Spiritual moral education patriarch kirill. Moscow Sretensky Theological Seminary

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia spoke at the opening of the 17th International Christmas Educational Readings "Science, Education, Culture: Spiritual and Moral Foundations and Ways of Development" His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia emphasized the importance of building strong families and spiritual and moral education of the nation

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia spoke at the opening of the XVII International Christmas Educational Readings "Science, Education, Culture: Spiritual and Moral Foundations and Ways of Development"

Today the world is in a new situation for itself, faced with many challenges, - said the patriarch at the beginning of his speech. - International terrorism, economic and environmental crisis, moral degradation of millions of people - all this requires a response from the well-meaning forces of society. This means that it requires dialogue and cooperation between the ministers of the Church and secular scientists, teachers and cultural workers.

Patriarch Kirill stressed that many acute problems, in particular the moral impoverishment of society, "are not only of concern to the Orthodox conscience."

He also emphasized that the church is called to help people realize their purpose in life and find a worthy, meaningful use for creative energy in a particular area of \u200b\u200bpeople's life, including science and technology, education and enlightenment, culture and art.

Speaking about the spiritual and moral foundations and ways of developing science, education and culture, we must clearly and with full responsibility understand that our people have no future at all if science and education do not become national priorities, '' Vladyka Kirill noted. - We do not have a decent future if the real culture eats out a miserable existence against the background of the relaxing bacchanalia of mass culture.

The patriarch drew attention to the wrong thing, according to world experience, "only those countries in which science and education are given due attention, can maintain their sovereignty and develop successfully."

I believe that the Russian Orthodox Church should help the state and society in coordinating scientific, creative and educational efforts. "God - God, and Newton - Newton" - such a principle of behavior was recently proposed to us by the famous intellectual Vitaly Tretyakov. The point is, perhaps, that the Church should not encroach on natural science knowledge and on the institution of rational education. And we can accept this principle, but under one indispensable condition: the fundamental principle of the hierarchy of values \u200b\u200bmust be observed, when the unconditional and indisputable "God is God" is in the first place, - said Patriarch Kirill.

In addition, he noted that the creative development of education, science and culture is possible only on the basis of spiritual continuity, embodied in the best examples, in standards.

I have already had to emphasize that during the period of state atheism a unique situation developed in Russia, - said Vladyka Kirill. - The own voice of the Church, extremely limited in its modest capabilities, was then almost inaudible to the people, and the Gospel was proclaimed not by missionary priests, but by cultural figures. The masterpieces of centuries-old cultural development - literature and music, church architecture and painting - continued to testify about Christ. The Orthodox worldview and worldview, biblical sayings and church wisdom continued to live in the minds of the people, preserved in their songs, proverbs and sayings.

The Patriarch emphasized that it was culture that remained the bearer of Christian evangelism.

This precious quality of Russian culture is still its inalienable heritage. Genuine culture continues to perform its good service, and it is our duty to preserve and develop it.

Vladyka Kirill expressed confidence that the national educational system cannot be removed from the spiritual and moral education of the individual.

Only strong-minded and pure-hearted people will cope with the problems facing the modern world, - he noted. - And you shouldn't be afraid to admit to yourself and those around you that religious and moral motivation are tightly interconnected for a large part of people in Russia and the world.

The Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia announced that the Church will begin a dialogue with the Ministry of Education and Science and "all interested circles and structures" on the teaching of the basics of Orthodox culture.

In the process of dialogue, we must act as partners, using not the language of dispute, but the language of mutual support and common cause, '' Vladyka Kirill emphasized. - After all, the Church and secular pedagogy, by and large, have one task: to educate not only a knowledgeable and capable person, but also a full-fledged person who lives meaningfully and spiritually, having a moral dimension in his words and deeds, beneficial not only to himself, but also to his neighbors , as well as to their Fatherland.

Patriarch Kirill stressed that the Russian Orthodox Church is obliged "to actualize the spiritual values \u200b\u200bof Orthodoxy, which urgently require the unity of faith and knowledge, prayer and deed."

Only then will it be possible to synthesize science, education and culture in a single integral field, ”he said. - With God's help, thanks, among other things, to the positive experience of the Christmas readings, relying on the developments of the Department of Religious Education and Catechesis, other synodal institutions of the Russian Orthodox Church, our theological schools, as well as all of you working in the regions, today we have approached new frontiers.

At the end of his speech, Patriarch Kirill spoke about the importance of the revival of the Russian people:

The only direct path to the revival of our people is the creation of a strong family, spiritual and moral upbringing and education, a return to historical roots, to a genuine culture. The time has come to revive the true traditions of Philanthropy and Domostroi, to raise the value of the family as a “small Church” and the Church as a big family in the public consciousness, ”he concluded.

On January 24, 2018, the grand opening of the XXVI International Christmas Educational Readings "Moral Values \u200b\u200band the Future of Humanity" took place. The plenary session of the forum was chaired by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, who made a presentation.

Your Eminences and Graces! Excellencies! Honorable fathers! Brothers and sisters, participants in the International Christmas Educational Readings!

I cordially greet all of you and congratulate you on the commencement of the work of this wonderful church educational forum.

The theme of the 2018 Readings "Moral values \u200b\u200band the future of mankind" provides an opportunity to address truly very important issues for the existence of the entire human race: issues of morality and its role in the life of society and each individual person. We are called from a Christian perspective to reflect on the challenges that modern civilization has to face, and to think about what response the Church can offer to society and how we can actualize the Gospel message in relation to the realities and problems of our day.

But first I would like to say a few words about the very concept of "morality" and about the substitutions that are encountered in modern society when describing this concept.

The newest philosophical dictionary defines "morality (morality) as a set of norms of behavior, communication and relationships accepted in a particular social organism." In general, the definition is quite large, but it boils down to the fact that “moral regulation is carried out through the orientation of people towards humane, kind, honest, noble, fair relations, ie. through what is commonly called moral values \u200b\u200b”.

I would like to note that the word “humane” is put in the first place in this definition. addressed to the person. And here there is a certain substitution of concepts: the freedom given by God to man to make a moral choice between good and evil is no longer perceived as a means of freely gaining love for the One who gave this freedom, but freedom itself from a means becomes an end and is elevated to an absolute, becomes an independent value of the highest the order for the sake of which other values \u200b\u200bcan be sacrificed, including the values \u200b\u200bof spiritual culture, moral norms, national and cultural traditions that have been formed for centuries.

If earlier it was said that the freedom of one person ends where the freedom of another begins, then at present the freedom of those who want to live and raise children in accordance with their traditional religious norms is often trampled by supporters of the so-called liberal values, who claim that an absolute value is freedom, and everything else is secondary. Increasingly, there are calls for a revision of moral values, including those that have an evangelical foundation, and even for a complete rejection of them.

