Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulcher occurs in Holy Saturday on the eve of Orthodox Easter.

But this miracle also happens when certain objective conditions are present: after prolonged prayer, with strict observance of the ritual. The Holy Fire is received by the Patriarch of Jerusalem; The holy desert elders must also be present. Local boys (Orthodox Arabs) also have a role to play, bursting into the temple with a tambourine, singing and dancing to glorify Christ. From the outside it looks almost blasphemous, but without them the fire does not appear.

All the people present in the temple patiently and with trepidation wait for the patriarch to emerge with fire in his hands. It is believed that if the Holy Fire does not descend, it will come, and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher itself will be destroyed. IN different years The tedious wait can last from five minutes to several hours. Before the fire descends, the temple begins to be illuminated with bright flashes of light: small lightning flashes here and there. In slow motion, which was taken many times by journalists and pilgrims, it is clearly visible that they come from different places of the temple: from the icon hanging above the Edicule, from the dome of the church, from windows and other places - and flood everything around with bright light. In addition, here and there between the columns and walls of the temple quite visible lightning flashes, which often pass through standing people without harming them.

A moment later, the entire temple is surrounded by lightning and glare, which snake down its walls and columns, as if flowing down to the foot of the temple, the entire room is illuminated, and fire balls roll on the slab that covers the Holy Sepulcher. From them the patriarch lights the first candle. Lightning spreads across the square among the pilgrims. At the same time, the candles of those standing in the temple and in the square are lit, and the lamps located on the sides of the Edicule themselves are lit.

The first time - 3-10 minutes - the ignited fire has amazing properties - it does not burn at all, regardless of which candle it was lit from and where. The parishioners literally wash themselves with this fire - they pass it over their faces, over their hands, scoop up handfuls of it, and it does not cause them any harm, at first it does not even singe their hair.

At this moment other miracles occur. Western journalists even filmed the healings taking place. The film shows two cases: in a man with a disfigured rotting ear, the wound, “smeared” by fire, healed right before his eyes, and the ear takes on a normal appearance, and it also shows the insight of a blind man with a thorn in his eye, which instantly disappears.

Some scientists have suggested that the fireballs that preceded the appearance Holy Fire, nothing more than .

Shroud of Christ

The main and valuable Christian relic is equated to a miracle. The famous Christian relic remains the main point of contention between religion and science, but at the same time the link that unites these two spheres of knowledge of the world.

The shroud is kept in the Cathedral of San Giovanni, in the chapel, with all the holes, patches, traces of blood, fire and water (in 1532 it was extinguished by a fire that almost destroyed it). The relic is kept in a deep vacuum and will not be recovered until 2025. There is no longer any doubt that the imprint of the male body on the Shroud of Turin belongs to Jesus Christ.

There are different methods for studying the shroud. Some are so convincing that all doubt about its authenticity disappears.

Well, for example, the outline of a face, the negative of which is printed on fabric, is combined with the most ancient surviving icons depicting Christ. The lines of the lips, nose, and the location of the eyes on the Byzantine icon of the 6th century coincided to the millimeter with the imprint on the shroud. The texture of the shroud and canvas made in Palestine in the 1st century BC are compared. e. They are absolutely identical.

Palynologists - scientists who study plant pollen - analyzed the spores stuck in the fabric of the shroud. The spores and, for comparison, the spores of cereals growing in Palestine at the time of Jesus were magnified tens of thousands of times. No differences were found.

A chemical analysis was carried out of the brown spots that create a negative image of a man on the shroud. What kind of substance this is is unclear. But it has been definitely proven that it is not paint.

But here is a mystery that scientists have not solved. After a fire in the 16th century, the fabric of the shroud was patched. The patches were made from Dutch fabric of the time. The seam is also made from Dutch threads. But today the structure of the fabric of patches and threads is indistinguishable from the structure of “native” canvas and threads of the 1st century BC. e. No one undertakes to give an explanation for this strangeness.

The legendary crown of thorns that pricked the head of the martyr Christ - it was perhaps the same as this one, made from dried Palestinian thorns. But the small blood stains that remained above the eyebrows of the man resting in the shroud, their geometry corresponds to the geometry of thorns.

