The vision of the Last Judgment of Christ, which happened to Gregory, a disciple of St. Basil the New. Last Judgment
We will not find the phrase “Last Judgment” in the text of the Bible. However, in the church tradition, such a judgment is traditionally called the Second Coming of Christ, foreshadowing the end of the world. In scripture the Second Coming is called “the day of judgment” (Matt. 11:22), the day of the Lord” (2 Pet. 3:10). The theme of the Second Coming is an integral part of Orthodox doctrine. In the Creed, formulated back in the 4th century from the Nativity of Christ, pronounced by believers before receiving Baptism and read by the entire church at every Liturgy, faith in the Second Coming of Christ and the Judgment carried out by Him is directly confessed: “I believe... And again (again) coming with glory judge the living and the dead, and His (Whose) kingdom will have no end.” This is the seventh member of the Creed - the central dogmatic document of the Orthodox Church.
The Last Judgment is a final, universal and righteous judgment. According to Orthodox doctrine, all the dead will be resurrected to come to this judgment. There God will not try to condemn the sinner, but to justify. As St. Theophan the Recluse writes: “Even at the Last Judgment, the Lord will not only seek how to condemn, but how to justify everyone. And he will justify everyone, as long as there is even the slightest opportunity.” According to Rev. Isaac the Syrian God judges us “not according to the laws of justice, but according to the laws of mercy.” The righteous person has already been justified in a “private trial”; he already looks forward to eternal bliss with God. The fate of the sinner throughout earthly history from the moment of his death can still change. This is precisely why commemoration of the dead exists.
But this is not a reason to relax and arrogantly hope for a successful outcome, because “everyone will be forgiven” and “everyone will be prayed for.” The question is not whether God forgives man, but rather man’s ability to coexist with God. The soul of the deceased can accept help only if it itself has a sincere desire to be with the Lord.
What is the image of the Second Coming and Judgment?
Jesus Christ warns that many deceivers will come in His name: “Beware that no one deceives you, for many will come in My name and say that it is I; and they will deceive many” (Mark 13: 5,6). The present, Second Coming will happen in a clear way. Not figurative, as some religious movements believe, not spiritual, but physical and literal: “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds with much power and glory” (Mark 13:24-26). In another place: “As lightning comes from the east and is visible even to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:27).
The Holy Scripture presents us with the image of the Last Judgment in chapter 25 of the Gospel of Matthew; this fragment is read at services in churches on the week “On the Last Judgment,” preparatory to Lent:
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory, and all nations will be gathered before Him; and will separate one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right hand, and the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand: Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry, and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you accepted Me; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me. Then the righteous will answer Him: Lord! when did we see you hungry and feed you? or to the thirsty and gave them something to drink? when did we see you as a stranger and accept you? or naked and clothed? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and came to You? And the King will answer them, “Truly I say to you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did it to Me.” Then He will also say to those on the left side: Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry, and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger, and they did not accept Me; I was naked, and they did not clothe Me; sick and in prison, and they did not visit Me. Then they too will answer Him: Lord! when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not serve You? Then he will answer them, “Truly I say to you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.” And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life.” (Matt. 25, 31-46).
We see in this fragment an image of the separation of sinners and righteous people, after which the Lord tests people on their love for mankind and attitude towards each other. This is a very important point: it is not enough to formally be a Christian, go to church, read prayers. A necessary condition for true communion with God and salvation is a fraternal attitude towards those in need, serving people with the gifts that we have. Therefore, since ancient times, the Church has been setting up almshouses, charity canteens, and organizing sisterhoods serving at hospitals. In this way, Christians get the opportunity to participate in these good deeds and fulfill the commandments of God. But it is not enough to visit a sick person and give money to a beggar. What is important is the location of the heart of the giver, his attitude towards these people. It should be natural for a Christian to help those in need (of course, this does not mean the need to succumb to various manipulations).
When will the Second Coming come? The Holy Scripture speaks about this quite specifically: “The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night,” (2 Pet. 3:10), also “But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but only My Father.” "(Matthew 24:36). In other words, no one except God knows about the time of the end of the world. This information is hidden from people for our own benefit: “Watch, because you do not know at what hour your Lord will come” (Matthew 24:42). At all times of the existence of Christianity, there were groups of people who expected the end of the world, expected the Antichrist (and, for some reason, not Christ) and as a result fell into mass hysteria. It would be much more prudent to calmly prepare for one’s own death, and not to expect the end of the world on some specific date, in a year or ten years, because a person is mortal suddenly: “Mad! This night your soul will be taken from you” (Luke 12:19), it was said about the rich man who decided that he had a long life ahead of him, during which he was going to “eat, drink and be merry.” I decided that I could measure my own life span - and I was wrong.
Of course, you shouldn’t neglect your business, family and studies, because there is a chance of dying at any moment, no. All this is important and is often given to us as obedience and service for our salvation. We just need to remember that life is given to us as a test, as a path of gradual spiritual growth, on which we do not have the right to give ourselves a “spiritual break” and indulge in sins. Your whole life must be built according to a hierarchy, the top of which is God and salvation. There is a place for work, study, family and recreation; a person’s social life is not inherently sinful if it does not conflict with the commandments.
Thus, we do not know the exact time of the Second Coming, but Scripture gives us general signs leading up to that event:
First, the preaching of Christianity throughout the whole earth, throughout the whole world: And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come (Matt. 24:14).
Secondly, the general weakening of the Christian faith: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8). And the bitterness of people: “In the last days difficult times will come. For people will be lovers of themselves, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unkind, unforgiving, slanderers, intemperate, cruel, not lovers of good,... lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof" (1 Tim. 3:1-5)
Thirdly, the coming of the Antichrist. A person (namely a person) claiming to be Christ. The coming of the Antichrist will precede the coming of Christ: “Let no one deceive you: for that day will not come, until a falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above everything that is called God or that is holy, so that in the temple of God He will sit as God, showing himself to be God” (2 Thess. 2:3,4). The Antichrist will be defeated by Christ, who “will kill with the spirit of His mouth and destroy by the manifestation of His coming, whose coming, according to the work of Satan, will be with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception of those who are perishing because they did not receive the love of the truth for your salvation” (2 Thess. 2:8). And in our time, there are many people who have declared themselves to be the second incarnation of Christ, but all these people are rather crazy or swindlers, and not harbingers of the Second Coming. In the book "Revelation" St. John the Theologian describes the appearance of two elders, denouncing the Antichrist and proclaiming the truth of God (according to Tradition, these are Enoch and Elijah, taken to Heaven without death). After their testimony they will be killed, but after three days they will be resurrected and ascended to Heaven. These are the signs foretelling the end of the world and the Last Judgment.
For people less familiar with the Christian faith, the theme of the Last Judgment and the End of the World is the most attractive. On the one hand, it fascinates with its grandeur and importance, but on the other, it seems distant, not affecting us personally. This is the mistake of many people who are looking for the meaning of life and worrying about the fate of the world: maybe they will not find the Second Coming during their lives - but death still awaits everyone. Yes, personal death does not seem like such a grandiose and large-scale event, but it is the main result of our entire life, specifically our life. Therefore, it is wiser to worry about your own demise than the end of the whole world. For those who justify their excessive interest in the end of the world by worrying about the fate of people, let us recall the instruction of St. Seraphim of Sarov: “My joy! Acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved.”
About His last, terrible judgment over all people, at His second coming, Jesus Christ taught this:
When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then He, as a King, will sit on the throne of His glory. And all nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate some people from others (the faithful and good from the ungodly and evil), just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will place the sheep (the righteous) on His right hand, and the goats (sinners) on His left.
Then the King will say to those standing on His right hand: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry (I was hungry) and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.”
Then the righteous will ask Him with humility: “Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You as a stranger and welcome You, or naked and clothe You? When we saw You sick, or in prison have you come to you?"
The king will answer them: “Truly I say to you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers of Mine (that is, for the needy people), you did it to Me.”
Then the King will say to those on the left side: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Because I was hungry, and you did not give Me anything to eat; I was thirsty, and you did not give Me something to drink; I was a stranger. , and they did not receive Me; I was naked, and they did not clothe Me; I was sick and in prison, and they did not visit Me.”
Then they too will answer Him: “Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not serve You?”
But the King will say to them: “Truly I say to you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.”
And they will go into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
This day will be great and terrible for each of us. That is why this judgment is called the Terrible, since our deeds, words, and most secret thoughts and desires will be open to everyone. Then we will no longer have anyone to rely on, for the Judgment of God is righteous, and everyone will receive according to their deeds.
(Matt. 25, 31-46)
The parable that we read today is so well known to everyone that, it would seem, there is nothing to talk about it; and at the same time there are several features in it that I would like to draw your attention to.
The first is that when the defendants - that is, all of us - stood before the court of God, the Lord did not ask about anything related to faith, to worldview, but asked them only about one thing, and directly: Were you humane on earth ? When you were faced with grief, did you think about how to console? When there was hunger, and cold, and melancholy, and abandonment, and imprisonment, and captivity of illness - what did you do: did you regret it or not?
And those who regretted, the Lord accepted, without asking anything else, because these people were able to love on earth - with earthly, real love, and therefore were open to receiving the Divine love of the next century. But these people, who had done deeds of love, were perplexed about what the Lord saw in them. How does the Lord attribute to Himself what they did to others? It was so natural for them to act out of love that they did so without even thinking... We will not be saved by the fact that with an effort of heart, painfully forcing ourselves, remembering the Lord’s commandments, we will do them; they must enter into our flesh and blood so deeply, so completely, that they are a natural movement of the soul, and not simple obedience to the law that is given to us from the outside. And therefore, if any of us thinks that he acts mercifully, cares for the sick, visits prisoners, feeds the hungry, clothes the cold, let him ask himself the question: is he acting from the heart or because he feels that this is his duty? and what will he give an answer for his actions? And if only out of duty, then, God, how far we are from being children of the Heavenly Kingdom!
But pay attention to those who have not accomplished any of these deeds of human love. When Christ asks them this question, they don’t even understand it: Where did we see You, Lord? When did we not visit You in hospital or prison? When did they not clothe you when you were cold, or feed you when you were hungry? When were you not consoled in grief? They never noticed anyone around them, otherwise they would not have raised the question of whether it was necessary or not. Will God receive, as if indirectly, the gift of our love, or only this person... They lived their whole lives only for themselves, prudently, wisely, that is, in the end, quite insanely...
And now we have the same question: how do we act towards our neighbor? People often say: I don’t know how to love God, I’m looking for Him in the dark, I can’t get to Him! - Very simple: through a person! The Apostle John said: If anyone says that he loves God, but does not love his neighbor with real and creative love, he is lying, because no one can love the invisible God if he has not first learned to love a concrete, living, vital person before him.. And therefore, before we raise the question of how to reach God, let’s ask ourselves: how do we relate to our neighbor? If our heart is closed, cold, withdrawn, if it is frightened at the mere thought that our neighbor may demand our heart and life from us, there is nothing to talk about, there is no point in seeking the closeness of God: we must first learn to have a warm heart, a living heart, an attentive heart to your neighbor, and then it will open and, like a pure heart, will see God. Amen.
THE LAST JUDGMENT OF GOD
VISION OF GREGORY, DISCIPLE OF OUR HOLY AND GOD-BEARING FATHER BASILI NEW OF TSAREGRAD
Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, 2001
With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II
Icon of the Second Coming of Christ and the Last Judgment of God In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! One day, when I was sitting in my cell and lamenting my sins, a thought came to me and began to greatly occupy my mind. I thought that the faith of the Jews was deep and sincere, since Abraham is called the friend of God in Scripture, and Isaac is righteous before God, Jacob is the father of the twelve patriarchs, and Moses is the great saint of God. He struck the Egyptians with signs and wonders. How is the faith of the Jews not sincere, if they received the Law of God on Mount Sinai in the Decalogue, learned to separate good and evil, if God, through Moses, divided the Red Sea for the Israelites and brought them out of slavery in Egypt, and fed them with manna in the desert? I read the other books of the Old Testament and, having struggled with these thoughts for a long time, finally came to my senses. Why bother with vain thoughts in vain, because I have a spiritual father, full of spiritual gifts. I’ll go and reveal my thoughts to him, and he will judge about this. After all, I know well that he who confesses his thoughts to his spiritual father receives relief from the thoughts that struggle with him. And whoever hides thoughts in his heart conceals within himself a serpent and not Christ, but Antichrist. I got up and went to my father Vasily. Horse racing was scheduled that day, and on this occasion people from all over the city gathered at the hippodrome. And I haven’t gone to this entertainment for many years, remembering the formidable word of John Chrysostom. And so, when I approached the gathered people at the place of Dioptim, the thought came to me to see if there was the first race of horses. Carried away by this thought, I stopped and looked at the running horses. When I came to our Reverend Father Vasily, I found him in a silent cell, standing in prayer. I entered him, making the usual bow. He blessed me, and after praying with me, he sternly told me: “Behold, a man came to me who, having read the books of the Old Testament, began to praise the Jews, saying, “The faith of the Jews is deep and sincere,” not understanding the Scriptures—its true meaning. He left. "Weeping about sins and thinking about death, and about the Last Judgment of Christ. And not only this, but also went to the hippodrome, where foolish people with their frivolity bring joy to the devil. Therefore, the devil instilled such thoughts in you and deposed you twice! " Having heard such a reproof for myself from the God-wise Elder Vasily, I mentally swore never to attend this devilish spectacle. The saint continued: “Tell me, why do you think that the faith of the Jews is good and true?” I found it difficult to give an appropriate answer. And Saint Basil also told me what the words spoken by the Lord in the Holy Gospel mean: He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. - “You see from these words that there is no profit for those who believe in the Father, but for those who reject the Son. And the Lord also said to the Jews: They knew neither the Father nor Me. If they saw Him in the congregation teaching them and performing numerous miracles and did not recognize Him as the Son of God, but as the Heavenly Father, they had never seen Him, how could they know Him well? Jesus said to the Jews: I have come in the name of My Father, and you do not receive Me; and if another comes in his own name, receive him. And he also said: Behold, your house is left to you empty. You see that God finally rejected them and scattered them throughout the entire earth, among all nations, and made their very name hateful among the peoples of the Universe. And again the Lord said: If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin... but now they have seen and hated both Me and My Father. The Lord said exactly the same about the fig tree in the Holy Gospel, when he was hungry and approached it and found no fruit on it, giving it over to a curse: Let there be no fruit from you henceforth forever. By fig tree we mean the Jewish people. The Son of God came, hungry for righteousness, and did not find the fruit of righteousness among the Jewish people. Although this people hid behind the Law of God given through Moses, they did not bear the fruits of righteousness, for which they were cursed and rejected. Before the coming of Christ, the faith of the Jews was truly right and good and the Law was holy. When Christ, the Son of God, Whom the Jews did not accept and lawlessly crucified on the Cross, came into the world, their faith in God was rejected, and the people were cursed. Instead of the Old Testament, God concluded a New Testament, not with the Jews, as before, but in the person of those who believe in the Son of God with all the tribes of the earth. The Jews, who have not accepted the Son of God, are expecting a false messiah - the Antichrist. To prove this, before the death of the prophet Moses, God said: Behold, you will rest with your fathers, and this people will begin to walk whorely after foreign gods... and they will leave Me and break My Covenant, which I made with them; and My anger will kindle against him... and I will leave them and hide My face from them, and he will be destroyed, and many disasters and sorrows will befall him. Through the prophet Isaiah, God said: I will reject My great rod, that is, the Law given to the Jews through Moses, and I will ruin them with great destruction, I will reject them completely and will not turn to them. You see, child Gregory, how they have been rejected from God, and their Law no longer has any meaning before God. After the coming of Christ, the Jews did not have a single prophet or righteous man. Prophet David said: Once they are rejected, they will never rise again. And he also said: May God rise again and let His enemies be scattered. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, was resurrected on the third day from the dead, and after forty days He ascended into Heaven and sat down in human nature at the right hand of God the Father. On the Fiftieth day after His Resurrection, He sent down the Holy Spirit on His disciples and Apostles; when they dispersed throughout the Universe to preach the word of God, the righteous Judgment of God befell the Jews. Jerusalem was destroyed to the ground, then all the Jews were dispersed to all countries of the Universe. And all nations hate this rejected race of the Jews, the murderers of God. Saint John the Theologian in Revelation says about them that the Jews are no longer the host of Israel and the sons of God, and not a holy people, but a cursed and indecent and rejected people - a host of Satan. When they gather in the synagogue on Saturday, the Lord is not among them, but Satan among them rejoices and rejoices over their destruction, because they rejected the Son of God; branded themselves with the most shameful name of a deicide. Satan took them as his inheritance and sealed them with his vile name. They are the sons of the devil, and the portion of his deceitful and vile activities, and a part of the Antichrist. Before they rejected the Son of God, they were sons of the Kingdom. Now they have been expelled from the city of Christ and in their place all the nations who believe in the Holy Trinity have been brought in. The New Israel is a Christian people, sons of the New Testament and heirs of future, eternal heavenly blessings. So know, child Gregory, if anyone does not believe that Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God, who came into the world to save sinners, that person is cursed. If anyone believes in the Holy Trinity, and does not confess that Christ was incarnate from the Most Holy Virgin Mary, and was perfect God and perfect man, and through His Cross gave us life, the Resurrection, and salvation, and reconciliation, and the justice of the Heavenly Father, then deprived of God’s favor, subject to condemnation, curse, eternal torment together with the Jews and atheists,” he said this and fell silent. I began to beg him, saying: “I ask you, Saint Basil, pray to the Lord for me, that He will send me some kind of some sign will confirm my lack of faith." He said: "You, child Gregory, are asking a lot from me. Know that the Lord does not want the sinner to die, but wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. If you ask in faith, he will do everything for you." - And he sent me away in peace.
