Relaxed man: relaxed in the bible, relaxed, relaxed, relaxed

The relaxed man in the Bible is a paralytic

To begin with, a little about what is relaxed in such a patient, why is he called that. “Relaxed” is an outdated term for people with paralysis.

This is a disease of the brain (both brain and spinal).

The Bible Encyclopedia reports:

“a disease that deprives a person of free movement, and thus the connection between the will and the affected part is severed. In the sense in which the word is used in the New Testament, it can mean apoplexy or paralysis of the whole body, paralysis of one side of the body, paralysis from contraction of the muscles, so that the members of the body cannot be lifted or stretched, and then the affected parts of the body soon become completely withered. This disease is still widespread in the East. The members of the body remain motionless in the same position in which they were caught by a sudden attack, and the suffering is sometimes so severe that death occurs soon after the attack.”

From what archeology reports about the medicine of that time, it is clear that such a patient had no hope of recovery at the time of Christ.

Healing of the paralytic in Capernaum. To deliver the sick man to Christ, people dismantled the roof and lowered the paralytic on ropes (wood engraving, A. Gaber). Photo: iif.wellcomecollection.org

However, there are functional paralysis, which is a mental illness. They appear only in public, for demonstration, like how a stutterer suffers from his illness only in the presence of an audience. In the absence of spectators, the symptoms of such paralysis may disappear completely.

It is impossible to say which category the paralytic belonged to in the Bible.

There are also other meanings of the word “relaxed”, say, tired to the point of collapse, or a woman who is relaxed after a massage, but this is beyond the scope of the article.

The first story is the healing of the paralytic in Capernaum

The first story of the paralytic occurred in Capernaum. This is a city in Galilee. It was founded in the 2nd century. In VII, invaders came from the East, and today this place has not been swarming with people for many centuries. But archaeologists periodically work, there is the house of the Apostle Peter, a monastery, a church and various historical attractions.

The three Synoptic Gospels tell a similar story:

“A few days later He came again to Capernaum; and it was heard that He was in the house. Many immediately gathered, so that there was no longer room at the door; and He spoke the word to them. And they came to Him with the paralytic, who was carried by four; and, not being able to approach Him due to the crowds, they opened the roof of the house where He was, and, having dug through it, lowered the bed on which the paralytic lay. Jesus, seeing their faith, says to the paralytic: child! your sins are forgiven you. Some of the scribes sat there and thought in their hearts: Why does He blaspheme so much? who can forgive sins except God alone? Jesus, immediately knowing in His spirit that they were thinking this way in themselves, said to them, “Why are you thinking this way in your hearts?” What's easier? Should I say to the paralytic: your sins are forgiven? or should I say: get up, take your bed and walk? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, he says to the paralytic: I say to you, get up, take up your bed and go to your house. He immediately got up and, taking the bed, went out in front of everyone, so that everyone was amazed and glorified God, saying: “We have never seen anything like this.”

Mk. 2, (1–12)

But this is not the only paralytic the New Testament talks about.

Login to the site

Parables from the Bible

Friends, in the Gospel of Mark, the companions who carried the paralytic, after they had opened the roof, which I assume means removing the tiles, they dug through the roof, which looks extremely similar to digging up the ceiling.

That Greek word used by Mark that is translated "dug" is a very expressive word and means digging through or digging with raking, which clearly conveys the idea of significant work to remove material.

We were told that in the East the roofs of houses are often made of large stones; this may be a general rule, but not in this case, for the house was covered with tiles; as for dust and falling debris, this may or may not be a necessary result; but it is quite obvious that the hard roof of the house needed to be freed from tiles and dug out; an opening was made in it, and through it this man was lowered onto his bed.

There may have been dust, as there was probably danger, but the bearers were prepared to achieve their goal at all risks. They had to somehow get the patient inside. There is, however, no need for any speculation, for undoubtedly these four men were careful enough not to disturb the Savior or His hearers.

The tiles or plaster could have been removed to the last bit from this flat roof, as could the boards; as for the crossbars, they lay wide enough for the patient's narrow bed to pass between them without the need to move any of them from its place.

Mr. Harley, in his Travels, says: “When I lived in Aegina, I used to look at the roof over my head and often think how easily it was possible to move a paralytic. The roofing was made as follows: a layer of large reeds was laid on the rafters; marsh heather was scattered on top, then clay was applied and trampled down, forming a dense mass.”

And what was so difficult about it - first removing the clay, then the heather and then the reeds? It would not be much more difficult if the clay were covered with tiles laid on top. As a result, there could be no inconvenience to the people in the house from the removal of tiles and clay, for the heather reeds would catch everything that might otherwise fall down, and in the end these too would be removed. To lower a man through the roof was a very strange and wonderful decision, but it only adds special poignancy to the remark we must now make here.

If we want souls to be saved, we must not be too scrupulous and delicate in regard to conventions, rules and decorum, for the Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force. We must direct our thoughts to the following: “Everything that stands between the soul and its God must be broken into pieces and crushed; it doesn't matter what shingles need to be taken apart, what layer of plaster needs to be dug through, what boards need to be torn off, or what labor, trouble or price it will cost; this soul is too precious for us to ask delicate questions.

Our policy is to save at least some by any means available. Skin for skin, moreover, all we have is nothing compared to one human soul. When four devoted hearts are set on the spiritual welfare of a sinner, their holy desire will break through the stone walls and roofs of houses.

I have no doubt that it was a difficult task to carry the paralytic upstairs; opening the roof, removing the tiles with all possible due care was a labor-intensive task, and required a lot of effort and skill, but the work was done and the goal was achieved. We must never stop in the face of difficulties; no matter how serious the task, it should always be more difficult for us to let a soul perish than to work in the most selfless manner for its salvation.

What the bearers did was a very exceptional thing. Who would think about opening the roof? No one except those who loved the patient very much and wished him well. Oh, God would that we would take extraordinary action to save souls! May holy ingenuity, holy resourcefulness appear in the church, directed toward the work of winning human hearts!

It was something out of the ordinary for John Wesley's generation to stand on his father's grave preaching at Epworth. Thank God he had the courage to preach in the open air. It seemed something exceptional and unusual when some ministers preached in theaters; but what a joy it is that sinners who could not be reached in any other way were reached by such a deviation from the rules!

