The providence of God is the constant care of the Creator for everything that He has created. To a person who is inattentive and leads an absent-minded lifestyle, it seems that everything is going on as usual. All events are the result of a coincidence. It seems to such a frivolous person that God, if He exists, is somewhere far away in the sky, that He is not interested in our world, since this world is too small and insignificant in the eyes of God. People who think this way are what are called deists. The deistic teaching about God has become especially widespread in the West in recent centuries, when people began to lose living contact with God in the Church, the sacraments and prayer. Such people are usually at the same time superstitious. They attach great importance to the influence of stars on human life, they monitor all sorts of stupid things, for example: so that the cat does not cross the road, so as not to spill salt on the table, not to say hello across the threshold, not to sleep with your feet towards the door, and so on. For some superstitious people, the number of such signs reaches a huge number. But in vain these people only complicate their lives. If you don’t pay attention to all these stupid superstitious signs, then it will be best, because the whole world in general and the life of every person in particular is controlled by God.
The Savior said that even the smallest bird will not fall without the will of God (Matthew 10:29), especially since nothing in our lives can happen apart from His will. Everything good and good is sent by the Lord, for He is the eternal source of all good things. Yet evil is not sent directly by God, for God has no shadow of evil. But the Lord sometimes allows evil to harm us for the sake of our benefit and salvation. In this case, various troubles have the same effect as bitter, unpleasant, but at the same time life-saving medicines. Almost all medications and medical operations are unpleasant for us, but we still resort to them, because we know their benefits and necessity.
All people should firmly know that only God is the source of happiness, peace and bliss. The Lord created the consolations and joys of the visible world for our bodily nature. But a person, using everything with moderation and possessing a rational soul, should not forget God. After all, the soul cannot be satisfied with anything earthly and material. In most cases, it turns out that we satisfy our bodily desires with some kind of insatiability, but completely forget about the soul and its spiritual needs. For our salvation, the Lord allows various sorrows to befall us. Suffering, we begin to understand the vanity of our earthly life, and we turn to God for admonition and help.
While suffering, we must firmly believe that God is infinitely good and that He wants only our eternal happiness. Therefore, we must gratefully accept various trials from Him. After all, children do not stop loving their parents when they punish them, because they feel that their parents are doing this for their own good.
Below we present a number of thoughts and examples of Elder Paisius about the providence of God. These statements of the Elder are especially valuable because they were drawn from his personal experience. The Elder's statements are offered here in the form of questions from his visitors and the Elder's answers.
Bishop Alexander (Mileant)
Questions from visitors and answers from the Elder
- Geronda! (i.e. spiritual father), Abba Macarius says that God will give us heavenly blessings, and we believe in this. Should we also believe that He will give us earthly blessings that are not so essential?
- What earthly goods?
- What we need.
- That's what you said correctly. God loves His creation, His image, and takes care of what it needs.
- Should you believe in this and not worry?
- If a person does not believe in this and strives to acquire these benefits, then he will suffer. But a person who lives spiritually will not be upset even if God does not give him earthly and material things. If we seek first the Kingdom of God, if the search for this Kingdom is our only concern, then everything else will be given to us. Will God abandon His creation to the mercy of fate? If the Israelites left the manna that God gave them in the desert the next day, it began to rot. God arranged it this way so that they would rely on divine providence.
We have not yet understood even the words “seek first the Kingdom of God.” Either we believe or we don’t believe. When I went to live in Sinai, I had nothing with me. However, I didn’t think at all about what would happen to me in the desert among strangers, what I would eat and how I would live. The cell of St. Epistimia, where I was to settle, had long been abandoned, abandoned by people. I didn’t ask the monastery for anything, not wanting to burden it. Once they brought me bread from the monastery, and I returned it back. Why should I worry if Christ said: “Seek first the Kingdom of God.” There was very little water. I didn’t know any handicrafts. Now ask how I lived and how I earned my bread. The only tool I had was there were scissors. I separated them into two halves, sharpened them on a stone, took a board and began to cut out icons. I worked and said the Jesus Prayer. I quickly learned carving, cut the same design all the time and finished five days’ work at eleven o’clock. Not only did not endure hardships, but also helped the Bedouins. At some point, I did this for many hours a day, and then I came to such a state that I did not want to do handicrafts, but at the same time I saw the need that the Bedouins suffered. For them it was It was a great blessing to receive a hat and a pair of sandals as a gift. And I had a thought: “Did I come here to help the Bedouins or to pray for the whole world?” So I decided to cut down on needlework in order to be less distracted and pray more. Do you think I was waiting for someone to help me? Where? The Bedouins themselves had nothing to eat. The monastery was far away, and on the other side there were uninhabited places. But on the very day when I limited my work in order to devote more time to prayer, one person came to me. I was near the cell then, he saw me and said: “Here, take these hundred gold pieces. You will help the Bedouins, and you will follow your routine and pray.” I couldn’t restrain myself, I left him alone for a quarter of an hour and went to his cell. The providence and love of God brought me to such a state that I could not hold back my tears. Do you see how God arranges everything when a person has a good disposition? Because how much could I give to these unfortunate people? I gave it to one, and another immediately came: “My father didn’t give it to me!” - then the third: “My father didn’t give it to me!”
- Geronda, why do we, having felt the omnipotence of God many times, do not see His providence for us?
- This is a devil's trap. The devil throws ashes into a person’s eyes so that he does not see God’s providence. After all, if a person sees the providence of God, then his granite heart will soften, become sensitive and pour out in praise. And this is not good for the devil.
Man often tries to arrange everything without God
“One man started breeding fish and spent all day saying: “Glory to Thee, God!” - because he constantly saw divine providence. He told me that from the moment of its fertilization, when it is still tiny, like a pinhead, there is a sac with liquid, which it feeds on until it grows and becomes capable of independently eating aquatic microorganisms. That is, the fish receives a “packed ration” from God! If God even provides for fish, then how much more does He provide for man! But often a person arranges and decides everything without God. “I,” he says, “will have two children and that’s enough.” He doesn't consider God. This is why so many accidents happen and so many children die. Most families will have two children. But one child is hit by a car, another gets sick and dies, and the parents remain childless.
Blessings of miraculous divine providence
- Sometimes, Geronda, I have some desire, and God fulfills it without my asking Him. How does this happen?
- God cares about us. He sees our needs, our desires, and when something is for our good, He gives it to us. If a person needs help with something, then Christ and the Most Holy Theotokos help him. When Elder Philaret was asked: “How can I help you, Geronda? What do you need?” - he answered: “What I need will be sent to me by the Mother of God.” That's what happened. When we entrust ourselves to the Lord, He, our Good God, watches over us and cares for us. As a good Steward, He gives each of us what we need. It even includes our material needs. And in order for us to understand His care, His providence, He gives us exactly as much as we need. However, do not wait for God to give you anything first; no, first give yourself all to God. Because if you constantly ask God for something, but do not give yourself to Him with trust, then it is clear that you have your own home, and you are a stranger to the eternal heavenly abodes. Those people who give everything to God and wholly surrender themselves to Him are covered by God’s great dome and protected by His divine providence. Trust in God is an endless, mysterious prayer that, at the right moment, silently attracts Divine forces to where they are needed. And then His curious children endlessly praise Him with much gratitude.
When Father Tikhon settled in the Kaliva of the Holy Cross, there was no church in it, which he needed. He didn’t even have money for construction - nothing except great faith in God. One day, after praying, he went to Karyes with the faith that God would help him with the money needed to build a church. On the way to Karyes, the abbot of Ilinsky Skete called him from afar. When Father Tikhon approached him, he said: “One good Christian from America sent these dollars so that I would give them to some ascetic who does not have a temple. You just don’t have a temple, take this money and build ". Father Tikhon shed tears of emotion and gratitude to God, the Knower of the Heart, who took care of the temple even before Father Tikhon asked Him about it - so when he prayed about it, the money was already ready.
If a person trusts God, then God does not leave him. And, indeed: if tomorrow at ten o’clock you need something, then (if this need does not exceed the limits of reason and the thing is really necessary) at fifteen minutes to ten or half past nine God will have it ready to give you. For example, tomorrow at nine you need a mug. It will be with you at five minutes to nine. You need five hundred drachmas per hour, when you need them, exactly five hundred drachmas appear, and not five hundred ten and not four hundred ninety. I noticed that if I, for example, need something tomorrow, then God has taken care of it today. That is, even before I thought about it, God thought about it, He took care of what was necessary in advance and gives it at the hour when it is needed. I realized this by seeing how long it takes for some thing to come to me from somewhere at the very hour when I need it. Therefore, God takes care of this in advance.
When we, out of curiosity, please God with our lives, He gives unenvious blessings to His curious children at the hour when they need them. Then the whole life passes in the blessings of divine providence. I can spend hours giving you examples of God’s wonderful providence.
When I was at war, participating in combat operations, I had the Gospel, and I gave it to someone. Then I said:
“Oh, if I had the Gospel, how it would help me!” For Christmas, two hundred parcels were sent to our unit, which was then in the mountains, from Mesolongi [a city in Central Greece]. Of the two hundred parcels, only the one that I received contained the Gospel! It was an old edition of the Gospel, with a map of Palestine. The parcel also contained a note: “If you need other books, write and we will send them to you.” Another time, when I was already in the Stomion monastery, I needed a lamp for the temple. One morning, at dawn, I went down to Konitsa. Passing by one house, I heard a girl say to her father: “Dad, the monk is coming!” He came out to meet me and said: “Father, I made a vow to donate a lamp to the Mother of God. Take this money and buy it yourself.” And he gave me five hundred drachmas - exactly what the lamp cost in 1958.
Even now, when I have some need, God immediately covers it. For example, if I want to cut firewood and I can’t, then the firewood comes on its own in no time. Before coming to you, I received a parcel containing fifty thousand drachmas - exactly what I needed. Another example: I gave someone the “It Is Worthy to Eat” icon as a blessing. The next day they bring me “Iverskaya”! And this summer, until it rained, I had no water at all. Now it’s only a little splashed, and I take [at most] one and a half cans of water a day. There was still water in the tank from last year, but it had gone rotten. How, however, God arranges everything! I have a barrel of water. Every day so many people come - they drink, wash, they come sweating, and the water level only drops by four to five fingers! One barrel for one hundred and fifty to two hundred people - and it never gets empty! At the same time, some people sometimes open the tap too much, others forget to close it, and the water flows out, but does not end!
Entrusting yourself to divine providence
A person who follows God's blessings learns to make himself dependent on divine providence. And then he already feels like a baby in a cradle, who, as soon as his mother leaves him, starts crying and does not stop until she runs to him again. It is a great thing to entrust yourself to God! When I first came to the Stomion Monastery, I had nowhere to live. The entire monastery was littered with construction debris. I found one corner near the fence, covered it a little from above and spent the night sitting there, because lying down I wouldn’t have fit there. One day a hieromonk I knew came to me and asked: “Listen, how do you live here?” “And what,” I asked him in response, “did the worldly people have more than ours? When Canaris asked for a loan, they told him: “You don’t have a homeland,” then he replied: “We will recapture our homeland.” If such faith existed "A worldly person, shouldn't we have trust in God? Since the Mother of God brought me here, will she really not take care of Her monastery when the time comes?" And, indeed, little by little, because how the Most Holy Theotokos arranged everything! I remember when the craftsmen poured concrete into the ceilings of burnt-out cells, the cement ran out. There was still a third of the floor to be concreted. Craftsmen come up to me and say: “The cement is running out. We need to put more sand and less cement in the concrete in order to concrete everything.” “No,” I told them, “don’t dilute it, continue as you started.” It was impossible to bring more cement because all the mules were in the field. The craftsmen had to walk two hours to Konitsa, then another two hours to the field, to look for mules in the pasture there. How much time they would have lost... And then people had their own affairs, they would not have been able to come another day. I look: two-thirds of the ceiling has been filled. I went into the church and said: “My lady, what now?! I ask you, help us!” Then I left the temple...