Despite the fact that many people do not share and do not consider such calls to be correct, the legislation of a number of states consistently follows the path of asserting so-called freedoms, which are in conflict with fundamental moral postulates. All this is happening rapidly, before our eyes. We see how in some countries the doctor no longer has the right to refuse to carry out an abortion; how an official can lose his job for refusing to register a same-sex "marriage". We see how traditional Christian families are forced in official documents to abandon the words "father" and "mother" in favor of the hearing-pleasing same-sex partners "parent # 1" and "parent # 2", and anyone can lose their job just because openly express his condemnation of the sin of Sodom, or even publicly read the corresponding text from the Bible, as was the case with one of the pastors in one of the European countries. Unfortunately, in our country, too, millions of believers - Orthodox Christians, representatives of other Christian denominations, Muslims, Jews - are forced to accept the fact that the money they earn in the form of taxes is used to finance abortions. A dangerous conflict is created between the moral principles that a person adheres to and the practice that he must, as a citizen, follow. That is why in such complex issues, the solution of which depends not only on the norms of state law, but also on the requirements of conscience, it is important to achieve a mutually acceptable position for all, which would give people the opportunity to act according to their conscience.

We understand perfectly well that the moral values \u200b\u200band the moral state of society in a given period of time are not the same thing. Let us recall, for example, that in the Time of Troubles the moral state of society was so deplorable that it took an especially nationwide feat for the Lord to bow His mercy to our people and the country would find freedom and independence. And yet, even at that time, the moral ideals of the Orthodox people were the gospel ideals and therefore were inviolable, although they were not always fulfilled. Then, four centuries ago, His Holiness Patriarch Hermogenes was able to awaken the people's conscience, with his speeches and messages urging his compatriots to stand firm in the Orthodox faith and preserve spiritual traditions, as well as Prince Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin, who managed to assemble a militia from patriotic people.

Today, solidarity efforts of the state, representatives of religious traditions, and public organizations are needed to preserve and establish unchanging spiritual and moral guidelines in people's lives. The role of culture in strengthening moral values \u200b\u200bin people's life is very important. The Russian Orthodox Church actively cooperates in this direction with other Orthodox Churches and with Christians of other confessions.

The Declaration, signed by me together with the head of the Roman Catholic Church as a result of a meeting in February 2016 in Havana, demonstrated our determination to act together on the most pressing problems of our time: family and marriage issues, attitudes towards abortion and euthanasia, the use of biomedical reproductive technologies, understanding of rights and human freedoms.

The work of the Interreligious Council of Russia is of increasing importance, where we meet regularly and discuss issues of concern to us. Interreligious cooperation is filled with the spirit of good neighborliness, mutual respect and peace that has reigned among the traditional religions of our country for centuries. Modern secular society throws more and more challenges to believers, regardless of their religious affiliation. We see Russia's religious leaders as reliable allies in the fight against these challenges, as well as against immorality and pseudo-religious extremism.

With all the difference in cultures and traditions, we all have a common moral feeling inherent in us by God, each of us has a voice of conscience, which we, Christians, call the voice of God. Beliefs of different religions may differ markedly, but as soon as we move to the level of axioms, to the level of moral values, most religious traditions demonstrate the coincidence of views. I am convinced that a moral consensus is the only possible universal basis for the peaceful coexistence of different cultures and peoples in the modern world, if you like, a condition for the survival of a pluralistic human civilization, in which, in addition to this consensus, rooted not in the sphere of ideas, not in the sphere of ideology, but in by the very God-created human nature, it is impossible to find another basis for the formation of a system of values \u200b\u200bthat could satisfy everyone. In other words, any intellectual, cultural source, be it science or even tradition, be it other important manifestations of social consciousness, cannot satisfy the human race, because in one place it will be accepted with a bang, in another - it will face indifference, and in the third, rejection. Therefore, the basis for a moral consensus can only be that which is the organic basis of human unity, and this organic basis is the very nature of man, man himself. God was pleased to put a moral feeling in a person, and wherever you are - in Moscow, New York or Papua New Guinea - the moral feeling of a person works the same way, although people who defend the natural origin of morality and tie morality to the influence of the environment, assure that there are some differences. But all those differences that are cited as evidence of the absence of a common moral feeling relate to issues of secondary importance, associated with rituals, with the peculiarities of culture, etc. Actually, moral feelings, so remarkably expressed in the Ten Commandments, are inherent in the entire human race. Therefore, it is only from this feeling, from this community that unites all people on the face of the Earth, that it is possible to build a universal human consensus, and on its basis to build other buildings that can cement the relations of people living in different countries, having different cultures and often different goal-setting.

At the same time, it is obvious that for the Church the concept of "moral" is always associated not simply with a common human understanding of goodness, conscience, justice, etc., but with their highest manifestations, which are revealed to us in the Holy Gospel. When speaking about moral values, Orthodox believers always mean striving for moral ideals, moral perfection of the Beatitudes: love for neighbors up to love for enemies, readiness for self-denial and self-sacrifice, humility, meekness and patience, mercy and peacemaking, achievement of purity of heart. But all these highest Christian commandments are organically linked to the same moral consensus that I have just mentioned. In Christianity, the moral theme reaches its climax and provides people with the opportunity to see what is the true moral ideal of human life.

Of course, we are imperfect, but we must strive for perfection and learn love from our Savior, from the saints. The example of heroism that the lives of the new martyrs and confessors of the Russians give us is very important for us. Among them, a special place is occupied by the Royal Passion-bearers, the 100th anniversary of whose martyrdom we remember this year. As if as a reward for the love that reigned in this family, they remained inseparable in death. Christian moral ideals were for them above the royal crown. They did not consider belonging to a royal or noble family a sign of nobility, but purity of thoughts and purity of soul.

The heartfelt and very touching lines from the letter of the Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna come to mind: “Father asks to convey to all those who have remained devoted to him, and to those whom they may have influence on, so that they do not take revenge for him, since he forgave everyone for prays to everyone, not to take revenge for themselves, and to remember that the evil that is now in the world will be even stronger, but that not evil will triumph over evil, but only love ... ”1.

Sometimes they ask why the royal family was canonized. It is for this! It is enough to put yourself in the shoes of people sentenced to death - who were at the pinnacle of power, and then were not only deprived of all rights, but also became the subject of bullying. But even in this state of extreme humiliation, they forgave their enemies and prayed for them, which means they showed genuine morality, which was maximally expressed in the feat of passion-suffering.

