On July 11, 1993, the famous ascetic and spiritual writer Elder Sophrony (Sakharov) passed away to the Lord. Let us honor the memory of the elder by remembering his instructions

Archimandrite Sophrony was born in Moscow, into an Orthodox merchant family, and lived a long life, which included almost the entire 20th century from his tragic events, scientific discoveries and technical advances. The old man lived almost 97 years old and was a burning lamp for everyone who met him on the path of life.

Chief officer engineering troops to the First world war and a talented student at the Academy of Arts, he survived two arrests of the Cheka and the Lubyanka, was a successful artist in Paris, and then left for Mount Athos. He labored in the Russian monastery of St. Panteleimon, and then as a hermit on the “terrible” Karulia - in the harsh place of the exploits of Athonite ascetics. He lived in complete poverty, when an empty tin can became a treasure - you could drink water from it.

Father Sophrony became a disciple of St. Silouan of Athos , was with him inseparably from 1930 to 1938 - until the death of the monk - and wrote the book “Elder Silouan”. This book is in the shortest possible time resonated with a wide range of readers - from beginners to theologians and monastics. His books “On Prayer” and “Seeing God as He Is” are also known.

In 1959, the elder founded the monastery of St. John the Baptist under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the county of Essex in the UK. As abbot of this monastery, he gained fame as an outstanding confessor who acquired the gift of spiritual reasoning. Thousands of people from different countries came to him for spiritual advice. There were many cases of healing through the prayers of the elder both during his life and after his death.

Let us honor the memory of the elder by remembering his instructions.

CIRCUMSTANCES OF LIFE

« Depending on how a person lives, the external circumstances of his life develop.. Sometimes due to our internal mistakes or, conversely, corrections change for the worse or better and external conditions life..."

« Before you do anything, you need to wait until the Lord gives you strength to do it.. For example, if we have a desire to go to the Holy Mountain, but do not have the strength to take this step, then even if we complete it, we will not receive any benefit.”

« If God expects something from us, he gives us the energy and grace and strength to do it.».

ABOUT FAMILY LIFE

The elder said about choosing a life partner:

“To make a choice, prayer is necessary. To make the right choice and for God to give the right person need strong prayer».

“The blessing and prayer of the mother plays a big role in the life of the child, since usually the mother prays with pain. A prayer done with pain has special power».

“It is of great significance if the child has the blood of praying parents and if the mother prayed while the child was still in the womb.”

“When people get married and God gives them children, they should glorify God. If God does not give children, they should accept this fact in peace and not be discouraged».

One woman asked the elder what kind of milk she should feed her child: her own or the cow's. The elder replied: “Who gave birth to him: you or the cow?”

ABOUT FOOD

“Food gives energy to the body. We need it to work and have strength to pray. U When praying, food energy is converted into spiritual energy. For those who pray little, the excess energy of food is transformed into passion and gluttony.”

COMMUNICATION WITH OTHER PEOPLE

« If anyone is tempted while communicating with us, it is preferable to move away from them».

“Insolence is often a burning fire. Therefore, simplicity is required, not impudence.”

« If you want to destroy someone, tell him that he has a beautiful voice or praise him for some of his virtues».

“Even the perfect suffer harm when they hear praise.”

“We must respect the freedom of another person. What is done under compulsion will last neither in time nor in eternity».

GRACE OF GOD

“When the grace of God comes to us, we already live here in the dimension of eternity.”

« The most important thing in spiritual life is to strive to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit. It will change our lives (primarily internally, not externally). We will live in the same house, in the same environment and with the same people, but our life will be different. But this is possible only under certain conditions: if we find time to pray fervently, with tears in our eyes. In the morning, ask for God’s blessing, so that the prayerful mood determines our whole day».

« Life without Christ is tasteless, sad and hopeless».

ABOUT PRAYER

« We can love others through prayer for them. To understand how another person lives, you should pray for him with all your heart. Then we can see his needs too, looking for a way to alleviate them.”

« Thoughts that come during prayer reveal the strongest passions that possess us. Then we are faced with a feat and a decisive struggle for healing from these passions. First of all, for this you need to confess to your spiritual father and seek guidance. Thus prayer reveals passions, and repentance by grace heals them.”

One brother complained to the elder that he did not understand the books of the holy fathers well. The elder replied:

“When we read the work of some holy father, we must pray to this holy father in order to understand his word as the author himself understood it.”

PEACE IN THE HEART

« It is better to prefer small spiritual work, but with peace in your heart than to strive for much and lose peace of heart.”

“It is better to be spiritually one level lower, but with peace in the soul, than higher with worries.”

“Ordinary people are moved by little things, and this gives them strength. But they also complain and murmur over trifles and are easily exhausted by them.”

VERBOSITY

“The Holy Fathers did not search for many words. Having received a single spiritual word, they went into the desert and lived for many years, feeding on this single word and trying to fulfill it. We say and hear many words, but do nothing to fulfill them. Verbosity weakens spiritually».

“By talking about things that are not known personally and exceed our understanding, we erect an insurmountable barrier (wall) in front of ourselves, which does not allow us to then experience it experimentally.”

SPIRITUAL BIRTH AND DEATH

“The spiritual birth of a person shakes the whole world, just as everything around shakes when an airplane breaks the sound barrier.”