- And then what, Geronda?
- And the floors were finished, and there was extra cement left!
- Did the masters understand this?
- How they didn’t understand! How great is the help of God and the Most Holy Theotokos sometimes!
God uses everything for good
- Geronda, sometimes we start something, and a whole bunch of obstacles appear. How can you tell if they are from God?
- Let's see if this is our fault. If we are not guilty, then the obstacle is from God and serves our good. Therefore, there is no need to be upset that the job is not done or is delayed in completion. One day, in a hurry on some urgent matter, I was descending from the Stomion monastery to Konitsa. On one difficult section of the road (I called this place Golgotha) I met a monastic acquaintance, Uncle Anastasy, with three loaded mules. On a steep climb, the pack saddles slid to one side, and one animal was on the very edge of the cliff - about to fall down. "God sent you, father!" - Uncle Anastasy was delighted. I helped him load the mules, then we took them out onto the road. There I left him and continued on my way. A fair portion of the path had already passed when the path ran into a rubble. A large, three hundred meters long, landslide had just occurred, crushing the path. Trees, stones - everything was carried down into the river. If I had not been delayed with the mules, I would have ended up in this place just at the time of the landslide. “Uncle Anastasy,” I said, “you saved me, God sent you.”
Christ sees from above how each of us acts, knows when and how He Himself will act for our good. He knows how and where to lead us, as long as we ask Him for help, open our desires to Him and let Him arrange everything Himself. When I was in the Athos Philotheevsky Monastery, I wanted to go into the desert. I was thinking of retiring to a deserted island and had already arranged for a boatman to come and pick me up, but in the end he didn’t show up. God arranged it this way, because I was still inexperienced and on a deserted island I would have been badly damaged, I would have become a victim of demons there. Then, having failed with the island, I became eager to go to Katunaki. I loved the Katunak Desert, I prayed to be there and prepared for it. I wanted to settle and asceticize next to Elder Peter, a man of high spiritual life. However, an event occurred that forced me to go not to Katunaki, but to Konitsa. One evening after Compline, I retired to my cell and prayed until late. Around eleven o'clock I lay down to rest. At half past two in the morning I was awakened by the knocking on the monastery bell, calling the brethren to the church for the Midnight Office. I tried to get up, but I couldn't. An invisible force bound me, and I was unable to move. I realized that something special was happening. I remained bedridden until noon. I could pray, think, but could not move at all. While in this state, as if on TV, I saw Katunaki on one side, and the Stomion Monastery in Konitsa on the other. With strong desire I fixed my eyes towards Katunak, and then a certain voice clearly said to me:
“You will not go to Katunaki, but to the Stomion Monastery.” It was the voice of the Most Holy Theotokos. “Mother of God,” I said, “I asked You for desert, and You send me into the world?” And I again heard the same voice, sternly telling me: “You will go and meet such and such a person. He will help you a lot.” I immediately freed myself from these invisible bonds, and my heart was filled with Divine Grace. Then I went and told my confessor about what had happened. “This is the will of God,” the confessor told me. “However, don’t tell anyone about this. Say that for health reasons (and I was bleeding at the time) you need to leave Athos, and leave.”
I wanted one thing, but God had His own plan. I thought then that God’s will was for me to revive the monastery in Konitsa. This is how I fulfilled the vow I made to the Mother of God when I was at war. “Mother of God,” I asked Her then, “help me become a monk, and I will work for three years and put Your burnt monastery in order.” But, as it became clear later, the main reason that the Most Holy Theotokos sent me there was the need to help eighty families who had turned to Protestantism return to Orthodoxy.
God often allows things to happen for the benefit of many people. He never does only one good thing, but three or four good things together. And He never allows evil to happen unless much good comes from it. He uses everything: both mistakes and dangers for our benefit. Good and evil are mixed together. It would be good if they were separate, but personal human interests interfere and confuse them with each other. However, God benefits even from this confusion. Therefore, one must believe that God only allows things to happen from which good can come, because He loves His creation. For example, He may allow some small temptation in order to protect us from the temptation of a larger one. Once upon a time, a layman was at a patronal feast in some Svyatogorsk monastery. There he drank and got drunk. On the way back from the monastery, he fell on the road. It began to snow and drifted, but the wine spirit caused a hole to form in the snowdrift above it. A passerby was walking past that place. Seeing a hole in the snow, he said in surprise: “What is this here? Isn’t it a spring?” and hit the hole with a stick. "Ox!" - the drunk shouted. So God did not let him die.
God's blessings make a hole in the heart
- Geronda, what does God want from us?
- God wants our will, our good disposition, manifested, even if only a little, by an honest deed. He also wants us to recognize our sinfulness. He gives everything else. Spiritual life does not require biceps. Let us strive humbly, ask for God’s mercy and thank Him for everything. Over a person who, without any plan of his own, gives himself into the hands of God, God’s plan is fulfilled. As much as a person clings to his “I”, he remains behind. He does not prosper spiritually because he hinders God's mercy. It takes a lot of trust in God to succeed.
At every moment, God caresses the hearts of all people with His love, but we do not feel it, because our hearts are covered with scum. Having cleansed his heart, a person is touched, melts, goes crazy, seeing the benefits and kindness of God, who loves all people equally. For those who suffer, such a person feels pain, for those who lead a spiritual life, he experiences joy. If an inquisitive soul thinks about the good deeds of God alone, then they can lift her up, but what can we say if she thinks about the many of her sins and the many benevolence of God! If a person’s spiritual eyes have been cleansed, then, seeing God’s care [for himself and others], he feels and experiences all divine providence with his sensitive, naked heart, he melts with gratitude, he becomes crazy in the good sense of the word. Because God's gifts, when a person feels them, make a hole in the heart, tear it apart. And then, when, caressing a curious heart, God’s hand touches this gap, a person internally flutters, and his gratitude to God becomes greater. Those who strive, feeling both their own sinfulness and the good deeds of God, and entrust themselves to His great benevolence, elevate their souls to heaven with greater reliability and less physical labor.
Gratitude to God for little and much
“I believe that God will help me,” some say, but at the same time they try to save money so as not to experience any deprivation. Such people mock God because they entrust themselves not to Him, but to money. If they do not stop loving money and placing their hope in it, they will not be able to place their hope in God. I'm not saying that people shouldn't have some savings in case of need, no. But you should not put your hope in money, you should not give your heart to money, because by doing this, people forget God. A person who, not trusting God, makes his own plans, and then says that God wants it that way, “blesses” his work like the devil and is constantly tormented. We have not realized how powerful and good God is. We do not allow Him to be the master, we do not allow Him to control us, and therefore we suffer.
In Sinai, in the cell of St. Epistimia, where I lived, there was very little water. In one cave, about twenty meters from the cell, water was oozing drop by drop from a crevice in the rock. I made a small water collector and collected three liters of water per day. When I came for water, I placed an iron can and, while it was filling, I read an akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos. I wet my head a little, just my forehead, it helped me, as one doctor advised, I took some water to drink, and in a separate jar I put some water for the mice and birds living near my cell. For washing and other needs I used the same water from the cave. What joy, what gratitude I felt for the little water I had! I praised God for having water.
Then, when I arrived at the Holy Mountain and settled for a short time in the Iveron monastery, there, since the side was sunny, there was no shortage of water. There was one tank, the water from which overflowed over the top. Uh! I washed both my hair and my feet, but... the old things were forgotten. In Sinai, tears welled up in my eyes from gratitude for the low water, but here, in the monastery, due to the abundance of water, I fell into forgetfulness. Therefore, I left this cell and settled further away, about eighty meters away, where there was a small cistern. How lost, how forgotten a person is from abundance!
We must completely, unconditionally, entrust ourselves to divine providence, God's will, and God will take care of us. One monk went one evening to the top of the mountain to perform vespers there. Along the way, he found a porcini mushroom and thanked God for this rare find. On the way back, he wanted to cut this mushroom and cook it for dinner. “If the laity begin to ask me if I eat meat,” the monk reasoned in his thoughts, “then I can tell them that I eat every autumn!” Returning to the kaliva, the monk saw that while he was reading Vespers, some animal had stepped on the mushroom, and only half remained intact. “Apparently,” said the monk, “I need to eat so much.” He collected what was left and thanked God for His providence, for half a mushroom. A little lower he found another half a mushroom, bent down to cut it and make up for the lack of it for dinner, but saw that the mushroom was rotten (perhaps it was poisonous). The monk left him and again thanked God for saving him from poisoning. Returning to the kaliva, the monk dined on half a mushroom. The next day, when he left the house, a wonderful sight was revealed to his eyes. Beautiful mushrooms grew all around the kaliva, and when he saw them, the monk again thanked God. You see, he thanked God for the whole mushroom and for the half, for the good and for the bad, for one and for many. He was grateful for everything.
The good God bestows abundant blessings upon us, and His actions are for our benefit. All the blessings we have are gifts from God. He put everything at the service of his creation - man. He made sure that everyone: animals, birds, small and great, even plants - sacrificed themselves for him. And God Himself sacrificed himself in order to deliver man. Let us not be indifferent to all this, let us not wound Him with our great lack of gratitude and insensibility, but let us begin to thank and glorify Him.
Providence is God's care for existing things. In other words: “providence is the will of God, by which everything that exists is properly governed” ( Rev. John of Damascus).We find a more detailed definition of providence in the “Long Christian Catechism” of St. Philaret of Moscow:
“The providence of God is the constant action of the omnipotence, wisdom and goodness of God, by which God preserves the existence and strength of creatures, directs them to good goals, helps every good, and stops the evil that arises through removal from good and turns it to good consequences.”
1. God's providence covers the entire universe
St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov):
“The destinies of God are everything that happens in the universe. Everything that happens is accomplished as a result of the judgment and determination of God. Nothing is or can be done secretly from God and independent of Him.
God rules the universe; He controls the life of every person in all its details. Such control, which is included in the most petty, seemingly insignificant conditions of existence of creatures, corresponds to the infinite perfection of the properties of God. The law of such management is read in nature, read in the public and private life of people, and read in the Holy Scriptures. Are not two birds, said the Savior, valued by one assar, and not a single one of them falls to the ground without your Father? To you, the close and faithful servants of God, all the chief powers are counted (Matthew 10, 29, 30). I believe the all-holy words! I cannot help but believe them: they accurately depict the perfection of my God. From your presence, my Lord, my destiny will come (Ps. 16:2)! I belong entirely to you! My life and death are hourly in Your hands! You participate in all my affairs, in all my circumstances: You will help me to please You; You are patient with me in the face of my willful, sinful, and insane actions. Your right hand constantly guides me on Your path!”
Rev. John of Damascus:
God provides for all creation, showing us benefits and admonishing us through every creation, even through the demons themselves, as can be seen from what happened with Job and the pigs.
2. The incomprehensibility of fishing
The Holy Apostle Paul speaks of the incomprehensibility of God’s providence:
"Oh, the depth of the wealth and wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His destinies and unsearchable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Or who has given Him in advance that He should repay? For all things are from Him, by Him and to Him"
(Rom. 11:33-36).
Rev. John of Damascus writes in “An Accurate Exposition of the Orthodox Faith”:
“It should be borne in mind that there are many paths of divine Providence, and they can neither be expressed in words nor comprehended by the mind.”