The feat of the new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church, who testified to their faithfulness to the Savior with their blood, their sufferings, became the spiritual basis for the revival of church life in our countries at the end of the 20th century. The Jubilee Council of Bishops in 2000 glorified more than 1200 new martyrs and confessors as saints. Today the number of glorified new martyrs and confessors has already approached two thousand. On a regular basis, within the framework of the work of the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints, diocesan commissions and other church structures, research is being conducted on the life and deeds of the sufferers for the faith. Temples dedicated to the saints of the 20th century are being built. Last year, the Church of the Resurrection of Christ was consecrated in memory of the new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church on Blood in Lubyanka. It is important, however, not only to include the names of ascetics in the church month and to erect churches in their honor, but also to learn to honor their memory so that their feat of standing in faith, faithfulness to Christ becomes a model of life for our people, so that the study of the lives of the new martyrs and confessors is an important component of the moral education of the younger generation.

When we talk about moral values \u200b\u200band the future of mankind, the connection of these concepts draws our attention primarily to young people, to upbringing and the education system. After all, the future is being shaped today, primarily in the minds and hearts of the younger generation. This year begins the Decade of Childhood announced by the Decree of the President of Russia. In this regard, it is once again appropriate to recall the importance of protecting and supporting family values. Meanwhile, there are still many problems in this area. Many of them are quite solvable if there is a desire and political will.

Today, from time to time, there are initiatives that oppose the protection of children's rights to the interests of the family. Instead of norms based on family and moral values \u200b\u200btraditional for the peoples of our countries, solutions are proposed that copy foreign approaches to family politics. Legislation, the economic environment, the taxation system, the development of education and health systems - all this is intended to support families, especially young ones, to promote the upbringing of children in a spirit of love, peace and respect for tradition.

One cannot, of course, fail to mention the problem of abortion. Through the joint efforts of the Church, the state and public institutions, much has been done to reduce the scale of this truly national disaster and to think over mechanisms for solving the problem. I would especially like to note the positive experience of creating a network of crisis pregnancy centers, which are already saving many children's lives. These centers began to be created in the Church, and now we know that they are actively being established by the state as well. The position of the Church on the issue of abortion remains unchanged: human life is a gift from God, and therefore it must be protected from the moment of its beginning, that is, from conception, and until natural biological death.

I would especially like to say about the possibility of teaching Orthodox culture in schools, about improving the quality of education in Orthodox general educational institutions, about the development of a network of Orthodox preschool educational institutions.

Orthodox culture should be adequately represented in the network of teaching hours at all levels of general secondary education. We have spoken about this many times, meeting with understanding and support in the broadest layers of our society. The task of educating new generations who know and share traditional spiritual and moral values \u200b\u200bhas already been adopted in the Strategy for the Development of Education, approved by the Government's Decree in 2015.

The development of the system of continuous Orthodox education also requires special attention. Today, some Orthodox educational organizations are experiencing serious difficulties, which ultimately boil down to material and technical support, as well as to no less, and sometimes to a greater extent, to the lack of proper attention to their problems on the part of responsible diocesan structures. You need to constantly monitor the situation and respond to calls for help accordingly.

Therefore, I would like to appeal to our bishops and say that caring for Orthodox education is not the 25th, but a priority item on your agenda. It is impossible to talk about the prosperous future of our people and our country if we, having the opportunity to develop the church education system, do not support it at the level that is necessary in our time. Orthodox schools in no way should turn into schools for losers, for those who cannot study elsewhere, with a low level of material and technical support. I insist that Orthodox schools become exemplary in all respects. If we undertake the implementation of these programs, we must do it in such a way as to set an example for others.

Questions about the need not only for teaching, but also for moral education in school did not arise, of course, today. Back in the middle of the 19th century, Metropolitan Innokenty of Moscow and Kolomna wrote that enlightenment without morality serves more to harm than good2. Russian history itself has shown the fidelity and justice of these words of the saint.

It is also important that the issues of Orthodox education are adequately reflected in both church and secular pedagogical media.

The catechetical activity of the Church is of great importance. It is necessary to strive to ensure that such work is carried out not only through short conversations before the sacrament of Baptism, but also within the framework of the parish educational work with children, youth and adults, especially with those who are preparing to become fathers and mothers. It is necessary that a system of permanent catechetical education should really exist at the sites of our parishes. For a few hours of communication with the priest, the godparents, of course, will learn something, but this will not be deep knowledge and may not affect the style of raising children.

It is important that modern man, who comes in contact with the Gospel, realizes and feels the attractive power of the Word of God, showing evidence of the fundamental significance of God-specific moral foundations of human life.

Thus, the great Russian scientist Aleksey Alekseevich Ukhtomsky noted with regret that one of the reasons for the moral decline of society at the beginning of the 20th century was the prevailing distorted understanding of culture and civilization that prevailed at that time: “This is a culture ... of exclusively material human life with a very consistent, systematic ignoring culture and progress as the great moral work of the individual over himself. (...) Every person, no matter how beautifully and “culturally” he is furnished in material terms, inevitably becomes spiritually savage, again and again will return to his primitive wild image, no matter how much Christ is with him ”3.

Culture is an area of \u200b\u200bapplication of the spiritual and intellectual forces of mankind, which has absorbed the centuries-old experience of creative, constructive transformation of the surrounding world. The goal of this transformation is the true harmony of being, the guidelines for achieving which are the ideals of love, goodness and beauty. For Christians, these ideals are given by the gospel. And it is these ideals that permeate the millennial culture of our people.

For cultural figures, the problem of moral choice in the past, and especially today, is extremely acute. A genuine work of art reflects the inner state of its creator, translates his feelings and thoughts. A musical, literary, artistic work is capable of deeply influencing human souls, prompting either goodness and creation, or hatred, destruction, and conflicts. I urge everyone whose vocation in life is the sphere of culture to remember the special responsibility for their talent and its fruits before God, the people and history.

In the three decades that have passed since the beginning of a large-scale revival of church life in countries historical Russia, much has been done in the field of mission development, education, youth and social work, interaction with the Cossacks. Before our eyes, the institute of military clergy was revived and is now actively developing, which has now become an integral part of the training and education system for army and navy personnel. Spiritual education and moral education of military personnel, as well as employees of internal affairs bodies, penitentiary institutions, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the establishment of temples and prayer rooms in the places where those serving sentences are located, as well as in higher educational institutions that train specialists for military and civil service - all this is not simply the fruit of the Church's successful missionary efforts, but a vital necessity of our time. The affirmation of moral values \u200b\u200bas the foundation of people's life and activities in all spheres of their existence is a response to a common concern for the prosperous future of our peoples.

Mercy, compassion, conscientiousness, chastity must be brought up from early childhood. Unfortunately, most families are unable to protect children and young people from the corrupting and hardening of the soul of the Internet and other modern technologies. But we can and must oppose this reality as much as possible to Orthodox education and upbringing in all the diversity of their forms and methods.

A special place is occupied by the youth volunteer movement. And this is not only the work of volunteers, which is in full view of everyone - a vivid example is the help of volunteers in the days of bringing the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker to Russia, but also subtle work of caring for the elderly and seriously ill people, helping children in orphanages and shelters, participation in helping the homeless, environmental campaigns and much more.

