Georgy (Tertyshnikov), archimandrite. Divine grace and human freedom

We often say this word, but do we realize what we are talking about? How to acquire the grace of the Holy Spirit? Are there blessed churches and priests? How to understand whether grace has touched you or not? Archpriest Alexander Khvorost, rector of the Church of the Holy Martyr John the Warrior in Druzhkovka, explains what grace is in the Christian understanding, how to find it and not lose it.

A bit of dogma

Grace is a very broad concept, let’s try to understand it. In Christianity and church dogma, this word means the action of God in relation to man. How does this happen? Dogmatic literature says that grace means the fullness of God's love and mercy, poured out on people in the form of a living and active force that revives people and helps in the work of salvation. As a power that sanctifies and saves a person, it comes down to these basic principles.

1. Grace is a special uncreated (not created) Divine power.

2. This power is given to us through the work of the Holy Spirit. By the way, everything in the Church is accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit.

3. Grace is given to a person thanks to the redemptive feat of our Lord Jesus Christ. A person receives it as a great gift.

4. Grace does not change human nature, but transforms the way it (nature) exists. That is, a person is transformed under the influence of the power of God’s grace.

In the Holy Scriptures, the expressions “grace”, “Holy Spirit”, “gift of grace”, “gift of the Holy Spirit” are often used interchangeably and synonymously. This effect on a person occurs mystically and purely individually. In the sacraments of the Church, the grace of the Holy Spirit is given in a special way. In the prayer said by the bishop who ordains a priest, there are the following words: “Divine grace, always healing the weak and replenishing the impoverished,” - that is, it heals infirmities, replenishes human imperfections, and, accordingly, transforms our human nature.

What is God's grace

The Greeks, under voluntary undeserved patronage, accepted karis, charisma; the apostles borrowed this word to designate a gift from the Creator, expressing to them undeserved mercy from the Lord. Karis cannot be earned by one's good deeds; it is a gift from God, given to Christians by the great mercy of the Creator.

If you think deeply, the manifestation of the Lord’s presence in the lives of Christians, admission to the Sacraments, protection and patronage of the Almighty is that gift of grace, for the acceptance of which you need so little and so incredibly much, you need faith.

God's grace is a kind of elusive force that the Almighty directs to a Christian

Many people, not understanding the very essence of God’s grace, try to work all their lives, trying to earn what has already been given to them, but do not know how to take the great promise due to their unbelief or ignorance.

The Apostle Paul in Romans 11:6 says that grace is not charisma if it is given by works. Every Christian who does not understand the great mercy of the Creator tries to earn the right to eternal life by deeds, although this was given by God from the very beginning free of charge, free of charge!

Jesus said that He is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6), and whoever receives this automatically receives the gift of salvation, for it is a gift. What do you need to receive a gift? Nothing but recognition of the One who gives this gift. In Ephesians 2:8-9, Paul explains that faith alone is sufficient to receive grace freely, for if we could earn it or deserve it, then we could boast in the reward, but we have received the gift.

The gracious touch of the Lord can be compared to an invisible force directed by the Creator to a Christian. The devil has placed his snares of fear, unbelief, uncertainty, and vices everywhere, but the Lord covers believers with his protection, a cover of security, and the power to resist sin. When adherents of the true religion find themselves in life's problems, they feel the charisma of the presence of the Creator and Savior through the breath of the Holy Spirit, peace and tranquility come to their souls.

Important! A Christian who receives a good gift from the Lord is filled with His power, but at the same time remains a person filled with grace, but not with God.

For clarification, contact St. Seraphim

We find the most complete teaching about grace in the conversation of St. Seraphim of Sarov with the landowner Motovilov. In her entry, the words “grace” and “gracious” appear 51 times. St. Seraphim asserts that every virtue done for the sake of Jesus Christ (I would like to especially emphasize these words) gives the grace of the Holy Spirit, but most of all it is bestowed by prayer. When the Savior said: “The Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21), then by the “Kingdom of God” He meant the grace-filled state of man. We must be sanctified through pious church life, faith, and the saving sacraments and acquire the grace of the Holy Spirit. This is how, according to St. Seraphim of Sarov, we approach God.

It is necessary to note an important point that Saint Seraphim draws attention to: we receive grace - the Lord gives it to us - but then we lose it because we cannot keep it. It must be retained, accumulated, increased. When the monk interpreted the Gospel parable of the ten virgins, he said that the holy fools’ oil became scarce, since they had lost the grace of the Holy Spirit, although they were virtuous.