St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) says that only a person who has acquired spiritual vision, that is, the grace of the Holy Spirit, can even remotely understand the action of providence, as well as understand its incomprehensibility:
“The vision of God’s destinies is a spiritual vision. The mind of a Christian who strives correctly is raised by Divine grace, in due time, to this vision. The heart sympathizes with the spiritual vision of the mind with a spiritual, holy sensation, with which it is infused, as if with a sweet and fragrant drink, pouring into it nourishment, courage, and joy. I look into Your destinies, my Lord: Your destinies are a vast abyss (Ps. 35:7). Neither the human mind nor the angelic mind can explore their depth, just as our sensory eye cannot see the vaults of the sky hiding behind its transparent, boundless blue.”
They say that Abba Anthony, being once perplexed by the depth of God's Economy (government of the world) and God's judgments, prayed and said; "God! Why do some people reach old age and a state of infirmity, while others die in childhood and live little? Why are some poor and others rich? Why do tyrants and villains prosper and have an abundance of earthly blessings, while the righteous are oppressed by adversity and poverty? He thought for a long time, and a voice came to him: “Antony! Pay attention to yourself and do not subject yourself to the study of God’s fate, because this is harmful to your soul.”
(Alphabetical Patericon)
Another ancient hermit was shown with vivid examples the incomprehensibility of God’s providence and the fact that, although the ways of God’s providence are inscrutable, they are always beneficial for us and always lead to good consequences.
One hermit asked God to make him understand the ways of His providence, and imposed a fast on himself. However, God did not reveal to him what he wanted to know. The monk still did not stop praying, and finally the Lord brought him to his senses. When he went to an old man living far away from him, an Angel appeared to him in the form of a monk and offered to be his companion. The hermit was very happy with the offer, and both went together. When the day turned to evening, they stopped for the night with one pious man, and he received them with such honor that he even offered them food on a silver platter. But what a surprise! Immediately after the meal, the Angel took the dish and threw it into the sea. The elder was perplexed, but did not say anything. They went further and the next day stayed with another, also pious man, and this one also received them with joy, and washed their feet, and showed them every kind of attention. But again trouble! When the hermit and his companion began to prepare for the journey, the one who received them brought his young son to them to bless him. But, instead of blessing, the Angel, touching the boy, took his soul. Neither the old man, out of horror, nor the father, out of despair, could utter a word, and the old man ran out, and his companion, not lagging behind, followed him. On the third day of the journey, they had nowhere to stay except for one dilapidated house abandoned by everyone, and they took refuge in it. The elder sat down to taste the food, and his companion, to his amazement, again began a strange thing. He began to destroy the house and, having destroyed it, began to build it again. Seeing this, the elder could not stand it: “What are you: a demon or an Angel? What are you doing?” he said to his companion angrily. "Yes, what am I doing?" - he objected. "Like what?" - continued the elder, - “on the third day you took the dish from a good man and threw it into the sea; yesterday you took the life of a boy, and today, why did you destroy and begin to build this house again?” Then the Angel said to him: “Don’t be surprised, elder, at this and don’t be offended about me, but listen to what I tell you. The first man who accepted us really acts in everything pleasing to God; but the dish that I threw away was acquired by him in unrighteousness; and therefore I abandoned him so that he would not destroy his reward through him. The second husband is also pleasing to God, but if his young son had grown up, he would have been a terrible villain; therefore I took his soul, for the good of his father, so that he too would be saved." “Well, what were you doing here?” asked the elder. The angel continued: “The owner of this house was an immoral man and for this reason he became poor and went into hiding. His grandfather, having built this house, hid gold in the wall, and some people know about it. That’s why I ruined it, so that from now on no one would look here.” gold and did not perish through it." The angel concluded his speech like this: “Return, elder, to your cell and do not be tormented without your mind; for thus says the Holy Spirit: the judgments of the Lord are many in depth, untested and unknown to man; therefore, do not try them - it will not benefit you.” ". The angel then became invisible, and the amazed old man repented of his error, and then told everyone what had happened to him.
(Prologue in teachings)
St. John of Tobolsk, consoling the suffering, writes that in the future life everything incomprehensible will be clarified:
“Do not be surprised that the judgments of God are mysterious and incomprehensible: at the second coming of Christ, on the terrible day of judgment, the whole life of every person will appear as in a mirror; Every reason why God's Providence arranged this or that incident, and why it did it, will become clear everywhere: in all kingdoms, cities, families and with every person. Everything will open up. It will be revealed how merciful the Lord was to those who sinned... it will be revealed to what extent the image of God's world government was consistent with His glory and righteousness, and how decent and beneficial it was for all creatures.
In our earthly life we will never comprehend many things with our minds. It is enough for us to know, be convinced and undoubtedly believe that God is not unjust, and on the last day of judgment there will not be any of the defendants who would say anything other than the words to the Lord, except the words: “Thou art righteous, O Lord, and thy judgments are just” ( Ps. 118, 137)."
3. Favor and permission
The Holy Fathers teach that God's providence acts as God's good will and permission.
So, Rev. John of Damascus writes:
“What depends on Providence happens either by the good will of God or by permission. By the grace of God, what is undeniably good happens. By permission, that which is not indisputably good. Thus, God often allows a righteous person to fall into misfortune in order to show others the virtue hidden in him: this was the case, for example, with Job.
...It should be borne in mind that the choice of affairs is in our power, but their outcome depends on God. Moreover, the outcome of good deeds depends on divine assistance, for God, according to His foreknowledge, righteously assists those who, according to a right conscience, choose what is good. The outcome of bad deeds depends on divine permission, on the fact that God, again according to His foreknowledge, righteously leaves a person, leaving him to his own strength.
...Abandonment of a person by God is of two types: one saving and admonishing, the other meaning final rejection. Saving and admonishing abandonment occurs either for the correction, salvation and glory of the sufferer, or for arousing others to zeal and imitation, or for the glory of God. Complete abandonment occurs when a person, despite the fact that God has done everything for his salvation, remains, of his own free will, insensitive and unhealed, or, better said, incurable. Then he surrenders to final destruction, like Judas. May God protect us and deliver us from such abandonment.”
Abba Dorotheus writes about admonishing abandonment:
“When someone takes the trouble to cleanse it of all the passions we mentioned and tries to acquire all the virtues, then he must always resort to the mercy of God and to the protection of God, so as not to be abandoned to him and not to perish. For as we said about the seed, that even after that , how it sprouts, grows and bears fruit, if from time to time the rain does not water it, it dries up and dies, so it happens with a person: and after so much has been accomplished, if God removes His cover from him even for a short time and leaves him , then he perishes. But God leaves a person when he does something against his dispensation, for example, if someone was reverent and deviates into an disorderly life; or was humble and becomes insolent. And God does not so much leave the one who leads a vicious life, when he lives disorderly, or arrogant, when he is proud, how much does He leave the reverent when he does disorderly, and the humble when he becomes proud: this means sin against one’s own dispensation, and from this comes abandonment.”.
St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) explains:
“One thing is done according to the will of God; the other is done by God’s permission; everything that happens is done according to the judgment and determination of God. For this reason, the destinies of God are often called in Scripture the judgment of God. God's judgment is always righteous; “Thou art righteous, O Lord,” says the Prophet, “and rule Thy judgments (Ps. 119, 137).”
Rev. Isaac the Syrian:
“A good thought does not sink into the heart if it is not from Divine grace; an evil thought does not approach the soul, except for temptation and testing. A person who has reached the point of knowing the extent of his weakness has achieved the perfection of humility. The heart is attracted to the gifts of God , aroused to unceasing thanksgiving. Temptation is brought to the soul by a murmuring thought, constantly aroused in the heart. The Lord tolerates all sorts of human infirmities, but does not tolerate a person who is always grumbling, and does not leave him without admonition. The soul, far from any illumination of knowledge, indulges in such (murmuring ) thoughts. The mouth, always giving thanks, receives blessing from God; and if the heart remains in gratitude, grace descends into it. Humility precedes grace; and conceit precedes punishment. He who is proud is allowed to fall into blasphemy, and he who exalts himself in the goodness of his deeds is allowed to fall into fornication, and he who exalts himself in his wisdom is allowed to fall into the dark nets of ignorance.
A person, far from any remembrance of God, carries in his heart a thought against his neighbor, troubled by an evil memory. Whoever, with the remembrance of God, honors every person, he, at the behest of God, secretly finds help for himself from every person. He who defends the offended finds God as his champion. He who stretches out his hand to help his neighbor receives God’s arm to help himself.” (Word 86)
Etc. Ephraim the Syrian writes:
“Everything is from God, both good and sorrowful, and unworthy; but one is by good will, the other by economy, the third by permission. And by good will - when we live virtuously, for it pleases God that we lead a sinless life, live virtuously and piously. According to the economy, when, falling into mistakes and sinning, we are brought to reason; but by permission, when even those admonished we do not convert.”
St. John of Tobolsk showing what God allows, explains the difference between imaginary evil and real evil:
“It is necessary to distinguish between two types of allowed evils. The first kind of evil, which embraces various griefs, hardships, illnesses, insults or dishonor (reduction into poverty, imprisonment, exile, exile), death - all this cannot even be called evil in the strict sense, but only a bitter medicine, sent to us from God for the spiritual healing of us. The second kind of evil, called evil in the proper sense, is our sins, transgressions of God’s commandments. God allows the first kind of evil according to His desire, either as execution for the wicked, or as a measure of correction for sons and daughters. About evil of the second kind, i.e. About sins, it cannot be said that God desires their commission, but only allows it.
...sin is not something real, but is only a ghostly opposite to true existence. Sin exists due to the imperfection, lies and deceit of the rationally free beings created by God who disobey God; That is why sin originally occurred and now occurs against the will of God, not from God, however, by His permission. The reason for allowing sin is hidden for the time being in the mystery of God’s perfect and infallible world government, or His providence. God is completely aware of the whole future, and He can easily not allow the sin He hates, but He allows it, wanting to bring good out of evil, right out of wrong, for the admonition and correction of people, so that they can see what consequences sin entails in relation to the sinner, and in relation to his neighbors, to society.”
Saint John of Tobolsk explains why God allows sin:
“The infinite goodness of God would never have allowed such evil iniquities to exist on earth, if from here it had not produced the greatest benefits and had not turned what was done out of malice into salvation. God allowed brotherly envy to multiply against the innocent Joseph, but for what good did he allow it? Is it not to save not only his parents, brothers and relatives, but also all of Egypt from starvation? God allowed the wicked Saul to embitter the meek, gentle David in every possible way, but was it not for the benefit of David himself and the entire kingdom of Israel? Yes, for the greatest benefit not only of them, but of the entire human race, through the descendant of David, Christ our Savior. ... through God's permission, the envious high priests, Pharisees and Jewish elders, out of envy, betrayed the Only Begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ, to crucifixion, and this permission turned into the salvation of the entire human race? Thus, from every allowance, the greatest riches of the glory of God and His benefits to each person and the entire human race are revealed to us.”
4. God would never have allowed evil if He had not been so strong and good as to produce a good consequence out of every evil deed.
