Loving God with all your heart: what does it mean? On the love of God and neighbor One must live to love God and make a family.

Many people wonder how to love God, and how should this love be manifested? Let's try to understand this interesting topic. However, one must first understand one undeniable truth.

God loves all people

You need to understand that God loves all people without exception. We are his creation, he is our Father. As you know, no matter how unlucky the son is, the love of the father is still endless and strong. So it is in divine matters: no matter how bad a person is, God still loves him and is ready to forgive all sins. Many argue that God is tired of loving us, but this is absolutely not true. This statement has nothing to do with the real state of affairs. God loves children, adults, the elderly. God loves strong people and weak, all their children, regardless of gender, age, nationality and actions. To learn to love God, first of all, you need to stop doubting His love.

To understand how to love God, as well as learn how to do it, you should pay attention to our practical recommendations.

1. Read the Bible. Be sure to read this great book. There are people who re-read it dozens of times and always find new grains of truth. Read carefully, there is no hurry here. Pay attention to what you are reading. Carefully study the scriptures and commandments of God. Re-read several times, make notes in the margins. Write down interesting thoughts and incomprehensible phrases to return to them again.
2. Try to turn the knowledge gleaned from the Scriptures into your personal qualities. Transform them and make them part of you.
3. Remember that we are all parts of God. This means that love for one's neighbor is love for God. Your heart should be open to kindness, compassion and forgiveness. If you want God to forgive you for your sins, it is not enough just to repent of them. Learn to forgive the people around you. If, for example, you were rude or offended, try to take it as a test.
4. Go to church and read prayers.
5. Communicate with people who, like you, comprehend the Divine essence of life and try to understand such issues. This can be done as in real life, as well as via the Internet. It is good that now there are many sites and forums dedicated to Christianity. People can exchange thoughts and talk about issues that interest them, without even leaving their homes. The great advantage of such communication is that you can talk to a person who is very far away from you.
6. Feel free to talk about God in society: at work, at school.

Remember that it is impossible to love God without following his commandments and the teachings of Jesus Christ. Comprehend His truths, love your neighbors, let good into your soul. And then very soon you will be able to sincerely love God. To love naturally and effortlessly. To love like a son loves his just and honest father.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.(Luke 10:27).

Do not love the world, nor what is in the world: whoever loves the world does not have the love of the Father in him.(1 John 2:15).

The love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us.(Rom 5:5).

Love is born from dispassion; dispassion from trusting in God; hope from patience and generosity; these last from temperance in everything, temperance from the fear of God, fear from faith in the Lord.

Saint Maxim the Confessor

You can’t take spiritual life from above, but you need to take it from below: first cleanse the soul of passions, acquire patience, humility, etc., then love your neighbor, and then God.

St. Righteous Alexy Mechev

Faith is a benevolent gift; it gives rise to the fear of God in us; the fear of God teaches us to keep the commandments or build a good, active life; out of an active life grows honest dispassion; and the product of dispassion is love, which is the fulfillment of all the commandments, binding and holding them all in itself.

Saint Theodore, Bishop of Edessa

When we were commanded to love God, we also received the power to love that was placed in us at creation.

Love for God is born even without learning, naturally, as gratitude for God's good deeds, for we see that dogs, oxen, donkeys love those who feed them.
Saint Basil the Great

The increase in the fear of God is the beginning of love.

Saint John of the Ladder

No one can love God with all his heart without first warming up the fear of God in the feeling of his heart; for the soul enters active love after it has already been cleansed and softened by the action of the fear of God.

Blessed Diadochus of Photiki

Love is the fruit of prayer.

Love for God is born from a conversation with him. Conversation with him from silence; silence from lack of possession; lack of patience; patience from hatred of lusts; hatred of lusts from the fear of hell and the aspirations of the beatitudes.

He who says that he has not conquered the passions, but loves God, I do not know what he is saying. You will object: I did not say I love, but I love to love. And this is not the case if the soul has not attained purity.