We have only to fill our hearts with zeal for God and love for souls, and we will soon begin to use means that others may criticize, but Jesus Christ accepts. In the end, the method that the four friends used was the most acceptable in terms of their capabilities. They were, I suppose, four strong young men for whom the load was not too heavy, and the work of digging was comparatively easy.

The method was exactly suited to their abilities. And what did they do when they lowered the patient down? Did you watch and admire? I don’t think they said a single word, but what they did was enough: the ability to lift and carry, to do the necessary work.

Some of you say, “Oh, we cannot be of any use; If only we could preach!” These people couldn't preach; they didn't need to preach. They laid down the paralytic, and their work was done. They couldn't preach, but they could hold the rope.

What we need in the Christian church is not so much preachers as soul-winners who can bear with their hearts the burden of souls, feeling this holy burden; men who may not be able to speak, but can cry; men who cannot break the hearts of others with their tongues, but whose hearts are broken by compassion.

In the case we are considering there was no need to cry: “Jesus, Son of David, look - here is a man who needs You!” There was no need to convince that this man had been ill for so many years. We do not know whether this man himself said a single word. Helpless and paralyzed, he had no strength to ask. They laid him, almost lifeless, before the eyes of the Savior, and that was enough; his sad state spoke louder than words.

O hearts that love sinners, lay before Jesus their disastrous situation; bring their cause, such as it is, to the Savior; if your tongue falters, your hearts will prevail; even if you cannot express to Christ what is in your heart as you would like, for you do not have the gift of prayer, but when your strong desire is manifested in the spirit of prayer, you cannot fail.

May God help us to use those means that are within our power, and not sit idly, regretting the power that we do not possess. It might be dangerous for us to possess the abilities we crave; It is always safe to consecrate those that we have.

To be continued…

Source: portal “Simply Life”

Jesus healed the second paralytic at the Sheep Pool

The second story about the paralytic is known from the Gospel of John (5:1–15):

“It was a Jewish festival, and Jesus came to Jerusalem. There is also a pool in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate, called Bethesda in Hebrew, which had five covered passages. In them lay a great multitude of sick, blind, lame, withered, waiting for the movement of the water, for the angel of the Lord from time to time went into the pool and disturbed the water, and whoever first entered it when the water was disturbed, he recovered, no matter what disease he was possessed by. Here was a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years. Jesus, seeing him lying down and learning that he had been lying there for a long time, said to him: Do you want to be healthy? The sick man answered Him: Yes, Lord; but I do not have a person who would lower me into the pool when the water is troubled; when I arrive, another has already descended before me. Jesus says to him: get up, take up your mat and walk. And he immediately became well, and took up his bed and went. It was on the Sabbath day. Therefore the Jews said to the healed man: Today is the Sabbath; You shouldn't take the bed. He answered them: He who healed me said to me: take up your bed and walk. They asked him: Who is the man who said to you, “Take up your bed and walk?” The healed one did not know who He was, for Jesus hid himself among the people who were in that place. Then Jesus met him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you are made well; Don’t sin anymore, lest something worse happen to you. The man went and announced to the Jews that the one who healed him was Jesus.”

(5:1–15)

This is precisely the story that is meant when they talk about the paralytic, although it is given in the Gospels once, not three. It is worth examining in more detail further.

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo “Healing of the Paralytic at the Sheep Font”, at the top there is an angel - the same one who performed annual healings

Orthodox Life

The Orthodox Church calls the fourth week after Easter the Week of the Paralytic, since here the Gospel concept read at the Liturgy is remembered, called in liturgical practice “the paralytic” (John 5:1-15).

It tells us that near the Jerusalem Temple there was a certain pool, called in Hebrew “Bethesda,” which is translated as “house of mercy (healing).” This bath was a pool filled with water, to which five covered porches led. The pool had ritual significance. According to one historical version, animals that were sacrificed to God in the Temple of Jerusalem were washed in it; according to another, their insides were washed for subsequent sacrifices. In Bethesda, as the Gospel narrates, a miracle was performed from time to time. The Holy Angel entered the font, and then the water in it began to boil and seethe. If the first patient entered the water at that moment, then he was healed of his illness, regardless of the type of illness or its severity.

Therefore, as St. Nicholas of Serbia says in his sermon on this Sunday: “Many sick people from all over the world, with all sorts of diseases, gathered in this amazing place to find a cure for themselves, which they sought in vain from people and from nature in other places... What amazing and dramatic scene! Imagine five passages crowded with the greatest sufferers of all the people, in the most desperate situation! Imagine five containers of human pain and sorrow, tears and pus! Nearby is a city full of human beings who are chasing pleasure, striving for wealth, fighting for honor and power, playing comedy with both their body and their soul. And here is the death agony, slow and painful dying and the only point where all eyes are directed - water; one and only expectation - an Angel; one and only desire – health.”

And, of course, when the angel descended into the water, when it began to boil, all these sufferers, in a fit of hope, but at the same time, in a selfish desire to be healed as quickly as possible, rushed, pushing each other into the water. Those who were not healed continued to lie in agony, waiting for the next movement of the water.

Here, in one of the vestibules, lay a certain paralyzed man, that is, a man paralyzed who could not move. He suffered from his illness for 38 eight years, as the holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian tells us about it. For a long time he lay in Bethesda. He had neither relatives nor friends. As he himself told the Savior: “But I have no man who would lower me into the pool when the waters are troubled; but when I come, another has already gone down before me” (John 5:7).

These are, of course, terrible words. This patient may have lain in the Sheep Pool for decades. The life of the noisy capital of the Kingdom of Judah rushed around him. Thousands of people passed by him, rushing to bring sacrifice to the temple. But there was no person who would make his main sacrifice - the sacrifice of mercy, compassion, love. There was no person who could help him get to the font where the Angel went.

Isn't this how we live now? The bright colored foam of pleasure and entertainment often captivates a person. He does not think about those about whom our Lord Jesus Christ spoke on the pages of the Eternal Book of Life - the Gospel (see Matt. 25:31-46) - about all those who lie in hospitals, need food, are languishing from the cold, are in prisons. But mercy or no mercy towards them will be the main criterion of the Last Judgment for each of us.

And just like that, Jerusalem of the 1st century was in a hurry somewhere, living its own life, not paying attention to a person suffering from illness for decades. And only God approached him. The Savior did not come to anyone just like that. The Lord came precisely to those who needed Him most.