God turns everything for good - even our sins
Thus, illness, poverty, any suffering that, by God’s permission, touches a person can help him overcome pride and other passions, learn compassion, see and love true values. The physical blindness that befell the Apostle Paul on his way to Damascus led him to spiritual insight. Seventeen residents of Jerusalem who died during the fall of the Tower of Siloam, by God's providence, served as a reason for repentance for many other sinners. Sometimes the suffering of an innocent person can serve to benefit another. The Evangelical man born blind, for whose misfortune even his parents were not to blame, served to glorify the Savior Himself and to strengthen faith in those people who witnessed the miraculous healing. The sufferings of the righteous contribute to their spiritual improvement and provide an invaluable example of love for God, patience and righteousness for the whole world. The fact that God's providence is always perfect and always good, no matter what may seem to us in our ignorance, is testified by the Holy Scriptures in the words of the righteous Job, and it is impossible to imagine a higher and more piercing testimony of a sufferer than this. It is enough to read his words before and after he saw God with his spiritual eyes to understand that the height of God’s omnipotence, His absolute truth, goodness and love for all creation was revealed to the righteous:
"...Job said: even now my speech is bitter: my sufferings are heavier than my groans. Oh, that I knew where to find Him, and could come to His throne! I would lay my case before Him and fill my lips excuses; I would know the words with which He will answer me, and I would understand what He will say to me. ...But He knows my way; let him try me, and I will come out like gold. My foot holds fast to His path; I have kept His ways and did not shrink away (Job 23: 1-5, 10-11)
"And Job answered the Lord and said: ... So, I spoke about things that I did not understand, about things that were wonderful to me, which I did not know. Listen, I cried, and I will speak, and what I will ask of You, explain to me. I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eyes see You; therefore I renounce and repent in dust and ashes." (Job 42, 1-6)
St. John of Tobolsk writes about how God transforms evil into good:
“For Joseph, bonds and prison serve to honor and to his greatest glory; brotherly envy of him brought him more benefit than the goodwill of the whole world; Saul's malice brought David the royal crown; the den of lions brought Daniel into honor and glory, such as the kings of the earth had never achieved; Christ entered heaven from the cross together with the repentant thief, and from the Mount of Olives ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God the Father.”
Venerable Paisiy Svyatogorets:
“God often allows something to happen for the benefit of many people. He never does only good, but three or four good things together. And He never allows evil to happen unless a lot of good comes from it.”
About this St. John Chrysostom reasons like this:
"... the wise providence God turns the calamitous adventures of His friends into joyful events. Often the insult inflicted on us brings us great prosperity; many fell, and through his fall he ascended to something better for himself. God's Providence, to achieve the goals predetermined by Him, uses not only good actions, but also the fall. Have you learned the fate of Joseph? - destroy the malice of his brothers, remove their envy, destroy the meeting they made to kill him - and you will destroy everything that contributed to the preservation of all Egypt intact... Do you want to follow the incomprehensible mystery of Christ's redemption of the entire human race? - destroy the love of money in the heart of Judas Iscariot, the envy of the Jews towards Christ the Savior: at the same time you would remove the salvation of the whole world, the blood and death of Christ. Eradicate the devils - pious deeds, victories and the rewards received for them. - Destroy the tormentors - where will the holy martyrs come from? These are the statutes of God's Providence: to achieve good not only through the virtuous, but also through evil people and even through the devils themselves. The sale of Joseph by his brothers was, indeed, arranged by God, but the very commission of it, covered with the malice of the brethren, was a matter of their evil will.”
Bl. Augustine: “God recognized it as better to turn evil into good than not to allow evil at all, because, being all-good, He would in no way allow evil in His deeds if He were not so omnipotent and good that He could not produce good from evil , Kind".
Rev. John of Damascus writes:
“It should be borne in mind that God, first of all, wants everyone to be saved and to achieve His Kingdom. In fact, as good, He created us not to punish, but so that we could be partakers of His goodness. ... all sorrowful events, if people accept them with gratitude, are sent to them for their salvation and, without a doubt, benefit them.
Sometimes God allows something strange in order to accomplish something great and wondrous through an apparently incongruous action; Thus, the salvation of people was achieved through the cross. In some cases, God allows a holy person to suffer grievously, so that the saint does not fall away from the right conscience or he does not fall into pride because of the power and grace given to him; so it was with Paul.
For a while, God leaves a person to correct another, so that others, looking at him, will be corrected; so it was with Lazarus and the rich man. In fact, seeing others suffer naturally makes us humble. God leaves one person for the glory of another, and not for his or his parents’ sins; so the man blind from birth was blind to the glory of the Son of man. God also allows someone to suffer in order to arouse jealousy in another, so that, seeing how the glory of the victim has been magnified, others may fearlessly suffer in the hope of future glory, because of the desire for future benefits, so it was with the martyrs.
Sometimes God allows a person to commit a shameful act to correct another, even worse passion. Thus, let us assume that someone is exalted in his virtues and righteousness; God allows such a person to fall into fornication, so that through this fall he will come to the consciousness of his weakness, humble himself and come and confess to the Lord.”
P rep. Macarius of Optina wrote, explaining to his spiritual children the action of providence:
“Not only is God’s providence for us when we live in abundance in everything, but we must believe that even in the scarcity of everything, His fatherly love provides for our salvation. There is no doubt that He can enrich everyone, but when He sees that abundance does not benefit, but harms the soul, He takes it away and wants to make up for our previous shortcomings with patience and gratitude.
You write about the diseases that visited your monastery, and about the death of livestock. All this is painful and regrettable, but who can know the destinies of God? He punishes us, as a loving Father, seeking our salvation, takes away temporary good, but we are granted eternal good, otherwise we, as we abound in everything, then give ourselves over to passions, forgetting God, who created us and provides for us.
We must thank the Lord in everything and see His wonderful and expedient providence for us in everything; He makes up for the lack of our deeds either with illnesses or sorrows, and thus will not allow us to rise above others, but so that, seeing our weaknesses, we consider ourselves the last of all, which we learn a lot about in books, but do not touch with our deeds or fingers.
The works of God are wondrous and incomprehensible to our darkened mind, but as much as possible, we learn from Scripture and from experiences before our eyes that the Lord sends illnesses, sorrows, deprivations, famines, wars, rebellions, either punishing for sins, or warning so that did not fall into these, but tests the faith of others. So, we must revere His all-wise providence and thank Him for all His ineffable mercy towards us.”
O. Valentin Sventsitsky, answering the question: “How is Divine Providence expressed when God allows evil deeds?” - says: “The fact is that the Lord providentially helps to survive them for the good of our salvation.”
St. John of Tobolsk:
“Nothing contrary to us can happen to us without the will or permission of God: neither the devil nor any of the people can harm us if God does not allow. We must firmly believe that although the most serious disasters befall us by order of God, as the Supreme King, they are sent to us from the most merciful Father for our benefit, for our admonition and correction, for our untruths and sins. Therefore, no one else but ourselves can harm us.
God turns all everyday misfortunes to our benefit and to our good; He allows the very fall of sin to achieve and bring to the end the highest, incomprehensible, mysterious works of His Divine rule. For both doing good deeds and allowing evil deeds is a property that exclusively belongs to Divine Providence alone. Truly, God would never have allowed evil if He were not so strong and good as to produce a good consequence from every evil deed. ... The highest God is also the wisest artist, transforming every evil action into a cause to produce the best consequences, just as gold is mined from a rough mass. All things work for the good of those who love God (Rom. 8:28): Magdalene’s sins served as a reason for many to correct themselves; the fall of Petrovo is an example of true repentance for countless people; Thomas's unbelief confirmed many in the truth of the resurrection of Christ. From here the greatest Divine glory is revealed: “Reap where you did not sow.” God did not sow sins, but from them he gathers a rich harvest of virtues. Truly God flows honey from the stone, and oil from the hard stone, when he produces the most beneficial consequences from the greatest atrocities.
Let us not forget that God creates some good out of every evil. What was sadder than the fall of Adam and Eve and the entire human race? However, God restored them in such a way that the present position of a Christian is higher than Adam’s heavenly position. Christ's death on the cross is a temptation for the Jews, and madness for the Greeks; however, it became the salvation of the whole world, to all who were called, honor and glory, and the acquisition of eternal blessed life (1 Cor. 1:23).”
5. How to think about illnesses and misfortunes
From the patristic teaching on providence it follows that all misfortunes and illnesses must be accepted as medicines sent to us from God for our salvation.
St. John of Tobolsk says that all misfortunes and disasters occur according to the will of God:
“Everything in the world, even seemingly evil (except sin), happens according to the will of God. Theologians explain it this way. The beginning of evil (in the proper sense) is sin. Every sin contains: 1) the cause that produces it, and 2) its inevitable consequences - correction by punishment. The cause of sin is the deceit or self-will of a proud sinner; punishments in general (both corrections and executions), being the bitter consequences of their cause, occur according to the will of God, as the cause not of sin, but of correction or destruction of it. So: if we remove from the concept of sin its cause - deceit and self-will, then there will not be a single one of its bitter or evil consequences that would not occur according to the will of God or would be displeasing to Him. Both the sinful sorrows of a private person and the worldly, usually called natural, disasters, such as hunger strikes, droughts, pestilences and the like, often not directly related to the sin of a private person, occur by the will of God. Therefore, all human disasters and sorrows positively occur according to the will of God for the sake of achieving the righteous goals of God’s providence; Sin alone is disgusting to God (just as evil is contrary to good, or a lie is contrary to truth), but is allowed by God for the sake of non-violation of personal human will, or his freedom.
…In the same way, God’s Providence is alert for us, and watches unfailingly, so that even our slightest bodily constraints do not go unnoticed by Himself. As a result of this, each of us, in the event of bodily adversity, should reason like this: this illness or other adversity - whether it occurred from my carelessness, or from human malice, or from something else - in any case, it did not happen without God's Providence , which determined it according to my strengths, so that its beginning, its severity (weakening or strengthening) depends on Him. Likewise, the method of healing and healing depends on the Providence of God. It admonishes the doctor and points out the means, or counteracts everything, for both good and bad, life and death, poverty and wealth are from the Lord (Sirach. XI, 14). Likewise, in all the adventures that happen to us, we must reason that they were foreseen and allowed by God.
It is very prudent and pious to reason that every evil, misfortune or misfortune is for us a saving punishment sent to us from above, but God is not the cause of our guilt, i.e. sin, which inevitably entails punishment according to the truth of God.”
The words of the saint testify to the action of God's providence the prophet of God Jeremiah, spoken by him on behalf of God in the Old Testament. “Sometimes I will say about a nation or a kingdom,” says the Lord God, “that I will uproot, crush and destroy it, but if this people, against whom I have spoken this, turns from their evil deeds, I will put aside the evil that I have thought.” do to him. Sometimes I will say about some people or kingdom that I will establish and establish it, but if it does evil in my sight and does not obey my voice, I will cancel the good with which I wanted to bless it."
(Jeremiah 18:7-10).
St. Ambrose of Optina spoke about the action of God's providence in human life:
“God does not create a cross for a person, that is, cleansing mental and physical suffering. And no matter how heavy the cross may be for another person, which he bears in life, yet the tree from which it is made always grows on the soil of his hearts.
When a person walks the straight path, there is no cross for him. But when he retreats from him and begins to rush first in one direction, then in the other, then different circumstances appear that push him again onto the straight path. These shocks constitute a cross for a person. Of course, they are different, who needs which one.”
6. The evil caused to us by people is not outside the will of God
The Holy Fathers teach that we must accept the insults inflicted on us by people as saving medicines sent from God, and not blame or hate those who offend us, but, on the contrary, see in them our benefactors, showing us our passions and weaknesses so that we can correct ourselves. .
St. John of Tobolsk:
To calm ourselves down when causing offense, we know only one sure way: when someone has offended or insulted you, do not pay attention to the anger of the offender, but turn to the just God who allowed your opponent to offend you, and do not repay him with evil for the evil done to you : for it was allowed by God to achieve good and fair goals, although unknown to you at the time. All the holy saints of God adhered to this custom: they did not search for who had offended them and for what, but always turned their hearts to God, humbly recognizing the justice of God’s allowance; and therefore they considered the insults inflicted on them as benefits for themselves, and their opponents as benefactors, saying: these are our true benefactors.