There is no other path to spiritual love, by which the invisible image of God is traced in us, if, first of all, a person does not begin to show mercy in the likeness of the Heavenly Father, who has shown us His perfection in mercy.

Reverend Isaac the Syrian

He who is always in prayer is kindled with the most ardent love for God and receives the grace of the Spirit, who sanctifies the soul.

Venerable Macarius the Great

When we hear that someone loves us, even if he is not noble and poor, we are inflamed with special love for him and show him great respect, then we love him; but our Lord loves us so much and we remain insensitive?

Saint John Chrysostom

Those who often partake of the Body and Blood of our Lord will naturally kindle in themselves aspiration and love for Him on the one hand, because these life-giving and life-giving Body and Blood so warm those who partake (even the most worthless and hard-hearted) in love so much, how incessantly they receive communion; and on the other hand, because the knowledge of love for God is not something alien to us, but is naturally planted inside our hearts as soon as we are born in the flesh and reborn in the spirit in holy Baptism.

Rev. Nicodemus the Holy Mountaineer

The feeling of love for the Lord comes as the fulfillment of His commandments.

Reverend Nikon of Optina

Some, having read in Holy Scripture that love is the most exalted of virtues, that it is God, begin and intensify immediately to develop a feeling of love in their hearts, they dissolve their prayers, contemplation of God, all their actions.

God turns away from this unclean sacrifice. He requires love from a person, but true, spiritual, holy love, and not dreamy, carnal, defiled by pride and voluptuousness. It is impossible to love God otherwise than with a heart purified and sanctified by Divine Grace.

Premature striving to develop in oneself a feeling of love for God is already self-delusion. It immediately removes from the correct service to God, immediately leads into various delusions, ends in damage and death of the soul.

Repentance for a sinful life, sorrow for sins voluntary and involuntary, struggle with sinful habits, an effort to overcome them and sorrow for their violent victory, forcing ourselves to fulfill all the gospel commandments, this is our lot. We have to ask for forgiveness from God, to be reconciled with Him, by faithfulness to Him to make amends for infidelity, to replace friendship with sin with hatred of sin. Those who are reconciled have holy love.

Do you want to learn the love of God? Get away from every deed, word, thought, feeling forbidden by the Gospel. By your enmity to sin, so hateful to the all-holy God, show and prove your love for God. Sins into which you happen to fall due to weakness, heal with immediate repentance.

But better try not to admit these sins to yourself by strict vigilance over yourself.

Do you want to learn the love of God? Carefully study the commandments of the Lord in the Gospel and try to turn the Gospel virtues into habits, into your qualities. It is characteristic of the lover to fulfill the will of the beloved with accuracy.

Saint Ignatius (Bryanchaninov)

To love God with all your heart, you must certainly consider everything earthly as rubbish and not be seduced by anything.

Remember that you are always walking in the presence of the sweetest Jesus. Tell yourself more often: I want to live in such a way that my life pleases my Love, crucified for me on the cross.

Experience has shown that he who does not love his neighbor cannot love God, and he who is ungrateful to people cannot be grateful to God. A limited, small, insignificant being, such as a person, must both begin with a limited, small, and, with God's help, to go to the less limited, to the higher. Do you have a wife, friends, relatives? Learn first to give them their due, and then you will already be able to give their due to all people and to God Himself.

In order to properly honor the Theotokos, learn first, as you should, to honor your parent. And in order to properly honor the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, learn to honor your father according to the flesh. He who is unfaithful in small and in many things is unfaithful; but he who is faithful in little and much is faithful (Luke 16:10).

St. Righteous John of Kronstadt

You can't love God by treating at least one person badly. This is quite understandable. Love with hostility cannot be in one soul: either one or the other.

Hegumen Nikon (Vorobiev)

The love of prayer continually strengthens our love for God.

Reverend Justin Popovich

An ardent faith in God gives rise to an ardent love for Him and for His image, our fellow man.