So this paralytic did not despair, did not begin to lose heart, did not become embittered during all his long 38 years of illness. He humbly waited patiently, hoping for a miracle, and therefore, for God.

The Lord heals him. The descent of the Old Testament Angel into the font is no longer necessary. God Himself became incarnate in human nature. The Old Testament has been fulfilled. The era of the New Testament has begun. God came to the man to heal him. He commands the paralytic to get up, take up his bed and walk. Why is this being done? Then, so that the healed person would testify to the great miracle of God’s salvation of man. Here is the healed man, here is the bed on which he lay sick for many years. This is not a ghost. This is a real person. And the bed is a materialized story about his life, about his healing.

The “blind” Jews attacked the former paralytic. Why does he walk around with his bed on Saturday?! After all, you cannot move objects from place to place on Saturday. As Saint Nicholas of Serbia aptly writes on this occasion: “Oh, little souls! Oh, petrified hearts! Instead of rejoicing that the creeping worm straightened up and became a man again, instead of congratulating him on his healing, instead of stirring up the whole city by convening it to glorify the living and man-loving God - instead of all this, they are angry with the man for he took his poor bed on his shoulders and went to his house! Even if on Saturday before their eyes a dead man rose from the grave, they would not be surprised at his resurrection, but would reproach him with the words: “Why are you so dusty on Saturday?”.. Do you see how the chosen race has degenerated? Do you see what thistles grew in the field that once gave birth to Moses, Isaiah and David? Do you see how the piety of the people of Israel, once sublime, has degenerated into Sabbatarian espionage? And how did priestly service to the living God turn into police protection of the idol of the goddess of the Sabbath?”

But the Lord, meeting the paralytic whom he healed for the second time, says to him: “Behold, you have recovered; Sin no more, lest anything worse happen to you” (John 5:14). The Lord here directly says that his physical illness is a consequence of the sin committed by this person and directly warns the former paralytic not to sin again. Because it is one thing to sin out of ignorance, and another thing to sin after confession, after meeting with God Himself, Who made you whole, spiritually and physically healthy, and you will return again and break yourself and destroy yourself with sin. The first thing is that you didn’t know God. But the second thing is completely different. You have come to know God, but you turn away from Him and go on sinning. Between the Lord and sin, you choose sin. This, of course, is followed by a much greater punishment - hellish torment, for such a person is likened to fallen apostate spirits.

Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) writes the following about this: “Sin is the cause of all human sorrows both in time and in eternity. Sorrows constitute, as it were, a natural consequence, a natural attribute of sin, just as suffering produced by bodily ailments constitutes an inevitable attribute of these ailments, their inherent effect... The Lord, who gave a will to the healed paralytic, so that he would not again fall into those sins for which he was punished illness, gave the same testament to a sinner, whom He forgave her sins. Go,” said the Savior of the world to those condemned by the earth’s righteous to be stoned, “and from now on do not sin to anyone (John 8:11). Healing of the soul and healing of the body are given by the merciful Lord under the same conditions. The wife's sin was a mortal sin; It is obvious that the sin of the paralytic belongs to the category of mortal sins. It is these sins that most call for God’s execution... Forgiveness of sin and deliverance from the sorrow with which we are punished for sin are granted to us by God only on the condition of abandoning sin, which is harmful to us, abominable before God.”

We need to understand, with God’s help, that we – each of us – are the same paralytic. A relaxed person, pampered by sin. It often seems to us that we work hard, earn money, support our family, etc. But when the time comes to get up for prayer, morning and evening, won’t we say these terrible words: “Okay, then?” When the holy Guardian Angel comes to arouse in us a bright feeling and desire to confess and partake of the Body and Blood of Christ, will we not say to him: “There is no time today. Maybe next time"?

These are truly terrible words. As Saint Theophan the Recluse accurately said, in Orthodox asceticism there is no word “tomorrow”. And Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) often repeated: “We don’t understand that even today it’s too late.”

A person can run, he can lead a very active external life, but his inner person at 38, 27, 40, 60 years old is relaxed, paralyzed and lies barely alive. Why? Because he doesn't need God. Or rather, he needs it, but his voice is drowned out by the thorns of life and haste. Where does all the depression come from, where does all the despondency, nervous breakdowns, anxiety, etc. come from? Due to the fact that a person does not know how to talk with God, he does not know and does not want to learn the great art of talking with his own soul.

The race for material values will only lead to an even more suffocating nervous race. If a person has a “Deo Lanos”, he will want a BMW X6, if he has this car, he will want a hand-built Bentley, he will want a “Bentley”, he will want an “airplane”. All this will happen, but there will be no peace. And death will be like everyone else's. And the Last Judgment is behind her.

And what about the Last Judgment? Nothing... I lay there. The soul is paralyzed. This will be truly terrible.

Why is it precisely on the fourth Week of the Colored Triodion that we remember the Gospel story about the paralytic? The Synaxarion tells us: “Now this miracle is celebrated because it was performed at Pentecost, like what happened to the Samaritan woman and the blind man. For we celebrate Thomas and the Myrrh-Bearers as evidence of Christ’s rising from the dead, and the rest – until the Ascension, since He did this in various ways during the Jewish Pentecost and because John remembers this in such detail.” Because the miracle of the healing of the paralytic occurred precisely on Pentecost, that is, during the period of the Triodion of Color.

In addition, he seems to be telling us that the Savior took on human nature in order to resurrect man from sin. In His Resurrection we are all resurrected. The relaxed man was in the motionless coffin of his body. God resurrected him.

The same thing happens to us. If we want it, the Lord will enter our five vestibules - the five sense organs, He will enter our body to save our soul from the paralyzing shackles of our paralytic sin. He will make us whole too.

What is required of us? Have a need for God. Let Him into you. Start living the life of the Church. And to realize that great happiness is to begin your personal, everyday, every second path to the Almighty. And this is our greatest happiness. On this path, the Beloved Lord will meet us and give us long-awaited healing.

Priest Andrey Chizhenko

A relaxed person is a person of great endurance and faith

Theologians emphasize what amazing self-control the paralytic possessed. After all, he didn’t spend two or three days in the font waiting for a miracle!

The Bible reports that the unfortunate man waited for a miracle for 38 years until the Savior appeared!

38 years

the paralytic spent in the font to receive healing

But his problem was not so much weakness as the lack of compassion among those around him.