WONDERFUL VISION
On the first night after my return from Blessed Basil, when I was resting on my bed after long and fervent prayer, I saw Saint Basil enter, take me by the hand and say: “Didn’t I tell you that the Jews are cursed by God? Go now with me, and I will show you the faith of each people and what value it has before God." And he took me and went to the East, and a bright cloud enveloped us and lifted us to the heights of heaven. And then I saw a wonderful, beautiful world. I saw a lot and was amazed at its beauty. Suddenly a cloud lowered us, and we found ourselves on some vast and wondrous field of unearthly beauty. The ground of this field was light, like glass or crystal, clean and transparent. And all the ends of the Universe were visible from this field. Soaring across this field were regiments of bright and beautiful fire-like youths, sweetly singing Divine songs and praising the One God in the Trinity. Then we came to some terrible place, glowing with a fiery light, and I thought that they had brought me to burn me. But it was not fire, but light like fire. Among this light are many winged youths dressed in snow-white robes. They walked and burned incense on the immaterial altar of God. Suddenly we found ourselves at a high mountain, which we climbed with great difficulty, and Saint Basil told me to look to the East, and I saw another field, very large and shining like gold in the sun. When I saw this field, my heart was filled with inexpressible joy. Still looking to the East, I saw a wonderful city, indescribable beauty and very great. I admired for many hours and stood in amazement, then I asked the driver: “My lord, tell me, what is this wonderful city?” He told me: “This is Heavenly Jerusalem - the city of the Heavenly King. Not made by hands, as vast as the circle of heaven is built.” And I asked: “Who owns this city and who lives in it?” He said: “This is the city of the great King, about whom David miraculously predicted; our Lord Jesus Christ created it at the end of His earthly life and after His miraculous Resurrection, and after His Ascension into Heaven to God His Father, He prepared it for His holy disciples and To the Apostles, and to those who believed in Him through their preaching, as the Lord Himself said in His Gospel: In My Father's house there are many abodes . Then a wonderful young man appeared, descended from the heights of heaven onto a hill in the middle of this wondrous city, saying: “Behold, the Judgment and Resurrection of the dead will be and reward for everyone from the righteous Judge will come.” And after the words of this young man, a pillar of fire descended from the heights of heaven, and a terrible voice was heard, like a thousand thousand thunders. This is the creative and omnipotent power of God, which will gather all creation. And after this a mighty voice descended upon all human bones, so that they might be assembled bone to bone, joint to joint, member to member, obeying this creative Power of God. Human bones began to collect throughout the Universe, and the whole earth became one whole cemetery, filled with dry human skeletons. After that, a young man descended from the heights of heavenly wondrous beauty, holding a golden trumpet in his hand, and with him twelve young men. Each one had a golden trumpet. When they descended to the ground, their glorious Voivode sounded the trumpet before them, menacingly, fearfully, and powerfully. The sound of his trumpet was heard throughout the universe, and the whole earth, like a leaf on a tree, shook. And so the dry bones took on flesh, but there was no life in them, and the glorious and majestic Voivode and the twelve young men sounded the trumpet a second time. The earth trembled and shook greatly. And at that same hour numerous armies of angels descended like the sand of the sea. And each Angel led the soul of a deceased person, whom he protected during his temporary life, and each soul was directed to its body. All the Angels sounded the trumpet for the third time, and Heaven and earth were horrified, and everything trembled, like a leaf on a tree trembles from a strong wind. And all the dead were resurrected, souls united with bodies. They were all the same age, both elders and infants. The forefather Adam and Eve rose from the dead, all the patriarchs, prophets, ancestors with all the tribes and tribes stood crowded all over the face of the earth. Many who did not believe the mystery of the Resurrection were greatly amazed and horrified: how dust and ashes rose again, all the sons of Adam safe and alive after a long period of dust and decay. Those who did not believe in the Son of God were horrified and trembled, seeing the faces of the righteous shining like the stars of heaven, in accordance with their holiness and degree of perfection. According to the words of the Apostle Paul, star differs from star in glory. Some righteous people's faces shone like the sun at noon, others like the moon in the middle of a dark night, and others like the light of day. All the righteous have books in their hands of lightning light. All their Virtues, labors and exploits undertaken to cleanse their hearts from passions are recorded there, and there is an inscription on the forehead of each righteous person, testifying to the glory of each. Some have it written: “prophet of the Lord,” “Apostle of Christ,” “preacher of God,” “martyr of Christ,” “Evangelist-confessor,” “poor in spirit,” “accepted by repentance,” “merciful,” “generous,” “pure.” heart”, “exiled for the sake of righteousness”, “host of the Lord”, “endured poverty and illness”, “presbyter”, “virgin”, “who laid down his life for his friend”, and other numerous virtues. In the same way there was a sign on the faces of sinners. Some of them had faces as gloomy as the dark night, some like soot, others like rotting scabs, some like stinking mud. Others have faces covered with pus and swarming with disgusting worms, their eyes burning with evil fires. The sinners, seeing the glory of the righteous and their lewdness and damnation, said to each other in horror and fear: “Fierce woe to us, the last day of the Second Coming of the Lord has come, about which we heard a lot from the righteous and evangelists before our death. But we are careless.” They did not believe and with all their hearts indulged in voluptuousness, covetousness and worldly pride, laughed and mocked the righteous of the Holy Gospel. Oh, woe to us, the fools. For a moment of the sweetness of sin, the fleeting pleasures of the flesh, we lost the Glory of God. We were clothed with eternal fear, shame. Oh, fierce Woe to us, sinners, unhappy and darkened. The Lord will give us over to eternal unbearable torment. Oh, woe to us, the unfortunate, only now have we recognized our shame and nakedness, open before Heaven and earth and in the face of all earthly beings. The hour has come - the hour of true assessment virtues and vices in temporary life.We knew how to lie, covering up the gross vices of personal righteousness, loudly trumpeting before ourselves about those virtues and perfections that we did not have in our souls. Tormented by a thirst for voluptuousness and ambition, we sought to satisfy insatiable voluptuousness and ambition in all sorts of deceitful ways and did not stop at any atrocities and crimes. Streams of innocent human blood were shed openly and secretly. And despite all the horrors and crimes being committed, they considered themselves beneficent. On this terrible day of God’s Judgment, which we boldly, shamelessly, and fearlessly rejected and denied, our criminality and hypocrisy will be revealed. Oh, how many innocent children's souls we have ruined, poisoning them with the poison of unbelief and godlessness. We were leaders and apostates and zealous servants of Satan. Oh, woe to us, the unfortunate proud ones, who dreamed of knowing everything with our own minds and madly rejected the highest mind of God. Oh, how cruelly we made a mistake when we mocked and laughed at the faith of the God-loving followers of Christ. We served the devil in blindness, gratifying the lust of the flesh. And the servants of Christ suffered greatly and exhausted their flesh with deeds of piety. They shine here like the sun, and we burn with eternal shame and nakedness. Oh, woe, woe to us, the damned and unfortunate. Oh, woe to us, eternal woe to the heirs of hell." Many other words were spoken by atheists, heretics, freethinkers, apostates, unrepentant sinners, reproaching themselves and cursing the day and hour of their birth, expecting a strict and fair sentence from the righteous Judge, looking at each other in horror friend. They all saw the inscriptions on their foreheads: “murderer,” “adulterer,” “fornicator,” “desecrator,” “thief,” “sorcerer,” “drunkard,” “rebel,” “blasphemer,” “blasphemer,” “predator”, “sodomy”, “bestial”, “child killer”, “murderer”, “corrupter”, “grudge-bearing”, “envious”, “oathbreaker”, “buffoon”, “laugh-maker”, “stern”, angry” , “unmerciful”, “lover of money”, “covetous”, “uncontrollably committing every sin and iniquity”, “arrogant denier of the Resurrection and the future life”, “heretic”, “Arian”, “Macedonian” - and all those who were not baptized into the Holy Trinity and after baptism they sinned and did not bring true repentance, and departed from temporary life into eternity morally uncorrected. They all looked at each other in terrible horror and moaned bitterly, hit themselves in the faces and in their madness tore the hair on their heads, uttering a terrible groan and curses. Before the Judgment, the Jews stood as if mad and devoid of reason, many said: “Who is God, who is Christ?.. We do not know. We served many gods, and if they were resurrected, then it will be good for us, since we tried to please good in our temporary life . And therefore they should honor us." Afterwards I saw how the ranks of the Heavenly Powers descended from above and sang a sweetly wonderful song, carrying in their midst a wooden Cross, shining with the light of heavenly glory more than the rays of the sun. And having brought it, they placed it on the Throne prepared for the Righteous Judgment. And this Cross was visible to the entire Universe, and all the peoples were greatly surprised at the extraordinary beauty of the Cross of the Lord. The Jews saw, were horrified and trembled with great fear and horror, in vain the sign of Christ Crucified by them. In despair they began to tear out their hair and beat themselves in the faces, saying: “Oh, woe to us and great misfortune, we saw no good sign. Oh, woe to us, the damned. This is the sign of Christ crucified by us. If He comes to judge, then woe to us. Much We have caused Him harm, and not only to Himself, but also to those who believe in Him.” Thus the Jews spoke and wept. The Angel who led me said: “Look how they began to tremble when they saw the Honorable Cross of the Lord! "We stood on an elevated place, and the whole Universe was visible to me, and conversations were heard, and I even saw all the people who filled the earth. After this, I heard the polyphonic noise of those speaking, and countless numbers of Heavenly Powers began to appear. Principles, Powers, Powers , Dominions, Angels, Archangels, in orderly and orderly great regiments began to descend on the place of the Judgment Seat of Christ. Seeing this, I was greatly horrified and trembled, but the Angel who led me encouraged me, saying: “Do not be afraid, but look carefully and remember what you saw. These are my friends and co-workers at the Throne of the King,” and fear receded from me. Soon lightning flashed, loud trumpet sounds and numerous peals of thunder were heard, from which the whole earth shook. The righteous with bright faces rejoiced and had fun. And those with gloomy faces they were horrified and trembled with fear. And behold, the great Heavenly Powers descended from the heights of heaven, and a wonderful light emanated from them, like a fiery flame. They descended and stood ceremoniously around the place prepared for the Righteous Judge. The beauty of the shining faces cannot be described by any human language. From the vision of them my mind became darkened, and my tongue refused to speak. The righteous from Adam to the last earthly being rejoiced with great joy, expecting righteous reward from the ineffable mercy of God. And sinners, idolaters, atheists and apostates began to be horrified and tremble, like a leaf on an aspen. At this time, a bright cloud with lightning appeared and, overshadowing the Divine Cross, remained on it for a long time; as soon as it rose to the same place from where it descended, a wonderful crown, indescribable beauty, shining more than the rays of the sun, wrapped itself around the Cross. The terrible Throne of Glory stood not on earth, but in the air. And so one regiment of Angels stood on the eastern side, another on the southern, a third on the western and a fourth on the northern. A terrible and wondrous sight presented itself. The air was filled with Heavenly Forces, and the earth was filled with the sons of the human race. Then a fiery chariot descended from the heights of heaven. Around her are countless six-winged Cherubim and many-eyed Seraphim, loudly, solemnly and victoriously calling out: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of Hosts, fill heaven and earth with Your glory.” And so all the Heavenly Powers exclaimed: “Bless, Father Almighty... Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, the Word Co-essential with the Father.”
THE LAST JUDGMENT OF GOD
SEPARATION OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND SINNERS
Suddenly a trumpet sound was heard, terrible and great, and everything living in heaven and on earth trembled. Even the Heavenly Powers themselves shuddered and were afraid. This trumpet sound foreshadowed the nearness of the Coming of the Most Righteous Judge. Then the sounds of trumpets sounded again, and again numerous regiments of the glorious Heavenly Powers began to descend, bearing banners and the royal scepter. Then a cloud, light and white as snow, carried by four animals, began to descend. In the middle of the cloud is the Only Begotten Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ!!! Around the cloud are a large multitude of incorporeal servants of God, with many fear and trembling and great reverence, not daring to approach the cloud. The world was illuminated a thousand times more powerfully than the sun by the Splendor of the Glory of God. When the cloud began to descend over the place where the Throne of Glory stood, immediately all the Heavenly Powers exclaimed in a great voice: “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! God the Lord has come to judge the living and the dead - the whole human race.” And the angelic world bowed with fear and trembling to the Most Righteous Judge. After this, the Only Begotten Son of God came down from the cloud and sat down on the Throne of the Majesty of His Glory. Heaven and earth trembled with fear and horror. The human race was horrified with great fear. The Archangels, Angels, Dominions, Principalities, Powers, Authorities, Thrones, Seraphim and Cherubim loudly exclaimed in victorious solemnity, like numerous thunders: “You are the Christ - the Son of God - the Son of the Living God, whom the all-evil and maddened Jews crucified. God the Most High Word, Whom the Father begat before all ages. By nature, and by will, and by desire. There is one Lord Jesus Christ. Christ, Who took on human flesh, did not change the Divine Divinity. He borrowed his flesh from the Immaculate and Most Pure Virgin Mary. He lived in the world , showed the sons of Adam the path of truth and salvation. He defeated death, destroyed hell, and granted salvation and freedom to the prisoners of hell, destroying all the power and might of Satan. And having risen victoriously from the grave, you gave life and Resurrection to all the dead. You are our God, with the Father and Holy Spirit, and there is no other God besides You. Amen." And so the All-Righteous Judge looked at the sky - and it rolled up like a scroll. The Lord looked at the earth - and it fled from His presence, being defiled by human deeds. And all the sons of Adam, that is, the human race, stood in the air. The Lord looked at the sky again - and a new sky appeared, looked at the immeasurable depth - and a new earth appeared - pure, shining, like wild flowers, decorated with unearthly beauty, since corruptible life ceased and imperishable life began. Time has run out. Eternity has begun! The Eighth Endless Day has arrived! In the firmament of heaven there was no longer any sun, no moon, no stars, since instead of them the Righteous Sun, Christ our God, shone! An unstoppable light that enlightens the entire Universe. And the Lord looked at the collected waters in the heavenly places - and the water turned into a fiery flame, bubbling and seething, inspiring indescribable fear and trembling on sinners and apostates; the flame consumed and burned everything unclean and nasty. Then the Lord looked at the unbelievers, apostates and idolaters. And so the formidable regiments of Angels began to plunge the wicked into the sea of fire, but left some behind. I asked the holy Angel who was leading me about what was happening, he answered: “Those cast into the sea of fire are people who have sinned before the Law and have gone astray from the path of God, from Cain to the legislation of Sinai. Those who have offended and angered God with unbelief, idolatry and other lawlessness. Those who remain are those of the Jews who believed in Divine Providence and did not worship idols." And so the Lord looked to the East - and the Angels sounded loud trumpets, the heavens and the earth shook from their sound, and the place at the right hand of the Judgment Seat of God was cleared. And the regiments of Angels, who were on the eastern side of the Judgment Seat, dispersed throughout the entire Universe, like fast-flying lightning, and looking at the sons of Adam, wherever they met bright, beautiful faces, they kissed them with great joy and presented them at the right hand of the Righteous Judge. Thus the righteous were separated from the sinners. Then the Lord looked to the North and South - and now four regiments of God’s formidable Angels dispersed throughout the Universe, and gathered all the sinners, and set up the Judgment Seat of God on the left. There were countless of them, like the sand of the earth. All of them are distorted with anger, fear and hatred towards each other. Darkened, defiled by all the uncleanness of sin. Those standing on the right side had faces shining with the light of heavenly joy and joy, in anticipation of eternal bliss. The Lord looked with a merciful gaze at those standing at the right hand of the Judgment Seat and said with love: “Come, you blessed of My Father, and inherit the Kingdom of Heaven prepared for you from the foundation of the world. I was hungry and they gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and they gave Me something to drink, I was in sorrow and adversity and they comforted me.” Me". And the righteous answered, filled with the deepest humility: “Master, Lord, we have done nothing, no good to You.”... The Lord answered them: “Because you have created only these least of my brothers, you have created for Me.” Then the Lord looked menacingly at the sinners on the left side and said: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and all his servants. Because you have not done anything good for Me in the presence of My poor brothers. Go away, you damned and wicked, who have defiled yourselves with an unclean sinful life. They did a lot of evil, and did not repent, and in error and vanity they ruined their temporary life. Get away from Me, I don’t know you... In temporary life, I called you to Heaven every day, hourly, but you voluntarily chose hell, branding yourself with the seal of rejection through shameful and vile deeds, words, thoughts and desires. Depart, you cursed ones, who have offended Me greatly, and who have taken My commandments and commandments for nothing. In your madness you loved the charm and momentary pleasure of the flesh, and the pride of Satan, and through this bad life you zealously served the devil. Inherit the eternal torment prepared for him. You rejected Me and joined hands with the devil through a shameful life. Enjoy the fiery darkness and the never-ending worm." Hearing such a formidable sentence from the Righteous Judge, the sinners wept bitterly and sobbed, asking for mercy. At the same hour, the formidable Angels began to cast them into a sea of fire, bubbling wildly. They, feeling a fiery burning sensation and terrible unbearable torment , in insane horror they cried out: “Woe to us, alas, alas!" The Lord again looked at the new earth - and it was decorated with many different gardens and groves of indescribable beauty. And I, amazed at these beauties, asked the holy Angel who was leading me: “What will the Kingdom be like? God, about which I heard from the Holy Scriptures?” He answered me: “This is the land of the meek, about which Christ in the Holy Gospel said: “Blessed are the meek, for you will inherit the earth.” The heavenly Kingdom in heaven is ineffable and indescribable." And the Lord looked at the earth - and the earth was covered with many different flowers, and two rivers flowed: honey and milk, to feed the gardens of paradise with moisture. And many birds of heaven flew, of wonderful beauty, and they began to It is easy to flutter in the gardens of God and glorify God with sweet-voiced singing. Then the Lord looked at the heights of heaven - and the heavenly armies descended, carrying the wondrous city not made by hands - Heavenly Jerusalem, glorifying the One God in the Trinity. They set up this wonderful city in the East, in the middle of it was the Edenic paradise ". This wonderful city, unearthly beauty and very vast. It is called the highest, not made by hands, Jerusalem, its gates shine like the sun. And the angels sounded sweet-sounding trumpets, and all creation began to praise the Lord and everything that is in heaven and on earth. And the Lord called to sinners , His neck, and said to them: “Look how many benefits you have lost and what a painful fate you will receive. .." Having said this, the Lord rose from His magnificent Throne and went to those standing on the right side, saying to them in a meek voice: “Come, you blessed of My Father, and enter into the joy of the Lord your God.” Those on the left side were tormented and tormented by envy , looked at everything that was happening and cursed the sweetness of a temporary, hectic life.