I would like to appeal to today's youth with an appeal: do not neglect your ministry, always help the people around you with an open heart, do good every day without expecting profit. Only through adherence to this moral law, to which you sometimes have to compel yourself, is the will of God fulfilled, the unity of the people is strengthened, and you grow in a very special atmosphere of achievement. Volunteering is a small feat, but for a small feat, the ability to perform great deeds and great feats can grow, that is, become a strong personality.

Until recently, amid economic and social difficulties, it seemed that we might lose a generation of young people to the Church. Therefore, serious efforts were made to develop the church mission among the youth, and today we are already feeling the first results: young people are coming to the Orthodox faith and are trying to take an active part in the life of the Church.

Remembering the commandment of God “go and teach” (Matt. 28:16), we ourselves must go with the words about Christ the Savior to where young people are especially present today: to educational institutions, sports organizations, youth clubs, to social networks. It is very important that every young man and every girl feel in the Church not as guests, but as genuine workers.

Modern young people often dream of a beautiful and happy life. This life looks at them from magazine covers, from TV screens, from advertising brochures. In them, the main values \u200b\u200bare declared success, material well-being, health and beauty. People dream of a beautiful life and often forget that real beauty, I emphasize, is not an outer gloss and gloss, but real beauty is the inner state of a person. True beauty is primarily the beauty of the soul. Beauty, which is fully revealed if a person lives according to conscience, following the eternal moral law laid down in us by God. Because, following the Divine commandments, a person approaches ideal perfection, realizes his true godliness, as our outstanding thinker Vladimir Soloviev wrote about this.4 Such beauty never grows old, but together with the soul it will pass into eternity.

I wish the organizers and participants of the Christmas Readings fruitful work and interesting discussions.

May God's blessing be with you all. Thank you for attention.

April 18, 2013 in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the V All-Russian Olympiad schoolchildren on the Basics of Orthodox Culture. Those present were greeted by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.

Dear organizers and guests of today's ceremony! My dear young friends, brothers and sisters! I am very glad to see all of you in this cathedral hall of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

From the video that we have just watched, it becomes clear that a long way has been covered during the existence of the Olympics. The number of Olympiad participants and people involved in this program has increased to over 250 thousand. Of course, these 250,000 are still a drop in the ocean, but undoubtedly the enormous work that is being carried out in connection with the preparation and holding of the Olympics, involving an increasing number of people, is becoming a very important factor in the educational, spiritual and cultural life of our people - and not only the Russian Federation, but, as we know, our brothers and sisters from the near and far abroad are also involved in this activity.

Teaching the Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture, acquainting our children and youth with a wonderful layer of world culture, which laid the foundation for the spiritual and national life of our people, is of great importance. On the basis of a solid foundation of Christian values, not only culture was formed, but also the spiritual and moral image of a person. The Christian tradition is an unshakable stone on which a person's moral principle can develop and bear good fruits.

If we talk about non-religious morality, then it cannot be called a stone - it is shaky soil. Why shaky? But because non-religious morality raises the principles of moral life not to the absolute and indisputable Beginning, which is God, but to the circumstances of life, to a changing historical and cultural context. And it turns out that non-religious morality entails with it a certain relativity of moral concepts. What is good today may be bad tomorrow. What is good for one nation may be bad for another. What is good for the rich can be bad for the poor. And we know that the relativity of morality gave rise to the most terrible, including misanthropic, ideologies, the victims of which became millions of people.

That is why the moral growth of the individual on the basis of a solid foundation of the Christian faith programs the moral health of society. And the moral health of society depends not only on people's respect for moral principles, but also on the education of the individual in this moral system of coordinates, on the basis of these principles.

This, perhaps, is the most important thing today for young people, because in the modern information space there is a huge number of ideas, thoughts, suggestions, views. But when a modern young man plunges into this element via the Internet, it is very difficult to figure out where is the truth and where is the lie. In the modern information space, this clarity is absent: a lie can be hidden under the truth. The most disgusting, destructive evil can be hidden under the guise of good, and it is very difficult to distinguish good from evil, especially since the most influential media, unfortunately, often work to propagate evil, presenting it either as good or as one of the alternatives behavior that is quite acceptable for a modern person.

However, the upbringing of the individual on the basis of the moral principles of Christianity gives a person the opportunity to stand on a really solid foundation. We know that the strength of a building depends on the foundation. Solid foundation - the building stands for a long time. And if the foundation is fragile, with flaws, not to mention shaky soil, then a beautiful building can be built on this place, but after a while it will collapse.

In order for a person's personality to never collapse, the foundation must be solid. I have already said that our Orthodox spiritual culture is based on this foundation. Therefore, when we join the culture, the Orthodox culture, we simultaneously absorb moral ideas, moral postulates, the author of which is not this or that political leader, not this or that philosopher, not this or that party group, not this or that powerful group of influence, but the Lord God Himself. It is thanks to the absolute value and Divine origin of morality that it exists in the world, despite the fact that man sins, thereby violating the Divine moral law every time.

This is what I wanted to say today. It is no coincidence that we started to hold the Olympics and it is no coincidence that we strive to ensure that the Fundamentals of Orthodox culture are studied by as many people as possible, as many young people as possible. We want to build a just and prosperous society, from which corruption and crime would forever disappear. Watching terrifying pictures of what is happening on television, we are all horrified, including those who contribute to the destruction of moral Christian foundations in the life of our people. Once, addressing one of those who really influence the very important media, I asked: “Do you not think about sawing the branch on which you yourself sit? After all, the destruction of morality will affect you and your children and your family. " People do not see this ...

It is in order to sharpen the moral feeling, in order to educate a morally integral personality, capable of distinguishing between good and evil, and we teach these wonderful disciplines. I am glad that today this is done not only by the Church, but also by the pedagogical community, which is actively involved in teaching the Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture. And I am glad that more and more people are choosing this particular module and are studying Orthodox culture in the school curriculum. But this is not only about the school curriculum. I got acquainted with the questionnaires and materials of the Olympiad and made sure that the school curriculum is completely insufficient to answer these questions. And I would like to thank all of you for the great interest that you have shown in this vital topic - for how you expanded your horizons, for what knowledge you now possess, and for the fact that by participating in the Olympiad, you to this knowledge they applied their zeal, their will, their good feeling.

I would like to sincerely thank St. Tikhon University and its rector, Father Vladimir Vorobyov, who started this wonderful business, one might say, from scratch. During this time, of course, a lot has been done. Today, this program is being carried out with the active participation and under the leadership of His Grace Metropolitan Mercury, who heads the Synodal Department of Religious Education and Catechesis. As far as I can judge, thanks to the participation of Vladyka and the Department headed by him, our Olympic movement has acquired another powerful impetus.