This is how Archpriest Alexander (Shargunov) reasons:

“The relaxed man continued to lie by the water year after year, hoping that sooner or later help would come to him. And it is revealed to us that the first is not the one who first approaches the shrine, pushing aside others. And the one who confesses himself to be the first of sinners, and for this reason considers his situation to be the most hopeless. It is to him that Christ God comes first. Do you want to be healthy? - the Lord asks this question to every person. And there is probably not a single one who would hesitate in answering. “But I don’t have a person who would lower me into the pool when the waters are troubled,” the sick man answered Jesus, “but when I come, someone else is already going down before me.”

Alexander (Shargunov)

Archpriest

One of the baths in which healing could take place. Photo: icocnews.ru

News

HOLY MONKEY, COVER US FROM ALL EVIL!

27.02.2022

For the Lord, not all times are the same: there are days of fasting and there are days of holidays, there are times of mercy and there are days of judgment. So our time consists of special days for our country. Today, Sunday February 27, 2022, the week when the Holy Church

More details

On Ecumenical Parental Saturday, Metropolitan Sergius celebrated a memorial service in the Intercession Cathedral

26.02.2022

On February 26, on the Ecumenical Mother-Fast Saturday, His Eminence Sergius, Metropolitan of Barnaul and Altai, celebrated a memorial service in the Intercession Cathedral. Concelebrating with the Bishop was the keynote of the cathedral, Archpriest Maxim Spinenko,

More details

MEETING YOUR NEIGHBOR: what you need to teach children

23.02.2022

In one of the textbooks on preparation for the Unified State Exam, which is distinguished by its thoroughness, the epigraph contains the words of the rector of Moscow State University V.A. Sadovnichy “Five years are given to make yourself for life. Then there will be no such opportunity.” Can

More details

LENT: preparatory weeks

22.02.2022

Long before the beginning of Lent itself, the Church announces it to us and calls us to enter the preparatory period. The Church has a deep psychological insight into human nature. Knowing our lack of concentration and terrible “worldliness”

More details

“My bookshelf” - Father Pavel Florensky “To my children”

20.02.2022

140 years since the birth of the priest, scientist and writer, a man with encyclopedic knowledge in many areas - Father Pavel Florensky. He wrote many books, but his book “To My Children” gives us a portrait of an amazing teacher and educator.

More details

On the feast of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Seeking the Lost,” Metropolitan Sergius celebrated the Divine Liturgy

19.02.2022

The Divine Liturgy in the chapel of the icon of the Mother of God “Seeking the Lost” in the Intercession Cathedral was performed on February 18 by Metropolitan Sergius of Barnaul and Altai. Concelebrating with the Bishop was the keynote of the cathedral, Archpriest Maxim Spinenko, priest

More details

The priest of the Intercession Cathedral gave a tour of the temple for children from an orphanage

16.02.2022

The eve of the holiday of the Presentation of the Lord. According to the law of God, the Forty-day-old Infant Jesus is brought by the Most Holy Theotokos to the Temple of Jerusalem. This holiday also symbolizes the meeting of a young soul with God. Therefore, today is the day of Orthodox youth. Priest

More details

On the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, Metropolitan Sergius celebrated the Liturgy at the Intercession Cathedral

16.02.2022

On the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, February 15, Metropolitan Sergius of Barnaul and Altai celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Intercession Cathedral. Concelebrating with the Bishop was the keynote of the cathedral, Archpriest Maxim Spinenko, Priest Alexander Mikushin, Priest

More details

Metropolitan Sergius performed an evening service on the eve of the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

14.02.2022

On February 14, on the eve of the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, an All-Night Vigil was served in the Intercession Cathedral. The service was performed by Metropolitan Sergius of Barnaul and Altai, co-served by Archpriest Maxim Spinenko, Priest Alexander Mikushin,

More details

Metropolitan Sergius performed an evening service with the reading of an akathist in the Intercession Cathedral

14.02.2022

On February 13, Metropolitan Sergius of Barnaul and Altai performed an evening service with the reading of an akathist to the holy martyr Tryphon at the Intercession Cathedral in Barnaul. His Eminence was served by Pokrovsky's sacristan

More details

Total in section: 415

Illness and forgiveness of sins may be closely related

Another important point is the dependence of the disease on sins.

This does not always happen and not everywhere, but similar situations do occur. Associate Professor of the Kyiv Theological Academy Andrey Muzolf shares his thoughts on this topic:

“Every disease that befalls a person does not arise on its own, without any reason. Our condition depends on how we live, how we observe the Gospel commandments and universal human norms. If we neglect Christ’s commandments about spiritual perfection, then we will certainly be sick in soul. An illness of the soul entails an illness of the body. Sin, being a violation of the will of God, destroys the relationship between soul and body, disrupts their unity and makes us relaxed—relaxed, first of all, spiritually.”

Andrey Muzolf

Associate Professor at Kyiv Theological Academy

According to Orthodoxy, the soul can also be sick; this condition is called sinfulness.

And further Andrei Muzolf explains why Christ said: “Your sins are forgiven you”:

“Thus, physical illness is present in the world as a reflection of spiritual illness. Therefore, a person can only be truly healed when he is freed from sin. That is why Christ, before healing a person from a physical illness, says to him: “Your sins are forgiven!” Only by realizing this internal connection between the spiritual and physical in a person can we understand how important the internal, spiritual dimension of our life is for the fullness of human existence.”

Andrey Muzolf

Associate Professor at Kyiv Theological Academy

It is important to understand the idea: it is not the healing of an illness that depends on a righteous life, but its complete health. That is, a person, even if everything is fine with him physically, can never be healthy as long as he has problems in the spiritual sphere.

Only a harmoniously developed living being is completely healthy.

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

To teach a believer about faith, doesn’t it mean to teach a scientist, and isn’t this unnecessary work? This may seem so with a superficial comparison of words, but not so with a thorough examination of the matter. And the scientist needs to renew acquired knowledge and acquire new ones, in a word, to study: otherwise, one must fear that what he has learned will be obscured by oblivion, and, stopping, he will lag behind science, which is constantly moving forward. In the same way, or even more, a believer needs to continually learn faith, both speculatively and actively.

