P. S. And this is a little oasis for those who love quotes (let them rest a bit before moving on to the next method of proving). We say (often repeat this thought) that there are very few Christians, and that Christians are anointed by the Holy Spirit, not just baptized with water, they are conceived by God, that is, those who have received the seed (seed) of Eternal Life (that is, the Holy Spirit) in the womb of the heart-hypostasis. Let us listen to what the Great God-seer of the Church of Christ, St. Macarius the Great, says about this: “A person does not immediately, upon hearing the word of God (enters the school of the catechumens – V. A.), becomes worthy of the good part (the Holy Spirit). To assert the opposite is to take away a person’s will and deny the existence of the opposing force that fights against the mind. We say that the one who hears the word, comes to tenderness and then begins to train (lead an ascetic way of life – V. A.) and learn in the struggle, to fight and strive against Satan; and after a long struggle and battle receives victory (enters the state of ultimate God-receptive humility – V. A.) and becomes a CHRISTIAN (dares to be a strict follower of Christ; enters into marriage with Christ and follows Him, as the bride, wherever He goes!)” (Word 27: 20). (Christians (anointed by the Holy Spirit) become not after water baptism, but after baptism by the Holy Spirit!). In another Word, Macarius the Great says: “The one who has received grace considers himself the greatest sinner; and such a thought is planted in him as natural (the state of essence – humility – the gift of grace); and the deeper he enters into the knowledge of God (Who is Humility and Meekness), the more he considers himself ignorant; the more he learns, the more he admits himself to know nothing. This accompanying grace creates in the soul, as a natural state (as something natural)” (Word 16: 12). “Experienced before God themselves recognize themselves as very small and extremely unnecessary (knowing and understanding nothing), and for them, it has become natural and immutable to consider themselves low, or even nothing (worthless, nothingness). Do they not know that they have been given what they did not have, and have acquired something extraordinary for their essence? I tell you, they do not recognize themselves as experienced and achieving success (becoming better), do not know that they have acquired what they did not have. The grace that descends upon them teaches them to consider their soul unworthy and recognize themselves as worth nothing. And being precious before God – they are not so themselves. In their success in spiritual life (acquisition of the Holy Spirit) and knowledge of God, they recognize themselves as nothing significant, and rich before God themselves seem poor (poor) to themselves” (Word 27: 4, 5). (For example, Abraham (God’s chosen one, the father of all believers) says that he is dust and ashes (Gen. 18:27), David (the prophet) says that he is a worm, not a man (Ps. 22:7). And all the saints after the experience of God-seeing thought of themselves so humbly and saw, and heard themselves as nothing. This is not humble speech, but humble wisdom, which naturally arises in all essence (and not only in the mind – because it is necessary to think or speak so – these are empty, foolish words if there are no deeds of repentance) from the zealous fulfillment of God’s commandments! Therefore, the saints (humble) did not deceive, did not engage in humble speech, but were in a healthy state (hypostatic loving mode of existence)).
“If you see that someone exalts (prides) himself on being a partaker of grace, then even if he works miracles, and raises the dead, but if he does not recognize his soul as unworthy and wretched, and himself as poor in spirit, and abominable
– he is robbed by malice and does not know it himself. If he works miracles – do not trust him, because the sign of Christianity
– for those who are experienced before God, to strive to hide it from people, and if he has all the treasures of the king, to hide them and always say: this is not my treasure, another put it in me; and I am poor;
when the one who put it wants, he will take it from me. But if someone says: I am rich, I have enough of what I have acquired, I do not need more, then such a one is NOT A CHRISTIAN, but a vessel of delusion (pride) and the devil. Because the enjoyment of God is insatiable, and the more one consumes and partakes, the more one becomes hungrier and thirstier. Such people have zeal (fervor) and unquenchable love for God; the more they try to grow in spiritual life and acquire, the more they recognize themselves as poor (poor), in everything destitute and having acquired nothing. They say: I am not worthy for this sun to shine on me. This is the sign of Christianity, this is humility” (Word 15: 35).
Method III. In this method of proof, we will show how over time (with the cooling, extinguishing of the Fire of Pentecost, with the decrease of Spirit-bearers and the increase of formally baptized, “catechumens”) the attitude in the church towards war (defensive, holy liberation, etc.), killing in war, military service, killing in general changed. “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). Usually, this quote is in the arsenal of every priest (steward) who speaks before people in uniform, before warriors during war. It has become so common that the topic “Christianity and military service” does not go without these words. However, in the history of the ancient Church, the idea of military (and war) service was not so simply aligned with this quote. (Below we will dwell in detail on the essence of this quote and show that it has nothing to do with military service and war). How to reconcile this quote with the strict prohibition of the Decalogue: “Do not kill!”? The imperative of the Old Testament law does not provide for any “but”. The commandments given to Moses by God are absolute (by the way, it is impossible to fulfill them (the Lord raised this bar even higher when He pointed to the spirit of the commandment: whoever is angry with his brother is a murderer (Matt. 5-7 chapters)!), they only need to be zealously attempted to fulfill (“learn them (statutes and laws – V. A.), try to fulfill them…” (Deut. 5:1) – see in detail I, II ch.)24. The commandments “do not commit adultery”, “do not steal”, “do not bear false witness against your neighbor”, “do not covet” – unambiguous axioms. However, the sixth commandment itself historically received its relational (relative, conditional) continuation: “do not kill!”, but if someone lays down his life for his friends, there is no greater love than this. Then the question arises: is the sixth commandment absolute in its nature, or does it concern only a certain kind of murder? Does it concern everyone, or can we talk about exceptions: the obedience of a soldier (warrior) to the commander’s order, self-defense, a just war? These questions did not have unambiguous answers in the history of the early Church.