“A person going to God, after repose and leaving his physical bodily shell, is like a launch spaceship, will take off in a powerful impulse towards God. If a person constantly strives for God, then after death he will rush towards God like a rocket».

“Caught in the love of God, leaving the body, the soul will go to God; or, the opposite: pushing away from God, she will move “into outer darkness” - to the endless torment of a state opposite to love.”

“I read about an accident at an aircraft factory. One engineer was testing the operation of one jet engine. Moving around the launched car, he inadvertently fell into a stream of air, which captured him and, tearing him off the ground, carried him in the direction of a powerful engine. The assistant engineer, seeing this scene, immediately stopped the engine. Running to his colleague who had fallen to the floor, he found him dead.

One who seeks prayer can also be captured by its desire and find himself torn out of this world. Having returned, he is also “dead” to passionate interests and material acquisitions: he will not seek any career; he does not grieve too much when he is rejected, and he is not proud when he is praised; he forgets about the past, does not cling to the present, does not care about the earthly future. New life, full of Light, revealed itself to him and in him; children's entertainment, which occupies a huge number of people, ceases to interest him.”

Sayings and aphorisms about poverty and wealth.

It's good if your dress has no holes.
And it’s not a sin to think about your daily bread.
And everything else is not needed for nothing -
Life is more valuable than wealth and honors of all.

Omar Khayyam

In this world, what makes us rich is not what we get, but what we give.

If you want to be rich, do not think about increasing your property, but only moderate your greed.

Helvetius K.

People are afraid of poverty and obscurity; if both cannot be avoided without losing honor, they should be accepted.

Confucius

Greed for money, if it is insatiable, is much more painful than need, for the more desires grow, the greater needs they generate.

Democritus

Before you were born you didn't need anything
And having been born, you are doomed to need everything.
Just throw off the oppression of a shameful body,
You will become free, like God, and rich again.

Omar Khayyam

Misers care so much about wealth as if it were their own, but use it so little as if it were someone else's.

When you meet a wanderer or a beggar, do not bypass them.

If poverty is the mother of crime, then stupidity is their father.

Labruyère J.

The poor man is defeated everywhere.

It is not the one who has little who is poor, but the one who wants a lot.

There is no fairer income than that which the earth, the sky, the year will bring.

Pliny the Younger

A sick person should not hide his illness from a doctor, and a poor person should not hide his poverty in front of his friends.

John of Damascus

They are in need while possessing wealth, and this is the most severe form of poverty.

Poverty degrades people so much that they are ashamed even of their virtues.

Vauvenargues

Worldly goods, being deception, falsehood and fiction, are by their nature impermanent.

As-Samarkandi

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Well-being in all respects is impossible. (Horace (Quintus Horace Flaccus))

Wealth and poverty - different worlds one planet. (Leonid S. Sukhorukov) POVERTY

Poverty is the test of the rich man, and wealth is the test of the poor man. (Baurzhan Toyshibekov) POVERTY

It is better to guide one soul than to own everything on earth. (Unknown author) SOUL

Rich - poor in money, because his thoughts are richer. (Unknown author)

Some riches are heavy from shed human tears, just as a poorly harvested harvest is heavy from untimely rains. (John Ruskin)

Stingy rich people, who lock up their income in their chests, steal part of society’s wealth. (Fedor Nikolaevich Glinka)

All that glitters is not gold. (Unknown author)

While wealth has not yet been acquired, the desire for it is exhausting; once acquired, it is tormented by worries; when it is lost, longing for it is tormented. (Democritus)

He who always has little is always poor. (Arian Schultz)

Each person is the creator of his own well-being. (Richard Steele (Steele))

I was always content with what I had, and it was like a squirrel hiding its acorns. Sometimes there were more acorns, sometimes less. But there has never been a time when I didn’t have one left. (Audrey Hepburn)

Oh, how difficult it is to have a million!!! ("The Adventures of Funtik"). (Unknown author)

True wealth does not lie in enormous wealth, but in its reasonable use. (Napoleon)

We never understand what treasures are in front of us because people don't believe in treasures at all. (Paulo Coelho)

The appropriation of wealth determines the renunciation of wealth in its material reality. (Karl Marx)

Even a millionaire sometimes has some cherished dream. For example, become a billionaire. (Baurzhan Toyshibekov) DREAM

Some poverty is someone's wealth, and another wealth is someone's poverty. (Leonid S. Sukhorukov)

Is excess poverty with wealth or wealth with poverty? (Konstantin Kushner)

It is difficult to be content with little, but it is even more difficult to be content with more. (Maria von Ebner-Eschenbach)

Man lives on earth not to become rich, but to become happy. (Stendhal (Henri-Marie Bayle)) HAPPINESS

Saturation gives rise to insolence when a bad person experiences good fortune and when this person does not have a sound mind. (Theognis)

Wealth is the savings of many in the hands of one. (Julian Tuwim)

Just as the accumulation of knowledge does not increase intelligence, so wealth does not make one happier. (Konstantin Kushner) KNOWLEDGE

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no good better friend. (Menander)

Not being greedy is already wealth, not being wasteful is income. (Marcus Tullius Cicero)

The consensus between the well-fed and the hungry, the rich and the poor is nonsense. (Konstantin Kushner) OPINION

