Reprimand the possessed where. Father Herman's reprimand from demons. Karelian anomalous zone

What is exorcism? This church ceremony, performed on a person in whom evil spirits have settled. For most Russians, this is just a plot for a movie, something divorced from reality. In fact, in modern Russian Orthodox Church He is becoming increasingly famous thanks to the reprimand of Father Herman.

Mass fight against demons

At the time when the Russian Orthodox Church was headed by Patriarch Alexy, the holding of such events was not particularly blessed. The fact is that only a person who is completely freed from them is capable of expelling demons. In times of massive decline in morals, there are fewer and fewer such people even among the clergy. But today, Father Herman’s reprimand is not only open, but also carried out on a regular basis. It can be visited daily in the Church of the Baptist (Sergiev Posad).

Many people are surprised by this state of affairs. It is difficult to say who and when blessed this particular priest for such mass “sessions.” Now they take place in the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius at 13:00. Officially, the exorcism of demons is not prohibited and you do not need to pay money for it (as, for example, for baptism). However, in the hope of a miracle, exhausted people are sometimes ready to give their last. The amount of donation can theoretically be any.

• IN modern society consumption there are resourceful businessmen who make fortunes from such rituals.
• The Vatican is very concerned about this state of affairs; a special school has been opened there for exorcists.
• In the diocese of Milan, for example, the church officially grants the right to cast out demons to only 7 people.
• The Russian Orthodox Church does not have a clearly formed position on this issue.

Before participating in such an event, you should still consult with a spiritually experienced person. It is better if it is a well-known priest. Only after receiving a blessing should one go to the Lavra.

What is obsession

The Gospel describes quite a few cases when Christ cast out demons from people. At the same time, His disciples were not always capable of this and entered “in full force"only after the day of Pentecost. How is the state of possession by evil spirits expressed? It may look different for everyone. A person may exhibit inappropriate behavior:

• children break free and cry;
• adults may become hysterical and lose consciousness;
• the possessed also growl, bark, and mutter incomprehensible words.

Symptoms can manifest themselves especially clearly while under the vaults of a temple. In the first centuries of Christianity, exorcism was practiced by the apostles, then by their disciples. As experts say mental illness, there were many possessed people in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Then psychiatry appeared and began to actively develop. In reality, it turned out that most cases of obsession are nothing more than hallucinations, delirium of a sick imagination. It is also certain that there are real cases when evil settles in a person’s soul, having spiritual origin. You can get rid of it only with the help of prayers, good deeds and fasting. Such people really need the help of an experienced priest.

What does Father Herman's reprimand help with?

Father Herman allows many people to participate in the ritual, because today there are few spiritually healthy people. What do those who come to his temple hope to receive?

• Healing from damage - cleanses the soul and makes thoughts purer.
• Getting rid of body diseases.
• Relief from mental suffering.

Prayers bring peace to the soul of those who come to God for relief, this is true. It is only desirable that the person himself wants this, otherwise the ritual may not help.

Everything goes very simply - the priest reads special prayers, anoints people with holy oil, sprinkles them with holy water, and makes the sign of the cross. Sometimes you have to put it on your head almost by force, because the person may resist. Or rather, it is a dark force operating in him that fears both the word of God and holy things.

Reviews

On the Internet you can find testimonies of those who visited the temple. During the ceremony, people behave differently; some are brought by relatives, because for them a reprimand is the last hope for recovery. Many people write that they really felt better after finishing the service. Although there are many stories about how nothing has changed for a person.

How can we explain the cases when presence in the temple does not help? Most often, because the person himself is not ready to accept Divine help with faith. After all, the Lord never brings anyone to Himself against their will. Therefore, a person must have a certain attitude: the desire to change for the better is important, you also need to work on your soul, pray.

Theological view

How do demons gain power over a person? This question haunts many, because if God is good and fair, why does He allow this? Here we should remember that the Lord values ​​human freedom. And if someone does not want to live according to the commandments, attend the temple, take care of their soul, then the protection given during baptism is gradually destroyed. Then fallen spirits can get close to a person and begin to influence him.

But even in the most hopeless situation, the Lord extends a helping hand. Demons never gain complete power over a person. However, a person must repent, sincerely desire changes, and come to church. And then no evil force will be able to stay in him for long. A reprimand will help, but to avoid finding yourself in a similar situation again, you should begin to lead a godly life.

When the priest reads the prayers compiled by the holy fathers, grace can be restored. It is a powerful defense against evil spirits; they cannot penetrate its shell, which protects the soul of the believer. The entire physical body of a person, his internal organs responsible for vital functions are also cleansed: kidneys, lungs, circulatory system.

Having received relief, one must constantly resort to the help of church sacraments - go to church, drink holy water, attend communion, read prayers. Otherwise, there is a possibility of returning to the previous state. God bless you!

Herman's father's reprimand - what helps, reviews was last modified: July 8th, 2017 by Bogolub

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There is a lot of controversy these days about telling off. On the one hand, you can often hear (especially among common people) recommendation to undergo a report in connection with the most different problems: a person drinks, does not study well, does not want to go to church, falls ill with a serious illness, experiences failures in his personal life, etc. - the machinations of demons are seen in everything, from which they offer to get rid of by attending the lecture. On the other hand, one can hear an extremely critical and skeptical attitude towards this rite, which is perceived as absolutely unnecessary and foreign to the Church.

What is a report? How to treat her? And who should attend?

With the coming of the Son of God into the world, demons lost their former power over people. From the Gospel we learn that not only the Savior cast out unclean spirits from people possessed by them, but also His disciples. "God! and the demons are subject to us in Thy name” (Luke 10:17), the apostles exclaimed in surprise upon returning from the sermon. And after His Resurrection, Christ promised those who believe in Him as one of the signs: “In My name they will cast out demons” (Mark 16:17). According to St. Neil of Sinai, “pronouncing the name of God puts demons to flight.” Moreover, the cross of Christ became an unbearable torment for the demons. Therefore, the spell and expulsion of dark power in the name of Jesus Christ and the sign of the cross is an original phenomenon in the Church.

In the middle of the 2nd century, Saint Justin the Philosopher addressed the pagans with the following testimony: the Savior “was born according to the will of God and the Father for the sake of people who believe in Him and for the crushing of demons. This you can now learn from what is happening before your eyes. For many of our Christians have healed and are now still healing many demon-possessed throughout the world and in your city, conjuring in the name of Jesus Christ, crucified under Pontius Pilate, while they were not healed by all other exorcists, conspirators and sorcerers - and thus they defeat and drive out the demons that have taken possession of people.”

As can be seen from the above words, even the pagans knew about the existence among Christians of special persons who conjured those possessed in the name of Jesus Christ and thereby expelled them from evil spirits. In the first centuries of Christianity, this was one of the ministries of the Church. Exorcists, that is, conjurers of evil spirits, received a special blessing from the bishop. It is not allowed to take on this matter on your own, since the 26th canon of the Council of Laodicea says: “Those who have not been elevated to the throne of bishops must not exorcise either in churches or in houses.”

Over time, a special rite was formed, which contains prayers for the expulsion of demons by the power of the name of Jesus Christ. In the breviary it is called “A prayer service for the weak, overwhelmed by unclean spirits,” and in the common people it is called a lecture. This rite brings real results. Here's a story that happened not too long ago. The young man Alexey, for reasons unknown to those close to him, became extremely aggressive towards his wife and small child Now he was extremely intolerant and began to beat the baby, who was not even a year old. Although before this he was quite supportive of Christianity, now Alexey met every word about faith with extreme hostility. The relatives were very upset by such a drastic change. One of his relatives maintained relations with the inhabitants of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, repeatedly talked with the monks about what happened, and it was decided to invite the sufferer to a lecture. When they brought him, Alexey didn’t even want to get out of the car, reacting to every word with amazing aggression. Another time, the relatives resorted to a trick - they offered to attend some event together that took place at the Lavra Museum; This time, by special agreement, the car was allowed inside the monastery. The sufferer’s mother went to the church where the reprimand was taking place, ordered a memorial with her son’s name, and after the event at the museum Alexey was asked to come pick up his mother. When they went into the temple itself, Alexei managed to squeeze forward, from where it was already difficult to get out due to the crush itself. After involuntary participation in the prayer singing, the sufferer experienced severe weakness, and after a few days he was already a different person - not a trace remained of the previous aggression, he even stopped smoking and drinking, he became attentive and affectionate towards his wife and child, he now treated the Church with reverence .

It is obvious that in in this case Church rites with intense prayer from loved ones helped the suffering person get rid of real obsession. By the way, in a similar way, some psychics, having become interested in the phenomenon of reprimand and decided to experience it for themselves, happily parted with their “miraculous” abilities - for some, the reprimand served as the first step to life in the Church.