THE HOLY VIRGIN WALK AHEAD OF EVERYONE
When the Lord sat down at the gates of Heavenly Jerusalem, the first Mother of God, the Most Pure Virgin Mary, approached, shining with indescribable glory. Approaching, she bowed to the Lord. The Lord, seeing Her, joyfully accepted Her, and, bowing His most pure head, said to Her: “Enter, My Mother, into the joy of Your Lord, since everything belongs to You. This is Your inheritance!” She, bowing, kissed His hands and entered the holy city in joy. And all the Heavenly Powers and the righteous sang, glorifying Her as the Mother of God and the Queen of Heaven.
AFTER THE HOLY VIRGIN, SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST AND THE TWELVE HOLY APOSTLES WENT
Then the Twelve Men separated from the right hand, and with them John the Baptist of the Lord, approached the gates of the heavenly city, clothed with glory and with cheerful, bright faces. The Lord joyfully received them and kissed them, mercifully saying to them: “Enter, My friends, into the joy of Your Lord!” They joyfully entered the holy city.
THE APOSTLES WALKED SEVENTY DISCIPLES OF CHRIST
Then the Lord called from his right hand seventy men to the gates of the holy city. The faces shone with the glory of heaven, like the moon shining in the darkness of the night. Their clothes are of lightning beauty. The Lord graciously accepted them, saying: “Enter, My faithful friends, into the joy of Your Lord and rest in peace from the labors you have endured in preaching My Holy Gospel...”. Having worshiped the Lord, they joyfully entered the holy city, and all the saints glorified God. Seeing all this, the sinners standing on the left side wept bitterly, tore at the hair of their heads and, cursing, condemning themselves, remembered their evil will in temporary life: “Oh, how crazy we were, we were deceived by the deception of sin and for the sake of momentary pleasure we deprived ourselves of eternal bliss and happiness. Alas! woe, woe to us."
THE HOLY MARTYRS FOLLOWED THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST
After this, by the command of God, a great regiment separated from the right hand, the faces of the righteous shone like the sun. They were dressed in scarlet vestments, shining with unearthly beauty. These were the martyrs of the last days of the militant Church of Christ, who accepted the crown of martyrdom from the Antichrist and his servants. The Lord graciously accepted them.
THE MARTYRS WERE FOLLOWED BY THE HOLY FAITH
Then, at the command of God, a regiment of holy men and women approached, shining with heavenly glory - these are the confessors of Christ. The Lord looked kindly upon them with a merciful gaze, and they entered the holy city in joy.
BLOGEVESTERS
Then a great regiment approached the gates with joy and gladness. Their clothes shone like gold. The Lord graciously received them, saying: “Good servants and faithful, enter into the joy of Your Lord.”
HIGHESTERS
After this, the great regiment came to the gates of the holy city. Their faces shone like the sun, their clothes were white like snow. They had omophorions on their shoulders. These are the bishops of God who kindly shepherded the flock of Christ. The Lord mercifully accepted them, saying: “Enter into the joy of Your Lord, reap the pleasure of your labors, raised in temporary life by you in the field of Christ.”... The angels and the righteous sang the praises of God Almighty.
ABSTRACTS, NOBYILES, AND MONKS WHO WORKED FOR CHRIST
Then a great regiment approached the Lord, and with cheerful faces they bowed to Him. He graciously commanded them to enter into the joy of His Lord. These were abstainers and fasters, and monks who were cleansed by true repentance. All the Angels and the righteous glorified God about them.
MARTYR WIVES
Another regiment separated from the right side, with faces as bright as the sun, in royal purple. These are the holy martyrs who shed their blood for Christ. The Lord mercifully spoke to them in a quiet voice: “Enter, My dear brides, into the Chamber of Your Bridegroom. Enter to the marriage of the Lamb of God, let us drink the wine of eternal joy and celebrate the eternal Passover. Celebrate the eternal victory over the defeated Satan, his servants and corrupt people.” . The powers of Heaven and the righteous glorified God - the Conqueror of death and hell - Christ the Son of God, who with His Cross redeemed the world from the deception of Satan.
ABRAHAM, ISAAC, JACOB
Then, at the command of God, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and twelve patriarchs approached the Lord in white robes, shining with the glory of heaven. The Lord mercifully said to them: “Enter, My friends, into the rest prepared for you—eternal joy.” Angels and holy men glorified God in the Glorified Trinity.
CHRISTIAN BABIES
Then a multitude of people of the same height and image approached the Lord, their faces shining seven times brighter than the sun. The Lord praised them greatly for their purity. These were the firstborn of the Lamb of God, redeemed by His Blood. These are immaculate virgins - Christian babies. The Angels and saints of God greatly glorified God about them. Then they came in great regiments: prophets, just judges, peacemakers, merciful ones, lovers of the poor. Everyone shone with heavenly glory, and the merciful Lord commanded them to enter the bright city and enjoy incorruptible food and drink
Fools for Christ's sake
Then a small cathedral approached the Lord, shining with extraordinary heavenly glory. At the command of the Lord, many people entered the holy city with boldness - these were fools for Christ's sake.
JUDGES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
Then Moses, Aaron and his son Eleazar, Joshua, the seventy prophets who received this gift under Moses, and all the righteous Judges of Israel from Othniel to the prophet Samuel, King David and all the pious kings of Israel, and all the sons of Israel from the twelve, came up to the right hand. tribes of Israel, who strictly observed the Law of Moses until the coming of Christ. All of them were graciously received by the Lord and entered the holy city.
THE FIRST TO SERVE GOD
After this, the Lord called our forefathers Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Enoch, Melchizedek, Noah and other holy men and women who pleased God before the flood and the Law of Sinai. The Lord commanded His servants to give them a worthy reward for their exploits and labors.
WHO PLEASED GOD WITHOUT KNOWING THE LAW
Another small council came from the right hand in joy and in heavenly joy, with shining faces - these are other holy men and women of all kinds and tribes, who fulfilled the Law without knowing it, and who honored the One God, who pleased God with chastity and mercy. The Lord vouchsafed them with indescribable heavenly joy.
EXILED FOR THE TRUTH
Then the Lord called from the right hand a very great regiment, with bright and joyful faces, all adorned with honor and great glory. The Lord mercifully and meekly said to them: “Come, My faithful followers and disciples, inherit eternal rest for your tireless zeal for the righteousness of God. The evil and adulterous world hated you, persecuted and persecuted you innocently, for My sake you were reviled and ridiculed, dishonored, blackened your good name, and all for the fact that you fearlessly confessed My name, despising man-pleasing, deceit and flattery. Rejoice, friends, and be glad, calm down from the sufferings of your temporary life in the eternal joy of tranquility."
HUSBANDS AND WIVES ARE HONEST AND IMPECCABLE
Finally, the Lord called the last regiment, very beautiful, their faces were like the color of a rose, their clothes were like snow made of beautiful flowers. The Lord graciously accepted them and praised them for their faithfulness to His holy commandments. These are husbands and wives who lived honestly in marriage. They diligently visited the temples of God, fervently prayed to God and did deeds of mercy. They decorated the churches of God with holy icons, lit candles, oil and incense. They zealously glorified the name of God in spiritual psalms. The Lord graciously accepted them; He kindly said: “Come, my beloved, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Angels and holy men glorified the Trinity and the One God with great voices. Standing on the left side, the condemned sinners, idolaters, and unbelievers in the Son of God wept bitterly and were tormented by the fear of God. Then I saw how the Honest and Life-giving Cross of the Lord rose from the place on which it stood, and, carried invisibly by Angels, was placed at the gates of Heavenly Jerusalem, where our Lord Jesus Christ dwelt, calling His saints by name, and rank, and by merit - depending on who has succeeded how much in Christian perfection and love, bestowing them with His mercies, leading them into the Heavenly Jerusalem to celebrate the eternal Easter in the non-evening day of His Kingdom.
ABOUT THE WRATH OF THE LORD ON THOSE WHO SINNED IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT
There were many sinners all over the earth, like the sand of the sea, from the time of Adam until the last day of the Coming of Christ, from every nation and tribe. They all stood with gloomy, angry faces, branded with the seal of outcasts. They trembled with fear, like a leaf on a tree, horrified by eternal suffering and torment. Many Orthodox Christians will go into the abyss of unquenchable fire because they were Christians only in name, but did not do Christian deeds and blasphemed the Name of God with their vicious lives - they defamed the Christian title. They will inherit extreme punishment for their apostasy. The Lord looked at them menacingly, showing them the abodes and bliss of the saints, and saying to them: “Cursed, wicked, lazy, nasty people. How many benefits have you insanely deprived yourselves because of the momentary sinful pleasures of the filthy flesh, which you, having rejected My holy law , served, pleasing day and night. You fed yourself as if to harden yourself and, having fed your flesh like a fierce boar, you desecrated yourself with the uncleanness of bestial lusts of the flesh, fornication. You raised your heads proudly, rejected My authority, laughed at My holy followers, persecuted , ridiculed and mercilessly killed the true preachers of the Gospel. You laughed at My holy law. You despised Heaven and loved the dust of the earth. You did not adorn yourself with shining clothes and voluntarily put on the foul rags of the prophets. Accept worthy retribution for your deeds. Paradise, the Heavenly One, was prepared for you Jerusalem - Zion Not Made by Hands. But you madly, voluntarily renounced eternal joy. How many times have I called for repentance, every day I knocked on the doors of your heart, I wanted to give you eternal bliss for free - if only you would bring only repentance and humility. But you drove Me out from your doors. So, go, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for Satan. Receive from him a worthy reward for your zeal for him..." The Lord stretched out his rod against sinners, and sinners were divided into nationalities, tribes and clans, beliefs, heresies and schisms. Those who sinned before the Law and after the Law, who served idols and Jews, did not those who believed in the Coming of Christ. The Lord looked menacingly at the West - and numerous regiments of Angels came, fiery formidable warriors led by the Archangel Michael.
THE JUDGMENT OVER SATAN AND HIS DARK SATANIC HORDS
At the command of God, Satan and all his gloomy dark armies were captured and brought before the Judgment Seat of Christ; just as the dark night comes and covers everything with its veil, plunging it into darkness, so does the dark army of Satan: the darkness of sin, abomination, vices, malice, hatred, envy, blasphemy covered everything around - it became dark over the Universe. God's original enemy and adversary - Satan, bound by insoluble bonds of darkness, appeared before the Judgment Seat of Christ in all his disgusting ugliness. Branded with all sorts of evils of sins, eternal iniquity, curse, trembling and shaking like a leaf on a tree, from intense horror and eternal punishment. Wriggling and groveling like a serpent, hissing and whistling with anger. The entire satanic army also stood in terrible horror and languor, awaiting their final verdict. The Almighty sternly pronounced a formidable sentence on the evil leader Satan and his entire gloomy army: “Oh, the most insane and most damned leader of all evil, the spirit of malice, the insignificance of insignificances! How could you forget such great benefits that you were showered with from Me, the culprit of everything that exists in the world, the creator of eternal happiness and joy, the bliss of creatures, to whom I, by My grace, granted existence and eternal life. How did you, the most despicable spirit of evil, forget that you were created by Me and by My great goodness. You, like Dennitsa, surpassed everyone in glory and power heavenly celestials. You should have glorified more than all the celestials, thanked your Creator for the fact that more than all of them you were gifted with eternal joys, happiness and bliss. But you, ungrateful, forgot My great benefits to you, you darkened your luminous mind with the darkness of oblivion I, in My goodness, waited for your conversion and repentance until you seduced other celestials who served Me, tearing them away from the glorification of My Most Holy Name, and they indulged in criminal daydreaming. You, nonentity, in your madness dreamed of being God, pride gave rise to contempt and irreconcilable enmity in you against Me, your Creator and Greatest Benefactor. You, the most insignificant madman, dared to enter into open battle with the celestial inhabitants faithful and devoted to Me. But like lightning he was cast down from the heights of heaven into the abyss of darkness. And in this My mercy and love was manifested towards you. Having deprived you of heavenly joy and plunged you into a land of darkness and despair, I thereby wanted to bring you to repentance. But you, the most insignificant, despising My good deed, persisted in your madness, relying on pride and bitterness against My goodness, in your madness arming yourself to fight against your Creator. You, cast into the abyss of darkness, deprived of heavenly light, completely given over to sin and disfigured by crimes, never ceased to dream of yourself as a Divinity. And he did not abandon his criminal plans to seize My Most Holy Tabernacle and My Highest and Most Magnificent Throne. And so, in My goodness, I created the visible world and, as the crown of creation of the visible, material, I finally created man from the earth, breathed into him the breath of life, that is, I adorned him with My Image and immortal Soul. In the new creation of man, I combined two worlds - spiritual and material. That is, his body is made of earth - substance from substance. And the Soul is Angel-like and immortal. I created man for eternal joy, happiness and bliss, the primary source of which I, his Soul, destined for Myself in the Tabernacle and Throne of the Divine in My heart. My primordial child Adam and his sister Eve brought Me a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving every hour, every minute. But you, the most evil nonentity, the envious and murderer, in malice and unrepentance, having learned from your nostalgia about the newly created intelligent beings, tormented by malice and envy of these innocent creations of Mine, awarded My rich mercies, destined for the Highest bliss, which you, the most despised, for You lost your madness, and called by My goodness to repentance - did not return, due to your bitterness and stubbornness - you, despicable, decided to destroy them. In your madness, you were not afraid to commit a new terrible crime. You, irreconcilable hostility and malice, the father of lies and the culprit of every crime and sin, flatteringly deprived them of My fellowship, poisoning them with the poison of sin. He stripped them of the richly woven garments of innocence and purity. He dressed them in the nasty and gloomy sackcloth of passions and vices. Oh, most God-hating spirit of malice and enmity! You criminally occupied My Tabernacle and Throne - the Sanctuary of the heart of the newly created man; You were cast out from Heaven, where you became the criminal for the purpose of seizing the Throne of the Most High. You committed your criminal plan on earth, where the weak will of the newly created man assisted you. O most criminal and despicable enemy of goodness and truth, father of lies, chief of darkness! You, like a cruel tyrant, moved into the hearts of My fallen creatures and became a formidable ruler and tyrant over them. You darkened their luminous mind, and they became obedient slaves to you. Having rejected the truth, they listened to lies and deception, for which they were deservedly punished, and for their error they lost My favor. O criminal enemy of beauty and eternal happiness! You brought death and devastation to all creatures on earth. All creation, visible and invisible, groaned and wept when it saw your crime - murder. The sun darkened, the moon disappeared, the stars began to move. All creation wept over the death of its king, kind and radiant, seeing how the most despicable and bloodthirsty tyrant and tormentor reigned. But I, in My boundless goodness, did not leave the fallen creatures without hope of salvation. I gave them the promise of the Redeemer and Savior of the World, so that they would live with faith in the Coming Redeemer and repent, mourning their fall. But you never ceased to darken their minds with oblivion and ignorance. And so, their firstborn, Cain, he taught fratricide, the descendants of the righteous Seth were caught in the nets of female beauty and corrupted the entire human race, which began to reject My existence, uncontrollably indulging in the works of the flesh, drunkenness, gluttony, luxury, effeminacy, carnal impurity, pride, blasphemy, envy. With My righteous Judgment I overthrew them with the waters of the flood, with the exception of righteous Noah and his family. But you, inveterate malice, among the growing pure wheat - the sons of Noah - were not afraid to sow the seeds of wickedness. First you taught the sons of Ham disobedience, disrespect, self-will, free-thinking, false wisdom... And you taught them to reject My existence. But the monuments of destruction did not allow this crime to occur. People remembered the tradition of righteous Noah that for denying My existence the first world was punished by a flood, as evidenced by the ruins and remnants of the ancient world. You darkened their minds with idolatry, and they brought you abundant sacrifices of sons and daughters in the form of idols. The most evil and man-hating leader of nations, you taught peoples and kingdoms insatiable passion, covetousness, ambition, and voluptuousness. Driven by their passions, they waged countless bloody wars, and you flooded the earth with blood. And rejoicing at this broicide, he enjoyed the suffering, like an inhuman and bloodthirsty tyrant. You, the despicable tormentor of the sons of fallen Adam, did not even think about seducing My firstborn Israel into idolatry and the works of the flesh, distracting from fidelity to My Law and promises. You aroused the hatred of My people towards My prophets, who exposed the vile deeds of the flesh and taught My people Israel true worship of God. By the hands of this hard-hearted and stiff-necked people, you, hater of goodness, killed My prophets. But now the hour has come, and I, fulfilling My promise, came into the world to save lost humanity from your tyranny. And as soon as I received human flesh in Bethlehem from the Holy Virgin Mary, you managed to restore all of Jerusalem and especially the ambitious Herod against your Redeemer and Savior. I had to flee to Egypt out of rage and ambition, not because I was powerless against your rage - no! - wanting to teach My followers to protect their lives from premature danger, not to give room to anger. How many times have you taught the scribes and Pharisees to stone Me because I showed people the path of truth and exposed your false deceptions and charms, through which you entangled the world in nets of temptations, trapping the sons of Adam in destruction. But I, laughing at your tricks, passed by and was unharmed, proving your madness against the truth. O primordial enemy of man, you incited envy and hatred of the scribes and Pharisees, and after many of your defeats you found an ally for your criminal plans among My chosen disciples and Apostles. You infected the heart of Judas with the passion of love of money - this root of all lawlessness. He handed Me over to be crucified. But your anger did not rejoice for long. Having completed the work of redemption, I, as the Conqueror of death and hell, with My Cross inflicted on you a terrible defeat and an incurable wound. I victoriously destroyed your dark kingdom on earth, and breaking the bonds of hell, I granted Freedom. And you, the evil-doer, he bound with chains of darkness, watching for the day of condemnation. But you did not cease to act evilly and, being bound, through your servants instigated fierce persecution against My disciples and followers, trying to wipe out the truth from the face of the earth. The shed blood of the martyrs, like a seed, gave birth to numerous regiments of martyrs. Christians remained the winners of your tricks. Even children, and young women, and Christian youths, despising your seductions, defeated you, despised and rejected. They went to death with joy, as to a wedding feast. But you, struck in the head, in your madness again prepared for battle with the inhabitants of heaven, puffed up and exalted with your omnipotence, like a dry, rotten tree, and especially when I gave you freedom for three and a half years. So that you, having become exalted and completely maddened by the successes of popular corruption and worldwide service to you, with the exception of My chosen ones, again entered into battle in the person of the Antichrist and his servants, who, like you, maddened by corruption, persecuted and killed My followers. In madness, considering themselves self-gods, rejecting My power and omnipotence. But My Holy Church - beloved Bride - triumphed over your servants and remained victorious. Your chosen vessel and the son of destruction, the Antichrist, with his false prophets, are thrown into the abyss of the lowest hell, where they experience terrible torment, which will have no end. The end has come to your villainy and gloomy dominion on earth, the hour of due retribution has come to you, the most repentant and most wicked and most ungodly father of lies and deception - Satan." The Lord looked at the enemy of the human race - and the Lord commanded Michael the Archangel to strike him. The Holy Archangel courageously and victoriously struck him with fire. with the sword of the ancient serpent, Satan and his godless head. And his example was followed by the regiments of the Heavenly Forces. Like lightning, the entire satanic army was cast into the abyss of bubbling hell with terrible noise and screams, in impotent anger.