Good individual person or a particular nation is associated with the common good of all. (Henri Barbusse)

There are three ways to use wealth - action, enjoyment and destruction. (Bhartrihari)

Rob, grab, mine, own - everything will have to be left behind. (Mark Valery Martial)

Accumulated wealth can serve, but it can also enslave. (Horace (Quintus Horace Flaccus))

The rich chase wealth, the poor chase the rich. (Thomas Fuller)

The bread that you store in your bins belongs to the hungry; the cloak lying in your chest belongs to a naked man; the gold that you buried in the ground belongs to the poor man. (Basily the Great (Basily of Caesarea))

Wealth is a good servant, but a worthless mistress. (Francis Bacon)

In every civilized state wealth is sacred; in democracies this alone is sacred. (Anatole France)

Wealth is very good when it serves us, and very bad when it rules us. (Francis Bacon)

Aid to underdeveloped countries brings money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. (Unknown author)

Those who, during times of prosperity, think that they have gotten rid of adversity forever are mistaken. (Marcus Tullius Cicero)

Which husband is better - poor or rich? If you marry a poor man, you will have nothing but a husband. And if you marry a rich man, you will have everything except a husband. (Konstantin Melikhan) FAMILY

Not a single pearl, even the brightest, is worth drowning over. (Unknown author) OBJECTIVE

Prosperity in old age means prolongation of youth. (Charles Lamb) AGE

Concerns about personal well-being are quite natural, and cannot be discounted. But if you only care about this, neglecting the public good and the protection of the entire human society, life will become shameful, petty and - I’ll say it frankly - vile. (Romain Rolland)

We should not envy the wealth of other people: they acquire it at a price that we cannot afford; they sacrificed peace, health, honor, and conscience for it. This is too expensive - the deal would only bring us losses. (Jean de La Bruyère) ENVY
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The thirst for gold dries up hearts, and they close themselves to compassion, do not heed the voice of friendship, blood ties are broken, people yearn only for wealth and are able to sell everything, even humanity. (Jean Paul Marat)

Wealth breeds stinginess and arrogance. (Euripides)

Worldly goods, being deception, falsehood and fiction, are by their nature impermanent. (Muhammad Azzahiri As-Samarkandi)

Those who strive only for enrichment do not want to believe that people have goods higher than those that they hold on to. (Arbiter Gaius Petronius)

He who knows how to be content with little is rich. (Carlo Goldoni)

The greatest wealth can be achieved by losing all your money. (Leonid S. Sukhorukov)

More flies drown in honey than in vinegar. (Folk wisdom)

Let the wise men resolve to despise wealth. (Marcus Tullius Cicero)

For those who take everything from life, everything is not enough. (Konstantin Kushner)

Without getting rich, you won't know how many poor relatives you have. (Unknown author) MONEY POVERTY

In our age of luxury, we have reached the point where we hire strangers to do good deeds for us. (John Stuart Mill) GOOD

What you don’t want to have tomorrow, discard today, and what you want to have tomorrow, acquire today. (Thomas Aquinas) KNOWLEDGE

In this dark world, consider only spiritual wealth as true, for it will never depreciate. (Omar Khayyam)

From wealth comes satiety, from satiety - arrogance. (Solon)

Money comes and goes, but spiritual wealth remains. (Konstantin Kushner) MONEY

People don't want to be rich; people want to be richer than others. (John Stuart Mill)

A rich person is not the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least. (Unknown author)

It is extremely difficult to protect something that many people like. (Publius Syrus)

No one can tell whether he is poor or rich by looking at his income and expenses ledger. What makes a man rich is his heart. Wealth is determined not by what a person has, but by what he is. (Henry Ward Beecher)

How many people, in constant trouble, tirelessly, like ants, are busy from morning to evening increasing existing wealth; everything that comes out of a narrow circle of means aimed at this goal is alien to them: their empty soul is impervious to anything else. (Arthur Schopenhauer)
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Laziness is the daughter of wealth and the mother of poverty. (Paul Decourcel) POVERTY

If we manage our wealth, then we are rich and free; if our wealth controls us, then we are no poorer. (Edmund Burke)

Poverty and wealth are words for need and abundance. Therefore, whoever is in need is not rich, and whoever is not in need is poor. (Democritus) POVERTY

The rich man is known everywhere and has friends on the other side, but the poor man is hated on his own side. (Daniil Zatochnik)

To create a fortune for yourself, especially a large one, you need a mind of a special type: not strong, not sharp, not extensive, not sublime, not free, not subtle. (Jean de La Bruyère)

The one who walked yesterday is prancing on a horse today, and the one who pranced on a horse yesterday is walking today. (Baurzhan Toishibekov)

Wealth is the ability to satisfy the needs that are imposed on us.