At the same time, it is worth saying a few words about the often incorrect, almost magical attitude towards reprimanding. Nowadays, there is often an unhealthy increased interest in this rank. Everyone who at least saw themselves and them as being subject to evil power, damage or the evil eye goes with them and takes with them their relatives and friends. One elderly woman I knew kept asking how she could take her son, who was over twenty, to reprimand, and when asked about the reason, she explained that he did not want to study, drinks beer, ignores the temple and gets irritated when his mother offers him to drink holy water. But all these symptoms can express the personal lack of spirituality of a person who was not instilled with faith at one time, and he himself has no interest in it. The irritation of an unbeliever is understandable when he is forced to drink holy water or go to church - this cannot always be identified with demonic possession.

Some, on the advice of others, report “just in case”, according to the principle “who knows, maybe someone has damaged me, and reporting will help right away.” Both old and young are in a hurry to remove all slander and evil eye from themselves in a simple and simple way - by attending the lecture. Here we encounter an amazing situation - a person seems to want to avoid occult influence on himself, but he himself acts according to magical principles - he hopes for the ritual itself, regardless of personal spiritual and moral correction. Sometimes it happens that some frail sorcerer sends a patient who has approached him to a priest who is engaged in reprimanding: “He is stronger than me.” Let us repeat that the reprimand itself is often treated as a kind of magical action, which should in itself help the unfortunate person.

Yes, the mentioned order, in necessary cases, bears fruit. But often, unfortunately, we do not want to realize the truth that in order to improve the state of our own soul, it is important not just to uphold some ancient church rite, but to engage in significant correction of our personal spiritual life. Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria wrote: “Those freed from demons become even worse later if they do not correct themselves.” To do this, you need to seriously prepare for confession, remembering your life since childhood, make it a rule to regularly pray at home in the morning and evening, attend church services weekly, and partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ as often as possible. Not only this, you need to constantly read spiritual literature, and not only the Holy Scripture, which, alas, many understand in their own way, but also the works of the holy fathers, and useful modern spiritual books, communicate with church-going people, so that the very atmosphere of life changes completely. Only a significant change in both the internal structure of one’s soul and the external structure of life, when God and the fulfillment of His commandments will be in the first place, and everything else in the second, can lead to the complete liberation of the soul from the influence of dark power.

It is clear that it is impossible to solve the issue of churching a relative or acquaintance with one lecture, thereby instilling in him the ability to study or force him to take life more seriously, since it is impossible to change a person’s personality in any way without his voluntary consent and effort. If this is a real obsession, then according to the faith of family and friends, an effect is possible. But if this is a person’s freely chosen, personal position, then rank itself will not help. They read prayers over such a person, sprinkled him with holy water, covered him with a cross, but inside he remains the same, because he doesn’t want to change.

Moreover, in many situations, even with obvious obsession, something other than a reprimand is required. Every demonic obsession has its own cause, which must be eliminated. To the apostles, who were unable to drive out the demon from the possessed young man, the Savior said: “This generation is driven out only by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21). This means that victory over evil spirits is possible only through an ascetic life, thanks to which a Christian is freed from passions and receives gracious help from God. This victory is achieved only with decisive correction of one’s life. Let us remember that the Lord admonished the man He healed with the commandment: “You have recovered; Sin no more, lest anything worse happen to you” (John 5:14).

Holy people, for example, the righteous John of Kronstadt, drove out the dark force with the shortest prayer phrases, without a special rite. This means that it is not so much the formally fulfilled rule, but life according to the commandments of God, in the sharing of His grace, that is terrible for dark spirits. And therefore, the reprimand itself for those who really suffer from unclean spirits is only an auxiliary means, a kind of additional condition that helps with complete inner determination to live in harmony with God.

St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) wrote to one nun who asked a question about counteracting demonic obsessions: “No incantatory prayers are needed: they were read over each of you at holy baptism. You need to surrender to the will of God and recognize yourself as worthy of all human and demonic guidance: then the insurance will go away by itself. It is not destroyed by anything so much as by deep heartfelt contrition.” It is not rites themselves that protect against demons, but the acquisition of virtues. The highest virtue is humility. If pride is pleasing to demons - it is because of pride that misfortunes and mental distress are allowed to a person - then humility, like fire, burns and drives away the devil.

As for possession itself, the direct possession of an evil spirit in a person is possible only with the special permission of God and when the person himself has disposed himself to this through a vicious and frivolous life. Once again remembering the words of the Gospel that “this same generation is driven out only by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21), one can, arguing from the contrary, conclude that they enter into a person because of his extreme intemperance and aversion from God (the opposite fasting and prayer). The Monk John Cassian the Roman said: “Unclean spirits penetrate the bodies of those possessed by them in no other way than by first taking possession of their minds and thoughts. Having stripped their minds of the clothing of the fear of God, the memory of God, evil spirits attack them as if they were disarmed and deprived of God’s help and God’s protection, and therefore conveniently defeated, and finally set up dwellings in them, as if in the possession presented to them.”

People are frightened by demonic possession, the visible helplessness of a person who finds himself in the power of evil spirits. However, few people pay attention to the internal subordination to the devil, to which we usually slide, accepting the enemy’s thoughts and fulfilling his evil will.

Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) pointed out the possibility of Satan’s dual presence in man: sensual and moral. Sensual presence is the well-known demonic possession, when a demon enters a person and torments his soul and body. Moral stay - when a person is a doer of the will of the devil, that is, he constantly and uncontrollably sins; the demon, without possessing a person sensually, takes possession of his mind and will, unites with him in his spiritual sphere. The reader will probably be surprised to learn that the second type of stay is the most dangerous, because it leads a person to eternal torment of the soul, while the first type can be allowed by God as a special sorrow for the salvation of a person’s soul. Saint Ignatius wrote: “Spiritually, this is God’s punishment (sensual possession. - V.D.) does not at all serve as a bad testimony about a person... Becoming possessed is much less important than accepting any enemy thought that can destroy the soul forever.” It is important to beware of conscious submission in your deeds, words and thoughts to the will of the devil, to become like him in your moral life.

The Monk Simeon the New Theologian in one of his words stated a sad fact: people first lost the image of God (in their deeds and lives), and now they are losing the human image and becoming in the image of the devil. In this sense, an unclean spirit can take possession of a person forever and easily does this if the person does not resist the internal battles of the invisible enemy. Usually this happens unnoticed by an outside observer, without shocking manifestations of demonic possession. Thus, about Judas the traitor we read: “But Satan entered into Judas, who was called Iscariot, one of the twelve” (Luke 22:3) - and former apostle went to betray Christ. It is vain to think that Judas became possessed in the full sense of the word. But as this can be consistently traced from the Gospel of John, Judas allows the devil to approach him with his passion for money (see: John 12: 6), then the devil takes possession of his heart more completely (see: John 13: 2) and, finally, decisively inhabits him, making him a direct executor of his will (see: John 13: 27). Such a plight was prepared by insatiable passions, in particular the love of money and unrepentance.

Every sinful passion is essentially submission to evil spirits. Uncontrollable outbursts of anger, conceit with contempt for others, foul language, reaching the point of an internal need for swear words, addiction to seductive images - this and much more is the subordination of the soul to dark forces.

Actually, the soul of every person is a container that does not tolerate emptiness. If you do not create the temple of God within yourself, then you will become the abode of dark forces. We have no other choice - either build an altar to God in our hearts, or it will turn into an abomination of desolation. And therefore, both the stability of his soul in the earthly world and his well-being in the eternal world directly depend on a person’s spiritual activity.

Dear reader! In this brochure we set out a sermon for reprimanding those possessed by evil spirits.
In the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, every day in the Church of John the Baptist we perform an order of prayers over sick people.

By blessing

His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II

Dear reader!

In this brochure we set out a sermon for reprimanding those possessed by evil spirits.

In the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, every day in the Church of John the Baptist we perform an order of prayers over sick people. From all over Russia, sick people possessed by unclean, evil spirits-demons flock to us for healing. We are talking here about a special kind of illness, in medicine they are called mental, and in the centuries-old practice of healing of the Russian Orthodox Church - damage and demonic possession. Possession means more severe mental damage: in such cases they say that a demon has entered a person’s heart.

We help patients recover from this serious illness. In the church we read special prayers compiled by the holy fathers of the 4th century, anoint with holy oil, sprinkle with holy Epiphany water, and make the sign of the cross. At the same time, demons sometimes manifest themselves in inhuman voices, as if they croak and growl, scream, fight, cry, shake the possessed, forcing them to perform strange body movements. Sometimes sick people are brought from other cities, bound in chains.

Before reading prayers for illnesses and evil spirits, we strictly preach a sermon in which the causes of illnesses are explored and we give advice on how to avoid the wiles of the devil.

Archimandrite GERMAN

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord! All of you today have gathered in this holy ancient monastery of St. Sergius, in the Church of St. John the Baptist, to listen to prayers for sick people and to receive help from the Lord God. But before we begin our sermon and reading of prayers, we need to ask you: are you all baptized in the Orthodox Church? Here we accept only baptized Orthodox Christians. If everyone is baptized, then maybe some of you forgot to wear a cross around your neck? Without a cross, presence in church, especially during these prayers, is unacceptable. We demand that you all have crosses.