The imprint of the dead body, which was wrapped in a shroud, was photographed under polarized light. And then they found out that the eyes of the deceased were covered with coins (which is not visible from the print viewed in the rays of ordinary light).

Covering the eyes of the deceased with coins is a tradition in Jewish burial rituals. But when the researchers carefully examined one of the coins that appeared - the mite of Pilate with the inscription “Emperor Tiberius” - an error was found in the inscription. Moreover, collectors who have several exactly the same coins, with an identical error, responded.

And finally, the most amazing thing is something that certainly cannot happen. A sensation obtained during the latest, in the anniversary year 2000, studies of the shroud. The experts did a reasonable experiment: they processed the face print of the deceased on a computer in accordance with the different intensities of the shades of many dots. A three-dimensional image of an elongated dead face. But if you process an ordinary photograph or drawing in this way, the image will turn out to be flat, two-dimensional. This means that the imprint on the shroud is a kind of hologram: containing volume. How exactly - no one can understand.

Miraculous signs

Surely, everyone is familiar with the feeling of a miracle - an amazing moment when something happens that does not fit into the framework of the ordinary. Miracles are told in almost every life of an Orthodox saint, in the works of the Church Fathers and spiritual ascetics. And in our time, evidence of miracles in Orthodoxy - are they only a matter of faith?

God's special mercy has been shown even today. First of all, this is the multitude of miraculous signs, their incredible abundance. The most common reports are myrrh-streaming and lacrimation. There are also known facts of transferring an image onto the glass of an icon case (“doubling”), and sound signs.

Many miraculous signs are described. Collected a large number of cases of updating icons are such phenomena when an image on an icon, darkened over time, for no apparent reason, becomes bright and distinct, as if new.
And the icon, according to church tradition, is a “window” into the heavenly world, into the “supramundane world”...

When the Andrei Rublev Museum of Ancient Russian Art returned to the Church miraculous icon Mother of God, the image suddenly “came to life”, and the hall was filled with an incomparable fragrance. Anyone who deals with icons (not necessarily in a church, but in a museum) knows that in reality, at times, some icons emit such an aroma that has nothing in common with the smell of incense or church oil. Is it possible to analyze this?

From historical chronicles we know that in front of tens of thousands of townspeople, the icons and church domes of the temple were renewed, when the bells themselves rang without the participation of bell ringers.

From medieval Tibetan sources we know of numerous cases of the spontaneous emergence of sacred images and statues of Buddhas, deities and bodhisattvas that had truly miraculous properties. They can laugh or cry, sometimes with tears of blood, spontaneously move in space or refuse to leave their pedestal. They appear to admirers in a dream, in reality or during meditation and express to them their demands and wishes.

The memory remains of the unusual phenomenon of the Holy Fire, when sublime consciousness is illuminated by fiery tongues of emanating light. Ancient documents say: during the prayer of St. Francis, the monastery shone so brightly that travelers stood up, thinking: “Isn’t it dawn?” The radiance lit up over the monastery when St. prayed. Clara. One day the light became so brilliant that the surrounding peasants came running, thinking that “there had been a fire.”

Myrrh-streaming icons

Church tradition knows several icons from which holy myrrh exuded. Even in ancient times, in the 6th century, oil flowed from the hand of the Mother of God on the Pisidian icon. Myrrh-streaming or tearing of an icon is not an exceptional phenomenon. In the 20th century in Russia, these signs were widespread. Hundreds of cases have been recorded. Icons are miraculously found, renewed, and stream myrrh - in churches, monasteries, and homes ordinary people. And above all, it is precisely the streaming of myrrh and the crying of icons.

The streaming of myrrh in itself was not an event, on the basis of which the icon was considered miraculous. As a rule, she revealed her healing power through prayers before her before or after the flow of myrrh, which only indicated the chosenness of the icon. Almost always, myrrh was collected and used specifically for the healing of mental and physical ailments.

Laboratory tests showed that this liquid was of organic origin, at times resembling olive oil. As a result of studying the moisture taken from one of the weeping icons, it was determined that “these are real tears.” Myrrh is not removed from the substance of the icon, but appears on it “out of nothing” (in the broad sense of the word in modern literature Myrrh-streaming refers to any miraculous manifestation of moisture on icons and sacred objects).