Word meaning and synonyms

“Grace” literally means “giving good things.”

Now among its meanings:

• pleasure;
• an abundance of goods that provide a person with joy;
• wealth, prosperity (this is the old Russian meaning).

But the church meanings of the word are designated by dictionaries as “outdated.” Of course, depending on who.

The compound word is one of many that appeared in the Slavic language after the adoption of Christianity . St. Cyril and Methodius, seeing that the Slavs, as pagans, simply do not have words to denote the most important Christian truths and virtues, essentially created a whole series of “neologisms”, new words created on the basis of existing ones.

They can still be recognized by the presence of two roots: for example, “mercy”, “compassion”. Such new words can also include “grace.”

With this word, the creators of the Church Slavonic language translated at least two ancient Greeks: “χάρις” (“charis”), a word with many meanings, and “δύναμις” (“dynamis”), which means “strength”. From the first of them comes the word “charisma,” meaning a person’s special gifts, his talents. For example, they talk about the “charisma” of politicians, artists, and gifted and talented people in general.

Interesting fact

Modern Russian also contains words derived from “dynamis”: “dynamics” (rate of change), “dynamism” (in many ways a synonym for strength, energy).

But both of these words have a single Slavic equivalent - “grace”, a word that originally meant precisely the action of God.

No stranger to grace

How to maintain grace? First of all, you can’t get used to it. Everything in the Church is grace-filled: sacraments, rituals, traditions, services. There is nothing, not even a small thing, that is not sanctified by the Holy Spirit and filled with the grace of God. The main thing is that a person treats the shrine correctly. We must have reverence and fear of God.

It is human nature to get used to what he has, and when he gets used to it, he stops appreciating what he has. He turns grace into a tradition or even a “national tradition”, as is happening now. With such an attitude, the grace of the Holy Spirit within the Church is lost, because where the fear of God has gone, gratitude has gone, and reverence has gone, and this is sad. A person may be a church member, but if he has an incorrect attitude towards the gift of grace, he may remain graceless.

What happens when Divine energy and the Holy Spirit descend on a person

When approaching the Creator, through His touching the heart, soul, and spirit of a Christian, he is filled with perfection in human understanding. A person’s life values, character, perception of trouble and reaction to aggression and injustice change.

The closer a believer feels to the throne of God, the brighter the Lord’s fire burns in him, the brighter his thoughts; in this saving process, the transformation of man’s unity with the Creator occurs. The acquisition of the gift of grace can be carried out in the presence of icons or holy relics, but the emphasis is not on the object itself, but on the faith with which a person is filled; the power of God’s anointing depends on the internal state.

Important! The presence of icons or relics helps the prayer book to tune into God's presence, focusing on the visible image. With the descent of the Lord's charisma in the life of a Christian, everything changes, prayer causes tenderness and a surge of strength, the presence of God in the heart charges with the energy of love.

Many believers often ask the question that if we are under grace, then we do not need to keep the law and the 10 commandments. The answer is clear: being under God’s charisma, it will never even occur to you to break at least one of the commandments, so as not to upset the Creator, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

About the Commandments of God:

• Commandment to respect parents
• Commandment: “Do not remember the name of the Lord in vanity”
• Commandment “Do not make yourself an idol”

Marker of the presence of grace

A sign of the presence of the grace of the Holy Spirit is joy. We are often in sadness, melancholy, melancholy, irritability, anger - these are our chronic conditions. Of course, everyone’s mood can change, but if we are constantly in some kind of negativity, then we need to repent. If we rejoice, it means we are in the Holy Spirit. We should be delighted by communication, worship, participation in the sacraments, and our spiritual life. After all, where God is, how can it be sad and sorrowful? If He is near, is it possible to be discouraged? Of course not.

How to understand expressions

They, containing the word “grace,” can be seen quite often in church texts. Here are some of such expressions.

"Grace upon Grace"

This expression is from the first chapter of the Gospel of John the Theologian . Here is this phrase in full: “And from His fulfillment we all receive and receive grace: for the law was given by Moses, and grace and truth came into being by Jesus Christ.” It, according to the interpretation, for example, of St. John Chrysostom, means that the New grace multiplied that which was given through the prophet. Moses, since the Lord Himself came to earth.

“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble”

These are the words of St. Solomon from his Proverbs (3:34). They are quoted more than once from the Apostolic Epistles (Peter, James), but are dedicated to the qualities that are needed to receive Divine gifts.