Many of you came from far away - from the North, from Siberia, complaining: “We don’t have churches. We are all sick and don’t know why we are sick, maybe sorcerers are affecting us? Help us figure it out." Therefore, we ask you, brothers and sisters, to listen to the teaching of the Church of Christ on this issue. What we say here will replace a lot of books for you; what you will hear here is offered to you for the strictest execution. If you ignore something, think that there is no need to fulfill this or that law of God, then you will leave and continue to get sick, demons will torment you.

Because God has no compromise with the devil in anything. God gives life and joy to everyone, but the devil only destroys everything. It is the demons who inflict wounds, illnesses, and sorrows on us. They deceive us, tempt us into every sin, they lay nets for us to catch us in their sinful desires.

Therefore, Christ the Savior teaches us not to listen to demons. Demons are murderers. Jesus Christ says: they wish death for every person, they, like a roaring lion, are looking for someone to devour. This is why Christ says that He came to destroy the works of the devil and to give us eternal life.

Christ asks us: People, believe in Me! If you have faith even the size of a mustard seed, then in My name you will move mountains, heal people, and cast out demons; nothing will be impossible for you.

You and I often don’t see this, because we have retreated from God, are mired in sins, and do not want to fulfill God’s commandments. Despite the fact that we are all from birth endowed with reason and free will, many of us abuse this free will and deliberately, consciously sin, violating all Divine statutes and church laws.

God is holy and requires us to have holiness of life, so that we love each other, help, yield and forgive. But we live differently: sometimes a person drinks half a glass of moonshine and chases his wife and children from the 20th floor, shouting at them: “I’ll show you who you are here! You are nobody here! But I am a great man!” Well, Christ looks, looks at such a person - what will happen to him next? And he is a drunkard, he chases his wife and children, he does not listen to his father, nor his mother, nor the priest, nor the patriarch,

Christ - no one. He lives according to his sinful evil will. What to do with him? How to fix it? His soul perishes!

And Christ suffered for all of us on the Cross, for our salvation. Every Christian soul is dear to him. Therefore, Christ, seeing that a person is deliberately evading the fulfillment of the commandments, begins to correct him - in order to save this person, so that he does not end up in torment along with demons forever and ever. Christ gives him a helping hand - The Lord begins, in the words of the holy fathers, to use demonic power as a scourge to punish sinners. Otherwise, nothing can correct us... We are all proud and lazy. We don't want to do anything. And then the crafty demons, as if emboldened, having received some power from God, act more boldly and begin to torment our body and our soul.

The saint in “The Word on Evil Spirits” says that when a person fulfills the commandments of God, he is protected by the grace of God, and in the spiritual realm, evil spirits see that he is protected by some protective fiery shell. Demons are afraid of such a person, because how can hay touch fire - it will burn. But if a person is baptized, and he himself sins intentionally, then the grace of God departs from such a person, and this kind of protective fiery shell over him disappears. Demons, approaching such a person, are glad: “This is our soul, betrayed into our hands,” and freely move into it. This is how the holy fathers present to us the teaching of the Church of Christ about the initial moment of human illness.

And now a relaxed man is lying in bed - his leg is drying up, his arm is not working, his tongue is not moving, his back cannot be straightened, and in his stomach some organ has begun to grow - damn, what did he need, one wonders! Everything was so good... A man lived, he lived - he smoked, fornicated, stole, drank, did nothing, and everything was fine, and now he lies relaxed. From what?

From your sinful, vicious life. Only when a believer falls ill, he realizes that it is the Lord calling him to repentance - through sorrow, through illness. He goes to the temple of God, repents, cries, and makes a promise to God to improve. And the Lord quickly grants him recovery. And sinners and atheists, even when they are lying sick, do not want to realize the sinfulness of their flesh, although they have sinned grave sins in your life. No, they lie there and say: “They damaged me. These are the villains, the sorcerers, who have damaged me!”

Don't sin, man! And Christ will not bring this damage to you. And if you sin, then Christ will certainly allow the demons to torment you. So it is written in the Holy Scriptures: it is terrible to fall into the hands of the living God... who sees, knows and hears everything... And it is also written: and all the oppression and sorrow descends on the soul of that person who deviates from fulfilling the commandments of God. And it is also written: ...a person who suffers in the flesh ceases to sin. The words of Holy Scripture are true.

And so many patients begin to slander, slander, become angry - they look for the culprit of their illness. And this is always unprovable. Not a single person can prove that someone conjured something on him. And that’s not the point. Remember, dear ones, that God does not punish holy people, but punishes sinners, you and me, in order to turn us away from a sinful life.

The Church of Christ does not deny witchcraft. No. But sorcerers should not act on you and me, Christians, and if they act on one of us and harm us, that means we are sinners, which means we need to cry and get rid of our sins.

Any sorcerer, any witch - they are insignificant before the power of Christ. Worthless at all. They can hit you out of spite - but only with a fist or a stick, that’s all. But by air, at a distance, they can never cause you any harm. Only the Lord controls everything. Therefore, so that we do not get irritated in vain, so that we do not fall into the grave sins of slander and condemnation, Christ asks us: People! Never judge anyone. You leave all the judgment to Me. I am a fair Judge. I see everything, I know everything, who is doing what, who is doing what. I will reward everyone according to their deeds! And your duty, - Christ asks, - if you love Me, then you yourself will keep My commandment. And My commandment is to love each other, forgive, yield to each other, bear with each other, give alms to each other, wash each other’s feet, and always reproach and reproach yourself. Only then will you follow the right path to salvation.

To some, you and I need to blame ourselves for everything. Because because of a sinful, atheistic upbringing, three generations grew up in atheism, and, not knowing the laws of God, they all committed grave sins. These are the sins that lie on our conscience. It is because of these sins that you and I are sick.

Church of Christ, like loving mother worrying about our salvation, he asks everyone, begs, demands that you all remember, remember the sins of childhood, the sins of youth, the sins of marriage. You can write these sins - even on a hundred pages. Then you must definitely come to an Orthodox church and secretly confess to the priest. Before the Cross and the Gospel, you must make a promise to God to correct yourself, repent and never again commit previously committed sins. We need to mourn these sins with tears of repentance. Then the Lord, seeing our tears, our sincere repentance, will begin to give us His all-powerful Divine help.

The human race, all the people living from Adam and Eve, have sinned so much and with such grave sins - wars, murder, fornication, drunkenness, sorcery - that there was no such sacrifice on earth with which one could appease God for the sins of the whole world. Therefore, the Lord destroyed all the first people with water. Springs of water and abysses opened, and torrential rain fell for forty days and forty nights. The whole earth was covered with water, everything died in the water. Only righteous Noah was saved in the ark and seven people with him. Six months later, when the water subsided and dry land appeared, these people left the ark and again multiplied throughout the face of the earth, and again they forgot God. Yes, they began to do worse things: they began to bow to the sun, the moon, the stars, and various animals. Again man became corrupted, and as a result his mind became darkened, and instead of the Creator he began to worship the creature. All this is displeasing to God.

Then, to correct sinful man, the Lord began to choose from among the people God-wise men, prophets, kings, and judges. They went to the people, preached, and demanded that people give up sin and idolatry. But they were not obeyed. They chased us away. Stoned.

And so the Heavenly Father, watching over the sinful human race, seeing that everyone began to perish again, at the end of the world, had mercy on us and sent His only begotten Son, beloved Christ the Savior, into this world, so that everyone who believes in Him would not perish, but have life eternal, for God does not want the sinner to die.

And so Christ, the Son of God, two thousand years ago took upon himself a difficult mission - to redeem the perishing human race from sin and from eternal death. He bowed to Heaven and came down to earth to teach us, sinful people, with his own lips how to correctly believe in God, what to strive for, and what to move away from.

Christ the Savior was born from the Virgin Mary without a father according to the flesh, from the Holy Spirit. This is incomprehensible to the human mind. God, as He willed and became incarnate, for the sake of our salvation.

This should not be surprising to you and me, that Christ was born of the Virgin Mary without a father and without even breaking the virginity of His Mother. You and I, brothers and sisters, are also all molded from the earth. Our bodies are made from the dust of the earth. The smallest particles from which you and I are made - cells, molecules, atoms - all of this is controlled by the Lord.

When the Lord created man, He commanded that bones be formed from these smallest particles. Then these bones were covered with veins. Then I covered it all with leather. And this creature lay, lifeless and dead, like stones lying on the street: they do not speak - they are silent... And then the Lord breathed the breath of life into man, revived him, breathed into him an immortal soul, gave him reason. Only after this did the man get up and walk with his own feet on this beautiful land.

Every person, as we see, consists of body and soul. Our body was taken from the earth, and therefore returns to the earth for our sins. And the soul that the Lord breathed in - the soul does not die, it is like a piece of the Divine. The Heavenly Father holds in his hand the life and breath of every person. With God everyone is alive. So Christ came to earth to save our souls for eternal life.