If you were told that my wealth was acquired through hard work, ask: “Whose labor?” (Unknown author)

I don’t like to have half of something, it’s better to be among the completely poor, then at least my soul will belong to me. (Robert Walser)

A person should always think about how much more property he has than he needs, and how much more unhappy he may become in the future. (Joseph Addison)

He who has accumulated a lot will lose a lot. (Hong Zicheng) MONEY

So life, having elevated a person to the pinnacle of well-being, continues to tease and torment him there. There is always something unattainable ahead, eternal temptation and eternal dissatisfaction. (Dreiser Theodor)

Concern for what is superfluous is often combined with the loss of what is necessary. (Solon)

The shortest and surest way to make a fortune for yourself is to let people know that it benefits them to do good to you. (Jean de La Bruyère) WELCOME

Wealth is only one of the means to happy life, and they turned it into the only purpose of existence. (Anatole France)

Don’t torment your soul immensely every hour
Searching for power and wealth in the world. (Abdurrahman Nureddin ibn Ahmad Jami) POWER

Before you get caught in the golden shower, remember: gold is almost three times heavier than lead! (Leonid S. Sukhorukov)

Pattern. For one to become rich, thousands must become poor. (Leonid Krainov-Rytov)

Some people bathe in champagne, while others have nowhere to wash themselves. (Konstantin Kushner)
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The tendency towards convenience in man is worse than any other evil in life. (Immanuel Kant)

He who has everything enjoys nothing. (Pierre Boist) PLEASURE

Being rich does not mean being happy, just as possessing a woman does not mean loving her. (Antoine de Rivarol)

He who wants to live in prosperity must learn to live in need. (Plutarch)

He is rich who considers himself so with what he has. (Pierre Buast)

Give away treasures today
Make sure you don't lose everything tomorrow. (Muslihaddin Saadi)

If you buy what you don't need, you will soon sell what you do need. (Benjamin Franklin) TRADE

You can't eat diamonds! (Rostild)

Strength is given to a person by nature, the ability to speak for good - from the soul and understanding, and wealth of means - for many, from simple case. (Biant)

My wealth lies in what I do, not in what I have. (Thomas Carlyle) CASE

If wealth were considered valuable in heaven, it would not be given to such scoundrels. (Jonathan Swift)

The tendency to condemn profit stems from the medieval view that one man's profit meant another man's loss. (Walter Wriston) MANAGING MONEY

Wealth and nobility do not bring any dignity. (Socrates)

Nothing lasts forever under the sun, the meaning of frailty cannot be hidden,
Why accumulate treasures - there will be no treasures. (Ibn Sina)

Whoever reaches old age will feel illnesses from the luxuries of his youth, therefore, in his youth he should avoid luxuries. (Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov) AGE

Some bathe in luxury, while others have nowhere to wash themselves. (Konstantin Kushner)

Anyone can be rich in promises. (Ovid (Publius Ovid Naso))

He who does not need someone else’s, but lives independently, is richer than everyone else. (John Chrysostom (Chrysostom))

The easiest way to win the war against poverty is to stop pretending we're rich. (American proverb) WAR

If you want to lose a friend, give him an expensive gift. (Unknown author) FRIENDSHIP

Since wealth is power, any power inevitably, in one way or another, gets its hands on wealth. (Edmund Burke) POWER

Why do most of us feel so bad when by all indications it should be good?

If there were a good wizard somewhere, I would ask him to reveal to people the biggest secret in the world: why is it so bad for most of us, when by all indications it should be good? Most of us have a job or other source of regular income, a place to live, what to eat, what to drink, what to wear, where to have fun. It would seem, live and rejoice, enjoy this existence! No! Everywhere you look, there is disorder, enmity, discord, splits, oppressive loneliness. There is hardly a person in Russia who would not have any sorrows, problems, or unpleasant worries at all.

A disease called "bad life"

Why is there so much grief, pain, suffering in our world, a world designed to be beautiful? Someone will answer me: the problem is in bad rulers, politicians who think only about their own pockets, in general corruption, in harmful bosses who suck the “blood” of their subordinates, in worthless neighbors and acquaintances who dream and see how to harm us . The big problem is my wife (husband), who does not want to live up to my idea of ideal woman(to a man), in children who do not want to listen to my advice or orders, in parents who are “morally outdated” and, not understanding anything about the “current moment in history,” interfere with their instructions.

So, one of the main causes of the disease called “life is bad,” in my opinion, is chronic dissatisfaction with everything and everyone. Even against the backdrop of external prosperity, we find reasons to be dissatisfied. First of all, of course, those who are dissatisfied with their loved ones and relatives. Nitpicking, quarrels, conflicts, leaving the mother, and finally, the catastrophe of divorce are the consequences of the syndrome of chronic discontent. Many people go to work as if they are doing hard labor, because they constantly experience negative emotions in all areas: content of work, its conditions and amount of payment, colleagues, superiors, subordinates.

What is behind the discontent that pretty much poisons our lives? And is it possible to become truly happy, full of life and always happy? Is it possible to be happy with everything? Let's talk about this.

The Spiritual Nature of Discontent

It seems that dissatisfaction is fueled by selfishness, a high opinion of oneself, . A proud person who loves himself to the extreme, who thinks highly of himself, places himself as the measure of everything. Myself! He is the center of the universe, he is an expert on life, he is an infallible judge. It is, of course, human nature to love oneself, to consider oneself an authority, and to forgive oneself mistakes, shortcomings and sins. But the problem is different: a person considers his opinion, his views, his assessments to be the only correct ones. He trusts himself one hundred percent! He can't be wrong! He is always right! This means that he knows how everything in this world should be, how others should treat him, how life should be built.

Accordingly, dissatisfaction with anyone or anything arises whenever the actions of other people run counter to the ideal model of the structure of the world that a person has come up with for himself.