The type, color and consistency of the resulting liquid are different: from thick, viscous resin to dew, which is why they sometimes talk about “oil flow” or “dew flow”. It may have a fragrant aroma, reminiscent of flowers (roses, jasmine) or incense. The shape and size of the droplets are also very different. Sometimes they cover the entire image, sometimes they seem to flow from certain points. There were cases when myrrh flowed from bottom to top, contrary to the law of gravity. Miro may disappear for a while and then appear again.

Some explain this phenomenon by the fact that many lamps burn in temples, the oil evaporates, and in a cold place it condenses in the form of drops. In some cases, the paint layer of icons can serve as the condensation surface.

However, it is known that lamp oil is a mineral raw material, it is a product of petroleum distillation, and the oil flowing from icons is of organic origin, similar to vegetable oil. These are two different classes chemical substances, which cannot be confused. And there is no way to turn one into the other - that would be a miracle, more incredible than the expiration of the world. Besides this, even if it is condensation, for what reason does it occur only on icons? Did we see drops of oil on the walls, ceiling, and temple floor? And what about “crying” icons in the homes of ordinary people, where only one lamp is lit?

An experiment was conducted in a house where massive myrrh-streaming was observed: several icons with wide spaces between them lay on the table. Not only the icons were covered with large drops of oil. It also appeared in between. The physics expert placed a simple cardboard icon on the table next to the hosts' already oiled icons. Just before his eyes, the clean, “non-miraculous” icon became covered with three oil stains. Within an hour, these spots increased in size. Large drops of oil rolled off it.

Science helps separate commonplace cases from unique and inexplicable ones, without involving extranatural intelligent forces. In particular, physics helps to evaluate the process of myrrh-streaming and the power of the myrrh-streaming icon, which is comparable to the power nuclear power plant. This phenomenon occurs in life only in the case of nuclear transformation, when during an explosion nuclear bomb matter is converted into energy. Theoretically, energy can be converted back into matter. No one has proven that science can describe all the phenomena of the material world.

Miracles with icons

Icons in temples or homes are sacred due to their spiritual content and meaning. But some are chosen by God's providence for special signs. The indescribable light, fragrance, and holy myrrh emanating from them are material manifestations of the heavenly world, the Kingdom of God.

The history of Orthodoxy includes about a thousand images, famous for their miracles. The main basis for venerating the image as miraculous was the certified gift of specific help to a person. Sometimes this help was preceded or accompanied by a certain supernatural event: the Mother of God Herself came in a dream or in a vision and told where and how to find Her image: icons walked through the air, descended or rose on their own; from them it was observed: a radiance upon their acquisition, a fragrance emanated, a voice sounded; the icon was updated by itself or the image on it came to life.

Some images miraculously shed blood and tears. The flow of blood usually occurred from a wound inflicted on the image - to admonish people who had insulted the shrine. Tears flowing from the eyes Holy Mother of God, were perceived both as a sign of the sorrow of the Mother of God for human sins, and as a sign of the mercy of the Lady, crying for Her children. In 1854, Bishop Melchizedek of Romania became one of the eyewitnesses of the flow of tears from the icon, which later received the name “Weeping” (in the Romanian Sokolsky Monastery).

Among the phenomena associated with icons, there is, although much less frequently, the doubling of imagery on the glass protecting the icon. It’s as if an invisible diamond cutter is applying the contours of an iconographic plot onto it. However, such a phenomenon has never been heard of in museums and art galleries where paintings are stored. It turns out that the phenomenon has a selective nature, it is connected with the meaning of what is depicted on the icon, and sometimes with ongoing events. This reality lies beyond what we used to call science.

Appearance of Angels

An extraordinary miracle is the luminous moonlight ethereal forms of entities of enormous growth.

This kind of creature is found in space in our time. They were observed repeatedly by both our and American cosmonauts. Back in 1985, when the Soviet space program was on the rise and emergency situations It was not customary to talk in space; the unexpected happened at the Sa-lyut-7 space station. It was the 155th day of the flight. A crew of six people: three “old-timers” - Leonid Kizim, Oleg Atkov, Vladimir Solovyov - and “guests” - Svetlana Savitskaya, Igor Volk, Vladimir Dzhanibekov - were engaged in the planned experiments.