You and I have absolutely nothing to boast about, no one ever - neither poor nor rich. Why? Because you and I are all born into this world naked, crying and helpless. We all need feeding and care. We don't contribute anything to this beautiful world, and living on earth, we use all the benefits, as if from some kind of pantry. And we often don’t thank God for this...

...And so, at the age of thirty, Christ walked the earth and performed miracles. He healed every person in an instant, at a distance, from any disease. Even those who touched the hem of His garment were healed. Power came from Him and healed everyone. Thousands of people began to follow Him.

When Christ healed the sick, He said these words: Your sins are forgiven you. Now you are healthy. Go and sin no more. Be careful that something even worse does not happen to you, letting us understand that any illness comes only from sins, and through sorrows and illnesses the Lord calls us to repentance and correction. “Those whom I love, I rebuke and punish,” says the Lord in the Holy Scriptures. “And without My will, not even a hair falls from a person’s head.”

Then, in order to attract the attention of the scribes and Pharisees, who ruled in Jerusalem at that time, Christ began to perform even more obvious miracles. He tamed the sea, the wind obeyed Him, He began to raise the dead. And so the Pharisees, watching the actions of the Savior, were filled with envy. They gathered at night, secretly, and began to reason: “What should we do with this man? Where did He come from? He works such miracles that we cannot do them! He works such miracles that we cannot even refute them! Look, He raises the dead, the sea and the wind obey Him. The whole world is already following Him. What could happen tomorrow? After all, tomorrow the people can proclaim Him king! Are we going to be in contempt? He is alone, and he torments us all! Let's get rid of Him! And they decided to crucify Him on the cross. This is the atrocity that man has committed - and against the Son of God.

And so - out of envy, out of anger, out of pride - They tied Him up with ropes, They beat Him with sticks, they spat in His face, they placed a crown of thorns on His head, and on His shoulders - heavy cross, led to Golgotha ​​and crucified on the Cross with iron nails. These people, in their insatiable anger, even pierced His right rib with a spear. The evil sinful man got over it and calmed down... He did his dirty deed. The question is, what will happen to these people? Last Judgment?!

Christ the Savior did not shy away from these grave sufferings. He took upon himself the sins of the whole world and nailed them to the Cross with Passion, with His Blood He reconciled us all with the Heavenly Father, He sacrificed Himself for the sins of the whole world.

On the Cross, Christ defeated the devil, put the demons to shame, and took away their power. Christ put in Life-giving Cross irresistible force on demons. They are very afraid of the sign of the cross - like fire.

Therefore, Christ’s beloved disciples, the apostles, glorified the Life-giving Cross of the Lord. And the Apostle Paul says: I can boast in nothing but the Cross of the Lord... by which the world was crucified to me and I to the world. The cross is foolishness for those who are perishing, but for us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Saint John Chrysostom, who lived in the 4th century, also says in his “Sermon on the Cross”: Do not be ashamed, Christian, of the Cross, this greatest good. When the Cross is with us, we are no longer afraid of demons... Embrace, man, the saving banner of our souls - the Life-giving Cross of the Lord. The Cross drove out error, the Cross introduced truth into the Universe. We will wear a cross around our necks, like a wreath.

Christ says in the Gospel that before the Last Judgment, at the end of the world, the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven. The Holy Fathers believe that this will be the Life-giving Cross of the Lord. He will shine brighter than the rays of the sun. The cross is the decoration of the temple. The cross is the beauty of the Church. The cross sanctifies water, air and all objects. Holy Rus' always placed crosses at forks in roads and on the edges of forests.

That is why we demand that you wear the cross only on your neck. Not clutched somewhere in a pocket, pinned on a pin. No! We are all obliged to wear the cross only on our necks. This distinguishes you and me from heretics, atheists and various kinds of sectarians. And Christ says even more: If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words in this sinful and adulterous generation, I will also be ashamed of him at the Last Judgment, when I come to judge with My Angels...

On the Cross, Christ died for our sins, and on the third day He rose from the dead by His Divine power. And now you and I all have access to heaven. Now every person, being in any rank, age and position, can save his soul if he repents of his sins and makes amends for them good deeds.

Christ says that the Kingdom of Heaven is now taken by force, and only those who make efforts - only those people will enter it. The Lord says: Through many tribulations you must enter into eternal life... I was persecuted and you will be persecuted. But take heart, I have overcome the world. And only the one who endures to the end will be saved...

And so, for forty days, the resurrected Christ walked the earth and appeared only to his faithful disciples. He did not appear to the infidels for the reason that they were unworthy to see Him risen from the dead. On the fortieth day He went up with his disciples to the Mount of Olives and told them last words: All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, preach the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, and whoever does not believe and be baptized will be condemned.

He raised His hands and blessed them. And he began to move away from them, from earth to heaven. Higher, higher, and the cloud took Him out of sight.

Then the apostles bowed to Him and with great joy returned to Jerusalem and went to preach to the whole Universe.

This is why the name of Christ is now known throughout the entire earth. You know from history: thousands of people were previously crucified on crosses, and all their names are not known to us. And Christ suffered on the Cross - he turned the whole world to himself, even the whole of humanity began to count years from the day of the Birth of Christ the Savior. All this suggests that He was not an ordinary man, but the Son of God, who came to earth to save our souls for eternal life.

You and I, brothers and sisters, are also guilty of crucifying Him on the Cross: after all, He suffered for our sins on the Cross. We are all in debt to Him. Therefore, while we live on earth, this short period of time, we must believe in Him, love Him, hope in Him. Only He can heal us from any disease in an instant. Only He can extend the years of our life. Only He can give us eternal life with all the saints... And our duty, while we live on earth, is to prepare ourselves for a future meeting with Him. For no one will escape His just, incorruptible final Judgment.

We all need now, in this life, to collect as many good deeds as possible - deeds of love, mercy, compassion. Love each other, forgive, give in to each other. We urge you all: stop divorces in your families, stop fornication, drunkenness, theft, witchcraft - all these demons tempt you to the destruction of your souls. For this, Christ promises us forgiveness of sins and a great reward at the Last Judgment, eternal life with all the saints.

Holy people fasted a lot, prayed, labored, lived in the mountains, in tombs, in the abysses of the earth. They were thrown to be devoured by animals, drowned in water, burned at the stake, torn between trees, arms and legs cut off. The martyrs of Christ endured everything. For the sake of Christ, for the salvation of your soul. The Church of Christ is founded on the blood of martyrs. Christ said: “I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” Therefore, no changes in the lives of people or society can shake it. The Church of Christ is the pillar and affirmation of the Truth, and its Head is Christ Himself. She will stand invincible until the Last Judgment of God. And this time is getting closer... Much is already coming true before our eyes, which Christ announces to us in the Gospel, in the Revelation of John the Theologian, especially in the 13th chapter...

Brothers and sisters, Christ paid special attention to fulfilling the commandments of God. He says that without fulfilling the commandments of God, no one can be saved. If you fulfill the entire Law, but break one commandment, you will be guilty of everything. The laws of God must never be violated in anything. We'll give them to you now

Let's list it briefly. Maybe some of you didn’t know them, maybe you forgot them - sometimes this happens... It happens that a person watches enough cartoons and depraved films on TV - here, of course, he has no time for repentance.

And so the Church of Christ awakens the conscience of people, so that we do not forget that we are all strangers and strangers on earth. The Lord gives us all this short life so that through love for God, our neighbors and good deeds we can earn (and indeed earn!) eternal life. It is only necessary that we love God, love with all our soul, with all our heart and mind. And our neighbors as ourselves. Here are the main two commandments. We, the damned ones, break these laws. We often hate our neighbor, slander, and do evil against each other. And Christ says: by this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

God also says: don’t kill anyone! God gives joy to life to everyone, but many people take heavy responsibility on their conscience - they kill both young and old. The question arises, why then get married if you plan to kill your children?! Yes, it is better to live in purity, but you will save your soul for eternal life, as the holy and righteous wonderworker lived.

The Lord also said: do not steal! All theft is an abomination before God, as it is written in the Holy Scriptures.

God is Spirit. It is impossible for anyone to hide anything from Him at any time - neither day nor night, neither on earth nor underground. He sees everything, knows everything. God knows even our secret thoughts. As it says in the 93rd psalm of the Psalter: Does the ear of the plant hear not; or creating an eye, does not look; Punish tongues, won’t you reprove, teach a person to reason?..

Christ says: At the Last Judgment, when I come to judge the living and the dead, I will reward everyone according to his deeds. All people will be judged according to the book of life, and each person, by his words, by his deeds, will either be justified or condemned for eternity.

The Lord also left a commandment for children: children, obey your parents! May it be good for you then, you will live long on earth. Anyone who curses his father and mother shall die. Christ said these words! But children now do not listen to their parents. Parents often come to us and cry: “Help, Church of Christ, last hope on you! Protect! We are dying! — We ask:

"What's happened?" “They all say: “You know, the son, brother and son-in-law smoke, drink and fornicate, the daughter-in-law also does not lag behind them - they drink and sniff tobacco. Children and grandchildren generally obey. We live like in hell. We came from Vladivostok with our last money.” - “How will you get back? After all, 11 thousand kilometers!” - we ask them, and they answer: “And we are on electric trains, and in some places in short dashes, along the sleepers...” This is the shame you and I have lived to see. What godlessness has brought us to.