For example, I consider it normal that when I come home in the evening, I can count on my wife, who came home before me, to cook dinner. And then it turns out that she was carried away by an interesting TV show and did not prepare dinner. A legitimate reason for dissatisfaction and grumbling? Well, of course! What a legal one, without any alternatives! Why? Because I know for sure that the wife MUST do this and not otherwise. And if such “tricks” on her part happen regularly, I will begin to think - should I change my wife?

The wife can also “harass” her husband with nagging and whining, because he has a small child, no prospects for career growth, they still cannot buy a car, and he is also a bad housekeeper, devotes little time to the child, etc. etc. Why is this so? Because in the ideal world invented by the wife, the husband must correspond to the famous song: “So that he doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke and always gives flowers, so that he gives his salary, calls his mother-in-law mother, is indifferent to football, and is not boring in company, and besides so that he is both handsome and smart.”

Or at work: a picky boss who rather harshly demands strict execution functional responsibilities, shouts, threatens, oppresses and so on... I would leave if I had somewhere to go. But you have to clench yourself into a fist and endure. At least he pays money for the work.

We want to change others, and when this fails, we become angry, indignant, and upset.

Familiar pictures? I think for many of us - yes, acquaintances. We want to change the world for the better, but according to the model that we ourselves consider the best. We want to change others, to adapt them to ourselves, and when this fails, we get angry, indignant, and upset. What kind of happiness is there? What joy? One displeasure.

What to do? The answer suggests itself: you don’t need to change the world to suit you, but you need to change yourself to suit the world. Do not try to adapt others to yourself, but adapt yourself to others - first of all, to the closest and dearest people. However, this is possible if the measure of the “correctness” of the world and people around us is not me, who is not without shortcomings, but Someone Else. Absolute ideal, without the slightest spot. And we have such an ideal. This is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

You need to turn your life around

Our Lord Jesus Christ took on human flesh and became the same as us, a man, except for sin. There was and is no sin in Him. All of Yours earthly life By His teaching, finally, by His suffering and death on the cross, which He undertook out of love for His creatures, He testified for all future centuries to the great truth: one can become like, come closer to God only through self-denial, through sacrifice, through love. Christ is an example to follow for all who want to find happiness both in this short-term earthly life and in the afterlife, eternal.

Why is a person who loves Christ satisfied with his life?

Why is a true believer who loves Christ happy with his life? Because he sees the image of God in the people around him, he sees Christ, Who is love, peace, joy, bliss. The believer sees Christ in every person, no matter how outwardly evil he may be. Believer measures the world around us not by yourself, but by God, Who commanded to love everyone, even enemies, to forgive any offenses, not to hold a grudge against anyone, but to seek peace, tranquility and joy everywhere. And if a Christian doesn’t like something, he doesn’t complain or get irritated, showing humility without grumbling or discontent.

Why does a person need this? Yes, because he wants to become like his heavenly Teacher and Father, who said: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls; for My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

To find real happiness, you need to learn meekness and humility from Christ

It's simple! To find real happiness, joy - in the word of Christ, “peace” - you need to learn from Him meekness and. If we succeed, dissatisfaction with others will simply disappear from our lives.

True faith turns many things in our lives 180 degrees.

Were we intolerant of the misdeeds of others and forgiving ourselves of our own spiritual ailments? Faith makes us intolerant of our sins and encourages us to forgive the sins of our neighbors.

We were in constant dissatisfaction - with other people, salary, politics, bosses, our destiny? But have we always been satisfied with ourselves? Faith reveals to us the truth about ourselves: it turns out that we are far from perfect. Faith teaches us to be dissatisfied with ourselves, with our rotten words, actions and thoughts - this is the only path to reconciliation with everyone, the path to which Christ calls us.

“Too tired”?

A person, having found Christ, finds a source of endless joy. Only one who has fallen to the Savior with his whole being can understand the words: “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in everything” (1 Thess. 5:16–18). You cannot rejoice if you feel dissatisfaction or hostility towards someone or something. Everything needs to be covered - the shortcomings, weaknesses, sins of other people - with love. This is the way of Christ. Moreover, the path to real joy and happiness. Why? Yes, because through forgiveness and love for everyone, peace, tranquility, and silence are established in a person’s soul. The source of this peace is a clear conscience.

A person striving for salvation is a peace-lover and a peacemaker

A believer, a person striving for salvation, is a lover of peace and a peacemaker. He must sow peace and love everywhere around him, wasting the warmth of his heart on the reconciliation of those at war, the unification of those who are divided, and the establishment of understanding among the irreconcilable. At first this is difficult, because the devil strongly resists, but then it becomes easier and easier, as the Lord helps.

The Lord Himself wants us to be just so happy. After all, He is our Father. How can the Father not want good for His children? Only we, being free, decide for ourselves whether we want to be happy or seek “happiness” in attempts to change others according to our “patterns”. But these attempts are always associated with bitter tension and displeasure. It happens that a person spends his entire life in the sorrows of chronic discontent, in grumbling and irritation. That's why his life is bad. It happens that when a grumpy woman dies, her acquaintances say about her: “She was exhausted.” It seems that now there, in Heaven, she will definitely live happily ever after. How, with her suffering, she deserved eternal peace!