ABOUT THOSE WHO REJECTED FROM CHRIST
The Lord looked menacingly at the left side - and the formidable Angels seized the blasphemers, apostates, corrupters of the human race, the forerunners of the Antichrist, who prepared for him the path of wickedness and blasphemy, unconfirmed Christians, whom they brought to apostasy, persecutors of the first Christian times. The Lord pronounced a terrible sentence on them, and the Angels cast them into the fiery abyss.
BRIGERS AND ROBBERS
Then the Angels separated a great regiment with gloomy faces - apostates, robbers and robbers. Their faces were distorted with hellish malice, their hands and clothes were stained with blood, and they beat them mercilessly and threw them into the sea of fire. With a scream and groan, tearing their souls apart, they plunged into the abyss of hell.
FORBETTERS AND ADULTERERS
Again the Angels separated a horde of husbands and wives with terrible and disgusting faces, purulent, infested with stinking worms, disgusting snakes gnawed at their hearts, entwining themselves around their nasty body. At the word of the Lord, the Angels pierced them with fiery swords, casting them into the fiery abyss.
FORMARKS
The formidable angels seized and attracted another very large horde, with satanic faces, a stench emanated from them, and worms sharpened their vile bodies, and fiery snakes gnawed and lived on them. The Lord menacingly pronounced his righteous sentence to them: “Oh, unfortunate and insane sensualists and debauchees, you have despised the joy of Paradise, which I promised you through My messengers in the Holy Gospel, you have madly given yourself over to the pleasure of filth and vile flesh. May you reap your reward in the abyss fiery." The Holy Angels beat them with fiery rods and cast them into the abyss.
HAVING UNCLEAN THOUGHTS AND FOLLOWING CONVERSATIONS SETTING
At the command of the Lord, formidable Angels grabbed the sinners from the left side and drew them before the Judgment Seat of Christ, their faces were gloomy and distorted. Disgusting flies hung on the bodies - these are people who delighted in unclean and vicious thoughts, evil seductive conversations and lustful glances and touches. The Holy Angels tied them with heavy iron chains and cast them into the fiery abyss. They cried bitterly: “Oh, woe, woe to us, unrepentant sinners!”
THE CUTTERS AND THE PERFORMERS OF SODOM SIN
Then the Angels grabbed and attracted many sinners, their faces covered with pus and stench, their skin bestial. These are the bestials. The Lord turned His Most Pure face away from them, and the formidable Angels pierced them with a flaming sword and cast them into the abyss.
SUICIDERS AND STRAPERS AND OTHER WAYS TOOK THEIR LIFE.
Then the Angels grabbed the regiment in clothes caked with blood, and the nails dug into their bodies. Disgusting pus came from his mouth, his legs were twisted. The Lord looked at them, and the holy Angels cast them into the abyss of hell. These are suicides and strangled people who have deprived themselves of their lives in other ways and have insulted and blasphemed God with their despair.
THIEVES AND BRIGERS
The Lord also looked menacingly at the left side of the Judgment Seat. Terrible Angels grabbed and attracted many sinners with gloomy and dark faces, distorted by malice and hatred; clothes are torn, dirty, stained with blood, goatskin on the legs. The Lord looked at them menacingly - and the Angels, tying them up, threw them into the abyss of hell. These are thieves and robbers.
Oathbreakers and Liars
Then the Angels seized and attracted a great regiment of sinners, from whose mouths came disgusting worms and a stench. Snakes wrapped themselves around their heads and stung them. These are liars and oathbreakers. At the command of God, the Angels cast them into a raging sea of fire, beating their foul lips with fiery sticks.
ANGRY, IRRITABLE AND VICIOUS
At the word of the Lord, the Angels captured a regiment of great sinners. Their dark and gloomy faces were distorted with strong anger and hatred, as if they were Satan himself. They gnashed their teeth, their tongues hung out of their mouths like snakes, their eyes burned, emitting sparks. These are angry, vindictive, envious, slanderous, malicious, scoffers, mockers of the weak and defenseless. At the word of the Lord, the Angels cruelly beat them with fiery rods and cast them into the abyss, where there is gnashing of teeth and a never-ending worm. They wept bitterly, inconsolably, and shed bloody tears. But there is no one who has mercy.
WHO DO ALL UNTRUTHS
Then the Lord looked to the left side - and the formidable Angels seized a great horde. Their faces, nasty and gloomy, like soot, are defiled with stinking blood, their legs are covered with ulcers - these are unrepentant, who have not washed away their sins with tears and repentance, mercy for the poor and forgiveness of offenses. Not having propitiated God, they were irreconcilably hostile to each other, flattering each other. The Angel who led me said that by forgiving the offenses inflicted on us, the Merciful God bows to us and forgives our sins. For it is said in the Holy Gospel: forgive the sins of people, and the Lord will forgive you your sins. Fulfill all the commandments of God - and you will find many benefits at the Last Judgment of God. Oh, how insane and unhappy are those people who do not want virtue, that is, to forgive everything and by forgiving offenses to gain the Kingdom of Heaven; pride and rancor prevent this saving virtue. Every person who takes revenge on his offender and enemy is destroying himself and is his own irreconcilable enemy. The Lord looked menacingly at the offenders, avengers, slanderers, drunkards and gluttons - and the holy Angels cast them into the abyss of raging flames.
ABOUT THOSE WHO SINNED FROM THE PRIESTLY OFFICE, HUGNITS AND THE COMMON PEOPLE
Then the holy Angels seized a great horde of sinners, among them were bishops, priests, deacons, and clergy, and other people, men and women, youths and young women. Their faces were stained with pus, worms swarmed from their nostrils, small snakes curled in their hair. From their feet to their necks they were gnawed by terrible snakes, which engulfed their entire camp with their terrible snake body. A vile uncleanness emerged from their bodies and hands, purulent foam came from their eyes, disgusting worms hung and gnawed at their vile flesh. The Lord looked at them menacingly and said: “Oh, depraved and adulterous race, you were seduced by the momentary pleasures of the flesh, you despised heavenly bliss, and for a moment’s pleasure you will forever drink the cup of sorrow among the flames of hell. On earth you were kindled by the lust of the flesh, here you will be forever burned by the ferocity of the fire of Gehenna and the gnawing of the inexorable worm. Depart from Me, accursed, cursed, unclean, into eternal torment. If you repented and washed away your foul carnal lusts with tears, having lived in chastity and purity, you could receive forgiveness and pardon. But now there is no time for repentance, the hour of righteous reward has come for everyone according to his deeds." The angels, scourging them with fiery rods, cast them into the abyss of unquenchable fire. With terrible screams and curses, they plunged into the sea of fire. They cried out: “Cursed be the hour and the day when we were deceived by the abomination of the prodigal. Oh, woe, woe to us, the unfortunate.”
ABOUT MONSKS
Then the Angels seized a very large regiment in monastic attire and brought them before the Judgment Seat of Christ. Their faces are as dark as soot. Their lamps went out and emitted stinking smoke. But on their necks one could see laziness and carelessness in the form of birds - owls. Thoughtfulness and sloppiness hung over them like snakes, and rebellion clasped their backbone like heavy iron. The Lord looked at them sternly and reproachfully for having overcome their passions and defilement. They did not fulfill the second consecration, they did not destroy the passions and lusts of the flesh. The Lord said to them: “Get away from Me, servants of passions and lovers of carnal lust. Depart into eternal torment. For the sake of your negligence, you have lost eternal joy and happiness; for the sake of gluttony, carnality, you voluntarily renounced Me in temporary life. Reap the fruits of your hands - worthy reward for your negligence in the matter of salvation." Hearing this, they began to beg the Lord with tears: “Have mercy on us. We knew You alone. We served You alone day and night, and in Your name we cast out demons, and in Your name we did many signs.” And like thunder the menacing voice of the Most Righteous Judge was heard: “Depart, you cursed, into eternal fire, for you have not obeyed My voice, and I will not listen to you.” And the Angels plunged them into the abyss of hell. The Angel who led me said: “Before the end of the century, almost the entire monastic order will go to destruction, because there are few who are saved, few who love work, suffering and humility. Before the end of the world, the kingdom of Satan will begin, with the passions and lusts of the flesh, seductions, all kinds of pleasures, deception and by tricks; Satan will attract many to himself, especially those who, for the sake of God, did not love poverty, suffering, humility, and crying, and therefore will easily believe the delusion of the Antichrist, rejecting Christ and perishing forever.”
MONKS AND COMMON PEOPLE
Then the formidable Angels seized and attracted to the Judgment Seat a regiment of monks and simple Christians. Their clothes were dark, like the darkness of the night. their faces at times darkened, at times brightened, pure milk dripped from their right hands, and stinking tar from their left hands. The Lord looked at them and turned His face away from them. Terrible angels led them to eternal torment. They often turned to the Judgment Seat of Christ, plaintively crying out: “Have mercy on us, Merciful Lord God!” The Lord had mercy on them and, in His righteousness, was strict towards them. And then suddenly the Maiden descended from the heights of heaven. Indescribable beauty, glorified by heavenly glory. And many Angels served Her. Approaching, she began to ask the Lord for those being taken to torment. The Lord heeded Her request and granted mercy for the sake of Her intercession. She instantly overtook the formidable Angels and told them: “The Heavenly Father and His Only Begotten Son and the Holy Spirit are merciful, therefore the regiment of these merciful ones will not suffer, since for the sake of My intercession they have had mercy.” The angels answered: “We know who You are, beloved of God, the Merciful One. No one else has boldness before the Righteous Judge except You,” and they returned the entire regiment to the judgment seat of Christ. They awaited their righteous verdict with trembling and fear, trembling like a leaf on a tree. And the Judge said to them mercifully and compassionately: “For the sake of your alms, eternal fire, I will deliver you, but for the sake of fornication and other impurities and passions, you will not see My Kingdom and you will not inherit My eternal bliss, you will not see the joy of My saints, since you have no clothes.” "Wedding. They have desecrated the clothes of innocence, holiness and purity received in Holy Baptism. But they do not come to a wedding in unclean clothes, they do not desecrate the joys of the saints." He ordered that they be given a place in the North.
INFANTS NOT ENLIGHTENED BY HOLY BAPTISM
Then the Lord commanded to separate from the left side the blind who did not walk by the will of God. There was neither the stamp of evil nor the stamp of good on them. The Lord looked at them and took pity on them with meekness. He drew threatening attention to their parents, condemning them for not trying to enlighten them with Holy Baptism. And the Lord commanded His holy Angels to grant them a place of rest at noon, the West, and somewhat involved in the pleasure of eternal life, but so that they would not see the face of God. They glorified God loudly: “All-merciful Master, who controls life and death, blessed are You, good and merciful, because the Lord of life and death has deprived us of temporary life by Your inscrutable destinies, and therefore we ask one thing from You: “Have mercy on us, Lord.” "And the Lord gave me a little consolation. They were unbaptized babies. They were all the same age. They glorified the goodness of God for His mercy and entered into the peace prepared for them from the Lord."
ABOUT THE HERETIC THE CURSED ARIA AND HIS CATHEDRAL
Then the formidable Angels seized and brought before the Judgment Seat a regiment of sinners, their faces were like those of Satan himself, their heads were serpentine, and evil-smelling worms came from their mouths. The Lord looked menacingly at them, especially at the seducer Arius, who seduced many into his false teaching, teaching that the Son of God is a creature and not Consubstantial, not one being with God the Father. And the Lord ordered the terrible Angels to cast them into the most severe torment, where Satan himself, and the demons, and the Antichrist, and Judas the traitor are tormented, and the whole wicked synagogue of Satan. With terrible screams and curses, they plunged into a fiery abyss, boiling with tar and sulfur.
ABOUT THE HERETIC OF MACEDONIA AND HIS CATHEDRAL
And the formidable Angels also seized and brought to the Judgment Seat of Christ the wicked gathering of the heretic Macedonius. Their faces are wild and ferocious, like those of angry tigers. A stench and stench emanated from the mouth, the eyes sparkled with satanic malice. Turning to their false teacher Macedon, the Lord said: “I will not reprove you, but the Holy Spirit, who has been blasphemed by you, will come and put him to shame, since He is the True God.” And suddenly all the Heavenly Powers and the holy people of God solemnly and victoriously sang the Divine song, glorifying the Holy Spirit: “O Heavenly King, Comforter, Soul of Truth, who is everywhere and fulfills everything, Treasure of good things and Giver of life, come and dwell in us and cleanse "We are from all defilement, and save, O Blessed One, our souls. Come and appear, so that the all-wicked false teacher Macedonius will fear You." And at the end of the chants, a great light shone, a fiery, radiant illumination, and terrible lightning flashed; and an emerald-shaped Throne appeared, on which the Comforter the Holy Spirit in the form of a fiery dove hovered over the Throne of the Righteous Judge of the Only Begotten Son of God. The angels and the council of the righteous of God glorified the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit - the Trinity, Consubstantial and Inseparable. And the leader of Macedonius and his like-minded people were put to shame by the heresy. The Holy Angels, beating them mercilessly with chains, cast them into the abyss of hell, where Satan himself is tormented. They wept terribly and cursed their false teacher, plunging into the sea of fire.
ABOUT THE HERETIC NESTORIUS AND HIS CATHEDRAL
And the formidable Angels also seized and brought before the Judgment Seat of Christ the leader of the wicked heresy, Nestorius. Their faces were gloomy and disgusting, their heads were snake-like. The Lord looked at them menacingly, saying: “Oh, nasty and insane false teacher and seducer of the souls of many, which you have torn away from the unity of My Holy Universal Church. I am One Holy, One Lord Jesus Christ, in two natures and in one person worshiped and glorified from all creatures." The heretics were ashamed and silently silent. Then the Lady Theotokos came with a host of Saints and with all the Powers of Heavenly Jerusalem to Her Son and our God, shining with indescribable light and adorned with magnificent glory. And all the Angels and holy men sang praises to Her: “Rejoice, O Thou Who was worthy to be the Matter of Christ God.” Hearing this, the wicked trembled and were put to shame. The Holy Angels, binding them with chains, beating them with fiery clubs, plunged them into the abyss of hell. The Queen of Heaven again departed to Heavenly Jerusalem, glorified by the inhabitants of heaven.
ABOUT MANY OTHER HERETIKS
Even formidable Angels seized and attracted a large regiment of heretics who taught that in Christ there is one nature, that torment is not eternal, but temporary. The Lord looked menacingly and menacingly said: “Oh, senseless and insane corrupters, I am the Lord, the Son of God with two natures - the nature of God and the nature of man, as the Holy Fathers of the Ecumenical Councils taught and approved, speaking through My Holy Spirit. You were mistaken in your pride and "You have been deceived by the devil with your false teachings. Depart from Me, you cursed into everlasting torment." Terrible angels grabbed them and threw them into the abyss. They wept bitterly, cursing their false teachers and plunging into the fiery abyss.
ABOUT OTHER HERETIKS AND THE Apostates, ABOUT ICONOCLORS
Then the holy Angels seized a great regiment from the left side and brought to the Judgment Seat: heretics, iconoclasts and others like them, who worshiped soulless and wild-like idols. They gnawed at each other like dogs. They taught the lie that the Lord Son of God brought flesh from heaven, and did not borrow it from the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. The iconoclasts destroyed the most pure image of the Mother of God and the holy saints and Angels of God. The Lord looked at them menacingly and convicted them of their errors, saying: “Satan himself taught you to destroy and trample on My holy images. You fools, couldn’t you understand that the honor given to My image is accepted by Me as being shown to Me. I myself deigned, even during My earthly life, that honor should be given to My image. And for this reason I sent My miraculous image to Prince Avgar. From him and from the images of My Most Pure Mother, countless miracles were performed. Foolish ones, you venerate the images of your earthly rulers and give them worthy honor "And My image was destroyed and dishonored. Go to eternal torment to your teacher Satan." And the Angels began to cast them into the fiery abyss. They wept bitterly and tore the hair on their heads, cursing their delusion and, like tin, they plunged into the blazing flame.