The Church of Christ calls on you to take your children to church from a young age. So that they wear crosses around their necks, observe fasts, know prayers, go to church, so that they confess and partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ twice a month. Then you can get something good from your children...

And the last two commandments that the Lord left us. Our salvation largely depends on them. Many are now perishing and going to hell every day because of failure to fulfill these two commandments.

This is a commandment - do not commit adultery! God requires that a person have one husband, one wife. God forbids a husband from cheating on his wife, and a wife from cheating on her husband. Prohibits lawless, sinful relationships. The Lord says: if a husband leaves his wife and marries another, he will be called an adulterer. Likewise, if a wife leaves her husband and marries another, she will be called an adulterer. Such people will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

Christ forbids marrying divorced people. If everyone followed this commandment, divorces would stop in Holy Rus'. And now every second couple is divorced. If everyone fulfilled this commandment, many of your children would find fathers and mothers, there would be less grief, sorrow and tears in Holy Rus'. The once Holy Rus' became sinful Russia because of our godlessness.

If a person gets married, you get married - you must be together until death and the two of you will appear at the Last Judgment together. Be patient as you wish, forgive, give in, make peace, but Christ forbids divorce.

The Holy Apostle Paul, interpreting the words of Christ, says that if for some reason a wife nevertheless leaves her husband, then she must either remain alone all her life, or be reconciled with her husband. But while your husband is alive, you cannot marry someone else. And you cannot marry another if your first wife is alive. This is what the Law of God requires, and now everyone is trampling it underfoot. And they live as they please. For violation of the Law, God will judge all people at the Last Judgment. Where even the righteous will barely be saved, but what will happen to the sinner - the thief, predator, fornicator, sorcerer, adulterer, murderer, drunkard?! These people will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Eternal torment awaits them all in hell, along with the demons. IN old times holy people even cried when they thought that the Last Judgment, the incorruptible, fair final Judgment of God, awaited everyone.

Everyone needs to repent now, because many things are already coming true before our eyes, which Christ foretold to us in the Gospel and Revelation of John the Theologian. We ask you to read the Holy Gospel every day and learn from the Law of God.

We are given the commandment to rest on the seventh day. A very easy commandment to fulfill. As we know from the Holy Scriptures, God the Creator created everything visible and invisible world within six days. But the duration of each day is hidden from us. For God has no time. If we rise high into the sky, there is neither morning nor evening, there is eternity. Fly, fly - there are new stars, new galaxies, new billions of kilometers. The Lord humbled our pride and limited our minds. We cannot understand what infinity is - and we will get confused in digital data. Therefore, the Lord determined for man that he should do his work for 6 days, and the seventh day would be a day of rest, serving only the Lord our God. Before the resurrection of Christ, all people celebrated Saturday, the other days were called the first, second, third day of the week... Christ rose from the dead on the first day after Saturday, so this day was renamed and called Sunday.

We all, faithful Christians, are obliged to celebrate Sunday: whether you are sick or healthy, boss or subordinate - everyone is obliged to go to the temple of God on Sunday morning, thank God, glorify Him, ask for help from Him. Many of us violate this commandment. Many people don’t go to church on Sunday, according to God’s law, but go to theaters, circuses, cinemas, fill stadiums, markets and bazaars. And the temples are empty...

And others sit watching TV until lunch. There they are shown cartoons... There are cats and dogs with tails running around on the screens... This is how they distract you from your prayers of repentance. They show all sorts of performances and thousand-episode films for the destruction of your souls. Televisions are very harmful to our salvation. They are like merciless tyrants. Instead of morally educating children and youth, they deliberately show depraved films, scenes of theft, and murder. Children watch all this and tomorrow they themselves will begin to do the same. The question is, how can you raise a kind, merciful and holy person?! And so children, when they watch these devices, they lose sleep, they become irritable and disobedient. In adults, vision deteriorates, they are attacked by apathy, drowsiness, and decreased ability to work. These devices constantly emit radiation, even when turned off. As we see, we are destroying ourselves.

Here, brothers and sisters, we have briefly listed the laws of God and shown how we relate to them. It turns out that we are all mired in sins. Everyone needs to be cleansed with tears of repentance. Everyone needs to correct their sinful lives. Everyone needs to start this fix with today, from this hour, from this minute. And do not put off repentance until old age, because for you and I, old age may not come. It's the last time...

...As we have already said, Christ is now more and more often, in the words of the holy fathers, beginning to use demons as a scourge to punish sinners. There are no barriers for crafty spirits. They pass through the wall, through a person freely. And only by God’s permission can they stay in the human body. They begin to put their spiritual weight on our body, squeezing our veins and blood vessels. Immediately the pressure in the human body increases. So ^demons infect all our organs: heart, lungs, kidneys, arms, legs. Wounds appear on the legs, and veins begin to become clogged. Evil demons cause asthma of the heart and dictate their will through various hallucinations. Demons cause terrible melancholy in the chest; a person does not want to live. Demons torment a person, people often fall, fight, scream, they are called schizophrenics and epileptics. Such a terrible influence of evil spirits on a person.

Christ warns us that evil demons leave a person only through prayer and fasting. Nothing more.

That's why we all get sick. This is why the evil ones torment us. Because people don't want to fast and don't want to pray. What is prayer? Prayer is a conversation with God. The Lord says: Ask, and I will give you everything; knock, and I will open it to you; nothing will be impossible for you. But we have all become lazy, we don’t want to pray or keep fasts. We must pray in the morning, in the evening, during the day and at night, at a time convenient for us. The bigger, the better. Instead of romance novels and worthless, lying, depraved pamphlets, we must read the Holy Gospel, the Psalter, and patristic literature every day. Everyone should have a prayer book.

We are obliged to strictly observe fasts. The canonical rules of the Orthodox Church command that faithful Christians not eat meat and dairy foods on Wednesdays and Fridays until the end of time. In memory of the suffering of Christ. On Wednesday, because Judas betrayed Christ for money, for 30 pieces of silver. And on Friday Christ was crucified on the Cross. We must observe these two days of fasting. The apostles wrote the rules for us, and so in the 69th rule it is written: if any Christian does not observe Wednesday and Friday and the fasts established by us, he will be excommunicated from Holy Communion.

In family life, husband and wife must also have abstinence. The church day begins in the evening, not in the morning, but in the evening - as it is written in the Bible: “and there was evening, and there was morning, one day.” Therefore, in the evening it is prohibited family life on Wednesday, on Friday, on Sunday, on major holidays, as well as all four fasts that occur in the year. Whoever of you violates this will definitely have children who get sick. It is said in the Holy Scriptures: the Lord punishes children for the sins of their parents until the third or fourth generation. If children under the age of seven do not speak, stutter or cannot stand on their feet, this happens in two cases: either the parents live unmarried, or they break fasts. And often in such cases families are infertile, as if as a punishment for violating the Law of God.

Many people get sick, but instead of realizing their sinfulness, repenting, correcting themselves and asking God for help, they resist this, and the Lord punishes them more and more. They have nowhere to go, so they then begin to travel from city to city, from village to village - looking for easy, false ways to cure their illnesses. They want to get health without God. They are looking for hypnotists, psychics, those who treat with the biofield, non-contact energy influence, or resort to coding. The Church prohibits turning to all these “healers” for any help, under threat of excommunication from the Church. Because these people read black and white magic, call upon demons. If any of you have such books, they should be burned immediately today. Any such notes - from hexes, from the evil eye, from damage, dream books - burn them as unnecessary trash. If any of you have been involved in spiritualism, yoga, Krishna or astrology, destroy this literature.

You are invited to read only the Holy Gospel, the Psalter, the books that the holy fathers left us, and the prayer book. Remember the words of the Apostle Paul: Look, brethren, at the end of the world, insolent scoffers will appear, demons will tempt you to commit every sin. Evil spirits will offer you new and new philosophical teachings and useless talk, from which no one has ever received any benefit, only harm.

Psychics especially harm you a lot. Although they themselves may not understand or notice this, but then everyone runs away from them to us. Therefore, we demand from you: forbid your children so that no one learns this. We have legal hospitals and clinics - you can go there, but you cannot contact these people, even if they sit there. There are a lot of them now, and they travel around the cities of Russia, harming people. Therefore, you must have a spiritual fence from these persons. We will now list some measures for you. Remember what you need to do so that evil spirits and sorcerers do not act on you:

You all must be baptized only in the Orthodox Church, for salvation is only in Orthodoxy. The Orthodox Church has not changed anything since the times of the apostles, neither in dogmas, nor in teaching, nor in rituals, and those who have ever deviated into heresies and schisms have no grace, no salvation. They don’t even have the relics of God’s holy saints.