But I would especially like to thank Nikolai Alexandrovich Tsvetkov, who is investing his financial resources to support this Olympics. Indeed, your great interest, Nikolai Aleksandrovich, your sincere attitude to this program deserves deep respect, which I would like to publicly express along with my sincere gratitude. Also Valentina Afanasyevna Sigayeva and the Meta charitable foundation, which actively supports our Olympic movement.

Finally, I would like to thank all the teachers, heads of educational institutions and, finally, the participants of the Olympiad themselves, who presented us with a wonderful All-Russian holiday, which took place in almost all regions of our country and now ends with this wonderful finale in the cathedral hall of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. I sincerely congratulate all of you on this event and thank you for your participation.

Material for the regional Christmas educational readings "Youth: freedom and responsibility", within the framework of the XXVII International Christmas educational readings on November 21-23, 2018, Komi Republic, Syktyvkar)

(Excerpts from the book of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill "On the Meanings" are included. Publishing house of the Moscow Patriarchate. Author - compiled by Vladimir Terebikhin - Ph.D., expert of the Komi regional branch of the political party "United Russia"

"With the availability of freedom and responsibility provides guidelines for development for the individual and society as a whole. "

"Freedom without responsibility ... turns into arbitrariness"

"From the point of view of the Church, responsibility is ultimately the responsibility of man before God, because it is it that stops us from committing sin."

“We need to combine human freedom with moral responsibility. It is necessary to give every person the opportunity to live in accordance with God's law "

“A nation becomes a nation when it lives by common spiritual and moral values, cultural meanings, realizes its connection with the past and is open to the future in solidarity. Such a people will be truly viable and will be able to avoid shocks "

“Youth is a time of searching. Search for your place in society, life partner, friends, co-workers. And in this search, honest behavior always justifies itself. For the sake of material wealth, for the sake of fame or comfort, you should not betray yourself, drown out the voice of conscience, stain your soul with mud. "

"I would like to appeal to today's youth with an appeal: do not neglect your ministry, always help the people around you with an open heart, do good every day without expecting a profit"

“Addressing the youth, I would like to say the following: dear young brothers and sisters, I urge you to firmly adhere to the spiritual and moral ideals commanded by the Creator, keeping your mind and feelings in chastity and purity, giving others an example of steadfastness in faith, mercy and responsiveness.”

“The issue of raising children and young people is always relevant, because without this, the continuity of generations, the transfer of basic knowledge and spiritual and moral norms, the preservation of religious and cultural traditions are impossible. Ultimately, the future of human civilization directly depends on who and how we educate today. "

"Education is the cornerstone of society and the state."

"Education is one of the meaning-forming spheres of public life"

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About spiritual values

About spiritual traditions

Spiritual values \u200b\u200bare contained in tradition, in the long historical experience of peoples, they are embedded in culture, in the daily life of people. They are associated with spiritual experience, with the experience of distinguishing between good and evil, which lies at the basis of Christian civilization and without which the true development of culture and, first of all, art is impossible. When a society loses its ability to distinguish between good and evil, then a crisis of literature and fine arts sets in, about which we can all speak very concretely today on the examples of many, many countries.

Our common task is to identify and understand this experience, to formulate a system of moral guidelines, to be able to transfer knowledge about our own spiritual and cultural identity to the younger generation. All the healthy forces of society, including the Church, other religious confessions, the system of spiritual and secular education, should be involved in solving this complex task. Only by working together will we be able to ensure a decent future for our youth, our people, our country.

Speech by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill at the meeting "Theology in Universities: Interaction of Church, State and Society" November 28, 2012

we we must not forget for a moment that the basis of culture is not monuments, stones, or roads. It is based on people and the values \u200b\u200bthat they profess.

A person without the priority of spiritual values \u200b\u200bturns into an animal, because all the taboos that grow out of the authority of the moral principle laid down by God in human nature are destroyed.

Remaining open to scientific and technological interaction, to the experience of material and everyday life, we should not compromise our spiritual values, preserving the Orthodox faith and our national identity. And this is possible only if we firmly adhere to the priority of spiritual values.

Society is fragmented, because there are no common values \u200b\u200bthat would unite both in labor and in struggle, and, if necessary, in defending the Fatherland.

Building a modern state and modernizing the country, we must follow the path of both Peter and Alexander Nevsky, firmly standing on our spiritual foundations, absorbing Divine wisdom, building our relations with people not according to the principle of utilitarian use, but according to the principle of mutual support, the ability to bear on the burdens of other people, thereby tightly sewing the fabric of social relations - so tightly that no cataclysm would be able to destroy it.

Word of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill on the day of the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra

About morality

The newest philosophical dictionary defines "morality (morality) as a set of norms of behavior, communication and relationships accepted in a particular social organism." In general, the definition is quite large, but it boils down to the fact that “moral regulation is carried out through the orientation of people towardshumane, kind, honest, noble, fair relationship, i.e. through what is commonly called moral values \u200b\u200b”.

I would like to note that the word “humane” is put in the first place in this definition. addressed to the person. And here there is a certain substitution of concepts: the freedom given by God to man to make a moral choice between good and evil is no longer perceived as a means of freely gaining love for the One who gave this freedom, but freedom itself from a means becomes an end and is elevated to an absolute, becomes an independent value of the highest the order for the sake of which other values \u200b\u200bcan be sacrificed, including the values \u200b\u200bof spiritual culture, moral norms, national and cultural traditions that have been formed for centuries.

If earlier it was said that the freedom of one person ends where the freedom of another begins, then at present the freedom of those who want to live and raise children in accordance with their traditional religious norms is often trampled by supporters of the so-called liberal values, who claim that an absolute value is freedom, and everything else is secondary. Increasingly, there are calls for a revision of moral values, including those that have an evangelical foundation, and even for a complete rejection of them.

Despite the fact that many people do not share and do not consider such calls to be correct, the legislation of a number of states consistently follows the path of asserting so-called freedoms, which are in conflict with fundamental moral postulates. All this is happening rapidly, before our eyes. We see how, in some countries, a doctor no longer has the right to refuse an abortion; how an official can lose his job for refusing to register a same-sex "marriage". We see how traditional Christian families are forced in official documents to abandon the words "father" and "mother" in favor of the hearing-pleasing same-sex partners "parent # 1" and "parent # 2", and anyone can lose their job just because openly express his condemnation of the sin of Sodom, or even publicly read the corresponding text from the Bible, as it happened with one of the pastors in one of the European countries Unfortunately, in our country, too, millions of believers - Orthodox, representatives of other Christian confessions, Muslims, Jews - are forced to accept the fact that the money they earn in the form of taxes is used to finance abortions. A dangerous conflict is created between the moral principles that a person adheres to and the practice that he must, as a citizen, follow. That is why in such complex issues, the solution of which depends not only on the norms of state law, but also on the requirements of conscience, it is important to achieve a mutually acceptable position for all, which would give people the opportunity to act according to their conscience.