ABOUT THE JEWS WHO CRUCIFIED CHRIST
After this, the Lord ordered to present a great regiment, a countless multitude, covered in heavy darkness. Their faces were covered with purulent blood and large sores in their eyes, their ears were anointed with pitch, and in their hands they held horse tails, their legs were twisted and shod in donkey skins. They looked at each other and were surprised at themselves and said in a whisper: “Oh, woe to us: the One whom Annas and Caiaphas crucified on the Cross with Pontius Pilate now wants to judge the living and the dead. Oh, evil seducers and deceivers through whom we were deceived and we did not believe in Him, but now we have fallen into His hands, and there is no one who has mercy on us. We are irresponsible before Him. How much evil we have done to Himself and to His disciples. If we had believed in Him and been baptized, as many others of ours have done, whom we now see going to the Kingdom of Heaven, He would have accepted us there too.” When they said this, the Lord said to them with an angelic trumpet: “Am I not the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God the Father, who bowed down into heaven, came down and was born of the Holy Spirit and of the Holy Virgin Mary? At your meetings I taught you and said: “I and the Father is one; and if you do not believe Me, believe My works; You have seen My works: I raised the dead, enlightened the blind, the lame began to walk, lepers were cleansed, the paralytic were healed, I cast out demons and healed every disease and disease. You saw all this, but were blinded by your mind. They didn’t want to listen to me, and therefore you cannot be saved, live and reign forever; but I will say even more: for all that I did good to you, you crucified Me on the Cross and stuck a spear in my side. You see, My hands and ribs are now covered with wounds, and they clearly show the ferocity that you showed towards Me. But I will not judge you for this, but because you did not listen to My chosen disciples, who were sent to turn you to repentance; you did not want to be converted, but chose to die in your sins. Hearing this, they began to cry; some beat their chests, while others tore their faces, saying: “Moses, Moses, it’s hard for us! Where are you now? Come, if you have earned mercy from God, and now deliver us.” The Lord again said to them: “Because of your unbelief in Me, let Moses, whom you call to answer the judgment, find the innocent; he will convict you.” With these words, Moses appeared before them in great glory. They saw him, immediately recognized him and shouted: “Oh, Moses, you gave us the Law. We kept the Law you gave us, as you commanded us, and not only did not accept the present Judge, but crucified and killed Him. Tell us now: “Who is This One, and why did you not speak about Him in your Law? Tell us about this and deliver us from His hand, because we see that we are all in His power, and something has befallen us that we did not expect. He wants to judge us, and there is no one who would deliver us; Now help us who are in such distress."
MOSES REVOCATES THE JEWS
Moses answered them: “Oh, senseless and hard-hearted, sons not of Abraham, but of the devil. Didn’t I write to you in the Law like this: The Lord God of your brothers will raise up for you a prophet, whom you must listen to, just like me, no matter what they say.” you. And every soul that does not listen to that Prophet will be driven out from among them. What else could be more clearly told to you! Elsewhere in the Law it is said that until such time will a prince from the tribe of Judah reign until the One for Whom it is comes is being done, and this is the expectation of the nations. And he predicted many other things that were read by you on the Sabbath in your assemblies. Who else were you waiting for? Indeed, you were mistaken in your advice, and as a result of this, the visitation of God was taken away from you, but your true faith inherited from the pagans." They answered: “How could we believe in Him, who called Himself the Son of God, while nothing was written about this in your Law, and the prophets did not speak about it?” Moses said: “I called Him a Prophet, like myself, because He became man: God is perfect and man is perfect - in these two natures He was perfect, but your envy, malice and pride did not allow you to believe in Him and, as a result, Eternal fire awaits you in the future." Having said this, Moses left them.
WHO WORSHIPED THE ANTICHRIST AND DENIED CHRIST
At the command of God, the formidable Angels seized and attracted an unholy gathering with faces gloomier than all sinners, their eyes were dark and gloomy, on their foreheads there were inscriptions: “Satan,” and in their right hands there were tablets: on them was written: “The Rejected.” And to them he said The Lord struck the words of His wicked men threateningly, like peals of thunder. The Lord said to them: “Oh, cursed and vile, you madly, for the sake of the earthly delights of sin, denied Me and desecrated Holy Baptism, and bowed to the Antichrist, and served that vile flatterer and deceiver.” Terrible angels grabbed them, beat them with iron fiery clubs, and threw them into the fiery abyss, where Satan himself and the Antichrist are tormented. From there came terrible screams and groans, frantic sobs and curses. Hearing their screams, I was horrified.
ABOUT SCIENTIFIC SEDUTERS AND DETERMINERS
Then the Angels seized and attracted a gathering of wicked people, learned people who, out of their pride, while studying the wisdom of this world, rejected the existence of God and destroyed many people with their godless writings, corrupting the people and encouraging evil in the world, especially debauchery and free-thinking. They roared like lions, and gnashed their teeth, and shouted furiously: “Oh, fierce grief for us. O Crucified and Hidden God and Lover of Mankind, we were not the only ones who rejected You and did not believe Your Holy Scripture, did not even want to hear about Your name, God". At the same time, their tongues hung out of their mouths like mad dogs. A purulent and disgusting stench emanated from the larynx, disgusting worms swarmed on their faces, small bloodthirsty snakes wriggled around their heads, and large snakes gnawed at their hearts around their bodies. They suffered terribly, and tore the hair on their heads, and bit their tongues. And on their foreheads there were inscriptions: “Seducers and corrupters.” - “Oh, Crucified God, have mercy on us, only now have we seen Your Glory, we believe in You as the Son of God. We were Your enemies and persecutors. Oh, fierce woe to us, Oh, woe to us, the damned. Oh, woe to all apostates and corrupters like us. Oh, death is our benefactor, come to us and deliver us from our bitter fate. Hearing about eternal torment, we laughed. And they mocked and mocked the preachers of the Word of God. And now a worthy reward for our wickedness and corruption." The Holy Angels beat them with fiery clubs and cast them into the abyss of hell, where Satan himself resides and, terribly crying and gnashing their teeth, they plunged into the depths of the raging, bubbling flame; From the abyss of fire, furious screams were heard, tearing the soul, and groans, and insane sobs, screams and gnashing of teeth, and curses. Sinners cursed and hated each other, and in pride considered their neighbors to be the culprits for their destruction. The son cursed his father for not teaching him to do the will of God; the daughter cursed her mother: “Why did you give birth to me, so that I could suffer in this flame forever.” ABOUT! A terrible sight and very terrible in all the horrors of hell. No language, not only human, but also Angelic, can express in full.
ABOUT DIOCLETIAN
Suddenly I heard a voice, like the roar of a lion, screaming and moaning: someone, gnashing his teeth, shouted: “Oh, horror, oh horror! Oh, Crucified God, I am not alone, but together with others I did not understand Your incarnation and rejected You, not wanting to even hear Your name... And now I see that You are the One Supreme Lord Jesus Christ. Here, being in captivity, I, Your former enemy, confess You as Lord and God... Oh, woe to him who I did not love You and did not accept Your coming to earth! Oh, woe to those who did not know You, the true God, did not believe in You and were not baptized! Oh, woe to those who did not know You and did not fulfill Your commandments! Oh , woe to me, since I too am perishing in this terrible flame, which tormented me to the end! Oh, benefactor of death! Where are you? Oh, if only you would come and save me from this severe torment! Who could have thought that what would happen to me? - anything like that? Alas, alas, how severe are these torments!" I listened just as carefully to these screams, as to all the previously described heavy sighs and bitter groans. And I asked the Angel who was leading me: “Who is it that is being subjected to such terrible torment?” The angel answered: “This is Diocletian, the Christian torturer.”
THE END OF GOD'S JUDGMENT
And at that hour the Judgment Seat of God ceased, since all the wicked were cast into the abyss of hell. And mother earth closed her lips, and the gates of hell were closed forever....
And suddenly an indescribable angelic singing was heard, giving glory to the justice of the Son of God. And the Lord entered with the Angels into the holy city of Heaven, Jerusalem, and the gates of this great city were shut. And the Son of God sat on the throne, high and exalted in His glory. And the Lord commanded to bring all the heavenly spiritual treasures, and meekly and very mercifully the Lord began to bestow upon all the saints according to the number of their virtues, as many as they could contain of these virtues - gifts, depending on the degree of righteous perfection.
DONATION TO THE HOLY VIRGIN
The first to approach the magnificent Throne of Her beloved Son was the Mother of God. Christ met Her with joy and took off a crown of wonderful and indescribable beauty, shining with glory more than the rays of the sun, from His Most Pure Head and placed it on the head of His Most Pure Mother, and said meekly and very mercifully: “Oh, My Mother, accept this glory, which My Father gave Me, the victory over the devil and the conquest of death, which I achieved by taking flesh from You. Oh, My dear Mother, all spiritual treasures are before You. This is all Your heritage, My dear Mother, Queen of heaven and earth, and to all , what is in My Kingdom, enjoy, My dear Mother, the spiritual gifts of Your Son for the great sorrows and suffering that You suffered in temporary life. Calm down from the great labors and heart diseases that you endured, seeing My suffering and death on the cross. You crucified in her heart under the Cross, just as I was on the Cross. The marriage of Your Son has come, and My beautiful Bride, the Church, has prepared herself for this triumph, like Me, through many sorrows. And she has washed her clothes in My Blood. The time has come for eternal triumph, and it is heard the noise of voices of an unceasing holiday." Then the Lord gave the Mother of God the first robe of scarlet, in which He Himself dressed as the God-man. The Queen of Heaven kissed the right hand of Her beloved Son, and all the Heavenly Powers and saints sang a wonderful song, glorifying the Mother of God . And the Queen appeared at Your right hand, dressed in gilded vestments and adorned. Glory shone around Her, as if a thousand suns shone in one moment. This is how the Mother of God became glorified when the spiritual gifts of Her Son were poured out on Her. And at the behest of Her Son, She entered the Hall of beauty, splendor, surpassing the beauty of the Heavenly Jerusalem. No language can express the beauty of this Palace, not only human, but also Angelic.
GIVING TO THE TWELVE APOSTLES
Then the Lord mercifully and meekly called His Forerunner John and His Twelve Apostles to Himself. On their heads were crowns of heavenly flowers of wonderful beauty, and the Lord placed on their heads valuable crowns of wonderful heavenly beauty, shining with glory like the sun, and gave them royal robes, and crowned them as kings, and bestowed upon them numerous heavenly gifts. Then he commanded them to sit on twelve magnificent thrones of fire and called them judges of the twelve tribes of Israel, that is, he placed them as elders and rulers over all the saints, to evaluate the works and exploits performed in temporary life, and according to the degree of perfection to reward them with heavenly spiritual gifts. Addressing the Twelve Apostles, the Lord said to them with meekness and love: “My beloved friends, come and enjoy the eternal blessings prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Take comfort from the many labors you have endured for the sake of preaching the Gospel. Be comforted from the many different sorrows and sufferings you have suffered you for My sake and the Gospel. Rejoice, My friends, and rejoice with eternal joy for the short-term hardships that you suffered in sorrow for Me. This is the joy that I told you about at the Last Supper before My suffering. The world will rejoice, but you will be sad, but take heart, your sorrow will turn into joy." The Lord spoke many other words of praise and thanksgiving to them. They, bowing with humility, kissed His most pure feet, saying: “We are indecent, insignificant servants, who have done no good before You. Glory to Your wealth, goodness and mercy!” And at that same hour the Apostles sat on thrones around their Lord, enlightened and enjoying the glory of beholding the Lord. The Heavenly Powers and all the saints glorified the goodness of God.
GIVING TO THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST
After this, the Lord mercifully and meekly called the seventy Apostles, saying to them: “Come, My neighbors, come, you who have loved Me with all your hearts, who have worked hard for the preaching of My Holy Gospel. Come and receive a worthy reward for the labors and deeds of the Apostleship.” And he laid crowns on their heads, pure from stone, shining with beauty and ineffable glory, and bestowed upon them spiritual gifts according to the number of their virtues. And all the Heavenly Powers and saints glorified the goodness and mercy of God. And their praise could be heard, sounding like thunder. My heart melted from the sweetness of this praise. And all the Heavenly Powers were enlightened with much heavenly glory from the magnificent glory of our Lord Jesus Christ sitting on the Throne of Glory! Then the Lord meekly and quietly called the Apostolic men, that is, their successors: the Bishops of the Christian Church. Among them were the holy martyrs and other Apostolic men. The Lord praised them for their labors and selfless deeds and crowned them with crowns of indescribable beauty and endowed them with numerous spiritual gifts. And they became glorified with the ineffable glory of heaven, like the sun in the middle of a dark night... The Holy Angels and men of God glorified God's mercy and immeasurable goodness... Thus, the entire council of saints, called by the Lord, approached the Throne of the Glory of God: prophets, saints, martyrs , preachers, evangelists, reverends, forefathers, fathers, patriarchs, abstinents, virgins, merciful, meek, exiled for the sake of righteousness, gentle and all saints of every rank and title. And the Lord mercifully endowed all of them with heavenly spiritual gifts, and, accepting them, they were enlightened seven times in heavenly glory, shining with heavenly light and shining with all virtue. Having finished distributing spiritual gifts, the Lord turned to the entire Council of His Saints and the beautiful Bride of His Church and graciously said to them with meekness and love: “My dear friends and My neighbors - the children of My Heavenly Father, the New Israel, the firstborn and chosen ones from all nations and languages. , royal priesthood, holy people, kings and priests of the Most High God! You, living in a temporary life, knew weeping and mourning, in the land of exile you were not deceived by the vanity of the world and the vile sweets of the sinful pleasures of the flesh. According to the word of the royal psalmist, you offered yourself, that is, thoughts, intentions, words, deeds as a burnt offering. You could boldly say to Me - For Your sake we are killed all day long and counted as sheep for the slaughter. The wicked enjoyed the lusts of the flesh, fattening themselves with expensive and pleasant foods and drinks. And you, having loved Me with all your heart, spent your time in chastity, virginity, fasting and strict abstinence. And they were seduced by the pleasures of the flesh and gluttony and drunkenness. But you, who loved Me, did not eat enough bread or drink water until your thirst was completely quenched. The wicked were attached with all their hearts to earthly enrichment and, for the sake of their enrichment, they offended and killed each other. But you, My faithful friends, have renounced everything earthly and have despised all the riches on earth; You considered gold as rubbish, according to the words of My Supreme Apostle Paul: I will take all the skill and gain Christ. But what you had from Me, as My gift to you, you gave to the poor for My sake. The wicked, obsessed with covetousness and pride, being offended, indulged in anger, memory and inhuman vindictiveness. And you, My chosen ones, according to My word, imitating Me, repaid good for evil and love from the heart for hatred and persecution. And the wicked indulged in laziness, luxury and the peace of the flesh. And you, My dear brethren, remained in unceasing labors and exploits, and unceasing prayer, and all-night vigils, and in countless genuflections in My holy churches, glorifying My holy name not with laziness, but with ardent zeal and joy. You exhausted your corruptible flesh and through deeds of piety you adorned your souls with the robe of holiness and purity and immaculateness. The wicked indulged in sinful sadness and excessive worries, suffering under the yoke of the passions of voluptuousness, covetousness and love of glory, from which all evil in the world is born. And you, My righteous, having despised everything earthly and become above passions, spent time in sorrow, even for God, crying about one thing: so as not to lose your heavenly fatherland, begging My goodness for the sins of your youth and ignorance. The wicked chased after the vain ghosts of their vain earthly glory and for the sake of it they indulged in all kinds of crimes, trying to achieve this sign of vanity. And you, My chosen ones, abhorred the vain glory of man and in humility of heart considered yourself earth and ashes, and mourned your unworthiness. The wicked, mired in the vanity and passions of the flesh, rejected My authority and power in pride and madness. My eternal existence, not wanting to repent and turn to Me with repentance. But, like Satan, they were incorrigibly corrupted and hardened to the point of extreme madness. And you, being at the height of moral perfection, always favored Me and remained in My fear of God. The wicked, mired in carnal impurities, wallowing in the mire of sin, tried to corrupt all people with the example of their vicious life, committing a satanic, ungodly deed. And you, My chosen ones, preaching My Holy Gospel, enlightened with the Light of My teaching the whole world sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, made numerous journeys throughout the entire Universe, preaching liberation to those captives, resurrection from those dead by sin, according to the words of the royal psalmist: go forth into all the earth their words, and into the ends of the world their words, - suffered countless insults, tortures, cruel torments, persecutions. But all of you, loving Me, like Me, prayed to My Heavenly Father, and many tormentors became My faithful servants and preachers of the Truth. So, My dear friends, My chosen firstborn from nations and languages, whoever sows will also reap. The wicked have sowed to the flesh; from the flesh they will reap confusion. And those who sow the spirit will reap eternal life from the spirit. That is, the wicked, like tares, are cast into the abyss of hell. And you, the chosen ones, the wheat, are gathered into the heavenly granary. The wicked, for the short-term pleasure and delights of sin, will forever suffer and torment in the flames of unquenchable fire. And you, My chosen ones, enjoy My eternal benefits for short-term labors and exploits, and suffering. My chosen ones, enjoy My spiritual table; Drink My spiritual drink, you who hunger and thirst for My righteousness. Come, you blessed of My Father, and enjoy. The Kingdom of Heaven is prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Like numerous thunders, the song of praise and thanksgiving resounded sweetly from the numerous lips of the Heavenly Powers and all the saints: "Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, salvation and glory, honor, strength to our Lord, for true and righteous is His Judgment . He justly condemned the wicked, who corrupted the earth with their wickedness. Praise our God, all servants, small and great: Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. The Lord God Almighty reigns, let us rejoice and be glad, and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and the endless peace of faith has come: the never-ending Easter has come. And the proud mental Pharaoh and Satan with their horses and horsemen, with their wickedness and deception, drowned in the sea of fire. Let us rejoice and be glad, let us exclaim a victorious song, gloriously God has been glorified: Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia." From this sweet-sounding and victorious doxology, heaven and earth trembled with joy. And my heart melted from the joy and sweetness of this doxology. And I remembered the words of the royal psalmist: " And my heart, like wax, melts in the middle of my belly. And no language, not only human, but also angelic, is able to convey the joy with which the saints were saturated, singing a song of praise, praising and glorifying God.