: for otherwise one must be wary that the light of faith shining in the heart, without prudent observation and support, will not go out, like the lamps of the holy fools known in the parable.
“The righteousness of God”
in the gospel of Christ “appears from faith to faith,” as the Apostle explains (Rom. I. 17).
That is: in the Christian teaching, the path to righteousness and holiness, bestowed from God, opens through faith, ascending from degree to degree, from perfection to perfection, always setting itself new ascents
, always extending into the previous ones; because it strives for the infinite.

Therefore, it is fitting for us, Christians, every time we hear any word of scripture about faith, to “test,” according to the command of the Lord, this “scripture” (John V. 39), and to seek out what teaching and guidance is taught in it for our own faith.

Now in the Gospel we have heard an instructive story in many respects, how the paralytic was brought to the Lord Jesus on his bed, and received from Him forgiveness of sins and healing from illness. At the same time, some scribes, people supposedly learned, but in fact blinded by the pride of the book title, having heard the remission of sins proclaimed by Jesus, mentally accepted this as Blasphemy: and with such a judgment they themselves fell into the crime that they wanted to condemn, blaspheming Him Who Himself is God : a striking example of what a tendency to gossip can lead to!

But this insult to the Divine dignity of our Savior gave Him a reason to reveal His Divine omniscience: because He immediately gave an answer to the innermost, heartfelt thoughts of the scribes.
The opinion of the scribes that God alone can forgive sins, He used to teach a deep teaching that the so-called physical evil, that is, suffering, illness, corruption, depends on moral evil
, that is, sin, as a consequence born with it and with it that which is destroyed; why the same Divine action, which, extending to the soul, is expressed by the words: “thy sins are forgiven,” extending to the body of the weakened, is here expressed by the words: “get up and walk” (Matthew 9: 2, 5), that is, be healed By actually healing the weakened man, Jesus justified this teaching, proved His Divine power to forgive sins, and showed in Himself the true Son of God. The incident ended with the fact that the common people, following common sense and an unprejudiced conscience, accepted the miracle with better feelings than the scribes, and glorified God. As if in passing, among this narrative, the name of faith appears: “And Jesus seeing their faith, said to the paralytic: be of good cheer, child, your sins will be forgiven” (Matthew 9:2). But upon careful examination, important and edifying truths are revealed here regarding faith.

First truth:

faith has a beneficial effect on a sinner to receive forgiveness of sins.
For it is not in vain that the Evangelist notes that the Lord pronounced remission of sins, “having seen faith.” Apparently, the Lord acted not simply according to His will, not only because he had a sick person before his eyes, not even because he had compassion for the needy, although this is characteristic of the Source of mercy, but because he saw faith
.
It is clear that if faith had not been provided, the remission of sins would not have followed. God alone truly gives forgiveness of sins: faith alone accepts it
.

Another truth:

faith has a beneficial effect on a person in need, leading to his deliverance from disaster.
In announcing to the weakened man the remission of sins, the Lord did not intend this alone, but at the same time, his healing from illness. The Divine definition: “your sins are forgiven” already contained another: “get up and walk.” Only the evil thoughts of the scribes demanded that the latter be spoken again, expressively and separately. Consequently, the Lord began to heal, “seeing faith.” If there were no faith, then the miraculous healing would not have followed, as the Evangelist clearly noted this on another occasion: “And thou shalt not do that many mighty things, because of their unbelief” (Matthew XIII. 58). The Lord, in His mercy, grants grace-filled and miraculous healings
, and creates others deliverance from troubles;
and without a doubt, the matter will not become a matter of His mercy: it is necessary that the matter does not become a matter of our faith
.

Third truth:

One person's faith can work beneficially for another.
The Gospel narrative says: “When Jesus saw their faith, he spoke to the paralytic.” From this it is clear that it was not the faith of the weakened man himself, or at least not his faith alone, that attracted him to forgiveness of sins and healing; but the faith of some other people helped him
: “Jesus saw their faith.” We learn who these extraordinary helpers were from the Evangelist Mark, who, narrating about the healing of the weakened man, agrees with Matthew in the essence of the matter, adding some details. He says that the weakened man was carried on a bed by four people; that, due to the crowded conditions of the multitude of people, they could not bring him into the house in which the Lord was; that, not yielding to this obstacle, they dismantled the roof or ceiling of the house, and lowered the bed with the sick into the temple, into the space that was left between the Lord and the people who had gathered to Him by the reverence of this people. The Lord saw their faith, and through their faith, or at least with the assistance of their faith, the faith of the weakened man, and forgave the sins of the weakened man, and healed him of his illness.

Here, brethren, I would not be curious, if it were possible, to “see the thoughts” (Matthew 9:4) of yours. “Wonder,” like the best of the ancient Jews, “and glorify God,” “who gave such power to man” (Matthew 9:8), that by their faith they can attract the gracious and miraculous power of God not only to themselves , but also to others who lack their own similar faith, or, like the ancient scribes and among you, some “consider in their hearts that this one says these things” (Mark 2:6-7)? One believes, and another is healed: what consistency is there? One believes, and the other is freed from sins: what is the truth here?

I don’t know whether such thoughts enter your hearts: but since they go among people, and sometimes disturb those who would not “think evil in their hearts” (Matthew 9:4): what will we say in response to the spirit doubts and questions?
“It won’t be either rude or offensive if we tell him what the Lord said to the Apostle Peter when he raised an objection to one of the mysteries of faith: “Follow me Satan, for you do not think what is divine, but what is human.” (Mark 8:33). You think about human truth, and do not understand God’s truth; you think about natural, material conformities, but you often don’t understand even these and are surprised when you meet them where you didn’t expect them, and don’t find them where you expected them; and is it surprising that you cannot comprehend spiritual conformities, grace-filled communications, without grace-filled experience? The spirit is higher than the flesh; grace is above nature; faith is higher than reason: therefore, it is not surprising that the flesh does not understand how the spirit operates
; for nature it is not clear how grace works; It is not clear to reason how faith works.

However, from the very rebuke of the Lord against “those who do not think what is the essence of God,” one can notice that there is some possibility of thinking what is the essence of God

: because it would not be fair to condemn someone for not doing the impossible.
And if, according to the Apostle, one can “understand by faith” (Heb. 11:3): then one can somewhat understand both faith itself and its saving actions, and make sure that there is no untruth or inconsistency in them. Strict truth alone would not allow sins to be forgiven in any case; For this we need the help of mercy; and mercy does not require merit that would be given in truth, but only the readiness to accept the grace given. A soul without faith is a closed vessel for grace, but a believing soul is an open vessel.
Faith opens the soul to receive grace.
To be convinced of this action of God's faith, let us look at the action of human faith
.