It seems like a big mistake to consider a blissful eternity beyond the grave as a reward for sorrow and suffering in this earthly life. Of course, if outwardly a person’s life was sorrowful, but inside he found Christ, became close to Him and endured all the misfortunes sent down with steadfastness, with hope for God’s help, then, of course, eternal joy can await him in the Other World. But if a person’s sorrowful life has become a direct result of the chaos in his soul, his irreconcilable rejection of God, his belief in his own exclusive infallibility, then even there he is unlikely to calm down, that is, to rest in peace.

Joy, I am sure, begins to be acquired here on earth. The only path to this joy is the path of ascension to Christ, by whom the entire world around us is measured and by whom alone we acquire a complacent, full of love, attitude towards everyone who meets on our life’s path...

The main theme of the collection is quotes about people and humanity from famous and unknown authors:

• I organically, viciously hate people who, under the merciless blows of life, begin to howl and throw hysterics in corners. N. Ostrovsky
• Most people live more by fashion than by reason. G. Lichtenberg
• The more people you know, the more you want to communicate only with pets. V. Zubkov
• There are people - plants, people - animals, people - gods. Jean Paul

• A smart person will be able to learn a lot from the enemy.
• There are people with a shining mind and people with a sparkling mind: the former enlighten, the latter blind. M. Ebner-Eschenbach
• Smart people are the same fragrant flowers; one is pleasant, but the whole bouquet gives a headache. B. Auerbach
• There are people who just need to be shown where the truth is, and they rush towards it with simple-minded and touching amazement: they wonder how such an obvious thing (if, of course, someone managed to convince them that it is obvious) was not revealed to them earlier . N. Chamfort
• Reduce the mass of human suffering and increase the mass of human pleasure. All the efforts of all intelligent and honest people. D. Pisarev
• There are people who are like zeros: they always need numbers ahead of them. O. Balzac
• Close-minded and proud people have moments when the consciousness that they are unhappy gives them some pleasure, and they even flirt with themselves about their suffering. A. Chekhov
• There are well-dressed fools, and there are also dressed up fools. N. Chamfort
• There are three kinds of people: those who see; those who see when they are shown; and those who do not see. Leonardo da Vinci
• In serious matters people show themselves as they should appear; in the little things - as they are. N. Chamfort
• How many people, so many opinions. Terence
• All people make mistakes, but great people admit to mistakes. B. Fontenelle
• Grayness cannot ignite, but it can heat up to fanaticism. M. Ebner-Eschenbach
• All bourgeois virtues are a reliable shield from the demands of peacefully ongoing everyday life: prudence, zeal, common sense - all of them mercilessly melt in the flame of one single decisive second, which is revealed only to genius and seeks its embodiment in it. S. Zweig
• Seneca the Younger
• You will always find a fair number of people who are irresponsible, indifferent, lazy, accustomed to existing at random, without thinking about tomorrow. They'll roll over somehow in the wings. At the expense of a piece from a rich table. These people are incorrigible and indestructible, they were, are and will be. And the more prosperous the society, the more such idlers (in different shapes) is getting bigger. V. Uspensky
• By nature, people are not at all enemies of each other. J. J. Rousseau
• If you take a careful look at the people who cannot praise anyone, blame everyone and are not happy with anyone, then you will find out that these are the very people with whom no one is happy. J. Labruyère
• Common sense is a bad judge when it comes to important subjects. Plutarch
• There are people with such painful pride that they even consider it a humiliation that they were spared by the epidemic. K. Hubbard
• Lowly people take great pleasure when they find faults and reckless actions in great people. A. Schopenhauer
• There are people as stingy as if they were going to live forever, and so wasteful as if they were going to die tomorrow. Aristotle
• There is no such mishmash who, during the time of rebellious youth, for at least one day, at least for one moment, did not consider himself capable of deep feeling, of a bold feat. G. Flaubert
• There are people whose very vices are sweeter and more harmless than others' virtues. V. Kpyuchevsky
• 
  There are a lot of people who look like small fashion shops in which all the goods are displayed in the window. B. Auerbach
• There are people who experience such pleasure in constantly complaining and whining that in order not to lose it, they seem ready to seek misfortune. P. Calderon
• Some people, like many Indian trees, hide under their outer thorns and thorny shells the soft, valuable fruit of their philanthropic heart. I. Richter
• There are people who cannot get rid of their youth all their lives. S. Johnson
• Many people strive to see what is beyond the seas, but neglect what is in front of their eyes. Pliny the Younger
• There are people who know, there are people who think they know. However, in their hearts they believe that they are among the first.
• Many despise life's blessings, but almost no one is able to share them. F. La Rochefoucauld
• There are people who never make mistakes because they never think about anything rationally. I. Goethe
• Many people, weak by nature, become completely rubbish because they do not know how to be themselves and cannot in any way separate themselves from the general choir, singing from someone else’s voice. D. Pisarev
• There are people who believe that everything done with a reasonable appearance is reasonable. G. Lichtenberg
• Many people mistake their memory for intelligence and their opinions for facts. P. Masson
• There are people who become brutes as soon as they are treated like people. V. Klyuchevsky
• Many people are like sausages: what they are stuffed with is what they carry around with them. Kozma Prutkov
• There are people who talk so much that not only their interlocutor, but also themselves do not hear. V. Zubkov
• Many of those who were placed on a pedestal during life will never have a statue after death. P. Beranger
• There are people who create their hearts with their minds, others who create their minds with their hearts: the latter succeed more than the former, because there is much more reason in feeling than in the mind of feelings. P. Chaadaev
• Bourgeois owners are prosaically positive people. Their favorite rule: everyone for himself and for himself. They want to be right according to civil law and do not want to hear about the laws of humanity and morality. V. Belinsky
• There are people who, when depressed or irritated, admire their condition and are even proud of it. It’s the same as when you let go of the reins from a horse that’s carrying you downhill, you still lash it with a whip. L. Tolstoy
• Petty people do not move forward like a snail, they crawl, looking, stopping, and bumping into all sorts of objects. P. Buast
• There are people who trade honor for honor. A. Carr
• Small people sometimes cause terrible disasters. A. France
• There are people who never think about what they should have done, but only about what they have done, as if the mind had eyes in the back of its head and could only see what was behind. G. Fielding
• About people - only the truth and only the truth...
• Small people can pretend extraordinarily skillfully. O. Balzac
• There are people who are so self-absorbed that, having fallen in love, they manage to think more about their own love than about the object of their passion. F. La Rochefoucauld