Rev. Macarius of Optina:
We see and undoubtedly believe that the providence of God, caring for every creature, and at the same time for us, arranges it to be this way for our spiritual benefit, leading us away from something unprofitable or tempting our faith, while punishing others for sins, and with submission to His will we bear the burden imposed on us by His justice. People who cause us sorrow should be revered as the instrument with which God acts in the matter of our salvation, and we should pray for them. You cannot find consolation for yourself by any other means, and even more so when you demand from people that they love you, but, looking through the veil of pride, do not blame yourself...
I don’t know why you are afraid of persecution from a famous person? Can anyone insult you if God does not allow it? And when something happens, we must accept it with submission to the will of God, humble ourselves and consider those who insult us as instruments of God’s providence: for this the Lord will deliver us from their hands.
Rev. Lev Optinsky:
Where have you left the providence of God, which cares about everyone, and especially about you, and arranges everything for the good, and through permissive cases gives us a means to recognize our passions and eradicate them, and you still blame people.
St. John of Tobolsk:
“... all the saints attributed everything that they encountered in life, pleasant or unpleasant, to the will, to the action of God, because they did not pay attention to the sins of others, but viewed all human actions as God’s gift or God’s allowance for their sins . The saints reasoned this way: the all-good God would never have allowed anything evil if He did not know that from there He would produce numerous and great benefits.
Many are deceived, out of their extreme ignorance, thinking that only evil arising from natural causes (namely: floods, earthquakes, crop failures, adverse atmospheric phenomena, epidemic diseases, sudden death, etc.) occurs by the will of God; for for the most part such misfortunes have no direct relation to sins. But malicious acts arising from the illegal intent of man, from untruth (such as: abusive words, ridicule, deception, forgery, theft, insults by action, robberies, robberies, murders, etc.), happen, in the opinion of the above-mentioned people, regardless from the will of God and His providence, but solely due to human malice and the corrupted human will, which itself causes and inflicts all kinds of evil on its neighbors. And therefore, not only in the past, long ago, but also in the present times, complaints are often heard: “The scarcity of food and the necessary means for life did not come from God, but from the covetous.” These complaints are the complaints of people who do not know God: they are not worthy of a Christian.
If God is not the beginning of our moral fall (which alone is true evil) and cannot be: “For His eye is pure to see no evil” (Habak. I, 13), and “love righteousness and hate iniquity” ( Ps. XLIV, 8), then it is quite true that all disasters arising from secondary causes ... all according to the will of God, are sent down by His strong right hand, according to His vision and providence. Beloved! God directed his hand to strike you; God has moved the tongue of the offender or slanderer to mock or slander you; God has given the wicked the power to overthrow you. God Himself, through the mouth of the prophet Isaiah, confirms this, saying: “I am the Lord, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me; I girded you, although you did not know Me... I form light and create darkness, I make peace and bring about disasters; I, Lord, I do all this" (Isa. 45: 5, 7). The prophet Amos confirms this more clearly: "Is there any disaster in a city that the Lord would not allow" (Amos 3: 6)? as if to say: there is not a single disaster that was not according to the will of God, which allows evil intent, but indicates the method and gives strength to bring it into execution.
So God, meaning to punish King David for the sin of his adultery with Uriah’s wife and for the murder of Uriah himself, by the sin of incest of his own son with his wife, says to David through the prophet Nathan: “Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your house, and I will take your wives before your eyes, and I will give them to your neighbor (Absalom), and he will sleep with your wives before this sun. You have done secretly (i.e. adultery and murder), but I will do this (i.e. Absalom’s incest) before all Israel and before the sun" (2 Kings 12, 11, 12). Bl. expressed this idea very well. Augustine, saying: “In this way God corrects good people through evil ones.”
That devastating wars and other misfortunes do not occur without the will of God is clear (as we indicated earlier); but it does not follow from this that we should neither arm ourselves against our enemies nor resort to healing our illnesses, considering this to be opposition to the will of God. Let us explain this using the example of a disease: no matter what the immediate reason it began, there is no doubt (as noted above) that it was the will of God. However, the patient does not know God’s intention about the duration of his illness, and therefore the patient is not prohibited from resorting to various means of healing himself from the disease. And when, after using many healing remedies, he no longer receives recovery, he can be sure that it is God’s will that he endure a very long and severe illness. So humbly reason, every sick brother, that God wants to keep you still in your illness. But since you do not know whether God intends for you to suffer until death, you can without sin resort to means of healing to obtain health or at least to alleviate the disease. The sinlessness of healing is also proven by the fact that if God does not want to restore your health, then He can deprive any remedy of its healing power. One should reason about enemies and wars in the same way.”
7. We must distinguish between man’s sin and his responsibility for his evil, and the good will of God
St. John of Tobolsk:
“You ask: “If someone killed an innocent person, did he act justly or unjustly?”
...the murderer committed an unjust deed that requires execution; but God’s permission is righteous and wise for a righteous reason, but hidden from us until time.”
Bl. considers this in a similar way. Augustine dealt with the murder of Christ our Savior. “Judas, the lawless traitor of Christ,” says Augustine, “and the persecutors of Christ - all the lawless, all the wicked, all the unrighteous, all the lost; however, the Father did not spare His Son, but betrayed Him (allowed Him to be killed) for the salvation of us all.” This is the mysterious reason for God’s permission for the murder of His Only Begotten Son by lawbreakers - a reason that was inexplicable at that time. Do not be surprised that God allows evil to happen: He allows it according to His most righteous judgment, He allows it in measure, number and weight. He has no lies.”
St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov):
“The destinies and actions of God go their own way; human and demonic actions also go their own way. Crimes and atrocities do not cease to be crimes and atrocities in relation to their agents, even if those who commit evil with evil intentions together are only instruments of the will of God. The latter is a consequence of the unlimited wisdom of God, the unlimited power of God, due to which creatures, acting according to their free will, together remain invariably in the power of the Creator, without understanding it, fulfill the will of the Creator, without knowing it.”
St. John Chrysostom talks about it like this:
“If it is written that Christ will suffer like this, then why is Judas condemned? He fulfilled what is written. But he did it with the wrong thought, but out of malice. If you do not pay attention to intentions, then you will free the devil from guilt. But no, no! Both of them are worthy of countless torments, although the universe was saved. It was not the betrayal of Judas that brought us salvation, but the wisdom of Christ, wonderfully turning the atrocities of others to our advantage. What, you ask, if Judas If he had not been betrayed, would not another have betrayed him? What does this have to do with the present subject? Such, you say, that if Christ was to be crucified, then it had to be done by someone; if by someone, then of course such a person. If everyone were good, then the construction of our salvation would not be completed. Let it not be! The All-Wise Himself knew how to arrange our salvation, even if it were so, because His wisdom is great and incomprehensible. Therefore, so that whoever did not think that Judas was a servant of the economy, Christ calls him a most unfortunate man.”
8. God does not allow unbearable temptations
According to church teaching, the active Divine will, which allows evil, always stops the action of the evil will on us, through which an unbearable temptation is created. Divine Providence allows evil only because it can be experienced for the benefit of our salvation and therefore does not allow “unbearable” evil. If evil is allowed by God, this always means that it is feasible for our life, for our moral task. And therefore, every person who has not experienced it for the good sins, and for this he himself is responsible before God. The Church does not know “overwhelming temptations.” The word of God says directly: “...God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able...” (1 Cor. 10:13).
9. Randomness
The Orthodox understanding of God's providence excludes the existence of chance.
Everything in a person’s life does not happen by chance, but is sent to us from God, as the Apostle said: “Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights” (James 1:17).
St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov):
There is no blind chance! God rules the world, and everything that happens in heaven and under heaven is done according to the judgment of the all-wise and omnipotent God, incomprehensible in His wisdom and omnipotence, incomprehensible in His governance.
Rev. Joseph Optinsky:
“If your sister is prudent, then she should always remember the wise proverb: “Live not as you want, but as God commands.” How circumstances have worked out is how we should live, because the circumstances around us are arranged not simply by chance, as many of our modern, new-fangled wise men think, but everything is done to us by the providence of God, constantly caring for our spiritual salvation.”
By word O. Valentin Sventsitsky, Orthodox “faith in Providence provides a true and solid foundation for our entire life. Without a feeling of Divine care for us in his heart, a person surrenders to the power of blind chaos without foundation, without order, without meaning.
...It’s completely different when the heart is illuminated by a feeling of Divine providence. Then a person feels a solid foundation above him. He knows that his life is in the hands of God and that this almighty hand leads him to salvation. He walks the path of life calmly, joyfully, with firm hope that the merciful Lord sees every step of his life, everything that happens to him, everything is for the “better”, everything has a higher meaning, everything is not “random”, but reasonable, for in everything, always and everywhere, the Divine will acts and His Divine Providence preserves.”
Rev. Ephraim the Syrian:
“In my youth, when I was still living in the world, an enemy attacked me; and at that time my youth almost assured me that what happens to us in life is accidental. Like a ship without a rudder, although the helmsman stands at the stern, it goes backwards, or does not move at all, and sometimes capsizes, if either an Angel or a person does not come to its aid: so it was with me. Carried away by the waves of seduction, I insensitively strove towards the threatening danger.
What does the goodness of God do to me? She did what, when I was traveling through inner Mesopotamia, I met a sheep shepherd. The shepherd asks me: “Where are you going, young man?” I answer: “wherever it happens.” And he says to me: “Follow me, because the day has come to evening.” What? I obeyed and stayed with him. In the middle of the night, wolves attacked and tore the sheep to pieces, because the shepherd was weak from wine and fell asleep. The owners of the flock came, laid the blame on me, and dragged me to trial. Appearing before the judge, I justified myself, saying how the matter was. Following me was brought someone caught in adultery with a woman, who ran away and hid herself. The judge, postponing the investigation of the case, sent both of us to prison together. In conclusion, we found one farmer brought there for murder. But he who was brought with me was not an adulterer, nor was the farmer a murderer, nor am I a predator of sheep. Meanwhile, a dead body was taken into custody in the case of a farmer, in my case - a shepherd, and in the case of an adulterer - the husband of a guilty woman; that’s why they were guarded in another house.
Having spent seven days there, on the 8th I saw in a dream that someone was telling me: “Be pious, and you will understand Providence; go over in your thoughts what you were thinking about and what you were doing, and you will know for yourself that these people are not suffering unjustly.” , but the guilty will not escape punishment."
So, having awakened, I began to reflect on the vision, and, looking for my offense, I found that, another time, while in this village, in the field in the middle of the night, with evil intentions, I drove the cow of one poor wanderer out of the corral. She was exhausted from the cold and from the fact that she was not idle; The beast overtook her there and tore her to pieces. How soon I told the prisoners with me my dream and guilt, and they, excited by my example, began to say - the villager that he saw a man drowning in the river, and although he could have helped him, he did not; and a city resident - that he joined the accusers of one woman slandered in adultery. And this, he said, was the widow; Her brothers, having brought this guilt upon her, deprived her of her father's inheritance, giving me a share of it, according to the condition.
At these stories I began to feel contrite; because there was some obvious reward in it. And if I were alone, I would say, perhaps, that all this happened to me simply as a human being. But the three of us are subject to the same participation. And now there is a fourth avenger who is not related to those who suffer vain offense and is not known to me; because neither I nor they have ever seen him; since I described to them the appearance of what appeared to me.
Having fallen asleep another time, I see that the same one is saying to me: “Tomorrow you will see those for whom you are offended, and liberation from the slander brought against you.” When I woke up, I was thoughtful. And they tell me: “Why are you sad?” I told them the reason. I was afraid of how the matter would end; and abandoned my previous thoughts that everything happens by chance. And they were also concerned along with me.