In a relationship with a person to whom we have neither power of attorney nor devotion

, don’t we notice that our soul is locked for him; that its effect on us glides, so to speak, on the surface of our heart, without penetrating inside it; that his reasoning does not convince us, and his feelings do not touch us, although they are not without force?

On the contrary, who do we trust and are loyal to?

: that both a light thought and a simple word bows our mind, penetrates our heart, moves our soul;
and such communication of souls is sometimes so close that we find it appropriate to call it unity
.

Apply this further to the higher

, this earthly to the heavenly, this human to the Divine, and you will partly be able to understand
how faith opens the soul to receive grace
, and also how one soul, attracted by grace by faith through sincere communication with another soul, can also be impressed by the action of faith , and facilitate the acceptance of grace.

So the souls of the carriers of the Gospel of the weakened, on the one hand, by faith, strove to Christ, on the other, with love for mankind and compassion, they clung to the soul of the weakened: “and Jesus saw their faith,” and a current of grace flowed from Him through their souls onto the soul and body of the weakened. Oh, if only, brethren, these reflections on the beneficial and powerful action of faith would help us in some way, so that our faith would not be either weaker or more ineffective than the faith of these unknown inhabitants of Capernaum, not famous for their faith, who, having brought the weakened man to the Lord, from the treasures of His grace suddenly several miracles were performed, and the whole people were moved to glorify God! This would be good for us at all times, in all sorrow from the present, in all fear from threatening evil, in all immaculate desire for necessary and true good. Sorrow crying out to the Lord, and desire looking to Him, would naturally turn into a prayer of faith; and faith would bring about the fulfillment of prayer. For the Lord’s promise is true: “Everything you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” (Matthew 21:22).

Amen.

The ruins of the font were found, but poorly studied

The same font was discovered by the Dominicans. However, they did not have enough archaeological experience, so the excavations were carried out with many mistakes.

Tradition holds that the Sheep's Pool is a ruin at St. Stephen's Gate in the northeast corner of the Jerusalem Wall.

Ruins of the Sheep Pool. Photo: pilgrimcenter.ru

Proof of this is the 2nd century inscription: “Pompeia put in Lucilius,” which reports another miracle of healing here.

This building has not been studied enough; it is not even possible to say exactly when the fonts were built. But, most likely, several hundred years BC. Initially, a pagan sanctuary could well have been located here.

The paralyzed is the soul of a person, and illness is his sins

The Orthodox Church celebrates the Sunday of the Paralytic every fourth Sunday after Easter.

This event is not the victory of one person over the disease, but an indication that faith can heal everyone. Liturgical texts compare the soul of every person to a paralytic, and sins are called the cause of his illnesses.

The story of the paralytic is a lesson in faith for every person.

Healing is given by Jesus Christ Himself. Moreover, this is not a miracle according to schedule, as happened in the font before. Now every person has the opportunity to turn to Higher powers with a request for help in returning their spiritual nature.

The following texts exist for the holiday:

Ikos

voice 3

O Lord, my soul, severely weakened from all kinds of sins and from undue deeds, raise up my soul through Your divine care, just as You once raised up the paralytic, so that I, saved, cry out to You: “Glory, O Merciful Christ, to Your power!”

Kontakion

Holding the ends of the world with Your handful, Jesus, God, like the Father without beginning, and together with the Holy Spirit ruling over all, You appeared in the flesh, healing ailments; and drove away passions; He gave the blind to see the light, and raised up the paralytic with a divine word, suddenly commanding him to walk and lift the bed that carried him onto his shoulders. Therefore, we all sing with him and cry out: “Glory to Thy might, O Merciful Christ!”

By leaving a comment, you accept the user agreement

Sacraments of the Church. The week is about being relaxed. What is relaxation and who is relaxed?

Audio

Conversation with the rector of the Church of St. Euphrosyne, Grand Duchess of Moscow, in Kotlovka, Moscow, Hieromonk Claudian (Safonov). – Father, we have outlined a very interesting topic for conversation.
Actually, the church calendar suggested it to us: the fourth Sunday after Easter is the Sunday of the Paralytic. The topic is also interesting because we dedicated the previous program to the construction of a church at Hospital No. 64, which is directly related to both relaxation and health. Let's speculate on the topic of what relaxation is in general and who is relaxed, is it only physical infirmities that are meant here. – The Gospel paralytic is not just an image, it is a historical event when the Lord heals the paralytic, whom his friends and relatives brought and helped him to appear before the eyes of the Savior. Of course, the Lord, like Love itself, cannot ignore human suffering. When He lived on earth in human society, He certainly showed the greatest love and mercy to everyone who needed it, even to those people who may not deserve it. Although every person deserves salvation and correction, healing. And the Lord healed people not in order to simply demonstrate His power, not in order to surprise someone, and not even in order to continue the life of this person on earth. Because the earth is only the threshold of Heaven. First of all, miraculous cases of healing were either the result of the virtuous life of these people who deserved it, or it was some kind of help for a person to find the truth, so that the power of God would be perfected on him - the power of God is perfected in weakness. And the people around, seeing the miracle, also began to see the light spiritually, understanding who was in front of them, other meanings, other perspectives opened up.

Of course, those whom the Lord resurrected in gospel history also crossed the threshold of death and are now on the eve of the general resurrection. But this case with the paralytic is especially surprising, because this man could not say anything: he lay in complete relaxation. And the people who brought him apparently remembered his kindness.

- Because this is an amazing case - friends brought it.

– Yes, because in our society now it turns out that even old relatives are not needed by anyone, relatives are not needed, children are not needed, grandchildren are not needed. Sometimes old people become a burden. And this happens, perhaps not even because the people around them are so heartless and have no love, but perhaps they themselves did not give love to their loved ones before, there was little effort in them to serve other people. After all, in general, service and sacrifice are very memorable.

Therefore, the evangelical paralytic, who was brought by his friends, apparently was a very good person, since people tried so hard that they opened the roof of the house.

- Yes, this effort had to be made.

– Make an effort to climb up and then lower this person.

– That is, this parable is also about us.