We understand perfectly well that the moral values \u200b\u200band the moral state of society at a particular time period are not the same thing. Let us recall, for example, that in the Time of Troubles the moral state of society was so deplorable that it took an especially nationwide feat for the Lord to bow His mercy to our people and the country to gain freedom and independence. And yet, even at that time, the moral ideals of the Orthodox people were the gospel ideals and therefore were inviolable, although not always fulfilled. Then, four centuries ago, His Holiness Patriarch Hermogenes was able to awaken the people's conscience, with his speeches and messages urging his compatriots to stand firm in the Orthodox faith and preserve spiritual traditions, as well as Prince Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin, who managed to assemble a militia of patriotic people.

Today, solidarity efforts of the state, representatives of religious traditions and public organizations are needed to preserve and establish unchanging spiritual and moral guidelines in people's lives. The role of culture in strengthening moral values \u200b\u200bin people's life is very important. The Russian Orthodox Church actively cooperates in this direction with other Orthodox Churches and with Christians of other confessions.

Declaration, signed by me jointly with the head of the Roman Catholic Church as a resultmeeting in February 2016 in Havana, demonstrated our determination to act together on the most pressing issues of our time: family and marriage issues, attitudes towards abortion and euthanasia, the use of biomedical reproductive technologies, understanding of human rights and freedoms.

http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/5136032.html

With all the difference in cultures and traditions, we all have a common moral feeling inherent in us by God, each of us has a voice of conscience, which we, Christians, call the voice of God. Beliefs of different religions may differ markedly, but as soon as we move to the level of axioms, to the level of moral values, most religious traditions demonstrate the coincidence of views. I am convinced that a moral consensus is the only possible universal basis for the peaceful coexistence of different cultures and peoples in the modern world, if you like, a condition for the survival of a pluralistic human civilization, in which, in addition to this consensus, rooted not in the sphere of ideas, not in the sphere of ideology, but in the very nature of man created by God, it is impossible to find another basis for the formation of a system of values \u200b\u200bthat could satisfy everyone. In other words, any intellectual, cultural source, be it science or even tradition, be it other important manifestations of social consciousness, cannot satisfy the human race, because in one place it will be accepted with a bang, in another - it will face indifference, and in the third, rejection. Therefore, the basis for a moral consensus can only be that which is the organic basis of human unity, and this organic basis is the very nature of man, man himself. God was pleased to put a moral sense in a person, and wherever you are - in Moscow, New York or Papua New Guinea - the moral sense of a person works the same way, although people who defend the natural origin of morality and link morality to the influence of the environment, assure that there are some differences. But all those differences that are cited as evidence of the absence of a common moral feeling relate to issues of secondary importance, associated with rituals, with the peculiarities of culture, etc. Actually, moral feelings, so remarkably expressed in the Ten Commandments, are inherent in the entire human race. Therefore, only from this feeling, from this community that unites all people on the face of the Earth, and it is possible to build a universal human consensus, and on its basis to build other buildings that can cement the relations of people living in different countries, with different cultures and often different goal-setting.

At the same time, it is obvious that for the Church the concept of “moral” is always associated not only with a common human understanding of goodness, conscience, justice, etc., but with their highest manifestations, which are revealed to us in the Holy Gospel. Speaking about moral values, Orthodox believers always mean striving for moral ideals, moral perfection of the Beatitudes: love for neighbors up to love for enemies, readiness for self-denial and self-sacrifice, humility, meekness and patience, mercy and peacemaking, achievement of purity of heart. But all these highest Christian commandments are organically linked to the very moral consensus that I have just mentioned. In Christianity, the moral theme reaches its apogee and provides people with the opportunity to see what is the true moral ideal of human life.

Report of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill at the opening of the XXVI International Christmas Educational Readings http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/5136032.html

When we talk about moral values \u200b\u200band the future of mankind, the connection of these concepts draws our attention primarily to young people, to upbringing and the education system. After all, the future is being shaped today, primarily in the minds and hearts of the younger generation. This year begins the Decade of Childhood, announced by the Decree of the President of Russia. In this regard, it is once again appropriate to recall the importance of protecting and supporting family values. Meanwhile, there are still many problems in this area. Many of them are quite solvable if there is a desire and political will.

Today, from time to time, there are initiatives that oppose the protection of children's rights to the interests of the family. Instead of norms based on family and moral values \u200b\u200btraditional for the peoples of our countries, solutions are proposed that copy foreign approaches to family politics. Legislation, the economic environment, the taxation system, the development of education and health systems - all this is intended to support families, especially young ones, to promote the upbringing of children in a spirit of love, peace and respect for tradition.

One cannot, of course, fail to mention the problem of abortion. Through the joint efforts of the Church, the state and public institutions, much has been done to reduce the scale of this truly national disaster and to think over mechanisms for solving the problem. I would especially like to note the positive experience of creating a network of crisis pregnancy centers, which are already saving many children's lives. These centers began to be created in the Church, and now we know that they are actively being established by the state as well. The position of the Church on the issue of abortion remains unchanged: human life is a gift from God, and therefore it must be protected from the moment it began, that is, from conception, and until natural biological death.

Report of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill at the opening of the XXVI International Christmas Educational Readings http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/5136032.html

On heredity and spirituality of the human race (on spiritual heredity)

We know that everything that we have as people, as individuals, is formed not only due to the influence of the environment on us, but also due to what is invested in our nature. We call this heredity. By heredity, certain properties, qualities, even external features are transmitted to us - children are similar to parents. And this happens because in every cell of our body there is one molecule called DNA, and this molecule contains information related to the life of previous generations. We call this hereditary information. And if DNA is destroyed or changed, colossal damage will be caused to the human body. A person will lose his connection with previous generations, with his father, with his mother, his personality will be destroyed, in a sense, history will be destroyed. Likewise, books: they convey information from the past to us, they are carriers of a certain heredity. And how dangerous it is to destroy or alter the DNA molecules in a human cell, it is just as dangerous to destroy the spiritual code of the human race. In the best books this code is captured, and one of them was a book called "The Apostle."

May God grant that even today, while reading books or perceiving information through television and the Internet, both children and adults are able to answer the question: does this book and this information destroy my spiritual heredity, do they tear me away from my life? parents, from the life of our ancestors? And if the answer is yes, that this book violates this heredity, it is better to put it aside, it is better not to read it. Because it is very important for all of us, in order to be strong as an individual, as a country and as a people, to maintain this spiritual connection with the historical past, in which the cultural and spiritual image of our people was formed.