But when that night passed, we were brought to the mayor, and soon a report was presented to him about the five prisoners. Those who were with me, having received many beatings, left me and were taken to prison.
Then two were brought in to be the first to be judged. These were the brothers of a widow who was offended by the deprivation of her father's inheritance. One of them was found guilty of murder, the other of adultery. And having confessed to what they were caught doing, they were forced by torture to confess to other atrocities. So the killer admitted that at one time, while engaged in trade in the city, he became acquainted and had a dishonest relationship with a woman. (This was the same one for which one of the prisoners with me was in prison). And to the question: “how did he escape?” said: “When they were lying in wait for us, the adulterer’s neighbor happened to go up to her through another entrance for one of his own needs. The woman gave him what he demanded, and when she had already lowered me out the window, as soon as she saw him, she began to ask him to let her out too. the same window for the reason that, as she said, her creditors wanted to detain her. When he intended to do this, he was caught by the woman's husband; and we ran away." The mayor asked: “Where is this woman?” - He named her whereabouts, and was ordered to leave him in custody until the woman appeared. And the other, in addition to the adultery of which he was accused, confessed that he had also committed murder, for which the villager was kept with me. And he said that the murdered man was the husband of the woman he loved. “When,” he added, “he went out in the afternoon to inspect the field; I went up to him to greet him, immediately killed him and ran away. Someone was sleeping there out of great fatigue; the relatives of the murdered man, having heard about the murder, and not knowing, that this villager had no idea what had happened, they tied him up and sent him to court." - Who will give proof of this? “The wife of the murdered man,” he answered. The mayor asked: where is she? - He announced the place and name in another village, not far from the location of the other woman, and was immediately taken into prison.
The other three are also included. One was accused of burning a field of grain, and the others were accused of complicity in murder. Having received several blows and confessed nothing, they were taken to prison; because the judge heard that a successor had been appointed to him. And I went with them, without waiting for any decision to investigate the case. This way we were all together. The newly arrived judge was from my homeland, but for a long time I did not know about him, what city he was from, or who he was. These days I had a lot of free time, and I made friends with other prisoners. And how my former comrades became complacent and told others about what we had; then everyone became attentive to me, as to a pious person. The brothers of that widow also heard and were surprised when they recognized her protector. Therefore, everyone began to ask me, in the hope that I would tell them something favorable. But, having spent many days there, I did not see what appeared to me in a dream. Finally I see him again, and he tells me that the last three, guilty of other crimes, are now being punished. I told them about this, and they confessed to a lie, namely, that they were in league with the kidnapper who killed a man for a vineyard adjacent to his property. “We,” they said, “testified in this case that the vineyard belongs to him for a debt, and that it was not he who killed this man, but the man himself, falling from a cliff, was killed to death.” One of them said that in anger he unintentionally pushed a man off the roof, and he fell and died.
After this, I again saw in a dream someone telling me: “The next day you will be released, and others will fall under a fair trial; be a believer and proclaim the providence of God.”
The next day, the judge sat down in his judicial seat and began to interrogate all of us, and having learned to what extent the case had previously been brought, he demanded to see the women who had already been found in advance, and the accusers were given their rights. The mayor released the innocents, I mean the villager and the alleged adulterer, and subjected the women to torture, wanting to find out if they had participated in some other case.
And it turned out that one of them committed incendiary fire in anger at the one who betrayed her to the adulterer; Moreover, one person, running from a devastated field, was found not far from the place of the fire, and was taken as the culprit, and this was one of those kept with me. The judge, having interrogated him, found him, as was said, and released him as innocent. And another of those accused of adultery, being from the same village from which those imprisoned for complicity in murder were, confessed how it happened. “The murdered man,” she said, “spent the night in her house; he was a handsome man; she slept with him: and one of the widow’s brothers, namely, her adulterer, found him with her, hit him, killed him and threw him at the crossroads. When “People came running,” she continued, “two people were chasing the kidnapper of their goat; those in front, seeing them, thought that criminals were running and, seizing them, brought them to court as guilty.” The mayor asked: “What are their names, what kind are they and what are they like?” And having collected all the details about them, he found out the matter clearly and freed the innocent. There were five of them: a farmer, an imaginary adulterer and the last three. He ordered both brothers and the worthless women with them to be devoured by wild beasts.
He also orders me to be taken to the middle. Although the same tribe brought him closer to me, he nevertheless began to inquire about the matter in order, and tried to ask me how the matter of the sheep was. I told the truth, how everything happened. Recognizing me by voice and name, and ordering the shepherd to be flogged to show the truth, he freed me from the charge after almost seventy days. My acquaintance with the mayor came from the fact that my parents lived outside the city with those who raised this man; and from time to time I also lived with him.
After this, that same night I see my former husband, and he says to me: “Return to your place and repent of unrighteousness; making sure that there is an Eye that watches over everything.” And having made strong threats to me, he left; from then until now I have not seen him.
And I fell into thoughtfulness, returned home, cried a lot, but I don’t know if I appeased God. Why do I ask everyone to work with me in prayers, because my ulcer is incurable. I am not puffed up by visions, but wicked thoughts trouble me. And an Angel appeared to Pharaoh, announcing the future, but the prophecy did not save him from the sentence spoken over him. And Christ says to those who prophesied in His name: We know you not, you workers of iniquity (Luke 13:27). I know that I have truly seen and experienced, but my excessive reproach to God worries me. For whoever says that everything is spontaneous, denies the existence of the Divine. This is how I reasoned, and I’m not lying, I repented, and I don’t know if I’ve made amends for my sin; preached about God, but I don’t know whether this was accepted from me; I wrote about Providence, but I don’t understand whether this pleases God.
I see buildings and conclude about the creator: I see the world and know Providence; I see that a ship is sinking without a helmsman: I saw that human affairs end in nothing if God does not control them...” (Reverend Ephraim the Syrian. Self-reproof and confession)
10. Fate, rock
In pagan times in Rome and Greece, people believed in fate and fate. Many people still believe this.
The Orthodox understanding of God's providence does not agree with the opinion of St. Augustine and some Protestant theologians about the individual predestination of each person to one fate or another. God predestined all people to salvation and there is not a single person who was predestined to destruction. It is about predestination to salvation that the Apostle Paul speaks in his Epistle to the Romans: “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son... And whom He predestined, them He also called, and whom He called, them He also justified; and those whom he justified, he also glorified. What can I say to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Rom. 8:29-31).
Paul speaks even more clearly about predestination exclusively to salvation in the Epistle to the Ephesians: “He chose us... before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will. .. In him we became heirs, having been predestined to this purpose” (Eph. 1:4-5,11).
Scripture says that God wants all people to be saved:
“It pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
(1 Tim. 2:4)
He resolutely opposed the concepts of “fate” and “fate” in his sermons and writings St. John Chrysostom. He says: “If there is fate, then there is no judgment; if there is fate, then there is no faith; if there is fate, then there is no God; if there is fate, then there is no vice; if there is fate, then it is in vain, we do and endure everything uselessly : - no praise, no blame, no shame, no disgrace, no laws and no courts." “Let us not attribute the government of the world to demons; let us not think that no one cares about real affairs; let us not oppose the tyranny of some kind of fate or fate to the providence of God. All this is filled with blasphemy.”
11. Human free will and God’s providence
It is obvious that fate does not dominate a person, but his life in this world and in the future eternity depends on himself, on his free choice and the action of his free will, with the help of God, who desires his salvation and arranges everything in his life so that he could have escaped.
At the same time, God does not force a person, does not limit his free will, but also does not completely retreat before the human will that opposes Him, but, agreeing with the free choice of a person, continues to call him to Himself, expecting repentance and reciprocal love.
O. Valentin Sventsitsky writes about the combination of human freedom and God’s providence:
“The Lord gave man freedom. And not in a mechanical way, turning a person into an automaton and thereby depriving all his actions of moral content, the Lord leads him to salvation. The Lord gave man freedom so that he could choose the path of salvation for himself, and this would make possible his free union with the Divine in eternal life. And if a person chooses the path of evil, that is, departure from God, this is not an active expression of the Divine will.
The Divine will allows this departure to happen and does not stop it with His power... The Lord providentially helps us survive them for the good of our salvation.
…The divine will actively helps us in fulfilling this moral task. ...those against whom evil is committed, the Lord helps them survive it for good. And here the Lord leaves the final word to the person himself, so as not to deprive him of his freedom, does not solve the moral problem for him, but contributes to its solution.
…The Lord not only presents freedom to man and not only requires him to fulfill certain moral tasks. According to the teaching of the Church, the Lord watches over every human soul. His every movement, his every thought, feeling, intention - the Lord sees everything and does everything that can be done without depriving him of freedom for his salvation - out of his ineffable love and mercy.
...A person’s whole life is filled with sometimes obvious, sometimes more hidden, care. We should not be embarrassed that He always does not stop evil will and does not do good for us with His almighty will. And here is His mercy. And here is His love. For otherwise life would cease to be life. But, without taking away freedom, He helps our good will, admonishing, showing, enlightening. ... The Lord, by His will, places us in situations in life that help us follow the proper path. He acts on our soul in mysterious, unknown ways, both through the Holy Church, and through certain people whom he sends along our path. And God’s mercy towards us, the unworthy, is so immeasurable that it merits direct influence on others in the form of signs, visions and wonders.
...The Lord wants everyone to be saved. And it doesn’t deprive anyone of their freedom. He leads not only the good, but also the evil to salvation.”
“Providence is the determination of the Divine will in accordance with human freedom, in anticipation of the free actions of the creature. This will is always a saving will, which can create something useful for people in all the vicissitudes of their wanderings, if only a person knows how to recognize it. It can be said with some pardonable inaccuracy that God descends in His providential activity to the freedom of people, acts in accordance with this freedom, coordinates His actions with the actions of created beings, so that, fulfilling His will, he governs the fallen world without violating their created freedom.”
(Lossky V.N.)
From here follows the patristic teaching about synergy, or collaboration between God and man.
So, St. John of Tobolsk writes that we ourselves need to work for our salvation:
“No amount of our diligence and zeal can save us without God’s help; but God’s help without human desire (will) will not bring any benefit: we see examples of this in Peter and Judas. We should avoid one-sidedness: we should not remain in laziness, placing everything on God, and we should also not think that we ourselves, without God’s help and His favor, can do anything good. For God Himself does not do everything, so as not to leave us idle, and He did not leave it to us to do everything, so that we do not become vainly proud: God takes us away from everything that can harm us, and what is useful for us, He encourages us to do. and helps us."
13. God's providence and grace
There is a difference between the concepts of God's providence and God's grace. Providence we call God's power in the world, supporting the existence of the world, its life, including the existence and life of humanity and every person; and by grace - the power of the Holy Spirit, penetrating into the inner being of a person, leading to his spiritual improvement and salvation.
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Divine Providence the unceasing manifestation in the world of the all-good, all-wise and all-powerful, the incessant God, aimed at preserving and developing the world, turning everything towards, directing humanity as a whole and each individual to the eternal. ( The meaning of the word craft, denoting a craft or type of craft, for example, folk craft, should not be confused with the meaning of the word “Providence” (God’s)).
If you want to know God's Providence, determine what your Christian duty is in the situation in which you find yourself today.
God provides and participates in people's lives, but often does not intervene in our lives in a visible way so that our free will can make voluntary choices. God's providence means that at every stage of our life the Lord places us in such conditions under which we could make a free choice in favor of goodness, truth, justice and through this ascend to Heavenly Father. However, the depths of God’s Providence are incomprehensible to the limited human mind, so that, knowing about God’s Providence, we are not able to comprehend it fully.