• A small man is small on the mountain; the giant is great even in the pit. M. Lomonosov
• There are people whose morality remains intact, like the material from which they never sew dresses for themselves. J. Joubert
• People who decide to act usually have good luck; on the contrary, they are rarely successful for people who do nothing but weigh and procrastinate. Plutarch
• There is a special breed of people... they cannot even pass by a hungry or suicidal person without saying something vulgar. A. Chekhov
• People who don't listen to advice cannot be helped. B. Franklin
• There are two types of people in circulation. Some are with you, obviously, the same as with everyone else. Whether they are pleasant or not is a matter of taste, but they are not dangerous; others are afraid to offend you, upset you, worry you, or even caress you. They speak without passion, are very attentive to you, and often flatter you. These people are mostly pleasant. Be afraid of them. The most extraordinary transformations into opposites occur with these people - from polite to rude, from flattering to insulting, from kind to evil. L. Tolstoy
• People tend to be reluctant to obey those whom they consider to be undeservedly placed as superiors over them. D. Washington
• There are beautiful trees that retain their foliage until the frosts and remain green after frosts until snowstorms. They are wonderful. So there are people who have endured everything in the world, and yet they themselves become better and better until their death. M. Prishvin
• It is most beneficial for people to do things that help strengthen their friendship. B. Spinoza
• There are people who, like a bridge, exist so that others can cross it. And they run and run; no one will look back, no one will look at their feet. And the bridge serves this, and the next, and the third generation. V. Rozanov
• The only way people don't like gossip is when people gossip about them. W. Rogers
• The ordinary man always adapts to the prevailing opinion and the prevailing fashion, he believes current state things are the only possible and treats everything passively. G. Lichtenberg
• People are annoyed that the truth is always simple. I. Goethe
• Some people are repelled despite all their advantages, while others are attracted despite all their shortcomings. F. La Rochefoucauld
• Human anger - and it knows no bounds - consists largely of envy and fear. A. Maurois
• Some people consider themselves deep, while they are simply vulgar. J. D'Alembert
• People... are looking for ways to heaven for the simple reason that they have lost their way on earth. G. Plekhanov
• Others cannot succeed because they lack the strength, but blame circumstances for this. Aesop
• People adorned with virtues immediately recognize, highlight, and guess each other; if you want to be respected, deal only with people who deserve respect. J. Labruyère
• A dwarf climbing on the shoulders of a giant can, of course, see further than him, especially if he is armed with glasses; but at this height he lacks sublime feeling, the heart of a giant... G. Heine
• People who think money can do everything are themselves capable of doing everything for money. P. Buast
• When little man conceives a great enterprise, he always ends up reducing it to the level of his mediocrity. Napoleon I
• People who are constantly chasing more and more wealth never find time to use it. They look like starving people who cook everything but do not sit down at the table. M. Ebner-Eschenbach
• There are more foolish people than wise men, and even a wise man has more foolishness than wisdom. N. Chamfort

Vyacheslav asks
Answered by Alexandra Lanz, 01/07/2010

Vyacheslav asks: Do you think there is a difference between when a person strives for perfection and between when he strives for Christ? You can preach a lot about perfection, and I am not against it, because Jesus Christ Himself said: Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect, but in striving for perfection, you can lose sight of Christ Himself? Is it possible to get so carried away by this that Christ will interfere with a Christian? What then should we strive for? Towards perfection? Or to Christ? Or to perfection in Christ?

Peace to you, Vyacheslav!

In my opinion, the only difference is what a person understands by the word “perfection”.

If you see Christ as the embodiment of perfection and strive to be like Him, then the desire for perfection and the desire for Christ are the same. But if you share Christ and perfection, then there are two paths before you and you need to choose one. And then, indeed, Christ will interfere.

The vast majority of people understand perfection as the fullest development of the body, brain, and development of the body’s abilities.