That is why the holy righteous John of Kronstadt, the wonderworker, says: the Lord gave the Russian man a precious talent to preserve Orthodox faith on the ground…

You should all know the Lord's Prayer by heart. This is the most strong prayer over demons. Some complain: “Someone leans on me at night, strangles me, presses me, I scream, but no one hears me. Now I’m afraid to sleep in the dark - I turn on the light.”

Evil demons are especially afraid of calling on the name of our Savior. Therefore, while at work, on the road, day and night, read the Jesus Prayer in your heart - “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner,” “My Most Holy Lady Theotokos, save me a sinner.” Read these two prayers constantly. You will have a great defense against evil spirits.

Crafty demons are very afraid of holy water. And you deliberately sprinkle yourself with holy water more often and sprinkle your houses and gardens.

Evil spirits fear holy incense, holy oil, holy relics of God's saints, holy icons. And you should touch these shrines more often.

Everything you drink and eat, everything you buy in markets and shops - everything must be baptized. The cross drives out evil spirits. Products are now supplied to our country by atheists, heretics and pagans. Everything must be baptized, or even better, sprinkled with holy water.

Let me remind you that if something suddenly hurts you - in the stomach, in the arm, in the leg, in the head - you need to immediately baptize this place many times with the sign of the cross. And not through the air, but directly through the body. And read the “Our Father” prayer more often.

And the last thing we wanted to tell you is dear brothers and sisters: The Church prohibits coding.

What is coding? Coding is the deliberate, conscious infusion of a demon into a person, with the help of black and white magic, with the consent of the patient, for a certain period and against his signature. They have now begun to introduce all sorts of drugs into the body of drunkards, so that if a person accidentally drinks vodka or wine, he can die immediately. The question is, who will be responsible for this? Very complex issue. There is clear violence against human nature here. Christ never does this. He is merciful, humane, and has endowed us with reason and free will. And He gave us the law. For fulfilling the law, the Lord promises us a reward; for failure to fulfill the law, He threatens us with punishment at the Last Judgment. Christ left us his law in the Gospel. let's open New Testament- it is written there: drunkards will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

From these words, fear should appear in the heart of every drunkard and drug addict. And from here there should be a desire to lag behind this passion of wine drinking. Our passions are the same demons nesting in our body, the holy fathers teach us, - the Church calls us to fight passions like fierce beasts.

If you stole something, then now, on the contrary, do not steal, but give alms to the poor and beggars. You have conquered this passion - now move on to another passion - wine drinking. Go to Church, repent, make a promise to God to improve, ask God for help, and He will definitely help. It is necessary to drive away friends who seduce you into this evil. You can order a prayer service against drunkenness, take three liters of water, and drunkards must drink this water in the morning and wash themselves with it. And call, call God's help, and water your bed with tears of repentance.

The Lord created grapes for joy, to make wine from them. It is written: Wine makes glad the heart of man. Wine was, is and will be. We didn’t invent it and we don’t have to destroy it. The Church of Christ cannot exist without wine. Because we serve the liturgy at the altar with wine, and on the throne we pour red into the Chalice grape wine. But we must use this wine wisely. Christ himself drank grape wine, the Apostle Paul drank wine, but he said: Brethren, do not get drunk with wine, for there is fornication in it.

Christian believers are prohibited from drinking alcoholic beverages, surrogates, moonshine, and colognes. But the church charter blesses drinking red grape wine, but only on red days in church calendar and no more than a glass a day.

Especially if a person sincerely wishes to give up any passion, then Christ, as the Knower of the Heart, immediately rushes to give His Divine help. He suffered for us on the Cross, gave His life for us, every Christian soul is dear to him. He loves us all, wants us to turn to Him with repentance and begin to live only according to the commandments of God. After all, it is possible to establish heaven on earth if everyone fulfilled the law of Christ.

And if we pull ourselves together and begin to fulfill the laws of God, then the demons will run away from us, and the illnesses will go away, and joy and hope for salvation will appear.

And so the holy fathers of the 4th century composed special prayers for sick people. These prayers have such Divine power that if someone cast a spell on you, cast a spell, or slandered you with evil intent, then these prayers destroy all sorts of demonic machinations. They attract the grace of God to you, a person’s health always improves.

We demand from you, when you come to our prayers, that you first confess your sins. This is very important, because without the forgiveness of sins there is no healing for the human body. Then you need to venerate the holy relics of St. Sergius, he is the owner of this place, he helps everyone a lot, he is a quick helper and a glorious miracle worker, he even raised the dead during his lifetime, the Queen of Heaven herself appeared to him here, he is a great saint of God and an ascetic, a man of prayer and sadman of the Russian Land.

Only after all this should we come to our prayers - with a clear conscience, with the desire to renounce all sin and begin a new life in Christ Jesus our Lord, so that we can all save our souls for eternal life. Amen.

Temple ap. Peter and Paul, Sergiev Posad, 2002

- Let me go, everyone! Damn you! Let me go everyone! I'll rip the cross off your neck!

A boy of about five is squirming against the wall. His parents pressed him, holding his hands, he struggles with all his might and continues to scream, pausing only to take a breath.

“I’ll let you go after the service,” the father says firmly.

There is pandemonium on the threshold of the church. The girl screams in the doorway and falls flat on the floor. Grasping her on both sides, her parents carry her into the temple, like christmas tree from the market. The man in the cassock looks at this with irony, then turns to the frightened girl:

- Do you know why everything happened to you? Because you paint your nails,” and sends her back over the threshold to wash off the translucent nail polish.

Rites of exorcism, or, in the Russian manner, reprimands, are not very common in the Russian church. The clergy is wary of this phenomenon; Patriarch Alexy even condemned it. It is believed that only those who have completely rid themselves of human passions can cast out demons from others. But still, there are priests in Russia who take on this. There are about two dozen of them, they rarely do this openly - as a rule, you need to specifically look for them through friends and acquaintances. But Archimandrite German Chesnokov conducts lectures, and even mass ones, completely openly, according to a schedule: from Thursday to Saturday at 12.00. Previously, he held prayer services in the gate church of John the Baptist in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, now in the Peter and Paul Church next to the monastery.

This is where I came. Father Herman had not yet appeared, and there was already nowhere for an apple to fall in the room - several hundred people had crammed into the small church. Next to me, a young man, resting his head on his mother’s shoulder, mutters something inaudibly about evil spirits, and she blots his forehead with a wet rag.

The boy against the wall is screaming louder. The girl next to me widens her eyes:

- Oh, it’s kind of scary. Is he really possessed?

— Is this your first time here? Does this happen often here?

— I came for the second time. Yes, anything can happen here.

- Why are you here?

- Difficult situation in life. I came from St. Petersburg specially, they say that reprimanding not only helps the possessed. My name is Olya.

The girl who was sent to wash off her nails returns. She looks exhausted, can barely stand on her feet, but still adjusts her scarf, which constantly slides off her head. Finally, Father Herman appears - he has stern face and a thick gray beard. A reverent whisper passes through the crowd. Before the service begins, he reads a long sermon: that women should not wear trousers and paint their nails, children should not watch Western cartoons, and the word of God should be taught in all schools and universities. The boy, spread out on the wall, continues to scream.

“They sin, smoke cigarettes, and then throw themselves upside down from the 25th floor because they are possessed by demons. And those who do not believe in God call them schizophrenics...

Here the archimandrite finally pays attention to the child.

- And what's that? Possessed? Do you know why God punishes children? Because the parents live unmarried! — He pauses and looks expressively at his parents. All the other parishioners also begin to look at them. “Get him out of here while I preach the sermon.” Let him stay in the next aisle.

The disgraced parents drag the boy into another room, and Father German continues:

- One of the most terrible sins is to live unmarried. Raise your hands who got married here!

Finally, the sermon ends and the prayer service begins. And then quiet screams and groans begin to be heard from all sides. Several people fall to their knees. The girl, who was being taken away to wash off her nail polish, sits down on the bench and begins to howl in a thin voice. Her parents take her away again, but return within five minutes. She feels sick - she has a bag in her hands, she spits into it, and then snorts and mutters inarticulately in a strange bass voice, not at all similar to the voice with which she howled. The young man, whom his mother was feeding with water, jumps up and, gasping for air, bends strangely. The priest - Father Herman's assistant - rushes to him and helps his mother sit him down. The church is stuffy and dark, the little boy who was taken behind the wall continues to scream. Another one joins him child's voice, he promises to burn down the church. Father Herman walks through the crowd and draws unctuous crosses on the parishioners’ foreheads. As he approaches, the young man, who had previously been standing motionless, suddenly begins to shout: “Go away, you nit, go away!” The priest comes very close, the young man, making a face, twitches and squirms, the woman who came with him tries to hold him. Father Herman nevertheless touches his forehead, and he falls to the floor and remains motionless. Father Herman goes further - to the next aisle, where the little boy is still screaming.