Divine grace and human freedom

One might say that God does not “resist” the proud, as if man could challenge Him—of course, this is impossible. But the Lord simply retreats from the one who puts his own self first. And when the Lord departs, a person also loses the gifts He gave. Christ does not commit violence against a person’s will, supporting him only when he humbles himself in order to “give place to God” in his heart.

"Grace Has Descended"

This is what they say if a person has received gifts from God. They are manifested by zeal for prayer, love for neighbors, spiritual joy, and extraordinary peace of soul.

No need to run after grace!

Everything in the temple is blessed. We do not have more grace-filled churches and priests or less grace-filled ones; this division is invented. We don’t see grace; at best, we somehow feel it, and not all of us, but only those who are inclined. People often call their feelings grace: whether they liked it or not. They measure grace with some earthly categories: the priest paid attention to them - he is gracious, he was in a hurry or had a headache - he is ungraceful. It was good in the temple - a grace-filled temple, the grandmothers made comments - it was not a grace-filled one. No need to chase it! “The Kingdom of God is within you,” said the Lord. We must try to live righteously, grow rich in Christ, lead a pious life for His sake - and then the Holy Spirit will visit us, give us grace, and everything will be grace-filled: our life, our prayer, and our faith.

Recorded by Ekaterina Shcherbakova

How does the Grace of the Lord work?

It manifests itself in a change in a person’s heart, where love for people, compassion, and the desire to pray are born - which until recently seemed like a difficult task. There are also such saints of God, through whom the Lord works obvious miracles of His mercy, such as healing. However, first grace inconspicuously acts on the soul, the inner state.

Not only saints of God, but millions of simple believers who love Christ testify:

• The Lord, illuminating everyone with His grace, gives it as much as a person can accommodate, as much as it is useful for him; He tries on his spiritual, physical state, and finally, proceeds from considerations of benefit; sometimes it is she who dictates... the retreat of grace in order for a person, by praying more diligently, working on his soul, to achieve a better state to receive greater gifts;

Interesting fact

According to the biography of St. Silouan of Athos, who acquired great spiritual revelations, even saw the Risen Christ Himself, already at the beginning of his monastic path, the saint had to endure a difficult test. Grace left him for a long time, but striving uncontrollably for God for many years, he finally achieved holiness.

• Grace can also recede through the fault of the person himself, even a virtuous ascetic; for this, “just” one sin is enough - pride , arrogance of one’s holiness, such frequent temptation among valiant ascetics.

One of the most terrible examples of such a fall is contained in the life of St. Jacob the Faster. A miracle worker, a spirit-bearer, who lived for about 50 years in the desert, he once, having performed the miracle of casting out a demon from a young woman, perhaps paused for a few minutes to think about his holiness.

This was enough: having completely lost God's power, he fell quickly, terribly, to the very bottom: several days passed, and he, an old man, a virgin, raped, and then - afraid of responsibility - killed the one he had healed, and finally fell into the final sin, despair . Only the spiritual advice of the meeting monastic brothers kept the sinner from leaving the desert for the world. Having locked himself in a cave, he spent about a decade in repentance, received God's forgiveness - but never forgave himself...

“The Word on Law and Grace”: who is the author and summary

This is a recording of a sermon by one of the first metropolitans of the first decades after the Baptism of Rus' - Hilarion. He is the first Slavic metropolitan after 988, when the country adopted Christianity. The sermon itself was delivered at the consecration of the gate temple of the Golden Gate of Kyiv. St. Hilarion says that if the Law of Moses was given to the Jewish people, then the grace that came to earth with Christ introduced the world to God. Among those who received its gifts are also the Slavs, although they accepted the faith later than other peoples, but possessing the same gifts as the first Christians, for their source is unchanged - God.

How to distinguish the grace of Christ from spiritual delusion

First of all, remember that a person’s spiritual vision is imperfect, damaged by sin. Therefore, the main rule is not to trust yourself, not to rely on your understanding.

It is very difficult to distinguish grace from delusion by subjective sensations, so many priests simply advise avoiding “special states” as such, in general, being content, according to the word of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) “by immersing the mind in the words of prayer.” It is best to resort to the help of a confessor in all doubtful circumstances.

A loving Lord sends His gift to those who are ready to accept it. But he leaves, if the soul is not pure, there is no place for Him there. That is why many saints were so afraid of losing grace by tainting their souls with even the slightest sin.

Natalia Sazonova