God, without rejecting this, speaks first of all about perfection something that will be preserved for eternity(after all, we know that flesh and blood cannot enter Eternity) - about perfection « inner man» (;), about the perfection of character qualities, about the perfection of the ability to distinguish between good and evil () and choose good, even if this threatens you with physical death (;). The Bible calls us: “Above all, put on love, which is the totality of perfection» () and teaches us that we were created to “to proclaim the perfections of Him who called” ().

The Sermon on the Mount shows us the path along which we can become perfect. I won’t give you all the possible thoughts about it, but just a start:

Realize that you are poor in spirit

“Blessed are those,” He said, who recognize their spiritual poverty and feel the need of redemption. ...Only one source was opened for the cleansing of sin; only the poor in spirit could fall to it. The Lord cannot heal a person until he is convinced of his weakness, frees himself from all self-righteousness and entrusts himself to God's guidance. Only then can he accept the gift that the Lord wants to give him. A soul conscious of its need will not be denied anything. Such a person gains unhindered access to the One in Whom all fullness dwells, “For thus says the High and Exalted One who lives forever, Holy is His name: I dwell in the high place of heaven and in the sanctuary, and also with those who are contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the hearts of the contrite.”().

Start crying and lamenting your sins.

“The meaning of these words of Christ is not that crying itself can remove the guilt of sin. He does not approve of feigned humility. The weeping He speaks of does not mean melancholy and weeping. Although we grieve over our sinfulness, we should also rejoice in the precious privilege of being children of God. True contrition for sin is the result of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit reveals the ingratitude of our hearts, which grieved the Savior, and brings us, repentant, to the foot of the cross. Every sin wounds Jesus again, and when we look at Him whom we have pierced, we grieve for the sins that brought Him suffering. Such crying will lead to the rejection of sin. Such sadness heralds joy, which will become a living source for the soul. “Only admit your guilt: for you have turned away from the Lord your God. “I will not pour out My wrath on you, for I am merciful, says the Lord.” ( , 12). “To those who mourn in Zion... instead of ashes, there will be given an ornament, instead of mourning, the oil of joy, instead of a depressed spirit, a garment of glory.”(). The Lord addressed the mourners this way: “I have seen his ways, and I will heal him, I will guide him, and comfort him and those who mourn him.”(); “And I will change their sorrow into joy, and will comfort them, and make them glad after their tribulation.” ()».

Desire the meekness of Christ.

“All the difficulties that we encounter are easier to bear for those who have the meekness of Christ. If we are characterized by the humility of our Lord, we will be able to rise above insults, harsh attacks against us, everyday troubles - all this ceases to darken our spirit. The highest proof of a Christian's generosity is self-control. He who, being subjected to insults or cruelty, loses peace and trust, deprives God of the opportunity to reveal His perfections in him. Humility is the strength by which Christ's followers gain victory; it is a sign of their belonging to the Heavenly Kingdom. "The Lord is high, and he sees the humble" ()".

Desire the truth of Christ more than anything else in the world.

“The feeling of one's own unworthiness makes the heart hunger and thirst for righteousness, and this desire will not remain unsatisfied. Those who have a place in their hearts for Jesus will experience His love. All who wish to become like God will achieve their goal. The Holy Spirit will never leave without help a soul that longs for Jesus. He “takes” from Christ and presents it to this soul. If the eyes are constantly turned to Christ, the work of the Spirit continues until His image is reflected in the soul of such a person. Pure love will straighten the soul, give it the ability to reach new heights, deepen the knowledge of heavenly truths, and fill it with completeness.”

Become a merciful person with a pure heart:

“Every unclean thought defiles the soul, weakens morality and nullifies the influence of the Holy Spirit. It dulls spiritual vision, and a person becomes unable to see God. The Lord forgives the repentant sinner, but, despite this forgiveness, the soul is already damaged. A person who strives to understand spiritual truth should avoid any impure thoughts or speech. But the words of Christ speak not only about freedom from carnal uncleanness, not only about freedom from ritual defilement, which the Jews so zealously avoided. Self-love hinders the contemplation of God. The selfish spirit judges God as being similar to itself. Until we overcome this concept, we will not be able to understand the One who is love. Only the selfless, humble and trusting will see God - "loving mankind and merciful, long-suffering and abounding in kindness and truth"(Ex. 34:6).”

Understand what it means to be a peacemaker and desire to become one.

“The peace of Christ is the fruit of righteousness. This is harmony with God. The world is opposed to God's law. Sinners are at enmity with their Creator, and the result is enmity with each other. But the psalmist declares: “Great peace have those who love Your law, and there is no stumbling block for them.”( : 165). People cannot create peace. Human plans for the purification and ennoblement of individuals or society as a whole will not bear fruit, because they do not touch the heart. The only force that can to create and forever preserve true peace is the grace of Christ. By settling in the heart, it drives out evil passions that give rise to discord and disagreement. “Instead of the thorn the cypress will grow; instead of the nettle the myrtle will grow,” and the desert of life “will rejoice... and blossom like a daffodil” (; 35:1).”

Three chapters in the Gospel of Matthew are devoted to the Sermon on the Mount (6,7). May the Holy Spirit, by whom you were sealed for the day of salvation, encourage you to carefully and prayerfully study these saving words of Jesus for us, because it is through these words that the essence of what is revealed is revealed. What does God say when He calls His children: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” ().

Sincerely,
Sasha.

Quoted from The Desire of Ages, chapter 31.

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