(The freezing person wants peace – but the Church, on the contrary, jolts (jerks) them, wakes them up, so they do not fall asleep – because they will freeze! Instead of an analgesic – it causes, induces pain, shock (e.g., electric shock), so the body begins to fight and the ‘owner’ of it comes to their senses! Therefore, people, not understanding what is happening, leave the Church – because they receive not what they are looking for. A hungry person says: leave me alone, I am fine, I am full!? Therefore, first such dreamers need to be brought to their senses, causing the pain of hunger, thirst, cold, orphanhood – and then, at their request, from their free will, give them Food (Eucharist), Water (the Holy Spirit), Warmth (the Grace of the Holy Spirit), Adoption (introducing them to the stream of Divine Life). Thus, the process of proclamation (see Chapter I) presupposes theory (so that the person knows what is happening to them, and what signs of correct healing-growth are) and, most importantly, practice (which gives the proclaimed the opportunity to feel thirst, hunger, poverty… as much as possible in Old Testament conditions)).
In such a perspective, the Gospel ‘commandments’ of the beatitudes become clear: blessed are those who still feel hunger, thirst, their poverty, destitution… because only such can receive Food, Drink, Wealth, which has already been given to them. Therefore, it is said: blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven, not ‘will be’ – they are already in the Kingdom of God (e.g., the one who is underwater is surrounded by water from all sides, but until they want to drink – will die of thirst; and it is enough for them to want to quench their thirst, having previously felt it, and open their mouth, as water will enter their belly; no need to go anywhere – everything is given – take and drink).
Another category of people are those who seem to listen, and they seem to have some interest, some thirst for the truth. But looking closer, it turns out that they are looking in the Gospel for a more perfect religion, systematized compendiums of rules what can be done and what cannot. Such people approach listening to the Gospel with religious prejudices – that is, Christianity for them is one of the religions. Therefore, these people do not realize that the Lord founded a completely different reality than what they want to find: not a religion, but the Church. What is the difference between them? Colossal: as between God and man! Religion (as the restoration of the connection with God by human efforts) implies the service of man to God, that is, man brings a sacrifice to God. The Church (restoration of connection by God’s power) – is when God serves man, God brings a sacrifice to man! Such people approach the Gospel as a collection of moral commandments, canons, rules, and, finding nothing new for themselves (moral commandments in all religions are almost identical), – leave or remain in the role of a model religious Christian and have no idea (because they do not want or cannot listen to the Good News) that the Lord has abolished religion (made it unnecessary in the Kingdom of God; the law for Christians is dust, impurities – as says the Apostle of Freedom), that is, from now on not man serves God, but God serves man, not man brings a sacrifice, but God offers Himself in sacrifice to man! Christians experience this in a special way (live through) each Eucharistic Liturgy, at which the Kingdom of God is actualized, the participants of which become the faithful. The essence of the Liturgy (Eucharist) is beautifully depicted in the fragment of a verbal icon of Jesus Christ – washing of feet at the Last Supper: ‘If I do not wash you – says the Lord to Peter, – you will have no part with me’, that is, if you do not allow Me to serve you, you will not enter Eternal Life! But we have so petrified in the prejudices (superstitions) of religiosity (reunion with God by our own forces, our good deeds, pleasing God by fulfilling his laws…) and cannot hear the Gospel in the global inertia of religiosity: ‘… the time is coming when you will worship the Father, and not on this mountain, and not in Jerusalem (and not in this temple or cathedral, and not in another with its rituals and ceremonies – V.A.), … the time will come, and is now, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such worshipers the Father seeks for Himself. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.’ Thus, Christianity is not a religion (worship on a certain mountain, according to certain rules and a peculiar ritualism) – it is the Church, in which its members in the Spirit and Truth receive the service of God – the High Priest and the Sacrifice, the One Who offers the sacrifice and offers Himself, receives and distributes…
We only dream of being served, of being loved, of being indulged! And why then do we not become members of the Body of the Church, where our dream can be realized in full. Because on earth – we are required to serve, love, care. But in the Church, it is the other way around – I am at the center of God’s and all Saints’ attention and care. And why do we want this (Happiness), wish for it and not come to the Church, where only our good wishes can be realized?! Only because we do not understand the Gospel, this good news of the Church. And we do not understand because we try to understand the Gospel without the Church, that is, we do not ask the community, which Lives the Gospel (living people – communicants of the Holy Spirit), read the Bible (a verbal icon, not understanding the meaning of symbols!) on our own, consider the rites of worship (form), rituals – and make erroneous conclusions. The Church did not invent new religious forms, but took those that existed (e.g., baptism, see Chapter I) and filled them with new, absolutely new content. A similar situation with theology – the words are the same in form, but the semantics are different! And we, hearing in the mouth of the Church the word about commandments, rules, canons, typicon (a book of worship samples), ceremonies… (what we want to hear, we hear), – we leave and seek simpler religions, and do not hear the Gospel – our resurrection in Christ. Asceticism in the Church has a diametrically opposite meaning and purpose than in religion! The task of asceticism is not to earn the Kingdom of God, but to gratefully accept the Gift: found a precious treasure in the field (of one’s own heart – V.A.) – we undertake joyful labor to sell everything and buy this field; the leaven of the Holy Spirit thrown into the flesh of our existence – we undertake joyful labor of patience until everything sours; the seed of eternity, sown in the soil of our hearts – we undertake joyful labor to receive the early and late rain… (The essence of asceticism in Christianity: at least swallow what was chewed and put into your mouth, or: take, that is, open your hands, unclench (open) your fists, to freely accept the Gift that is given to you, precisely already given; but by no means: want to eat – go earn it – everything must be understood spiritually, allegorically). And we only hear commandments and asceticism in a religious sense and do not hear the Joyful News, that we are already saved, deified, already dwell in the depths of the Holy Trinity, forever united with God in the hypostasis of Jesus Christ, God became solidary with us in everything (except sin), so that we might share His Life, God became man, so that man might become God – became by grace one of the Trinity… All this is already given, already accomplished – and who among us comes to take, receive the Gift?! ‘Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,’ says the Lord. Or: ‘Whoever is thirsty, come to