– This is not a parable, this is a gospel story. And there is another story about how a paralytic man lay for thirty-eight years next to the Sheep’s Pool, where once a year an Angel went, disturbing the water, and there was no person to immerse this paralytic man into the font. Imagine the difference between one relaxed person and another! For almost forty years, healings occurred every year before his eyes, and he did not have a single person who would immerse him in the font.

- Nobody regretted it.

- Only Christ, having come, took pity on him and said: “And sin no more.” Because illness is directly related to our spiritual life, and to life in general: moral, ethical. The connection is unbreakable

– Indeed, we find many cases of healing in the Gospel. Therefore, in the previous program we said that the profession of a doctor is special, from God: the Lord healed, and doctors are called to treat, heal the body. And now there are miracles of healing, we know about them. But now, it seems to me, the people are constantly demanding some kind of constant miracle, miracle, miracle... Do you think there is a risk here for us Orthodox Christians of slipping into a kind of paganism and turning our Orthodox faith exclusively into a belief in miracles? Like the pagans: they came, prayed to the idol - a miracle happened. Is there any risk here? Will we cross the line of understanding what a miracle is and what faith is?

– It seems to me that there should be no extremes here. In spiritual life there should be no extremes at all.

– How to protect yourself from these extremes?

– A miracle is a supernatural event that is associated with God’s special Providence, and we cannot refuse it, not recognize it, not see it. Then the Lord would not use a miracle as a means to reveal the truth to a person, to encourage him to know it. Another thing is that the goal of a person’s life is still not just miracles, not the fulfillment of desires and some of your hopes, but it is the fulfillment of the will of God. And the will of God is manifested in miraculous events when the Lord intervenes in our lives, somehow admonishes us, and gives us the opportunity to correct our path. That's why miracles are needed. Another thing is that people should not strive for a miracle for the sake of a miracle, so that the Lord will fulfill this or that desire of ours at any cost, since this may be the reason that the miracle does not come. Although the Lord says: Ask, and it will be given to you...

-...seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

- According to your faith, be it done to you. It is possible that some people abuse the opportunity to turn to God, and sometimes ask for something that is not useful to them. And the Lord does not fulfill their prayers, because he knows in advance what is more useful for the soul of this person for salvation, for his spiritual well-being. If the Lord sees that the need is truly necessary and will not harm the person in the future, then he fulfills the request. And if He hesitates in fulfilling it, it means that God’s will is precisely to protect man from what he desires.

Therefore, a miracle is a phenomenon that should happen, and it is present in our spiritual life. It is clear that we, as sinful people, should not think that we are worthy of this or that intervention. We should already be grateful to God for what He did - He suffered and died for us, He gave us the opportunity to enter heaven, opened for us the path along which we can reach Heaven. And what this path is, what it will bring into our lives, sorrow or joy, has not yet been determined, each has its own measure, its own cross, as we say. Therefore, miracles can be a special way of admonition and support from God on this path. But getting hung up, waiting, begging for some kind of miracle is wrong, because this indicates that we do not trust God and want to build something in our own way in solving this or that task that the Lord sets in our lives.

- Thanks, very interesting. Father Claudian, sometimes I talk about this. Miracles really do happen, thank God, including through prayers to the saints. It’s just that sometimes it seems to me that people forget God and instead of God they have a saint. If we take a turn to Matrona of Moscow, people there stand solely for a miracle: “Something hurts me, and I want...” And when people ask, they forget that all miracles happen through prayers to the Lord, which, hearing saints, the Lord works miracles. These are not some of our pathetic attempts, but the prayers of saints who pleased God in this life.

- Of course, there is no room for confusion. Saints are vessels of God's grace, people who pleased the Lord and became akin to Him in spirit. They were worthy of acquiring the grace of the Holy Spirit, and this grace acts both through their images - icons, and through the veneration of their relics. Of course, we do not honor the relics themselves as such (remains, bones of a person), we honor the grace of the Holy Spirit, which dwelt in this person during his lifetime. Therefore, the hierarchy, of course, must be built correctly; we should not make any substitution.

On the other hand, we must be extremely careful in our assessments. Because people who come to Blessed Matronushka for various needs have a different perspective: they understand that a miracle must happen in order for their lives to change. They no longer see any opportunities to correct this or that situation and turn to God or to the saints who have testified with their holiness the power of intercession before God. Therefore, in the first stages of spiritual life, people may have some slight substitution of one or another understanding of where God acts, what is the mission of the saints who help us. Let it be like this at the first stage, but then a person enters another step, and already, like us, he thinks that you can pray in front of the relics of Matronushka, come to her to cry, venerate, ask for her prayers and blessings, or you can do this at a distance of many thousands of kilometers and, standing in front of the icon of Matronushka and also communicating with her, ask for the same grace.

Another thing is the zeal of people who have abandoned their everyday affairs, problems, one might say, have awakened from that spiritual hibernation when there are no feelings and a petrified heart does not allow the opportunity to turn to God with tenderness. Some event happens in life, tragic or joyful, and a person suddenly drops everything and goes or goes to the monastery specifically to Matronushka, because the image of this saint is now before his eyes.

Of course, we cannot cover the entire palette of holiness of saints whom the Church has in its arsenal as witnesses of faith, virtuous life and intercessors. And it happens that this or that saint is especially dear to us, and through knowing him we come to know God. Turning to the saints, being interested in their lives, we suddenly understand that this saint (saint) was a man of God. Why was the holy, blessed Matrona a man of God? Because she led such a righteous life. What were her weaknesses? She was blind and, despite such illness and disability, she was a man of God, showed love for people, was a great prayer worker, did not sleep, and the Lord gave her a certain gift of insight and helping others.

By the way, you started talking about Blessed Matronushka, and I remembered that my great-grandmother went to her for family advice.

– So she knew her personally?

“She went to her for advice.” In the archives of our family, in the diaries of my grandfather, it was preserved that his mother went to the blessed Matronushka. Therefore, the image of this saint, our contemporary, is dear to me.

It seems to me that if one saint is revered more and another less, then the saints do not take offense at us: they have acquired such deep and all-encompassing love and they have compassion for us. They are probably just glad that people are making such a huge effort to come to their relics. Of course, the saints did not advertise themselves in this life; they considered themselves earth, ashes, and considered themselves great sinners. Some saints even commanded not to bury themselves at all, but to throw them in the forest to be eaten by birds or animals.