THEREFORE THE HOLY CHURCH OF GOD APPEARED
At the behest of the Lord, the Church of God suddenly appeared. Magnificent and wonderful, indescribable beauty. The church platform shone with pure gold; very handsome young men, holding the rank of deacon, walked along this platform, and prepared everything for the Divine service. Solemnly, loudly, like strong peals of thunder, exclamations were heard: “Bless, Master!” The Only Begotten Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, sat on the magnificent Throne of His Glory and the Twelve Apostles on their thrones of wondrous and wondrous heavenly beauty. The Lord said to the deacons: “Call all My chosen ones here.” And at that same hour the deacons sounded their golden trumpets, and the sound of the trumpet rang out like thunder: “Come, ye blessed of My Father, into the Church of My glory, let us make a new sacrifice of joy...” And immediately all the saints with joy and spiritual joy entered into temple of God Almighty. Then our Most Pure Lady Theotokos emerged from Her Chamber. Inexpressible beauty, filled with incredible glory. She entered the temple of the Lord with great honor and triumph, and the sweet singing of the Angels and all the saints, chanting: “It is worthy that You are truly blessed, O Theotokos...” The Lady was greeted by Her beloved Son - the Lord Jesus Christ - the Great High Priest and Bishop of future blessings . The Lord descended from the Throne of His Glory, and the Apostles followed His example. When the Mother of God accepted the blessing from Her beloved Son, the holy Apostles reverently bowed to Her. Our Most Holy Lady stood in wondrous robes, and on Her head was a crown bestowed by the Lord, as the Scripture says: The Queen appears at Your right hand, dressed in gilded vestments and adorned. Then the seventy Apostles came up to receive the blessing from our Lord Jesus Christ in great glory and shining with indescribable light. Then the Apostolic men, holy martyrs, prophets, martyrs, forefathers, patriarchs, reverend fathers and mothers approached. Each face departed from the Lord and stood in its place. When all the righteous stood in their places, at that hour an indescribable light shone in their hearts with much joy and delight. The peace of God anointed their hearts with Divine sweetness. Divine love inflamed their hearts with the desire to constantly sing songs of thanksgiving, full of the Divine joy of victorious triumph! And the eternal triumph over Satan and death came. The Kingdom of Glory and Eternal Bliss has come - Eternal Easter has come - Eighth Endless Day! The Kingdom of the Son of God and all His holy firstborn sons, whom He chose from the tongues and peoples of the earth, from all nations, has come. They, being unable to restrain themselves from the delight that gripped them, began to sing a song of praise: “We praise God to you. We confess the Lord to you. The whole earth magnifies the Eternal Father to you. All the Angels to you, to you the heavens and all the powers. To you the Cherubim and Seraphim cry with unceasing voices : Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of hosts, the heavens and earth are full of the majesty of Your glory! From their voice heaven and earth trembled joyfully, sharing joy and victorious praises. And so the Great High Priest and Bishop of the blessings to come, the Only Begotten Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, descended from the magnificent Throne of His Glory to perform the Divine Liturgy. He was dressed in all the high priestly robes. On top of the sakkos is an omophorion, on the head of a miter, of wonderful and indescribable beauty. From all the clothes and the Most Pure Face of the Son of God, God's radiance emanated and gladdened the hearts of all the saints, and filled them with delight and Divine rapture. Cherubim and Seraphim with fear and trembling hovered around those serving Him, solemnly and sweetly singing the Trisagion hymn. When the time for Communion came, the Lord Himself took communion from the spiritual manna of His belly. Then the Mother of God - the Queen of Heaven and Earth - received communion from the most pure hands of Her beloved Son. And then the Twelve Apostles and the Forerunner of the Lord John, and the seventy Apostles, the prophets and all the saints in order approached the Great High Priest, the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, and everyone partook of the heavenly bread and drank the new wine of spiritual joy in the Kingdom of the Heavenly Father, and drank sweets Divine, and they rejoiced and praised God. Then the Lord revealed the terrible secrets of His Ever-present to all His chosen ones. Immediately everyone understood all the hidden wisdom of the incomprehensible teaching. And the voice of praise and thanksgiving poured out from the lips of the celestial beings, filled with the sweetness and wisdom of God’s love, did not cease. And the daughters of New Zion, the Heavenly Jerusalem, came out, glorifying the mercy of God and praising the exploits of the saints and the victory over the devil. A wonderful meal, prepared with immaterial drinks, of which there is no number, awaited the righteous. The Lord mercifully spoke to His chosen ones: “Citizens of the New Jerusalem, daughters of Zion, priests of the Most High God, My brothers and friends, sons and all who have loved and pleased My Heavenly Father and Me, eat and be satisfied with My eternal blessings.” Hearing this, they rejoiced and rejoiced, were satisfied with the sight of the glory of God and, richly feeding on His immaterial blessings, drank the wine of eternal joy. The Angelic Guardians stood with fear and trembling before the Lord, the Cherubim and Seraphim sang wonderful heavenly songs and took turns proclaiming. And everyone was filled with heavenly joy and the sweetness of spiritual triumph
EDEN PARADISE
When the chosen ones were satisfied with the abundance of spiritual heavenly food, then the Lord arose from the Divine table, and all His chosen ones followed Him, heading towards the East. Exclaiming the songs of the Divine, rejoicing and triumphant, they entered the wonderful helicopter city. This is the Paradise of Eden, from which the forefather Adam was expelled for breaking the commandment of God. When the chosen friends of God entered this wonderful helicopter city, they fell into oblivion from admiration and amazement, marveling at the beauties of Eden, rejoicing and admiring the God-planted Paradise! And everyone rejoiced and rejoiced, abundantly enjoying the wonder of God, looking at the wonderful trees and flowers of paradise and tasting the sweetness of the fruits of paradise. The forces of Heaven praised the goodness of God, singing a wonderful song: Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. Seeing this, I fell into complete oblivion from joy and from the delight that gripped me. For a long time the saints looked at the beauty of paradise, the boundless breadth of the heliport of God. And, having examined the God-created dwelling of our forefathers and the promised fatherland to the saints, the Son of God, with similar exclamations and praises of praise from the Heavenly Powers and His chosen ones, returned to the Heavenly Jerusalem. The Cherubim and Seraphim, guarding the gates of the holy city, solemnly exclaimed: “This is the gate of the Lord, and the righteous will enter into it. Confess the Lord in the voice of the noise of those celebrating.” Our dear Redeemer, the all-merciful Savior, the Only Begotten Son of God, sat on the immaterial cherubim Throne of His Glory. And the Lord extended His all-powerful right hand and blessed the East, West, South and North in a cross pattern, and said: “Come from the heights of My saints, My most good villages, which I have prepared for My holy chosen ones.” And at that hour the whole earth and all the air on it ignited with a snow-like flame, and this miracle continued for a long time, and this snow-like flame rose to the heights of heaven, and from the heights of heaven came down countless settlements of God of wonderful beauty, with temples of God and chambers, and palaces and helicopter cities. In the helicopter cities there were trees that bore fruits incomprehensible to man every day, which were fragrant with Divine aromas. All the heavenly host and the chosen saints exclaimed a song of praise, marveling at the grace of God. The Lord distributed these palaces and temples to His saints according to the spiritual perfection of each. In holy temples they praised God and the Heavenly Powers. And the incessant voice of the noise of those celebrating was heard, the voice of unceasing spiritual joy. There is unceasing peace, inexhaustible joy, eternal triumph, eternal holiday - Eternal Easter, Imperishable! Life, perishable and temporary, has ended - endless eternity has begun. The old was destroyed, and a new earth and a new Heaven appeared, and a new man. According to the words of the Apostle, all creation is new in Christ. The week of temporary life has ended. Endless eternal peace has come, peace and joy, and life in which there is no sadness or sorrow. There are no carnal and earthly desires, envy, guile, malice and other vile spiritual qualities. All this was cast down and shut up in the abyss of hell in the interior of the earth. And all who have been granted incorruptible life have no need to work, but they eternally rest and rejoice, praising God, wondrous in His Saints. They are no longer afraid of the murderer of the devil, who in temporary life, like a lion, gnashed his teeth at them, tormented by envy and hatred of them, trying at every step to seduce them and deprive them of eternal blessings. The fierce battle has ceased - the cruel enemy has been weakened. The eternal triumph of victory has come, no one will overshadow the eternal triumph of the winners! The angels of God gifted the holy chosen ones of God with tabernacles, palaces, and helicopter cities - according to the command of God; to each according to his or her degree of perfection. Some are on the new earth, others are in the air, some of them walked on the earth. and others had fiery wings and soared in the air with joy. And everyone rejoiced spiritually and had fun, greeting each other with a holy kiss. And I saw all this, and came into spiritual delight and joyful rapture. The great righteous, like the Seraphim, had wings of fire. And suddenly the Archangels sounded the trumpet of God majestically and solemnly, so that heaven and earth trembled and trembled joyfully, and wonderful and wondrous gates opened on the heights of heaven. Near them stood many Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Archangels, the Powers of the Lord - and everyone exclaimed a victorious song to the Redeemer of the World - the Great High Priest and Eternal Hierarch the Son of God, glorifying His victory over Satan, hell and death. The Mother of God ascended to the right hand of Her Son, shining with beauty and majesty. Those who entered the gates of heaven with solemn exclamations became invisible to me. I asked the Angel who was leading me: “Where has the Master ascended?” He said: “To the Heavenly Kingdom, to His Heavenly Tabernacle. And others remained on earth. These are the great chosen ones of God, who, through abstinence of feelings, sobriety and unceasing prayer, achieved purity equal to the angels and the highest degree of perfection. Having despised everything earthly and mortified the passions in themselves, leaving everything completely on earth. Those who in worldly life lived according to the commandments of Christ and were married in purity, who purified themselves with alms and many prayers and true repentance, with a good word and good thoughts, and died in repentance. All of them were settled in the outskirts of Mountainous Jerusalem, in the villages and helicopter cities prepared for them, and in Zion not made by hands they were honored to live forever, enjoying the heavenly beauties of Eden!”
WORDS OF THE LORD TO GREGORY
Then I saw the Lord again coming out of the gates of heaven with all the army. And the Lord sat on the Throne of His Glory, and all the great righteous, and the Queen of Heaven, and the Forerunner John, and the Apostles, and everything shone with the glory of heaven, with indescribable beauty, singing the victorious song: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of hosts, the heavens are filled and "The land of Thy glory. Hosanna in the Highest; Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the Highest!" The Lord looked at me with a merciful gaze and quietly said to me: “Gregory, come to the Throne of My Glory!” And the Angel who led me came down from the high hill on which we stood and observed this wonderful, truly praiseworthy vision of the glorious deeds of God taking place. With fear and trembling they approached the Lord, and, falling on their faces, bowed to His most pure feet and implored His goodness. And the King of Glory, the Lord, told us in a quiet and meek Divine voice: “Behold, Gregory, through the prayers and petition of My great saint Vasily, I showed you what will happen after the end of the world of temporary life. You, Gregory, announce this vision to the whole world, for the benefit of spiritual salvation from the delusion of sin. Let this admonition especially serve you especially for those who wrongly reasoned about the Jews, that they keep the faith well, the Law of Moses, and you saw what condemnation befell them. And I also tell you, whoever does not follow the Holy Gospel is will not be a participant in eternal life: he is abominable and will be hated by My Father and Me, whoever believes incorrectly and separates himself from the established Holy Church, even if he has performed superhuman feats and fasts, alms, exhaustion of the flesh, and does not enter the doors of My Holy Church - that is a thief and a robber. You, Gregory, try to multiply the talent entrusted to you. Strive to save your soul and for the benefit of the souls of many: fulfill and do not hide your heart - My spiritual silver - in the ground, but give it to My holy Churches, since many, having heard this, they will repent and turn to Me with all their hearts, and love virtue, and glorify Me for My goodness and immeasurable mercy towards the fallen human race. The world and everything in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - will truly hate. And they will fulfill My commandments, desire with all their hearts and, fearing eternal torment and suffering, will achieve eternal bliss and happiness, and peace, and unceasing joy. And they will desire with all their hearts, and, having overcome all sinful temptations, they will improve in every virtue. And if, having heard you, they do not believe and do not repent, then you will not be guilty of their death. And for their unbelief and laziness about their salvation, they will be condemned according to their deeds. And if you are lazy or afraid to reveal this vision to My Churches and to all the people, then the lost souls of the whole world will be required from you..." I said: "Sovereign Lord, how can I accommodate such spiritual wealth and treasure in my unclean soul and in the filthy my heart, and in my darkened mind, and how can I tell the whole world these ineffable mysteries, incomprehensible to the mind, if you do not grant cherubic lips and seraphim mind, Lord, to me, unworthy of these secrets. What I saw, no angelic mind can comprehend, and it is impossible to explain them to people." Saying this, I was overcome with reverent fear and awe. The Lord, seeing my humility, graciously said to me: "I know that this is impossible for you if I do not give you of My grace, which, having settled in your heart, will inflame it with Divine Love for Me and give you the strength and memory to describe in detail everything you have seen - for the benefit of My Churches, languages and tribes, whom I call all to salvation and eternal life. Out of My immeasurable goodness and mercy, I want the entire human race to be saved from eternal destruction and endless hellish torment. Happy is the person who, with a simple mind and a right heart, listens to this revelation and tries to cleanse his soul from all sinful filth, and adorns it with all virtue in order to inherit eternal life and avoid eternal hellish torment. But eternal grief will be for those who do not believe this revelation and do not believe in My Coming, and will not be a worthy member of My Holy Church, and will not rejoice in their salvation, and will not try to cleanse their hearts of passions; he will perish forever and will not see the Heavenly One. Easter. Do not allow a shadow of doubt about the veracity of this revelation. Remember, where God wills, the order of nature is overcome. Remember every Word of the Son of God: “Whoever does not believe will be condemned...” Through this revelation of Mine, My boundless love for the human race is manifested. And if anyone stumbles on the stone of unbelief, then he will have no answer at My Last Judgment. But whoever honors the Son of God is the heir of My Kingdom. Those whose names are written in the book of life will joyfully believe this revelation in the simplicity of their hearts. They will try to copy it, carefully and diligently read it, and they will try to correct their lives, and become enriched in every virtue, and they will teach others the path of virtue by their example and word of edification. But those who are with all their hearts towards earthly vanities, whose minds and hearts are darkened by sinful thoughts, the carnal lust of the eyes and the pride of life reign in their hearts, those who have completely extinguished the lamps of faith, the words of this revelation will seem incredible to them. And not only will they not believe it, but they will also laugh at this revelation. Who would dare to slander God in this way, being himself an eyewitness to such a revelation, which none of the saints saw or conveyed in the scriptures, which I revealed to you, Gregory, at the intercession of Vasily, My great saint, for the sake of My abundance of mercy and goodness. But the lovers of peace will tell you: are you really greater than Peter or Paul, Moses, Daniel, David and all the other holy prophets, glorious and in the new grace of the holy God-bearing Fathers and universal teachers who shone forth, if they were not worthy to see such mysteries that are known to the One God. And in another way they will humiliate and reproach you and the vision you wrote and spoke. They will call you senile fables, but don’t pay attention to them. Know that through them the father of lies - Satan - will counteract the revealed truth. You try to tell everyone this revelation and write it down in a book with exact detail. Convey to all My holy Churches and believers at My Second Coming. Tell the patriarchs, bishops, priests of My Churches that I will come soon, and My reward is with Me. You will be happy if you adorn your souls with virtue the way a bride adorns herself on her wedding day for her groom. Behold, I will open My Heavenly Palace to you, and there will come a feast of faith and the marriage of the Lamb - the Son of God - with the beloved Immaculate and Holy Church, which I have redeemed from peoples, tribes and languages. But woe, eternal woe, who does not shepherd the flock entrusted to him. Behold, I remind you with this revelation, not for the sake of ignorance, but of the mystery hidden from the ages. But whoever neglects his salvation and the entrusted flock will be subject to eternal condemnation. If anyone does not apply all the zeal and care for the salvation of his soul, but is seduced by the earthly delights of wealth, the honors of the world and the pleasures of the flesh and quickly passing vanity, human glory, I will seek the lost souls from their hands and subject them to severe condemnation and execution. Tell this to those living in monasteries. Here I am, in My mercy, I do not want the death of sinners, but I am waiting for their conversion and repentance with confession. I also say to you, if anyone comes clean and blameless, true, corrected by repentance for My upcoming Second Coming, I will accept them into My eternal Kingdom. Here it is prepared. I wait, and all My blessings are prepared. My palaces have been created, and My city Jerusalem can freely accommodate all the sons of Adam. Paradise of Eden is open, I am waiting for those entering - everyone go and hurry. Each one, according to his own strength, decorate his spiritual clothing for a worthy stay in My heavenly Halls. Take up labors and deeds that are temporary and insignificant in comparison with the eternal. And inherit eternal peace for short-term hunger and thirst, eternal satiation with My immaterial blessings. Tears of repentance are eternal consolation, for poverty and lack of wealth - eternal wealth and honors, for short-term sorrows for God - eternal joy. And the noise of the voices of those celebrating, and the noise of eternal triumph, the victory of the Lamb over the ancient destroying serpent. Yes, no one gets lazy, but no one despairs! Hurry, hurry quickly, until the gates of Heavenly Jerusalem and My Palace are closed. Paradise and My Kingdom are open. Do not harden your hearts, being deceived by the vanity of the world and the voluptuousness of carnal pleasures. Run away from evil, do good, leave earthly and deceptive blessings. Accept true good, inalienable and indestructible. Everything is prepared for you - I’m waiting for you all with open arms. I am the Lord, ready to forgive you everything, everything with which you have offended and dishonored Me, but just wash yourself with tears of repentance and wipe away the impurity of sin with contrition of heart. And I will shower you with heavenly gifts. I am the Only Begotten of God, the Great High Priest, who sanctified people with My Blood: the Bishop of the blessings of the future. The head of