The words of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill at the children's holiday "Day of the Orthodox Book" in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior on March 12, 2015

On moral values \u200b\u200bas the basis of the foundations of people's life

I am deeply convinced that in order to move forward, to successfully develop further, we first of all need to clearly understand what is the core of the traditional principle in the life of our people. The basis of the foundations of all people's life has always been and remain the values \u200b\u200barising from the God-given moral nature of man, recognizable by conscience and rationally expressed in Divine revelation. It is on these values, which carry, according to Nikolai Aleksandrovich Berdyaev, a reflection of the Divine light, that the great Russian culture is based.

Answers of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill to the Questions of the Participants of the First Forum "From Heart to Heart"

About traditional values

What do we mean when we talk about traditional values? Traditional, or rather, eternal values \u200b\u200bare the values \u200b\u200bof faith, love, duty, responsibility, solidarity. These are values \u200b\u200bthat go back to the pre-Christian idea of \u200b\u200bnatural moral norms that are not established by people and therefore do not depend on the specific conditions of social life. These are the norms that God put into human nature. And after all, no one can refute the idea of \u200b\u200bobjective morality, independent of external circumstances. The statement that morality was formed as a result of an evolutionary process, including political, cultural, does not correspond to the truth. "Thou shalt not kill" sounds the same for a Papuan, for an American, and for a Russian. And if cultural evolution determined the moral nature of man, then there would be no common human values \u200b\u200bthat people of liberal views love to talk about so much. The very concept of universal human values \u200b\u200bdraws our attention to the divine nature of morality. And if a person is created in accordance with this Divine plan, then the destruction of the moral principle is the destruction of the human person. That is why I say that the moral law does not go back to Christianity or Islam. It goes back to the very first steps of human civilization, because the moral law is inscribed by God in the human heart. This law is indeed inscribed in the very structure of the universe, and therefore to reject it means to embark on a path leading to destruction of both the individual and society.

Nowadays, we are increasingly faced with a system of beliefs that puts an isolated individual at the center of the universe and considers any of his actions and preferences as equally acceptable - as long as they do not harm others, that is, as long as the law is being fulfilled. And then we exclaim: what to do with crime, what to do with corruption? Do nothing if the insides are rotten. No law can stop this crime. Experiments with morality turn into social instability, conflicts, an increase in crime, all that nightmare from which modern society suffers. You cannot blame the carriage if the locomotive is damaged. There will be no forward movement. This does not mean that there is no need to improve the legislative system - this is absolutely the right way. But this work must go together, hand in hand with the moral education of the individual and society.

It is safe to say that someone who shares such relativistic beliefs about morality literally can't see beyond their nose.

Word of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill at the Christmas Party in the Moscow Kremlin

Today, the denial of values \u200b\u200bhas become one of the most dangerous manifestations of the forces of spiritual destruction. In this situation, the protection of values \u200b\u200bis the protection of our spiritual sovereignty.

Cyril, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. About solidarity society // Seven words about the Russian world / Comp. A.V. Shchipkov. M., 2015.S. 32-47.

About what the Church is doing in order for spiritual values \u200b\u200bto prevail in a person over material ones.

• On the one hand, material consumption is a natural tendency of a person: if a person does not take care of material consumption, he will perish. This need is inherent in our instincts - we must eat, drink, dress, take care of the continuation of the human race. This is all connected with human survival, and in no case can the Church take some kind of aloof, moralizing position: "you know, don't think about all this." Especially today, when there are still so many poor people in our societies, when it comes to the fact that people are malnourished when they do not have enough money for the most basic things. I am not even talking about a full-fledged education, medical care, good rest, cultural life ... And therefore the Church today cannot say: "You know, this is all bad." But what has the Church opposed, is and will oppose? She opposes what the holy fathers called "the lust of the flesh" - this is when consumption becomes the dominant feature of human life. Then lust (and lust is a disease, this is a violation of the internal balance) becomes dominant in a person. Such a person only cares about the material, the spiritual dimension leaves. It is very important that a person, especially a modern one, remembers the amazing words of the Savior: What is the use of a person if he gains the whole world and destroys his soul? (see Matthew 16:26). You need to write in gold letters and hang these words in every room, especially in the dressing rooms of some rich people. After all, what is the use of a person - to gain the whole world, but to destroy his soul?
• That is why the Church should put everything in its place in the minds of people, and it should say all this very naturally, with love, without standing back, not teaching people who sometimes live in poverty, but proclaim spiritual values \u200b\u200bin solidarity with poor people ... Then no one will accuse us of hypocrisy, of hypocrisy, but people will pay attention to the preaching of the Church.
• The sermon that we just talked about today is of great importance for the survival of the entire human civilization, because consumer psychology, "lust of the flesh" are not viable - they destroy the spiritual dimension of human life, which means they turn man into an animal.

Interview of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to Ukrainian TV journalists, July 19, 2010