– Quite recently, I made a film about the Vvedensky Vladychny Monastery, the first abbot of which was – then it was a men’s monastery – a disciple of St. Alexius, Rev. Varlaam of Serpukhov. He bequeathed to bury himself on the church porch so that people would trample him underfoot. This is simply amazing!

And when you enter the Small Cathedral of the Donskoy Monastery, you always feel a certain awkwardness, realizing that you are simply walking over graves, trampling them underfoot. When there are few people, I always try to find workarounds - although it can be very awkward for me. But when the service is going on, there are a lot of people, you can’t escape anywhere, you stand and think: “How can this be? I'm standing on a grave, trampling a man. If he is buried here in the church, what a good man he was, how much he did for the Church, for the people...”

- What humility!

- Yes. This simply does not fit into the consciousness of modern man.

– That is, the saints did not seek honor, they did not advertise themselves, they hid from the world. And the world followed them. And thanks to this connection, thanks to this life of the saints, we learn about their godly life.

We are talking about relaxation, our spiritual relaxation lies precisely in the fact that we lose the strength to create. As St. Seraphim of Sarov said, there is no determination for a virtuous life, piety, or to overcome one’s sinful nature. There is no determination, no burning for God, no fear of God, only fossilization, misunderstanding - we do not see the action of God around us and in us. Therefore, a person encounters certain problems and begins to gain strength by engaging in the study of saints: how they suffered, what they experienced in their lives, how they achieved the strength that helped them overcome these adversities, how they turned to God, how they prayed.

- And how we thanked you for everything.

– Because the Church carefully preserves everything that remains from the saints: the prayers they composed, and spiritual instructions, ascetic or theological. Therefore, this is a whole chain, a whole school of piety, which leads, first of all, to the knowledge of God, to unity with God, deification through examples of the deification and holiness of others, through communion with their grace. Because holiness is precisely the acquisition of the grace of the Holy Spirit, communion with this energy, purification of oneself, changing one’s nature, but not through one’s own strength, but through communion with God, communion with God.

Therefore, relaxation turns into strength - the Lord gives you the opportunity to gradually, gradually change your life, correct yourself, train your will, and gain willpower. Now there was a post. What was it for? To cry and admit that we are all really that bad? On the contrary, it was to see the light, to see the flaws in oneself and to try to take new steps towards abstaining from all sin after fasting with the same determination. Just as we know how to abstain to one degree or another from food, so we have the ability and strength to distance ourselves from sin, to have the fear of God; Perhaps we have the intention to serve each other even more, forgetting ourselves, sacrificing ourselves in relation to our neighbors, to God; each in his own measure. Therefore, fasting is such a training, an exercise in piety.

These are joyful days, we broke our fast, we splashed out this joy, walked in a religious procession. We could not isolate ourselves - we shared this joy with all of nature, which is now beginning to bloom among us. And now we begin again to gradually delve deeper into our inner weakness, realizing that even the joy that we receive from Easter days must be retained, we must be able to rejoice sincerely, and this requires work. Any joy is not given for nothing. It seems that rejoicing is simple, but it is not easy, you need to gradually come to this.

Therefore, now more ascetic, serious Weeks begin - we begin to talk about our nature, about the fact that without God we cannot do anything, we cannot even maintain joy without God. I want us to grow further, to go from the first class to the second, and we begin to rise to the next week, then to the next... Before that there was a week of myrrh-bearing women, primarily as an example of fidelity and faith, confidence that the Lord is near . The myrrh-bearing women are an example to the apostles; they were called “apostles of the apostles” because they maintained a thread of trust in the Savior. Although, perhaps, they were mistaken in their human reasoning, because they came to the tomb with aromas. After all, the Lord said: “I will rise again,” but they forgot about it. The myrrh-bearing women went to the tomb without taking any of the men with them to move the stone away from the tomb, they didn’t even think about it. They took everything that was needed according to Jewish law, trying to complete the ritual that they did not have time to do on Friday, when they buried the Savior. And the Lord gave them a miracle - an Angel of the Lord appeared to them and told them about the event of a universal scale that Christ spoke about.

– You started saying that people who are elderly or infirm, regardless of age, are often not needed by their loved ones. There are sad reflections that, unfortunately, in Russia there are many orphanages, many nursing homes, which, fortunately, is not the case in the Caucasus. Sometimes they tell us: look, you are Orthodox Christians, and they are Muslims, but they don’t have that. With them, if a child remains an orphan, the closest relatives will definitely take him in, and not the closest ones either. If someone sends a child to an orphanage, such a person will probably simply leave the village later.

I agree that perhaps these people never loved in life. But we, Christians, must show mercy. How can we achieve this? How can we rise to the understanding that we cannot repay evil for evil?

- We need to practice love. Be faithful in little, you will be faithful in much. If you win in the little things in your life, try to act according to your conscience, to fulfill God’s commandments about honoring your father and mother, about children, about whom Christ said that such is the Kingdom of Heaven, then you gradually learn a decent, respectful, sacrificial attitude. Of course, if you have a selfish mood of soul and are accustomed to the fact that you are the center of your own life and that of others, then, of course, you forget that your parents served you when they gave birth to you.

– And no matter how bad they may be, from our point of view.

– When parents already become weak, we are obliged to serve them in return, in gratitude. Or we don’t appreciate our parents and their work.

– We have lost some of our Russian roots, because it is impossible to imagine that in Orthodox Russia someone would kick out a father, mother or orphan. Orphans were always taken into the house, we read about this in fairy tales and books. That is, you need to find your roots and return to them again.

– We must take examples from existing cultures and nationalities that support traditional family values. Patriarchy in the family is wonderful, and this is especially significant and wonderful in the Caucasus. We have a secular society, and, apparently, now we have completely different cultures, all the concepts are mixed up. Perhaps even nursing homes are some kind of forced measure in order to provide medical assistance to abandoned people.

But we, of course, must strive to demonstrate the highest culture, and above all, not to lose love for people, for our relatives, not to allow our parents and loved ones, those who once knew us when we were little, to invest in us something, remained alone. Even if it seems to us that these people do not deserve this or that leniency, as Christians we must show love. We must be able to do good not like the pagans - to do good to those who do good, as the Lord said, but to be much more capable, stronger and still create. Because to save the soul, it is not enough to be just a Pharisee who counts everything according to the law: you - to me, I - to you. We must be able to serve and sacrifice ourselves.

Author and presenter of the program Lyubov Akelina

Recorded by Nina Kirsanova