By the end of the prayer, the temple becomes brighter. The sun's rays pass through the smoke of incense, and a fresh breeze begins to blow. I turn around and it’s true, the door has been opened. From the street there are sounds similar to a dog barking. It turns out that these sounds are made by a child. His name is Leva, he is six years old, and he cannot speak. He can only moo and bark, and he hardly sleeps, does not feel pain and does not calm down for a second. While I’m talking to his mom, he falls and starts rolling on the ground, then suddenly he throws himself at the fence and starts climbing up, so we rush together to catch him.

“I don’t know what to do with him,” says my mother. — The psychiatrist says that Leo is absolutely healthy, but look at him. I can’t go to work, I have to sit with him. It’s as if he doesn’t understand anything and doesn’t feel anything. It might hurt me and not even notice. My mother-in-law told me to try to bring him here, but I don’t know what else to do. We came from Yaroslavl. I’m waiting for the service to end, I want to talk to the rector personally.

Then the boy starts running, the woman gives chase, and our conversation ends.

Exorcist with a license from the patriarch

Father German is a legend of Sergiev Posad; people from different cities (and, as he himself claims, even from different countries) have been coming to him since Soviet times.

“Here they bring people like that to him.” They bark and crow, say the locals. - You won’t see anything.

He once served in the border troops, catching saboteurs. Then he studied at the road transport institute, and then at the seminary. He does not give interviews; he made an exception only once for the Trud newspaper in 2002.

“He doesn’t like to communicate with journalists,” they told me at the temple. - And we don’t give out his number. If you want, catch it after the service, but it’s unlikely that you’ll succeed.

Indeed, after the prayer service, Father Herman unnoticed disappears into the back aisle of the church, and the employees all unanimously claim that he is no longer in the church.

“He studied with me and even drove me in the car,” recalls Alexei Osipov, a professor at the Moscow Theological Academy. - He was such a simple person. Well, in terms of education. Now, they say, he reads some strange sermons. He says: “I saw in a dream Mother of God on this side... Oh, no, on the other,” and everyone opens their mouths. For people who are interested in religion, this is, of course, a serious undermining of the authority of the church. Ever since the times when the church was united, only the chosen ones could cast out demons, with a special blessing, and one must be very careful with this ritual. And mass reports on a schedule are nonsense.

How it happened that such ambiguous things are happening in one of the largest monasteries in Russia and who blessed German Chesnokov to practice exorcism, no one can say for sure.

“He’s been doing this for thirty years now,” Father Pavel, dean of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, tells me uncertainly. - And the patriarch blessed him.

It turns out that German Chesnokov received his blessing from Patriarch Pimen, who died in 1989. And for several decades now an endless stream of visitors have been coming to the archimandrite.

“I went to Father German for lectures four times in the late 90s,” says Nikolai Kogan, one of the former parishioners. “Of course, I saw all sorts of things there: many people thought that demons were coming out of them, and screamed, and then left calm. It happened that someone would start screaming, and Father Herman would come up and hit him in the forehead with a cross. Not much, of course. At that time he was still giving lectures in the Church of John the Baptist. People came from all over Russia. I was a believer then, there was a very difficult period in my life, everything somehow didn’t go well. And it really helped me. Then he came out and flew on wings. True, now I remember and think: when you stand for two or three hours in cramped and stuffy conditions, in a crowd of people, and then go out into the street, it is not surprising that you feel easy and good. But things really went better for me after those lectures. Maybe I set myself up that way. Later, my friends, on my advice, went there to treat a neglected alcoholic, and he continued to drink.

“The Russian Orthodox Church does not have any official attitude towards the rite of reprimand,” explains Vakhtang Kipshidze, head of the information and analytical department of the synodal information department of the Russian Orthodox Church. - This is not a question of the political structure of the state or abortion in order to form a specific position.

No one knows why the church calmly reacts to the rites of mass exorcism right next door, but there are assumptions about this.

“Such rituals, of course, create a certain glory for a person,” says Alexey Osipov. - There is a rumor about him. And even though Father Herman does not take money for attending the lecture, this does not mean that they do not give it to him. The Church of Peter and Paul was dilapidated when German Chesnokov came to it. And now he’s as beautiful as a toy. And all the temples where he appears are also transformed.

Alexander, the administrator of the “The Power is in You” website, came to Father German several years ago. As he himself says, he then suddenly discovered in himself supernatural abilities- to heal people - and went to Sergiev Posad to discuss this with one of the priests. He was unable to talk to anyone, and he decided to go to German Chesnokov for a lecture - suddenly it was the evil spirits that spoke to him.

“Even before the arrival of the archimandrite, the servant had prepared a box of quite a decent size, into which the believers memorized rolled up notes with requests, and wrapped money in them. Having looked closely, I noticed that they put in no less than 300-500 rubles, more often a thousand or even more. But this was quite a long time ago, then these amounts were more significant than now,” says Alexander. “When Father Herman appeared, the first thing he did was show the parishioners this box: this is where the donations should be put. In general, nothing happened to me during my service, I didn’t feel anything. Only after that my attitude towards the church began to change, far from for the better.

Olga Suskina came to the Church of Peter and Paul when her son’s friend needed medical help. She started collecting money for the operation and went to pray that she would be able to collect the required amount.

— It was a regular service. I was so worried about the boy (he has a heart defect) that I started crying during prayer,” she recalls. “Suddenly a woman from a church shop came up to me and said that when I cry, I am “feeding the demons.” Then she sat me down on a bench, brought me water and started telling me some strange things. It’s as if I can’t communicate with dogs, because a demon can enter me through them. I thought then that she was crazy. She also gave me a number and said that I needed an individual report from Father German and that I should call him. On the way home on the train, something terrible began to happen to me. I started to feel bad, then for another five days I couldn’t sleep, I was imagining something, and some kind of feeling of panic appeared. Finally my son called that number. They told him: “You understand that you will have to donate money to the temple?” He did not specify the amount. In the end, I took it and called myself ambulance. With my symptoms, they took me to a psychiatric hospital, and by the morning I fully recovered. I have never had anything like this before or since. I read that this happens from hormones, went to an endocrinologist, she told me that I was healthy and could have been poisoned by something. Then I thought: maybe they actually mixed something into the water they gave me?

Schizophrenics and demoniacs

Today there are exorcists not only in Russia. In 2014, the Diocese of Milan appointed seven priests to this position, and the Catholic Church of Sardinia sent three to study this craft in Rome, where special seminars for exorcists are held. There is even a special International Association of Exorcists in the world, and its actions are approved by the Vatican. According to representatives catholic church, the staff of exorcists needs to be increased, because in different countries there are more and more charlatans who promise to cast out demons for money. Indeed, even though this is the 21st century, people who call themselves exorcists manage to earn fortunes from this. American Bob Larson, for example, conducts rituals via Skype, and he receives calls from all over the world.

According to sectologist Alexander Dvorkin, exorcism existed during the times of early Christianity, from the first to third centuries AD, but never became a performance. Mass rituals appeared after the collapse of the USSR: while the country was atheistic, many managed to break away from traditions. At the same time, from a psychiatric point of view, such a spectacle can harm those involved in it.

“Before the 18th-19th centuries, there were a lot of so-called “possessed” people,” says psychiatrist Vyacheslav Tarasov. “And then the science of psychiatry began to actively develop, and the more it developed, the fewer of them there became. What was taken for demon possession turned out to be hallucinations. For example, visions of a mystical and religious nature are very characteristic of non-convulsive forms of epilepsy. Especially if a person grew up in a believing family and heard relevant conversations since childhood. And with schizophrenia, a person can “hear” how the devil communicates with him and pushes him to do terrible things. The most common disease among the “possessed” is hysteria. It can also be accompanied by feelings of communication with God or the devil. This is a serious disease and requires medical treatment. Teenage girls and older women are most susceptible to it. They are probably the ones who come to the lectures and think that someone has possessed them. Moreover, the ritual of mass exorcism can be dangerous even for a completely healthy person. After all, if any of us are placed in a group of people who see hallucinations, most likely we will begin to see them too.

I remember these words of the psychotherapist in the Church of Peter and Paul, where Father Herman’s lecture ends. Parishioners with brightened faces leave the church. The young man, who half an hour ago with a contorted face shouted “Go away, you nit!”, dejectedly drags a bag of bread behind his companion. The priest, who sent the sick girl to wash her nails, is talking at the gate with some parishioner, they laugh together. She's wearing open-toed sandals and her toenails are painted bright red.

... "In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit" ... The crucifix in the hands of the priest only touched the head of a woman about 40-45 years old. And suddenly... a terrible animal roar shook the reverent silence of the temple. The woman was literally thrown away from the cross by an unknown but terrible force. With all her might, her portly body collapsed to the floor and began to convulse. The crowd, which had previously been so dense that it seemed there was nowhere for an apple to fall, dispersed almost instantly. People, clinging to each other, looked down with compassion and horror at the bending, beating, shaking, growling man...

Believe me, this is not an excerpt from the script of another horror film. Life, as often happens, presents scenes more terrible than any fantasy. The described event took place in the real dimension just a few months ago. The scene of the action is the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, where the abbot of the monastic brethren of the monastery, Father German, conducted his next “reading.”