life - eternal life, the Co-existent Word of the Father. Under Pontius Pilate, Crucified for the sins of the whole world, fallen humanity. Having redeemed you with His Honest Blood from the slavery of Satan and from just damnation and eternal death, for violating the most holy commandments of My Heavenly Father. According to the fair judgment of God, you would be subject to eternal punishment. But I, loving you, accepted execution on the Cross for you in My Most Pure Flesh and brought the propitiatory Sacrifice on the universal altar - the Golgotha Life-Giving Cross - to My Heavenly Father. And He returned His favor to you and, as His beloved sons, made you heirs of My blessings! I opened the path to the Tree of Life for you and opened the closed gates of heaven, and with My Cross I crushed the power and might of hell. He granted freedom to the prisoners of hell. And I imprisoned the evil-doer Satan with insoluble bonds of darkness, and struck his evil head with My Cross, inflicting an incurable wound. I enlightened those who sat in darkness with the light of My Gospel; those who had lost their way from the truth - he set them on the path that steadily leads to eternal joy and bliss. He resurrected those killed by sin, and cleansed those lepers by the wounds of the passions; those blinded by the mind - enlightened; those weakened from the unbearable burden of sins - he raised them up and endowed them with power; those defiled by the abomination of sin - sanctified; and acquitted those guilty of countless crimes. Remember and do not forget My great blessings, and be grateful to Me. Stop crucifying and dishonoring and blaspheming Me again with your vicious deeds, words, thoughts, desires and intentions. Why do you repay Me with evil for My blessings? For my love for you - with hatred? Come to your senses!!! And sober up from the drunkenness of sin. Stop drinking iniquity like water, leave wickedness and learn to do good and love Me with all your heart. You were My bitter enemies, but I loved you immeasurably and shed My most pure Blood for your salvation on the Cross amid unbearable, severe torment. Wash your sins and vices with tears of repentance, clothe and adorn your souls with the shining robe of virtue, adorn your mind with heavenly wisdom, despise the world and everything in the world, and I will clothe you in My Second Coming with royal purples, and crown your heads with unfading crowns of glory heavenly; You will be kings and priests of the Most High God, and citizens of the Heavenly Jerusalem, fellow citizens of My holy prophets and Apostles, saints, martyrs, deserters, virgins and all My chosen saints, you will be friends of the Heavenly Powers: and with one mouth you will sing a song in My Zion, not made with hands: and I will shower you with all My mercies, and I will bestow unspeakable blessings and fill your hearts with unspeakable joy. Rise from the fetid swamp of your passions, so that death does not befall you unprepared, without true repentance. Then there will be no benefit to you from believing in Me. Here am I, the Lord your God, who loves righteousness and pours out mercy and love for mankind on truly repentant sinners. My grace is open to My creation. Especially those who believe in My Name. For their sake I endured the Crucifixion and suffered a lot from the rebellious Jews. But I am merciful to those who truly repent and forgive their sins. But after death there is no longer room for repentance, and there is no benefit from tears and sighs of the heart. Then there is no place for My mercy, but a time for justice - reward or condemnation: unrepentant sinners will suffer My just and Last Judgment. And so I tell you first, and to you, Gregory, I showed and revealed everything that will happen at My Judgment. Then I will not convict you of your sins; then you will condemn yourself, seeing your vileness and obscenity. I have not hidden anything from you that could bring you spiritual benefit. Choose what you want - eternal life, the Kingdom of Heaven, eternal peace, eternal joy, eternal pleasure or - eternal death, eternal torment in the flames of hell with Satan and evil demons, eternal stench and stench, eternal hunger and scorching thirst, eternal inconceivable darkness and unbearable cramped conditions, and eternal suffering, and unbearable illnesses - a collection of all evils, troubles and misfortunes above your heads. Here I am, the Son of God Jesus Christ, abiding with My Father and the Holy Spirit, this is all I said before. My prophets, Apostles and church teachers, who were taught by Me, set this out in the writings and left them behind for you, so that, guided by these writings and instructions, you would be saved, avoiding heretical errors and demonic temptations. They would zealously fight against their flesh, curbing its lusts and crimes. By abstinence they would victoriously repel the evil passionate thoughts inspired by demons, they would beat them mercilessly, constantly looking with their minds at the gates of eternity, that is, death. Looking and remembering their sins, they would shed tears of repentance and be cleansed from the stench of sin. Having put on a robe of purity and integrity!" And our Lord added: "This I have told you, that heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. He told you the immutable truth,” and our Lord ended his conversation with me, the unworthy one. And the holy Angels and all His chosen ones praised His mercy with a great voice and sweet-sounding songs, and the Lord said: “Gregory, get up and do as I commanded you. .." And I, having already risen from the ground on which I lay before the Lord, wanted to enter through the gates behind our Lord, and asked the holy Angel who was leading me about this. And he did not allow me, saying: “It is impossible for one who is in the body to enter there.” ". And I thought that the world had really already changed, and eternal, imperishable life had come. And that morning I woke up, shuddering from this terrible and wonderful vision! I wondered to myself what this terrible and wonderful vision meant. A strong fear gripped me, and I was in bewilderment for many days. For seven days I remained hopelessly in my cell, remembering everything I had seen, and thinking about writing it all in a book, so as not to forget over time. I fervently prayed to my Lord that He would send His grace and enlightenment to me. my mind, to fulfill exactly what He commanded me. After some days, the vision I had seen came to my memory in detail, what I had seen and what I had heard, and I hastily began to write down everything in detail. Not shining with eloquence and not philosophizing with wisdom, but what I saw, and what I heard in a vision, and what the Lord revealed to me, unworthy, through the prayers of my spiritual father Vasily and through His rich mercy towards us sinners, wanting us all to be saved. I wrote everything down in order, guided and taught by God. I beg all fathers and brothers and sisters, that no one from you disbelieves, and no one will be tempted, and no one will doubt, reading this wonderful revelation, thinking that these hidden secrets cannot be revealed to a sinful person and an unworthy husband, which from the beginning of the world no one from the great saints was vouchsafed to see. But remember, many of them with other heavenly gifts were granted by God to see to whom God wills what, according to His gracious Grace and according to the degree of perfection of each. Amen.
Meat Eating Week (about the Last Judgment)- the penultimate Sunday before Lent, on which, according to the rules, the consumption of meat ends. On this Sunday, the coming Last Judgment is remembered (Matthew 25:31-46). This reminder is necessary so that people who sin do not indulge in carelessness and carelessness about their salvation in the hope of God’s ineffable mercy. This is a reminder that we will be judged.
What does the Last Judgment mean? This is the completion of human history in the form in which you and I have it now and had it before. And often, and very often, people tried to look through time and imagine, when will this Last Judgment come? Many tried to wishful thinking, set deadlines, times, said that they knew (when it would be), but this time passed, and these predictions did not come true. Because there is no need to engage in this unproductive speculation. For the Lord directly said at the end of the parable of the ten virgins, by the way, in the same 25th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, where the parable of the Last Judgment is, that people must be vigilant, and He says: because you know neither the day nor hour when the Son of Man comes. The only thing we can say is that the completion of this story, the Second Coming of the Lord, will come not during the spiritual flowering of humanity, but obviously during its spiritual decline.
Jesus Christ himself speaks about His terrible judgment: “ The time will come in which all those in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who do good will come out to the resurrection of life, and those who do evil will come out to the resurrection of condemnation."(John 5:28-29). From this it is clear that before the onset of the final judgment, all the dead, according to the voice of the Son of God, will come to life, and good people will be resurrected for eternal blessed life, and evil people - for eternal condemnation. The picture of the Last Judgment is also strikingly depicted by Jesus Christ himself in the following: “ When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory, and all nations will be gathered before Him" These words of the Gospel are about the mystery of the First and Second Coming of Christ. His First Coming to earth was in humiliation, so that He could not be distinguished from other people. The Lord appeared so humbly that no one noticed His appearance. The Second Coming will be completely different. The first time the Lord came not to judge, but to save the world. The second time He will come for the Final Judgment.
The Last Judgment seems to many to be abstract and distant, while the Lord is “near, at the door.” People do not believe in eternal torment, or they believe, but think that everything will not be as terrible as the Gospel says. Why? After all, our entire earthly life is a distant shadow of true and full life in the Kingdom of God; like all torments on earth, they are only a distant shadow of the terrible torment of sinners in the flames of hell. As Saint Nicholas (Velimirovich) said: “Life on earth - no matter how sublime it may be - is still dissolved in flour, for here there is no fullness of life; just like the torment on earth - no matter how great it is - is still dissolved by life. But at the Last Judgment, life will be separated from torment, and life will be life, and torment will be torment. Both will remain forever, each on its own. What this eternity is - our human mind cannot contain this. To anyone who enjoys contemplating the face of God for one minute, this pleasure will seem like a thousand years. And to those who suffer with demons in hell for one minute, this torment will seem like a thousand years.”
This judgment will be so simple that, it seems, we will not be asked either about our faith, or about how we prayed and fasted or theologized, but only about whether we were or were not people in relation to other people. However, in this utmost simplicity the mystery of the Incarnation of God and the Cross, and the Resurrection, and Pentecost is revealed. And His Second Coming in glory will be preceded by the appearance in heaven of the Cross, revealing the mystery of the twofold commandment.
The mystery of the Last Judgment is the mystery of the general resurrection, the resurrection of each of the dead. And this is given to us all - no one, not a single person is deprived of this. The martyrs bought the Kingdom with their blood, the desert fathers found grace through feats of abstinence, and we, living in the midst of the world, can achieve the glory of the Lord with the simplest human help - feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, sheltering the homeless, comforting the sick, visiting the prisoner - this is what can do everyone. This is offered to us every day; all life consists of this.
Law of God: About the Last Judgment
About His last, terrible judgment over all people, at His second coming, Jesus Christ taught this:
When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then He, as a King, will sit on the throne of His glory. And all nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate some people from others (the faithful and good from the ungodly and evil), just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will place the sheep (the righteous) on His right hand, and the goats (sinners) on His left. Then the King will say to those standing on His right hand: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Because I was hungry (I was hungry), and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you accepted Me; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.”
Then the righteous will ask Him with humility: “Lord! when did we see you hungry and feed you? or to the thirsty and gave them something to drink? When did we see You as a stranger and accept You? or naked and clothed? When did we see You sick, or in prison and came to You?”
The king will answer them: “Truly I say to you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers of Mine (that is, for the needy people), you did it to Me.”
Then the King will say to those on the left side: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Because I was hungry, and you did not give me food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger, and they did not accept Me; I was naked, and they did not clothe Me; sick and in prison, and they did not visit Me.”
Then they too will answer Him: “Lord! When did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not serve You?”
But the King will say to them: “Truly I say to you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.” And they will go into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
This day will be great and terrible for each of us. That is why this judgment is called the Terrible, since our deeds, words, and most secret thoughts and desires will be open to everyone. Then we will no longer have anyone to rely on, for the Judgment of God is righteous, and everyone will receive according to their deeds.
Interpretations and sayings of the holy fathers on the Gospel parable of the Last Judgment:
Great will be the fear and trembling and frenzy at that hour when the Lord gathers an impartial judgment seat and the terrible books are opened, where our deeds, words and everything that in this life we thought to hide from God, who tests hearts and wombs, are written...
Everyone there will be clothed with spiritual contrition, except for some who are perfect. The wicked will grieve because they did not think about the end; sinners - because they did not seek salvation in repentance and mercy towards others. Those who loved the truth will grieve if they did not remain constant, and those who repented if they did not correct themselves in time. When they see the crowns of the victors there, then they will remember their lives; they will know the fullness of bliss of those who labor and are burdened, they will know how excellent their life was, how good and merciful the Lord is to those who honor Him... ( St. Ephraim Sirin).
Last Judgment! The Judge is coming, surrounded by a myriad of Heavenly Forces. Trumpets sound to all ends of the earth and raise the dead. The rebels flow in regiments to a certain place, to the Throne of the Judge, already foreseeing in advance what sentence will sound in their ears, for the deeds of each will be written on the forehead of their nature, and their very appearance will correspond to their deeds and morals. Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us! Let us cry now, if not with rivers of tears, then at least with streams; if not streams, at least raindrops; if we do not find this, we will be contrite in our hearts and, having confessed our sins to the Lord, we will beg Him to forgive us them, vowing not to offend Him again by violating His commandments, and then being jealous to faithfully fulfill such a vow ( St. Feofan the Recluse).
Is there anyone now who would judge himself correctly and be judged correctly by others? Otherwise it will be there: we will all be open to ourselves and others. This universal vision of sins shocks the sinner so much that it would be easier for him if the mountains fell and covered him. No one will escape judgment; everything will be as it is written in the Gospel. Be zealous in advance to justify yourself before God, washing yourself in tears of repentance ( St. Feofan the Recluse).
Nowadays the Holy Church reminds us of the Judgment of God and thereby wants to inspire her children to great work, and to awaken the careless from sleep... Our trouble is that we are accustomed to pushing away the hour of Judgment... But we too will have to appear at the Judgment and give an account for the days and years life... Isn’t it better to behave every hour as if the Lord were to appear now?.. The enemy knows the power of this thought and in every possible way obscures it in our memory... Now or tomorrow death will come and seal our fate forever, for after death there is no repentance... Whatever death finds us in is what we will appear at the Judgment... Impress the image of God's Judgment in your mind and heart and always remember it ( St. Feofan the Recluse).
Who, bringing to mind the Last Judgment of Christ, will not immediately be confused in his own conscience, will not be overwhelmed by fear and ignorance? Even if he is aware of the correction of his life, then, looking at the severity of the Court, at which even the slightest oversights are examined, he will, of course, be horrified by the expectation of terrible punishments, not knowing how the Court will end for him. The Divine Court, following an incorruptible and truthful verdict, depending on our will, allocates to everyone that a person has acquired for himself ( St. Gregory of Nyssa).
"THE LAST JUDGMENT" (2007)
Year of issue: 2007
A country: Belarus
Genre: documentary
Duration: 00:50:56
Director: BOC Information Agency. Vyacheslav Galuza
Cast: Alexander Stepanov, Alexey Osipov, Vyacheslav Galuza
Description: The end of the world, Apocalypse, Judgment Day... This topic has become too popular today... The authors of many films, books, newspaper articles, magazine publications enthusiastically paint chilling pictures of the death of humanity... Isn’t it strange that this topic is so actively attracting the attention of modern society? When will the end come? Is it possible that the entire history of mankind will burn, disappear without a trace, be crossed out and forgotten?!
And the well-known “Last Judgment”, “God’s Judgment” evokes a feeling of anxiety, misunderstanding and even protest... Why will He who is infinitely different from us, so weak and defenseless before His power and perfection, judge people?
The first Christians did not call the last judgment “terrible”, and were not afraid of the onset of the last times. They waited for Christ with joy. So what are we afraid of?
Questions, questions, questions.
When you read the Revelation of John the Theologian, they arise endlessly. How can we understand the meaning of the Last Judgment, knowing that God is love?
These and other questions are answered by: Bishop Artemy of Grodno and Volkovysk, priest Alexander Stepanov, rector of the Church of Anastasia the Pattern Maker in St. Petersburg, professor of the Moscow Theological Academy A.I. Osipov.
Those who counted and calculated claim that there are one and a half billion living people on earth. Of these one and a half billion living people, not one is able to tell you from his own mind what will happen to the world at the end of time and what will happen to us after death. And all the many, many billions of human beings who lived on earth before us were not able to say anything from their minds definitely and with confidence about the end of the world and about what awaits us after death - nothing that we could with our minds, accept with heart and soul as the truth. Our life is short and counted in days, but time is long and counted in centuries and millennia. Which of us can stretch out from our narrowness until the end of time, and see the latest events, and tell us about them, and say: “At the end of time such and such will happen, such and such will happen to the world, such and such - with you people"? Nobody. Truly, none of all living people, except the one who would convince us that he, having penetrated the mind of the Creator of the world and people, saw the whole plan of creation; and that he lived and was in consciousness before the existence of the world; and also that he can clearly see the end of times and all those events that will mark this end. Is there such a person among the one and a half billion people alive today? And was there such a thing from the beginning of the world until now? No, this is not and never happened. There were perspicacious people and prophets who, not from their own mind, but by the revelation of God, spoke something, briefly and fragmentarily, about the end of the world; and not so much with the intention of describing it, but in order to enlighten people with their visions, at the command of God: may they turn away from the path of iniquity, may they repent, may they think about what is destined to come more than about the petty and transitory things that shield them from , like a cloud, a fiery and terrible event, which will end all human life on earth, and the existence of the world, and the course of the stars, and days and nights, and everything that is in space, and everything that happens in time.