Very often pains and joys come to us not from our past, but from the future. God sometimes warns us about the future towards which we are rushing at full speed. God's providence, as it were, trips us up so that we fall before we fall into a hole that we do not yet see. Let your knee be broken, but let’s keep your head intact.
Deacon Andrey
One hermit asked God to make him understand the ways of His Providence, and imposed a fast on himself. When he went to visit an old man who lived far away, an Angel appeared to him in the form of a monk and offered to be his companion. In the evening, they stopped for the night with a pious man, who offered them food on a silver platter. But what a surprise! Immediately after the meal, the elder’s companion took the dish and threw it into the sea.
They went further and the next day stayed with another pious man. But trouble again! When the hermit and his companion began to prepare for the journey, the one who received them brought his young son to them to bless him. But instead of blessing, the companion, touching the boy, took his soul. Neither the old man, out of horror, nor the father, in despair, uttered a word. On the third day they took shelter in a dilapidated house. The elder sat down to eat food, and his companion first dismantled the wall and then repaired it again. Here the elder could not stand it: “Who are you - a demon or an angel? What are you doing? Three days ago you took away a dish from a good man, yesterday you took the life of a boy, and today you are straightening walls that no one needs.”
Do not be surprised, elder, and do not be tempted about me. I am the Angel of God. The first person to receive us acts in a manner pleasing to God, but he acquired that dish untruthfully, so I threw it away so that he would not lose his reward. The second husband is also pleasing to God, but if his son had grown up, he would have been a terrible villain. The owner of the house where we stayed is an immoral, lazy person and therefore became impoverished. His grandfather, while building this house, hid gold in the wall. That’s why I straightened the wall so that the owner wouldn’t find him and thereby die. Return, elder, to your cell and do not suffer madly, for this is what the Holy Spirit says: “The judgments of the Lord are unknown to men.” Therefore, do not test them either - it will not do you any good.
Everything is from God, both good and sorrowful, and unworthy; but one is by good will, the other by economy, the third by permission. And by good will - when we live virtuously, for it pleases God that we lead a sinless life, live virtuously and piously. According to the economy, when, falling into mistakes and sinning, we are admonished; by permission, when even those admonished we do not convert.
God was pleased that man should be saved, just as the angels cried out, saying: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men(). Again, economically, God admonishes us who sin, so that we and the world will not be condemned, as the apostle says: We are judged by God and punished, lest we be condemned by the world (). And there is no evil in the city, which the Lord did not create(), are as follows: hunger, ulcers, illnesses, defeats, abuse; for all this serves to cleanse sin, who either do not want to live without sin, or those who are admonished do not convert, but remain in sin, as it is written: blind God their eyes and hardened their hearts(); And: betray them into an unskilled mind, that is, allowed them to freedom create incomparable(); Also: hardening I will harden Pharaoh's heart(), that is, I will allow him to become embittered for his disobedience.
Reverend
Providence of God
Archpriest Alexander Glebov
Is it possible to compare the Orthodox teaching about God's providence with the concept of human destiny? Today we will talk about this with a candidate of theology, teacher at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, Archpriest Alexander Glebov.
K: Father Alexander, what is God’s providence?
A: A conversation about God’s providence opens up a very important topic – the topic of God’s responsibility for his creation. So we usually talk about our responsibility before God, that we will have to answer to God. Such a concept as God's providence speaks of God's responsibility for the human race and for the world He created. There is a religious and philosophical doctrine called “deism” - in it the concept of God’s providence is absent! Deism speaks of God as the creator of the world, but does not speak of God as the provider of the world. Yes, God created the world, God created man, endowed man with reason, free will, and, as it were, distanced himself from any participation in the further fate of this world. Figuratively speaking, he doesn’t care what happens in this world. Why did I mention deism? Because today many people, perhaps even without realizing it, share exactly this point of view. They see in the creative act of God the justification for the existence of this world, because to imagine that this world, so intelligently structured, so complexly organized, developing according to some specific laws, simply arose on its own out of nothing. This is quite problematic for many people to imagine. But at the same time, they do not see any intelligent presence of God in this world. In this world there is a lot of evil, a lot of injustice, people get sick, suffer, die. That is, on the one hand, they recognize that God created the world, because this world as a creation is beautiful and intelligently designed, but, at the same time, they refuse to recognize God’s providence, because what happens in our world is often not intelligent , illogical, cruel and chaotic.
In Christian revelation, such concepts as God the creator and God the provider are inextricably linked, because God’s very decision to create the world was made inextricably together with His decision to save this world. This dual decision of God about salvation and the creation of the world was called the “Eternal Council of the Holy Trinity.” Eternal means before time, before this age, before the creation of the world. And this eternal council was absolutely brilliantly depicted by the Monk Andrei Rublev on his icon, which is called “Trinity”. Since God in his trinity is impossible not only to depict, but even to somehow imagine, in the Orthodox tradition the Holy Trinity is depicted in the form of three angels who were revealed to Abraham at the oak of Mamre. But Rublev’s Trinity does not describe this historical episode, when three angels came to Abraham and announced to him the death of Sodom and Gomorrah. He takes the only possible image of the Holy Trinity mentioned in the Bible and fills it not with historical content, but with prehistoric, pre-eternal, he seems to depict this council of the pre-eternal Holy Trinity. Three angels are sitting at the table, on the table there is a bowl, in the bowl you can see the head of a sacrificial animal and the angels look at each other, as if consulting, conferring among themselves, which of them will become this sacrifice - the Lamb of God. And when the decision is made that the second Person of the Holy Trinity will go into the world in order to become this sacrifice, in order to save this world, then after this the decision is made about the creation of the world itself, that is, God’s providence is, as it were, primary, and the act of creation is secondary .
K: How to correlate human freedom and God’s providence, since man is free and can do whatever he wants? How to recognize what happens as a result of our achievements and mistakes, due to the evil or good will of other people, and what happens according to the will of God?
–A: This is a rather difficult question and it is probably impossible to give any comprehensive answer to it! There seems to be an obvious contradiction here, there just isn’t enough logic to cover it. On the one hand, we believe that the Lord guides every person, starting from his birth through life, but, on the other hand, you absolutely rightly said that a person is absolutely free and can do whatever he wants. He plans his life himself, although practice shows that our plans often remain plans and life goes according to a completely different scenario, not the way we planned it, and you have to do in life not what you want, but what you are forced to do circumstances for you. But still, freedom of choice always remains with a person. Moreover, we come under the influence of other people, sometimes this influence is good, sometimes it is evil, and if state law and criminal law somehow limit the evil will of people, punishing them for a crime, then the Lord does not limit anyone. You don’t have to look far for examples: now our TV viewers will watch this program, switch to the news program, and what will they hear there? News! What's the news? The same as yesterday! There are wars, terror flourishes, blood is shed, innocent people suffer, violence of one against another, and yet the Lord does not stop anyone, because such is the evil, but free will of people. But more than that, there are laws of nature, the law of this world, and we, living in this world, fall under the influence of these laws. Therefore, something comes into our lives according to our will, something according to the good or evil will of other people, somewhere we obey the laws of the universe, but in both cases, and in the third case, there is a place for God’s providence. It is probably impossible to somehow draw such a clear line in this kaleidoscope and say where God’s providence is and where it is not! True, some people solve this problem for themselves in the following way: they say something like this: if something came into my life, something that does not depend either on my will or on the will of other people, but completely unexpectedly, as if unpredictable, something so unusual. You know, as the late Metropolitan Nikodim said: “Everything that is unexpected is from God.” And in fact, of course, it is very difficult to disagree with this, but still, I would not limit God’s providence only to some special events in our lives. We believe that the Lord guides a person through life through His providence, without violating human freedom, but it is impossible to say what the mechanism for combining these seemingly incompatible realities is.
–K: You said that many people refuse to recognize God’s providence because they do not see God’s reasonable action in the world, but it is impossible to disagree with this, because there is a lot of suffering in the world, people do what they want, they commit crimes and the Lord does not stops. Others, going through trials, ask God for help, but the Lord does not often hear them, and if he does, he only intensifies these trials. How to combine God's love for his creation, God's providence for the world with the reality that is happening around us?
A: As for the goodness of God and the evil that is present in the world, two considerations are usually expressed about this. The first is that evil can only be destroyed with its bearer, that is, with man, and God, precisely by his goodness, wants man’s correction, his repentance, and not his death. You and I address God as our father – “Our Father”, “Our Father”. We do not call God a judge, a prosecutor, law or justice, we call him father. And so, if we transfer our relationship with God to intra-family relationships, if a child has done something wrong before his father, then what - the father immediately beats him, destroys him? Even if the child is sick, even if the child spreads evil around him, even if this child has grown up and become a criminal. Yes, society will condemn him, the law will condemn him, but his father will still love him, because the father treats his child not from the position of the legal law, not even from the position of the law of justice, he treats him from the position of the law of love. The same thing happens in our relationship with God. Actually, why the Lord tolerates evil, and until what point this will continue, He explained quite clearly when He told the parable of the wheat and the tares. Well, the second consideration: since there is evil in the world, the Lord turns it around for the sake of saving people, for correcting lost people, sinful people and for strengthening faith and testing the righteous. This was well noted by Goethe in the phrase of Mephistopheles, in the famous phrase: “I am part of that force that always wants evil, but always does good.” The devil sows evil, but the Lord uses this evil as a bitter medicine to save people and thereby turns evil into good.
But, in general, this question that you asked me, I probably will not be mistaken if I say that from an apologetic point of view, this is, of course, the most difficult question. There is an attempt in theology to resolve this issue, which is called “Theodicy,” which means “justification of God.” This name may also seem strange to us, because we are looking for justification from God, and here we are talking about the fact that God must be justified. God, indeed, sometimes has to be justified, but I’ll give you an example that is probably well known to every priest. For example, a mother comes to church and says that her child has died. So she approaches the priest and asks him approximately the following set of questions: “What is this? For what? Why? Why is she or her child worse than others, and what crime did they commit? How can one even understand this action of God, who took her child away from her and doomed her to such suffering, ruined her life?” The priest, of course, is trying to somehow console this person, although it is impossible to talk about any consolation here, but at the same time he is trying to somehow protect God, justify His actions, so that this person does not lose faith. In other words, this is an attempt to reconcile all the contradictions that you mentioned in your question: that God really is love, that his providence is aimed at the good of people. All these provisions are subject to very serious doubts, because absolutely every person, with very varying degrees of church involvement and generally religious feeling, asked similar questions: what if God loves the world so much that he did not spare Himself for the sake of saving this world and, if He is omnipotent, then where is the manifestation of this omnipotence and love in our world. But sometimes completely innocent people go through such a crucible of suffering that simply because of the horror of what is happening, it is not possible to accept it as the good will of God, as some kind of good. And then people correlate what happened and God’s providence, they are left with few options for an answer. Either God really doesn’t care about us and all the stories about his love are greatly exaggerated, or He does not have omnipotence, He is simply forced to watch powerlessly as evil reigns in the world. Or He doesn’t exist at all, and these are all fables. We find the answer about the suffering of the innocent, about the suffering of the righteous, in the New Testament, in the suffering in the death of the innocent Christ. If a person defines eternal salvation for himself as the goal of his life, if he goes to this goal through righteousness and the path of holiness, then it will be the way of the cross, only the way of the cross, there is no way around it! This will be a narrow path and a narrow gate leading to the Kingdom of God. And the Lord does not deceive anyone, He does not give any false promises! Anyone who has read the Gospel should lose all illusions about what it means to follow Christ. The Lord says quite clearly that if you want to follow me, then forget about yourself, take up your cross and follow Me. And the more righteous a person is, the stronger his spiritual life, the heavier this cross will be for him. And if a person meaningfully accepts the Sacrament of Baptism, then he must understand that he thereby expresses a desire to share the earthly fate of Christ. Not only His eternity, not only His Resurrection, but His earthly destiny. Well, everyone knows well how the Lord ended His life.