From the history of the issue

The word “exorcism” is probably not familiar to every modern person. In the old days in Rus', this sophisticated overseas term corresponded to a simpler, but no less creepy definition - “exorcism of demons”!

Almost any religion, including Christianity, recognizes the existence of dark forces - evil spirits, demons living in the astral world and obeying the prince of darkness, who has fallen away from God. In various revelations he is called differently - Ahriman, Iblis, Satan. However, everywhere his essence is defined the same way - an enemy of the human race, an insidious liar and a fighter against God.

We find the first mention of exorcism in Christianity in the Gospel itself. During His earthly life, Jesus Christ repeatedly cast out demons who trembled before Him from people possessed by these infernal (i.e., hellish) entities. But perhaps the most impressive is the episode of Holy Scripture that tells how our Lord caused a whole crowd of evil spirits (remember: “our name is Legion!”) ​​to move into a herd of pigs. The animals, distraught from such an unexpected “neighborhood,” threw themselves off the cliff into the sea.

The most experienced adherents of Christianity in spiritual life sometimes received the power to cast out evil spirits, commanding them in the name and power of Christ the Savior. However, a practice of this kind is fraught with very serious consequences and at all times required from a person incredible moral purity, mastery of his physical instincts, ascetic exercises and an ascetic lifestyle. Not everyone, even a warrior of Christ experienced in spiritual battles, dared to enter into essentially open combat with the forces of hell.

"I know Jesus, and I know Paul"

In the most difficult battles with demons, the unclean spirit “immigrated” into the caster himself.

Thus, in the “Acts of the Apostles” (19, 13-16) there is a story about some would-be exorcists: “Even some of the wandering Jewish exorcists began to use the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying: We conjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preaches. This did some seven sons of the Jewish high priest Sceva. evil spirit He answered, “I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?” - and a man in whom there was an evil spirit rushed at them, and, overpowering them, took such power over them that they ran out of that house naked and beaten.”

"Strong Pop"

During another prayer service, a young woman of about thirty-five, turning her face away, suddenly began waving her arms in front of her like a dog—light puffs of incense burned in the priest’s censer reached her.

It is difficult to describe in words the intonation of her voice when she angrily shouted at Father Herman: “S-old fool,” and then, as if with regret in her voice: “Uh... strong priest!” Accustomed to everything during his numerous “reprimands,” the elderly priest paused only for a moment and, standing half-turned, in a stern voice only imperiously said to the one who, sitting inside the woman, was boldly spewing blasphemy at him: “Come on, shut up.” now!" More this one someone He didn’t express his thoughts about what was happening - he just grumbled dully and dissatisfiedly inside the woman.

There have been much more serious cases. One possessed person was brought to Trinity-Sergius chained to a bed. When they were just bringing him to the gates of the Lavra, he began to rage terribly and break out of his bonds. He supported his actions with the most selective obscenities. The verbal constructions built from profanity were so multi-story that you can’t hear similar “pearls” in every “eatery.” Calm came to him after several hours of Father German’s prayer service in the church, where the demoniac was brought right from the bed.

Burns of a demoniac, or Why the baby screamed in a man's bass voice

Usually at the prayer services of Abbot Herman, held in the church of St. Prophet John the Baptist, up to a hundred people gather. Among them, as a rule, there are from three to five possessed.

However, they are not necessarily present at every service. If there are such people in the church, then “oddities” begin almost with the first words of the prayer service: some incomprehensible and frightened cries, groans, murmurs, incomprehensible movements. Children who have “something” in them begin to cry for no reason. At the mere approach of Father Herman, one such baby roared in a real man's bass and began to go berserk, tearing himself out of the hands of his mother holding him. And this was at a time when other children happily offered their faces to be washed with holy water. Many of them even seemed to brighten outwardly, smiling happily and listening to something mysterious that was happening inside them.

Obsessed people behave completely differently. When splashes of holy water fall on them, they writhe and cower as if from burns. During the service, Abbot Herman goes around everyone present several times, anointing with holy myrrh and sprinkling with holy water - each individually. Those who have an “anomaly” of an infernal nature usually roll their eyes with a roar, stagger back, and sometimes fall. The woman mentioned at the beginning of the article fell to the floor four times while the service was going on. And every time - convulsions, spasms, roars...

The lady who slandered the priest (who came to the temple, as it later turned out, with a friend and son of 6-7 years old), at the end of the service with difficulty approached kissing the Crucifixion. The picture was heartbreaking: she herself - the image and likeness of God - was reaching out to the Cross, and the one sitting inside her was shying away from him with all his might. It is impossible to describe this scene. You must see it with your own eyes!

Despite the obvious tactlessness, I, unable to contain my professional journalistic curiosity, approached this woman with questions: “What did you feel? Why did you scream like that?” Suffering, tired eyes looked at me: “I don’t know. Everything happens against my desire.”

Revenge of the Prince of Darkness

Possession is not contagious, like, for example, tuberculosis or scarlet fever. But one thing should be remembered: you cannot mock the forces of darkness, even if you are a convinced materialist and a “Voltairian”! Satan, being a liar and deceiver who does not recognize any divine laws, nevertheless knows them well and, like a lawyer-hook-maker, always defends the rights of the “injured party” before God. His “cassation appeal” appeals to the original justice of the Creator, who established the Universal Law, before which everyone is equal and for the righteousness and immutability of which all creation glorifies God. At the moment a person inflicts an “offense” on Lucifer, it does not matter that the latter rebelled against God (for this Satan has already received punishment - eternal excommunication from the Almighty with deposition to Tartarus!). The Prince of Darkness hypocritically cries out to God, like a creature, without any reason on his part, “offended” by a specific “word or action” of an individual.

In accordance with the justice of the Law established by Him, the Creator is forced to grant any “offended” person the right to repay the “offender” in the same measure. There is a so-called God's connivance with the forces of darkness. And the latter will not keep you waiting with vengeance: generosity and nobility are not the lot of fallen angels, they take revenge cruelly and mercilessly!

Instilling thoughts of suicide, despondency, despair, hatred, anger, troubles in material life - the arsenal is large. The goal is one - enslavement human soul! The most optimal way is to move inside a person.

What the seers said about the end times

Wherever they come from, they are drawn to the Lavra, to the relics St. Sergius Radonezh Orthodox. Judging by appearance, clothing, speech, people from Moldova, Siberia, and the Urals come to Sergiev Posad, the capital of all Russian Orthodoxy, for spiritual nourishment. There are a lot of visitors from Ukraine. Believers, often families, travel hundreds of kilometers specifically to do only one thing - to venerate the holy relics of St. Sergius, the great wonderworker and abbot of the Russian land. To those relics that have been incorruptible for six hundred years now and to which our ancestors have reverently venerated since ancient times - just imagine! - Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great. But, as often happens, many of us, who have lived for decades just an hour’s drive from Sergiev Posad, have never visited this great Russian shrine in our lives. Are there not enough of us like that - mired in the everyday bustle?!

People come here from all over Russia, among other things, to get to the spiritual children and heirs of St. Sergius - to Father Naum, who has the gift of clairvoyance, or Father Herman, who casts out demons in his services.

And this is the thought that came to my mind. Almost exclusively believers and religious people come to the latter’s prayer services, but even among them there are those possessed. How many of these, imperceptibly carrying an unclean SOMETHING within themselves, exist among us, mere mortals, many of whom, living to the point of whitish gray hair, never knew the way to the Temple - who, like St., did not find it. to the Apostle Paul, on his way to Damascus?!

Ancient seers spoke of the last times as a terrible bacchanalia, when demons, before the coming of the Antichrist, escaped from hell and began to move in droves into people who had opened their souls to them with their godlessness, debauchery, vices, malice, hatred, envy, love of money, selfishness and dislike. Look around! Do not the morals of modern times (“O tempere, o mores!”) correspond to these descriptions of sinful people, first given as the most important characteristic of the proximity of the end of the World two thousand years ago by St. by the Apostle Paul in one of his epistles. Official church, who has always been very skeptical and wary of all sorts of homespun prophecies about the dates of the end of the world, today openly asserts that we all live in last times. Father Herman also speaks about the terrible coincidence of signs of the approaching End in his sermons. Perhaps it’s time to seriously think about the perishability of existence and the future of our immortal souls!..

P.S

For those who are interested in the article, I will add that Abbot Herman receives all those who suffer in the church of St. Prophet John the Baptist, located above the very arch of the entrance to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra (directions: to the Sergiev Posad station, then three hundred meters on foot). Services begin every day at 13.00. No one will ask you for money, entry is free. However, if you take with you five to ten rubles for donations to the Lavra and alms for the poor, then, frankly speaking, this will not be a sin.

Before the service begins, you must venerate the relics of St. Sergius and ask for his blessing in your soul. You can bring children and sick people with you. And take a small container with you: Father Herman’s holy water prayer service - pour some holy water for your home.

God bless you!

Alexey Verda