Suddenly, on the path of the Salyut station, a big cloud orange gas of unknown origin. While the cosmonauts were at a loss as to what it could be, and the Mission Control Center was analyzing messages received from the station, Salyut-7 entered the cloud. For a moment, it seemed that orange gas had penetrated into the orbital complex. An orange glow surrounded each astronaut, blinding them and making it impossible to see what was happening. Fortunately, my vision returned almost immediately. Rushing to the porthole, the astronauts were numb - on the other side of the heavy-duty glass, 7 figures of incredible size were clearly visible in the orange cloud of gas.

None of the crew doubted: creatures of light were floating in space in front of them - heavenly angels!

Almost like people, they were still different. And it's not about the huge wings or the dazzling halos around their heads. The main difference was the expression on their faces. As if feeling the gaze on them, the angels turned their faces to the people. “They smiled,” the cosmonauts later said. – It was not a smile of greeting, but a smile of delight and joy. We don’t smile like that.” The ship's clock counted down 10 minutes dispassionately. After this time, the angels accompanying the station disappeared. The orange cloud also disappeared, leaving in the souls of the astronauts a feeling of inexplicable loss.

When the flight directors got acquainted with the report of what happened, the report was immediately classified as “secret”.

Now that much has become public, it has become clear that American astronauts have met angels in space many times. They were even photographed using the Hubble orbital telescope. The appearance of angels was also noted by the equipment of research satellites.

Relatively not so long ago, the Hubble telescope again presented a surprise. While exploring the galaxy NGG-3532, Hubble sensors detected the appearance of seven bright objects in orbit of our planet. Some of the photographs taken later showed slightly blurry, but still distinguishable figures of luminous winged creatures reminiscent of biblical angels! “They were about 20 meters high,” said Hubble project engineer John Pratchers. “Their wingspan reached the length of the wings of modern Airbuses. These creatures emitted an incredible glow. We cannot yet say who or what they are. But it seemed to us that they wanted to be photographed.”

Imperishable relics

The relics of the saints remain incorrupt for many centuries. Is it possible with scientific point vision explain their miraculous power? Research of the burial places of saints in Kiev Pechersk Lavra discovered powerful biological radiation emanating from the relics. An experiment was conducted: elite wheat seeds were irradiated in the laboratory with 13,000 roentgens, and then they were applied to shrines, as if “irradiated” with divine energy. The result exceeded all expectations: the seeds that visited the icons and relics sprouted happily. And the seeds that were not applied to the shrines dried out, despite good watering and fertilized soil.

Usually, miraculous healings at icons and relics they explain it by self-hypnosis. But experience with seeds has proven that psychological aspect has nothing to do with it. And how many babies are healed? One could consider all the examples a mere coincidence, but there are dissertations of doctors that describe cases of healing of hopeless patients. From a medical point of view, they cannot be explained.

Several years ago in Buryatia, a cedar sarcophagus was opened with the body of the khombo lama (supreme lama of Buryatia) Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov XII. In 1927, foreseeing the impending reprisal against the ministers of the Buddhist cult, the Hombo Lama sat in the lotus position and plunged into meditation. After some time he became quiet. According to the teacher's will, the students placed his lifeless body in a sarcophagus and placed fragrant herbs nearby. Having opened, almost according to the will of the deceased, the sarcophagus after 30 and 75 years, Buddhists were convinced of the incorruptibility of the body.

In 2002, the sitting Hombo Lama was moved to the Ivolginsky datsan, where believers can see him and specialists can study him. The latest analyzes of the body and organs, which were carried out relatively recently by a group of forensic experts, confirmed that the body has no signs of decay, the joints remain mobile, and the skin remains elastic; occasional small cuts reveal a red gelatinous liquid resembling blood.

Meditation can work wonders. The fantastic power of psychic energy has been demonstrated. Hombo Lama deliberately introduced himself into lethargy, in which his metabolism was reduced to almost zero. It is quite possible that the Buddhist priest is still alive, we simply have not encountered this form of existence before.

It also happens: a miracle remains a fact of consciousness, but does not affect the depths of the soul and does not have spiritual consequences. Indifference to the miracle probably prevents it from appearing again. The meaning of a miracle is to awaken a sense of faith. Only the manifestation of absolute faith stimulates the appearance of a miracle. Inner forces awaken the unknown and encourage the manifestation of unusual, miraculous phenomena.