Only the One and Only One clearly and definitely told us the main thing about everything that should happen at the end of time. This is our Lord Jesus Christ. If anyone else had told us about the end of the world, we would not have believed it, even if he were the greatest worldly sage. If he had spoken from his human mind, and not from the proven revelation of God, we would not have believed him. For the human mind and human logic, no matter how great they are, are too tiny to stretch from the beginning to the end of the world. But all our reason is in vain where vision is required. We need a perspicacious person who sees - and sees clearly, as we see the sun - the whole world through and through, from its beginning to its end, and the beginning and end itself. There was only One such Man. And this is our Lord Jesus Christ. We can and must believe Him alone when He tells us what will happen in the last days. For everything that He predicted came true; everything that He predicted came true to individuals, like Peter and Judas and the other apostles; and to individual nations, like the Jews; and certain places, such as Jerusalem, Capernaum, Bethsaida and Chorazin; and the Church of God, established on His blood. Only His prophecies about the events before the very end of this world and the prophecy about the very end of the world and the Last Judgment have not yet been fulfilled. But he who has eyes to see can see clearly: in the world already in our time the events predicted by Him as signs of the imminent end of the age began. Haven’t many benefactors of mankind appeared who want to replace Christ with themselves and the teaching of Christ with their teaching? Has not nation risen against nation, and kingdom against kingdom? Isn't the earth shaking, like our hearts, from the many wars and revolutions throughout our planet? Do not many betray Christ, and do not many flee from His Church? Has not iniquity increased, and has not the love of many grown cold? Has not the Gospel of Christ already been preached throughout the entire universe as a testimony to all nations (Matthew 24:3-14)? True, the worst has not yet come, but it is approaching uncontrollably and quickly. True, the Antichrist has not yet appeared, but his prophets and forerunners are already walking among all nations. True, it has not yet reached the peak of sorrow, which has not been seen since the beginning of the world, to the unbearable death rattle, but this peak is already visible on the horizon before the eyes of all spiritual people who await the coming of the Lord. True, the sun had not yet darkened, and the moon had not ceased to give its light, and the stars had not fallen from the sky; but when all this happens, it will be impossible to write or talk about it anymore. The human heart will be filled with fear and trembling, the human tongue will become numb, and human eyes will stare into terrible darkness, into a land without a day and into a sky without stars. And suddenly in this darkness he will appear the Omen from east to west, with such brilliance as the sun could never shine above our heads. And then all the tribes of the earth will see the Lord Jesus Christ, coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And the armies of the angels will trumpet, and all the nations of the earth will gather before Him, the trumpets will sound a gathering such as has not been done since the beginning of the world, and they will call for Judgment, which will not be repeated.
But all these signs and events that will happen before the end of the world and at the end of time are spoken of elsewhere in the Holy Gospel. Today's Gospel reading describes to us the final reckoning between time and eternity, between heaven and earth, between God and people. It describes to us the Last Judgment and its course, day of the Lord's wrath(Zeph.2:2). It describes to us that terrible moment, most joyful for the righteous, when the mercy of God conveys the word to the truth of God. When it will be too late to do good deeds and too late to repent! When crying will no longer meet with sympathy and tears will no longer fall into the hands of angels.
When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. Just as in the parable of the Prodigal Son God is called man, so here Christ is called the Son of Man. This is He, and no one else. When He comes into the world for the second time, He will not come quietly and in humiliation, as He came the first time, but clearly and in great glory. By this glory is meant, firstly, the glory that Christ had in eternity before the existence of the world (John 17:5) and secondly, the glory of the Conqueror of Satan, the old world and death. Meanwhile, He comes not alone, but with all the holy angels, the number of which is infinite; He comes with them because they too, being His servants and warriors, participated both in the fight against evil and in the victory over evil. It is His joy to share His glory with them. And in order to show the greatness of this event, it is especially emphasized: with the Lord they will come All angels. Nowhere else is there any mention of a single event in which all the angels of God participated. They have always appeared in smaller or larger numbers, but at the Last Judgment they will all gather around the King of Glory. The Throne of Glory, both before and after, saw many visionaries (Is.6:1; Dan.7:9; Rev.4:2; 20:4). This throne refers to the powers of heaven on which the Lord sits. This is the throne of glory and victory, on which the Heavenly Father sits and on which our Lord Jesus Christ sat after His victory (Rev. 3:21). Oh, how majestic this coming of the Lord will be, what wondrous and terrible phenomena it will be accompanied by! The perspicacious prophet Isaiah foretells: For behold, the Lord will come with fire, and His chariots like a whirlwind(Isa.66:15). Daniel sees at this coming, like a river of fire came out and passed before Him; thousands upon thousands served Him, and darkness stood before Him; the judges sat down and the books opened(Dan.7:10).
And when the Lord comes in glory and sits on the throne, then all nations will be gathered before him; and will separate one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right hand and the goats on His left. Many holy fathers were interested in the question of in what place Christ would judge the nations. And, referring to the prophet Joel, they expressed a judgment: The judgment will take place in the valley of Jehoshaphat, where once King Jehoshaphat defeated the Moabites and Ammonites without battle or weapons, so that among the enemies there was no survivor (2 Chron. chapter 20). And the prophet Joel says: Let the nations arise and descend into the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all nations on every side(Joel 3:12). Perhaps the throne of the King of glory will rise above this valley; but there is no valley on earth where all nations and all people, living and dead, from creation to the end of the world, billions and billions and billions, can gather. The entire surface of the earth, together with all the seas, would not be enough for all human beings who have ever lived on earth to stand shoulder to shoulder on it. For if it were only a collection of souls, then one could understand how they could all fit into the valley of Jehoshaphat; but since these will be people in the flesh (because the dead will also rise in the flesh), then the words of the prophet should be understood in a figurative sense. The valley of Jehoshaphat is the whole earth, from east to west; and just as God once showed His power and judgment in the valley of Jehoshaphat, so on the last day He will show exactly the same power and judgment over the entire human race.
And he will separate one from the other. In the blink of an eye, all the gathered people will separate from each other on two sides, left and right, as if by the irresistible force of a magnet. So that no one standing on the left side will be able to move to the right and no one standing on the right side will be able to move to the left. Just as when they hear the voice of the shepherd, the sheep go to one side and the goats to the other.
Then the King will say to those on His right hand: Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. At first, Christ calls Himself the Son of Man, that is, the Son of God; here He calls Himself King. For to Him has been given the kingdom and the power and the glory. Come, you blessed of My Father. Blessed are those whom Christ calls blessed! For the blessing of God contains in itself all the blessings and all the joys and consolations of heaven. Why does the Lord say not “My blessed ones”, but blessed of my Father? Because He is the one Son of God, the Only Begotten and uncreated, from eternity to eternity, and the righteous are adopted by the blessing of God and through this have become like brothers to Christ. The Lord calls the righteous to inherit the Kingdom, prepared them from the creation of the world. This means that God, even before the creation of man, prepared the Kingdom for man. Before He created Adam, everything was already ready for his heavenly life. The whole Kingdom shone brilliantly, waiting only for the king. Then God brought Adam into this Kingdom, and the Kingdom was filled. So, from the very beginning, God prepared for all the righteous the Kingdom, awaiting only its kings, at the head of which will be King Christ Himself.
Having called the righteous to the Kingdom, the Judge immediately explains why they were given the Kingdom: For I was hungry, and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you accepted me; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me. In response to this wondrous explanation, the righteous with humility and meekness ask the King when they saw Him hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick or in prison and did all these things to Him. And the King speaks to them just as wonderfully: Truly I say to you, just as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me..
In this whole explanation there are two meanings, one external and the other internal. The external meaning is clear to everyone. He who fed the hungry man fed the Lord. He who gave drink to the thirsty gave drink to the Lord. He who clothed the naked clothed the Lord. He who received the stranger received the Lord. He who visited a sick person or a prisoner in prison visited the Lord. For even in the Old Testament it is said: He who does good to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward him for his good deed.(Prov. 19:17). For through those who ask us for help, the Lord tests our hearts. God does not need anything from us for Himself; He doesn't need anything. He who made bread cannot hunger; He who created water cannot thirst; He who clothed all His creations cannot be naked; the Source of health cannot be sick; The Lord of lords cannot be in prison. But He requires alms from us in order to soften and ennoble our hearts. Being omnipotent, God can make all people rich, well-fed, clothed and contented in the blink of an eye. But He allows people hunger, thirst, illness, suffering, and poverty for two reasons. Firstly, so that those who endure all this with patience soften and ennoble their hearts, and remember God, and with faith fall prayerfully to Him. And secondly, so that those who do not experience this: the rich and well-fed, clothed and healthy, strong and free - see human sorrows and soften and ennoble their hearts with alms; and so that in the suffering of others they feel their suffering, in the humiliation of others - their humiliation, thus realizing the brotherhood and unity of all people on earth through the living God, the Creator and Provider of everyone and everything on earth. The Lord wants mercy from us, mercy above all other things. For He knows that mercy is the path and method of returning a person to faith in God, hope in God and love for God.
This is the external meaning. And the inner meaning concerns Christ in ourselves. In every bright thought of our mind, in every good feeling of our heart, in every noble aspiration of our soul to do good, Christ is manifested in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. He calls all these bright thoughts, good feelings and noble aspirations small, or His lesser brothers. He calls them that because they represent an insignificant minority in us compared to the great area of worldly sediment and evil that is found in us. If our mind hungers for God and we give it something to eat, then we have given food to Christ in us. If our heart is naked of all virtue and all goodness of God and we clothe it, then we have clothed Christ within ourselves. If our soul is sick and in the prison of our evil being, our evil deeds, and we remember it and visit it, then we have visited Christ in ourselves. In a word: if we provide protection to the second person in us - the righteous man who once took precedence, but is now oppressed and humiliated by the evil man living in us, the sinner, then we have protected Christ in ourselves. Little, very little is this righteous man who dwells within us; huge, enormous is this sinner who dwells within us. But this righteous man in us is the lesser brother of Christ; and this sinner in us is an opponent of Christ, like Goliath. So, if we protect the righteous within us, if we give him freedom, if we strengthen him and bring him into the light, if we exalt him over the sinner, may he prevail over him completely, so that we can say, like the Apostle Paul: and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me(Gal.2:20) - then we too will be called blessed and will hear the words of the King at the Last Judgment: come...inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
And to those standing on the left side the Judge will say: Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. A terrible but fair condemnation! While the King calls the righteous to Himself and grants them the Kingdom, He drives sinners away from Himself and sends them into eternal fire (“If ever the end of eternal torment comes, then it follows that eternal life will also come to an end. But since This cannot even be thought of in relation to eternal life, then how can one think about the end of eternal torment? St. Basil the Great. Word 14, about the Last Judgment), into the disgusting company of the devil and his servants. It is very important that the Lord does not say that eternal fire is prepared for sinners from the creation of the world, as He said to the righteous about the Kingdom: prepared for you from the creation of the world. What does it mean? It is absolutely clear: God has prepared eternal fire only for the devil and his angels, and everyone From the creation of the world He prepared the Kingdom for people. For God wants all people to be saved(1 Tim. 2:4; compare: Matt. 18:14; John 3:16; 2 Pet. 3:9; Isa. 45:22) and no one died. According to this, God predestined people not to destruction, but to salvation and prepared for them not the fire of the devil, but His Kingdom, and only the Kingdom. From this it is clear that those who say about the sinner: “He is destined to be a sinner!” are mistaken! For if he is destined to be a sinner, then, truly, it is not destined by God, but by himself; This is evident from the fact that God did not prepare in advance any place of torment for people - only for the devil. Therefore, at the Last Judgment, the righteous Judge will not be able to send sinners to any other place than to the dark abode of the devil. And that the Judge sends them there justly is clear from the fact that during their earthly life they completely fell away from God and went into the service of the devil.
Having pronounced the sentence on the sinners on the left side, the King immediately explains to them why they are cursed and why He sends them to eternal fire: For I was hungry, and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger, and they did not accept Me; I was naked, and they did not clothe Me; sick and in prison, and you have not visited Me. So they did nothing of all the things that the righteous on the right hand did. Having heard these words from the King, sinners, like the righteous, ask: God! when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison...? The Lord answers: Truly I say to you, because you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me..
All this explanation that the King gives to sinners has two meanings, external and internal, just as in the first case, with the righteous. The minds of sinners were dark, their hearts were petrified, their souls were malicious towards their hungry and thirsty, naked, sick and imprisoned brothers on earth. With their dull minds they could not see that through the mourning and suffering of this world Christ Himself was asking them for mercy. Other people's tears could not soften their hardened hearts. And the example of Christ and His saints could not convert their malicious souls, let them strive for good and do good. And just as they were unmerciful to Christ in their brothers, so they were unmerciful to Christ in themselves. They deliberately drowned out every bright thought in themselves, replacing it with thoughts of prodigal and blasphemous thoughts. Every noble feeling, as soon as it began, they were uprooted from their hearts, replacing it with bitterness, lust and selfishness. They quickly and roughly suppressed any desire of the soul to create, following the law of God, any good, instead causing and supporting the desire to do evil to people, sin before God and offend Him. And so the lesser brother of Christ living in them, that is, the righteous man in them, was crucified, killed and buried; the gloomy Goliath raised by them, that is, the lawless one living in them, or the devil himself, emerged from the battlefield victorious. What should God do with such people? Can He accept into His Kingdom those who have completely expelled the Kingdom of God from themselves? Can He call to Himself those who have eradicated in themselves all likeness to God, those who, both openly, before people, and secretly, in their hearts, have shown themselves to be the enemy of Christ and the servant of the devil? No; they became servants of the devil by their free choice, and the Judge at the Last Judgment will direct them to the society into which they openly enrolled during their lifetime - into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his servants. And immediately after that this process, the greatest and shortest in the entire history of the created world, will end.
And these will go(sinners) into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life. Life and torment are opposed to each other here. Where there is life, there is no pain; where there is flour, there is no life. And, truly, the fullness of life excludes torment. The Kingdom of Heaven represents the fullness of life, while the abode of the devil represents torment, and only torment, without life, which is from God. We see in this earthly life how the soul of a sinful person, in whom there is little life, that is, little of God, is filled with much greater torment than the soul of a righteous man, in whom there is more life, that is, more of God. As ancient wisdom says: The wicked torments himself all his days, and the number of years is hidden from the oppressor; the sound of horrors in his ears; in the midst of the world the destroyer comes against him. He does not hope to be saved from darkness; sees a sword in front of him. - He is frightened by need and cramped conditions; overcomes him, like a king preparing for battle, because he stretched out his hand against God and resisted the Almighty(Job 15:20-22,24-25). Thus, this time on earth is a grave torment for the sinner. And it is more difficult for a sinner to endure the slightest torment in this life than for a righteous person. For only he who has life within himself can endure torment, despise suffering, overcome all the evil of the world and rejoice. Life and joy are inseparable. Therefore, Christ Himself speaks to the righteous, whom the world reviles and persecutes and slanderes unrighteously in every possible way: Rejoice and be merry(Matt. 5:11-12).
But all this earthly life of ours is a distant shadow of true and full life in the Kingdom of God; like all torments on earth, they are only a distant shadow of the terrible torment of sinners in the flames of hell. (“They asked a certain great elder: “How, father, do you bear such labors so patiently?” The elder answered: “All my life’s labors are not equal to a single day of torment (in the other world).” Alphabetical Patericon). Life on earth - no matter how sublime it may be - is still dissolved in torment, for here there is no fullness of life; just like the torment on earth - no matter how great it is - is still dissolved by life. But at the Last Judgment, life will be separated from torment, and life will be life, and torment will be torment. Both will remain forever, each on its own. What this eternity is - our human mind cannot contain this. To anyone who enjoys contemplating the face of God for one minute, this pleasure will seem like a thousand years. And to those who suffer with demons in hell for one minute, this torment will seem like a thousand years. For the time known to us will no longer exist; there will be neither day nor night, but everything is the only day: This day will be the only one known only to the Lord(Zech. 14:7; cf. Rev. 22:5). And there will be no other sun except God. And there will be no rising and setting of the sun, so that eternity can be calculated by them, as time is now calculated. But the blessed righteous will count eternity with their joy, and the tormented sinners with their torment.
This is how our Lord Jesus Christ described the last and greatest event that will happen in time, on the border of time and eternity. And we believe that all this will happen literally: firstly, because all the other numerous prophecies of Christ came true literally; and secondly, because He is our Greatest Friend and the only true Lover of mankind, filled with love for people. And in perfect love there is neither untruth nor error. Perfect love contains perfect truth. If all this were not supposed to happen, He would not have told us this. But He said it, and it will all be so. He did not tell us this in order to show His knowledge before people. No; He did not receive glory from men (John 5:41). He said all this for our salvation. Anyone who has intelligence and who confesses the Lord Jesus Christ can see that he needs to know this in order to be saved. For the Lord did not do a single deed, did not utter a single word, and did not allow a single event to happen in His earthly life that would not serve our salvation.
Therefore, let us be reasonable and sober and let us constantly keep before our spiritual eyes the picture of the Last Judgment. This picture has already turned many sinners from the path of destruction to the path of salvation. Our time is short, and when it is up, there will be no more repentance. With our lives in this short time we must make a choice that is fateful for our eternity: will we stand on the right or on the left side of the King of glory. God gave us an easy and short task, but the reward and punishment are enormous and exceed everything that human language can describe.
Therefore, let us not waste a single day; for every day may turn out to be the last and decisive; every day can bring destruction to this world and the dawn of the desired Day. ("Written: Whoever wants to be a friend of the world, is an enemy of God(James 4:4). Consequently: whoever does not rejoice at the approaching end of the world proves that he is a friend of this last one, and through that he is an enemy of God. But may such a thought be removed from believers, may it be removed from those who know by faith that there is another life, and who truly love it. For to grieve over the destruction of the world is characteristic of those who have rooted their hearts in love for the world; those who do not desire a future life and do not even believe in its existence." St. Grigory Dvoeslov. Conversations on the Gospel. Book I, conversation I. On the signs of the end of the world). Let us not be ashamed on the Day of the Lord’s wrath, neither before the Lord, nor before the armies of His holy angels, nor before the many billions of righteous people and saints. May we not be forever separated from the Lord, and from His angels, and from His righteous, and from our relatives and friends who will be on the right side. But let us sing with all the countless and radiant regiment of angels and righteous people the song of joy and victory: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts! Alleluia!” And let us glorify, together with all the heavenly host, our Savior, God the Son, with the Father and the Holy Spirit - the Trinity, Consubstantial and Indivisible, forever and ever. Amen.
From the publishing house of the Sretensky Monastery.
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