MESSENGER: HOW THE IMRIVES INTO A MAN Obsession, the holy fathers believed, can be of two types. There is obsession in its extreme manifestations, when a demon dwells in a person as a second person, and the personality of the possessed person is in a depressed state. But the state of a person whose will is enslaved by passions, the saints also called obsession. Moreover, these two types can be just different forms of obsession. Saint righteous john Kronstadtsky, observing a huge number of people, noted: "Demons enter ordinary people by their simplicity ... In educated and intelligent people, the evil spirit takes over in a different form, and it is much more difficult to fight it." In addition, in our everyday life passions often capture us, and sometimes make us uncontrollable. A striking and very common example of this is irritation. Therefore, as long as the devil has something of his own in our being, we are more or less subject to him, which means that we are also possessed in a sense. Through sin our soul is opened to demonic influence! The entry of the devil into the human soul can be compared to the entry of pathogenic bacteria into the human body. If a person is physically insufficiently protected, has a weak immunity, then he is open to the penetration of various microbes and viruses into him, the consequence of such an entry is illness. Likewise, the devil, when a person's soul has no protection, gains access to it. But what is the protection of the human soul, its immunity, an obstacle for demons, and by virtue of what can it lose this protection? While a person may slowly but stubbornly improve, while his spirit is directed to God, while the falls are followed by sincere repentance - he is in the sphere of God's action and in spiritual security, but when sin becomes a habit, when the whole being of a person becomes subject to some passion - he loses the protective covering of Divine grace. He is deprived not because the Lord punishes the guilty one: the Lord always loves a person, is always ready to help him. But this is precisely the height and oneness of God's love for man, that the Creator respects the freedom of His creation. And the person himself chooses with whom he wants to be: with God or with the devil. A person is only required to turn to God, heart, thought, whole soul, and accept all that the Lord offers him. However, if a person turns away from God, he inevitably comes into contact with Satan, the third is not given: in everything good and beautiful - God, in the opposite (even if at first glance it is attractive) - the devil. Sin is our choice in favor of the devil, sinning, as it were, we turn our hearts to Satan. And this is the result of our free choice. In sin, a person, like Adam and Eve once did, refuses the gifts of God, leaves, hides from Him and opens up to the influence of demons. Now, not God, but the devil has an influence on a person and gains access to his soul. In the Gospel we find vivid characteristics of the relationship between man and the devil, into which the sinner enters. The Savior, addressing the Jews who questioned Him, once said: "Your father is the devil." What did the Savior mean? Just as to be “sons of God” means to belong to the heavenly world, to be close to God, so to be “children of the devil” means to have close, direct communication with him. From the earthly father, children receive education, character traits, an attitude to life, but, above all, they receive being itself from the father. Likewise, God's children are like their Heavenly Father because they live His life. People who have turned to evil, in their sins, also resemble the devil as their father, because from him they receive their sinful being and live his life. Repeatedly the Savior compares the devil's dwelling in the soul of a sinner with the life of a master in his home. A person ceases to be master of himself, someone else controls his soul and body. The owner is free to do whatever he wants with his house: he can clean up and repair it, or he can destroy it. Proceeding from the fact that the essence of the devil is evil, that he is incapable of creation, but only of destruction - there is no doubt what the devil will do, being the master of the soul. This is what St. John Chrysostom: "Demons, once they have taken possession of the soul, treat it so vile and insulting, as is characteristic of the crafty, passionately desiring our shame and death." And St. Basil the Great explains this passionate desire of Satan in such an interesting way: realizing his powerlessness in the struggle against God, the devil seeks to take revenge on Him, at least by inclinating the image of God - man to sin. The Apostle Paul says about sinners that the devil "caught them in his own will." They are like birds caught in the trap, the hunter who caught them can do whatever he wants with them - they are in his power. Thus, a person who has been seduced by the devil's bait (this bait is the deceptive sweetness of sin) finds himself in his net. "Only birds," St. Innocent of Kherson correctly remarks, "rush about, trying to escape from captivity, but we are rare." “The kingdom of God is within you,” says the Savior. This means that not only after death, but now we can join the Kingdom of Heaven, acquire it in our hearts. The kingdom of God is within us - this is, according to St. Simeon the New Theologian, "when God is with us in unity." But it is in our power to create in ourselves both the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil. They enter the Kingdom of God through perfection in virtues and the knowledge of God, into the kingdom of the devil - “through being rooted in vices” (St. John Cassian). And just as it is in our power to open our soul before God and to admit Divine grace into it, or to remain closed to him, so it is in our power to either let the devil into our heart, or to prevent him. “The devil dwells in possessed people because these people have attracted evil spirits to themselves: they themselves have prepared in themselves a dwelling for the devils - swept and cleaned; by their unrepentant sins instead of the dwelling place of God they are made a repository of an unclean spirit, ”says St. John Damascene. This is also confirmed by St. Theophan the Recluse: “Our inner is always concluded; The Lord Himself stands outside and knocks to open the door. How does it open? Empathy, disposition, consent. Whoever has all this leaning towards Satan, he enters into that ... That Satan enters, and not the Lord, man himself is to blame for this. " Real life examples fully confirm this pattern. It is important to note that hardly any of the priests are skeptical about the possibility of the devil's instilling in a person, since it is to them, to the temple, that people come to tell about the mysterious and frightening phenomena that they had to face. Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko, a famous priest who lived in the 19th century, has collected a number of typical examples of demonic possession in his book Spiritual World. Here are some of them. It is important for us that all these examples illustrate the fact: obsession is not necessarily a consequence of extraordinary sins and threatens people who find themselves in some special situation; most often one has to deal with the instillation of the devil when the most ordinary person becomes ossified in the most banal vices. For example, a village father tells about what happened in a peasant family belonging to his parish. The woman, the mistress of the house, was famous for her gloomy disposition and grumpiness, she was constantly seen swearing with someone. It is not surprising that after one of these quarrels, when she shouted at the neighbour's children for a minor offense, terrible things began to happen to her, about which her husband said in horror: “My wife was so furious that it’s scary to approach her.” In another case, the reason that gave the devil access to the soul was that many consider not only not a sin, but, on the contrary, a positive feature, namely a light, frivolous attitude to life. Two girls have chosen the grave of one very sinful person as a place to "rest". When they got drunk, they started jumping over the grave and ... dancing. When the girls returned home from the cemetery, they started screaming and making inhuman sounds. Not knowing what to do in such a situation, the girls were locked in a separate room and a priest was called. If children were in their place, there would be no harm to them, but they were adults, conscientious people ... I must say that there are cases of obsession with children, and at that age when they are not yet responsible for their actions, which means they are not may be guilty of the devil's possession in them. Of course, all this remains a mystery: why the Lord sometimes allows demons to dwell in an innocent creature, but there is still logic here: most likely, this happens to the children of especially sinful people. As a child of drug addicts or alcoholics suffers as a result of the sins of his parents, so the soul of a baby may be left to the devil because of the inappropriate behavior of his parents. Just as in the case of drug-addicted parents, there is no mystical punishment from God, but the laws of spiritual life are in effect. The child develops in the atmosphere that he sees around him, he does not know anything else. If there is an atmosphere of holiness in the family, then the child learns from birth to communicate with God, learns to pray and a kind, bright life. It is not for nothing that among holy parents and children often become famous saints (remember at least St. Sergius of Radonezh). But if the devil dwells in the souls of the parents, then the child gets used to sin and his soul is open to demons. Let me give you an incident that happened to us a few years ago, when our whole family was vacationing in the south. We were returning home from the beach by trolley bus. At the next stop, a fairly young man and a woman with children - a girl of about six and a boy of about the same age - entered the trolleybus. Parents were clearly alcoholics, they talked rudely among themselves, laughed at some vulgar jokes. The girl, having shoved everyone, sat down with her brother (or friend) next to us and began to behave so boorishly and vulgarly that Father Constantine had to ask her to behave at least quieter. Then something unexpected happened. The girl turned to us, her face contorted with anger, and she began to shout in a hoarse, shrill voice that she had seen Father Constantine in the church, began to grimace and imitate the actions of the priests. We were dressed completely in beach style, nothing betrayed us a special involvement in the church, moreover, we arrived in this resort town the other day, and Fr. Konstantin had not yet appeared in the church. And from the screams of the girl it was clear that she really did not know anything. The mother tried to silence the girl, as the whole bus looked in surprise at the literally raging child, but she could not, and the whole family got off the trolleybus. And in particular danger are children whose parents are either engaged in occult sciences, or they turn to those who are engaged in these people (for example, they carry a sick child to grandmothers to help in a magical way). So, deigning to sin, we place ourselves (and possibly our children) at the disposal of the devil, who penetrates into the soul and is fixed there as we become rooted in sin. And the holy fathers noted that sin enters the soul not at once, but in stages, passing through the stages of development from an extraneous, external impulse knocking into the soul, to the master's disposal of it. about. Konstantin Parkhomenko