Thus, the essence of spiritual life is to understand God’s will about me (and about all) here and now (in each specific situation—local in the context of space and time, which in turn is global—in the context of eternity) and try to merge my will with the will of God. And all this requires great knowledge of Orthodox theology, discretion (to the extent of each), and primarily—parish, Eucharistic Church life (more details below—our humble efforts are dedicated to this).
A man said: “Love God and do what you want.”
“Love!..” Thus formalities can be, and often are, deadly for the unestablished spirit. But freedom without canonical forms is also dangerous: “For freedom Christ has set us free, brothers, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh.”
Non-church people often ask: why is everything so complicated in the Church: dogmas that “nobody” understands, canons, rules, prescriptions, just for the conduct of worship services more than twenty thick books are needed? And, considering this question rhetorical, they answer, without hearing the Church’s reply: it’s very simple, the main thing—the Ten Commandments of Moses, the “sermon on the mount” of Jesus Christ (in a moralizing, literal reading), and all else—frames, decoration, which may not be there. As soon as such considerations are heard, know—here is spiritual emptiness, darkness, and absolute ignorance of Christianity (Orthodoxy).
Who says that he does not need theology (we are not talking about pagan theology, as a word about gods, but about Christian—Orthodox)—it is for specialists, let them deal with it, theologize,
— my main thing is to pray,—whoever thinks so, is in great delusion. “If you are a theologian—your prayer is true, if your prayer is true—you are a theologian”—the law of spiritual life, revealed by the holy fathers. So what kind of prayer can there be, if I not only do not ponder theologically, creatively on the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God, but do not even need theology?! The essence of spiritual life—prayer! And now we wonder (this is from pride), why such a lack of spirituality in the church, and why almost no one talks about spirituality. What to say about the “flock”, if the “shepherds” do not rise in their “contemplations” above the Ten Commandments of Moses, the moral code of the law, even about theology at the level of ratio almost no one to talk to!!! Where there is no theology—there is no spiritual life, at most pagan morality (morality [that is, the culture of external forms of behavior], which is not a consequence of correct spiritual life [in the Holy Spirit], but is the goal of life—fleshly, often demonic! Examples below). Yes! Theology as reflection on the revelation of the Mystery of the Kingdom of God, the Mysteries of the Church, the Mysteries of Salvation, and other mysteries of personal, hypostatic existence, requires great efforts, to the extent possible for each (one, two, five talents…).
“The Kingdom of God is taken by force, and those who make effort obtain it.” (Detailed about spiritual life in the second and subsequent parts—V.A.)
“Know the truth…” God calls. The truth is always antinomical (mutually exclusive concepts are simultaneously true), non-trivial, non-obvious. For example: Jesus Christ—God? – God! Jesus Christ—man? – Man! So, God or man? Both simultaneously—God-man,—the Divine Hypostasis of the Son, in which two natures—Divine and human—are united inseparably, unchangeably, indivisibly, and undividedly!
God—one? – Yes! Father—God? – Yes! Son—God? – Yes! Holy Spirit—God? – Yes! So—one God or three Gods?
This non-trivial truth about the Holy Trinity can be briefly explained as follows: God—Personality in three Hypostases, which, Living in Love, give a trinitarian mode of existence to the single Divine essence.
Or another example of simultaneously true “yes!” and “no!”: Are sins forgiven in baptism? – Yes! Are sins forgiven in baptism? – No! I understand your reaction (and we will insist on the second statement below), because you are used to hearing the “stamp” in the form of the first statement with the addition of “all” (sins are forgiven). And so that you do not expend energy and calories in searching for stones (to stone the blasphemer, who speaks about
the sacred in a way not told to us in church by the “law teachers”) or wood (to burn the heretic, who speaks such that does not fit in our fleshly minds, and needs to be silenced, cease stirring [stirring—V.A.] people up), better strive to find out, after all, what the conversation is about, what this short phrase says, what is it: sin forgiven in baptism? To understand this phrase, you need to know the semantic load of three words: what is sin? what does forgive, forgiveness mean? and what is baptism, and what happens in baptism? (Below we will thoroughly discuss this statement). From the posing of these three brief questions, one can see with the naked eye that to say “yes” or “no,” much effort is required, and we, often without fully understanding, without hearing arguments, label—heretic! heresy!