Not everyone fully understands what God’s providence is, especially those who are just coming to faith. Does the Lord God really control our lives? What then is human free will? Is there a contradiction here? And why is there so much evil, troubles and tears in the world created by the Creator? Let's try to figure it out together.
Boundless faith or questions to the Almighty?
It is not surprising that many of us are simply lost in these complex issues. It only seems to us that we are so smart, but in reality only 2% of a person’s brain works. Tell me, are we able to understand in this little way how the world works, how God’s providence is manifested in every everyday situation, why we are given trials and hardships?
How great is our weakness! How weak is our faith! It’s not our business to argue why this or that happens to us; you need to know that this is the will of God, you need to humble yourself, but demanding, so to speak, an account from God is extreme madness and pride. Venerable Nikon of Optina
Those who have sincere and strong faith in God can probably be called happy people. They do not ask philosophical questions, understanding that man is not given the ability to comprehend everything planned by the Creator.
They simply believe and know: the Lord God even sends us sorrows for our own good. These are tests for the sake of our correction. But man’s sins are so great that one can only be amazed at the patience and forgiveness of the Creator.
You need to understand and accept God’s providence with your heart. But for many, especially beginners, the sin of too much mind prevents them from doing this. Let's think together then.
Why does God allow evil?
What can be objected to those who claim - how can the omnipotent Lord God allow so much crime and lawlessness to happen in the world? But each of us chooses between good and evil, and that is why man is given free will. Someone will survive from bread to water, but will never take someone else's. And another does not hesitate to take the last thing from an old man or a child. Greed and thirst for profit are terrible sins of man.
Are wars and disasters also God’s providence? When aggression accumulates in society, the Lord God allows military conflicts. Foolish people, like small children, should be given a taste of what they strive for. They won’t stop anyway... Of course, those responsible for the death and suffering of people will later be punished.
What about catastrophes and natural disasters? Those who can no longer correct themselves here on Earth will perish. And those who have a chance to atone for their sins and cleanse themselves will remain.
But really, the Lord God cannot stop the bloodshed, terror, and violence? The Almighty does not do this, because this is the free will of people. Yes, the will is evil, cruel and merciless. But that’s why we are given freedom, to choose how to live and which way to go.
Why does the Lord God allow illness and misfortune to those who seem to be trying to live according to his commandments, pray, and attend church? Here God’s providence is to “bring man down from heaven to earth,” because many begin to think that they are already almost righteous. But a person’s previous sins still weigh heavily on him.
In addition, the sin of pride is added: you are already so correct and deserve only all kinds of benefits and rewards from the Creator, and the rest - those who are sinners - will burn in hell. But a truly merciful Christian must worry not only about his own salvation, but also about the people around him.
How God's providence helped St. Ephraim the Syrian understand why he was punished and repent of his sin - watch this video:
God knows everything in advance... A nightmare come true for the mother of the Decembrist Ryleev
Enduring suffering and sorrow on the sinful Earth (undeserved, in our opinion), we sometimes become embittered and ask where is God’s providence here, when people whom we consider good and worthy pass away young, when a tiny baby dies, not yet having had time to sin and apologize to the Almighty?
This means that this was the will of God. Perhaps this is the lot of sinful parents - to mourn the loss, repenting of unworthy actions, or it is better for the baby to go to another world now, otherwise a terrible fate would await him in the future. God knows everything in advance...
At the age of three, Kondraty Ryleev became seriously ill, and his mother fervently prayed to the Lord for healing. When, exhausted, she lay oblivious by the baby’s crib, she dreamed that a pleasant unfamiliar voice warned: “You don’t need to ask God for the child’s recovery. The Almighty knows about his terrible fate and, out of mercy, wants to take your son now so that you both avoid suffering.”
The angel showed his mother his future: she saw her son as a recovered, rosy-cheeked baby, a grown-up, playful boy-student, a young man, and an already grown man in the service.
Then the mother saw a room, the entrance to which was closed by a curtain. An unfamiliar voice already sounded menacing and warned not to enter there and change your mind: “Submit now, otherwise it will be too late, don’t ask for the life of your child!” But the woman, who passionately wanted to save her son, hurried behind the curtain and saw... the gallows!
When the mother woke up, she realized that her baby was healthy! Waking up, the child stretched out his arms to her, and her happiness knew no bounds. Years passed and what the woman saw in her dream was fulfilled with amazing accuracy.
Decembrist Kondraty Ryleev was executed on July 13 (Old Style) 1826... His last words addressed to the priest on the scaffold were:
Father, pray for our sinful souls, do not forget my wife and bless my daughter.
Who will condemn a loving mother who resisted God's providence? But she was warned...
There is no way of the cross to salvation or “roundabout” paths to God.
Not everyone can come to terms with the misfortunes that befall them, but only meekness, humility and submission to the Creator will help them to endure all trials with dignity. Of course, it is difficult to explain this to grief-stricken parents who have lost their only son or to an inconsolable widow left without her beloved husband.
Only boundless faith in God helps us to see God’s providence even in the most terrible adversities and illnesses. An example of this is the meekness and courage of the young schema-nun Anna, who gratefully accepted her incurable, painful illness. She knew that she would soon meet with the Creator.
The conditions with which the Lord surrounded us are the first step into the Kingdom of Heaven - this is the only way of salvation for us. These conditions will change as soon as we use them, turning the bitterness of insults, insults, illnesses, and labors into the gold of patience, lack of anger, and meekness. Priest Alexander Elchaninov
The path to the salvation of the soul and eternal life with the Lord is always the way of the cross. Those who strive to live righteously, according to God’s commandments, know what it means to follow Christ. The innocent son of God suffered torment for the sins of mankind. Through his suffering on Earth, Jesus gave hope of salvation to those who are ready to follow him. But human fate on earth will not be easy either. The more spiritual a person leads, the stronger the tests sent to him.
The following video, a conversation with Archpriest Alexander Glebov, highlights many topics that concern us: faith in God and the evil of this world, the responsibility of the Almighty for his creation, human free will, the path to salvation:
In our earthly life we will never comprehend many things with our minds. It is enough for us to know, be convinced and undoubtedly believe that God is not unjust, and on the last day of judgment there will not be any of the defendants who would say anything other than the words to the Lord other than the words: “Thou art righteous, O Lord, and thy judgments are just.” (Ps. 119, 137) Saint John of Tobolsk
And although man’s sins alienate him from the Creator, the Lord wants salvation for everyone and gives this chance to everyone. But how to use it and understand God’s providence is a matter of choice for each of us.
“Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you.”
(1 Pet. 5, 7)
Since ancient times, by the Providence of God (Greek πρόνοια, Latin providentia) Christians have understood the care that God has for all creatures living in our world. Christians have always trusted in the Providence of God: “ Providence is God's care for existing things."(Venerable John of Damascus).
The Long Catechism gives the following definition: “ The providence of God is the constant action of the omnipotence, wisdom and goodness of God, by which God preserves the existence and strength of creatures, directs them to good goals, helps every good, and the evil that arises through removal from good stops or corrects and turns to good consequences».
They say that Anthony the Great, once perplexed by the depth of God’s Economy (government of the world) and God’s judgments, prayed and said: “Lord! Why do some people reach old age and a state of infirmity, while others die in childhood and live little? Why are some poor and others rich? Why do tyrants and villains prosper and have an abundance of earthly blessings, while the righteous are oppressed by adversity and poverty? He thought for a long time, and a voice came to him: “Antony! Pay attention to yourself and do not subject yourself to the study of God’s destiny, because it is harmful to your soul!” (Alphabetical Patericon).
Let us consider the issue of God's Providence within the framework of modern Orthodox doctrine.
In the context of the Christian understanding of the purpose of human life, the salvation of the soul, God’s Providence should be divided into General and Particular. The general one applies to all people and is that God gives everyone the opportunity to make their own choice - to go to God or from God, while following his essence - love, God never punishes anyone for anything, i.e. provides a person with complete freedom of choice. Private Providence is that for those who have made their choice and take steps towards God, God takes adequate steps in response and helps them live their earthly life in such a way as to be cleansed of passions, prepare for eternal life and be saved. God loves us and longs for our salvation. In most cases, it is Private Providence that is understood by believers as the Providence of God in general or “Providence.”
It should be recognized that the question of God’s Providence is difficult to understand on its own, but Orthodoxy differs from other confessions in that it proceeds from the patristic understanding of the answers to the questions that life offers us. So what do the Holy Fathers say about God’s Providence?
The greatest Christian ascetic, the thinker of the 7th century, Isaac the Syrian wrote: “ If you once entrusted yourself to the Lord, who is all-sufficient to protect you and look after you, then do not worry about anything like that again, but tell your soul: “For me, He is sufficient for every task to whom I once committed my soul.”. Adding: " As soon as a person rejects all visible help and human hope and follows God with faith and a pure heart, grace will immediately follow him and reveal its power to him in various helps." The monk taught that any decision should be supported by the words: “Lord, Thy will be done, not mine.” Thus placing sincere trust in God, and not in himself, a person takes a step towards meeting God, whose response step is the accomplishment of Providence. Obviously, we are talking about private fishery.
Our contemporary, Archimandrite John (Krestyankin) said this: “ God has no predestination for man, but man is certainly a co-creator of his life with the Lord" Here, the emphasis is on general Providence.
Saint Innocent, Archbishop of Kherson and Tauride, who lived in the nineteenth century, wrote in his work “On the Ways of God’s Providence in Human Life”: “ Since man was created free, destined to act on his own, the Wise Creator, in order not to violate this advantage, controls our destiny invisibly and inconspicuously. In this regard, the same thing happens to us as to small children, from whom educators sometimes hide their presence in order to give them complete freedom to act according to their own will." Apparently, the saint had in mind the general Providence.
So how can we, Orthodox Christians, make sense of this kaleidoscope of definitions, interpretations and opinions?
The Apostle Paul spoke about the incomprehensibility of God’s Providence:
"Oh, the depth of wealth and wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His destinies and unsearchable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who was His adviser? Or who gave Him in advance that He should repay? For all things are from Him, by Him and to Him"(Rom. 11:33-36).
There is no unambiguous interpretation of God's Providence. But such an important concept cannot be left without definition.
One day, three ascetics came to Anthony the Great and began to discuss which virtue was the highest. One said fasting, the second said prayer, the third said obedience. Anthony replied: “ And by foolish fasting you can kill yourself, and by foolish obedience you can become a slave of men, and not a servant of God, and by prayer you can both ascend to heaven and fall into the abyss of pride and delusion. Where there is no reasoning, there is no virtue».
From the words of Anthony the Great, we conclude that only by reasoning, that is, by using your mind, is it possible to “separate the wheat from the chaff” and understand the essence. Only by reasoning can a person come to a conscious choice and realize the general Providence, and by reasoning even more, will he be able to take steps towards God, and not away from Him, and thus realize the Particular Providence of God in relation to himself. Only in this way is it possible to realize the essence of God's Providence and understand its true meaning, for there is no virtue higher than reasoning!
Sources:
1. Saint Innocent, Archbishop of Kherson and Tauride. About the ways of God's Providence in human life.
2. Saint Philaret of Moscow (Drozdov). Long Orthodox Catechism of the Orthodox Catholic Eastern Church.
3. Archpriest
Oleg Davydenkov. Catechism