Elder Paisios the Holy Mountaineer

You see why we must despise the world, that is, to honor our God; not to love the world in order to love God, to leave the creature in order to find God, to turn away from the creature in order to turn to God. For just as we cannot look to the east and to the west, and to the sky and to the earth at the same time, so we cling to the world and to God with our hearts. When we turn our eyes to the earth, we turn away from heaven, and when we turn to the west, we turn away from the east—just as we turn away from God in our hearts, when we love the world, and when we turn to God from the heart, then we turn away from the world. One of the two must be chosen by everyone. No one can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other; or he will be zealous for one, and neglect the other (Matt. 6:24).

Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk

Love for God is based on love for others. “Whoever says: “I love God,” but hates his brother, is a liar: for he who does not love his brother, whom he sees, how can he love God, whom he does not see? That is, you can love God only when there is love for others "First, a person learns to love all neighbors, including enemies, then he will be able to love God. At the same time, love is not just warm feelings for relatives and friends, but love is sacrificial, all-forgiving. You can learn to love like this if you start living first according to the Law of God ( that is, according to the commandments), and then according to the Love of God.You need to build your relationships with people and God in the same way - through repentance, faith and hope.

Step-by-step instruction

Start leading the church life. It is necessary to be baptized, confess and receive communion. The more you go to Confession, the more your sins, invisible at first, will be revealed to you. Underestimated in their negativity, your transgressions will appear to you more and more evil with each repentance. That is, if at the first confession a person most often talks about those sins that are described in the 9 commandments, then later he begins to notice everything behind him, down to the slightest movements of his soul against God and people. Accordingly, as the church life advances and more and more awareness of oneself a bad person on earth, in the future you will be amazed at how God tolerates you like the earth wears. Surprise will be genuine and will give the basis for faith in God's mercy. At the same time, just try to be patient with the people around you. Hope you love them all someday.

Pray for everyone, order canons and akathists for your neighbors. In this case, first of all, you should be interested in enemies. Learn to love and forgive enemies, all others will no longer be difficult. Invite your believing friends to pray with you, because joint prayer unites even better than joint work. Continue to lead church life, attend divine services, perform the Sacraments. As you come to know the depth of God's patience, you will develop more and more faith in Him.

Learn to see the hand of God in everything. Is the baby dead? Do not doubt that his soul is now in the hands of his Creator. And he's doing quite well there, better than on earth. Is it a black day? Understand that in this way God, seeing no other way out, is trying to attract you to himself in this way. And so think about all events, deeds, even catastrophes. God's will for everything - this truth should become the main one for you. This position in life will direct you to the path of love that is infinite, selfless and does not require anything in return - divine love. Keep working day by day. And you will love God, and enemies, and in general everyone. Remember that Love is an infinite concept. It is possible to improve in it until the end of life and even further, knowing the joy of communion with God and peace in the soul.

Helpful Hints

1. Work on yourself. The life of repentance is not only services, charity and sacraments. One cannot sit for a single minute in idleness, because at such a time doubts, temptations, irritation and anger most often come. Therefore, go in for sports, start a dacha, get a second job.

2. Always thank God, always pray for enemies and friends, always try to look cheerful.

note

1. Faith in God and believing in God are not quite identical concepts. The second comes from the first only as a result of active faith - churchly and charitable repentant life. Only by learning to believe and trust God can you get hope for Love for Him.

2. God is jealous, you can not serve him and someone else. It is impossible to "distract" to the Creator of everything that exists and has not yet been created on weekends or from time to time.

Love is long-suffering, merciful, love does not envy, love does not exalt itself, does not pride itself, does not act outrageously, does not seek its own, is not irritated, does not think evil,
It does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
He covers everything, believes everything, hopes everything, endures everything.
Love never fails... (1 Cor. 13:4-8)

The answer to this seemingly simple question is not so simple. Many Christians, when talking about love, try to come up with some formula that could explain how to learn to love. If we summarize the statements on this topic, we can distinguish the following four principles:

1. The love of God makes no conditions.

2. You are commanded to love: God, neighbors, enemies.

4. You can love others with the help of God Himself and His love.

But, however, something is missing here. An important aspect of Christian love has been overlooked. These four principles are missing the fifth - decisive - principle, which, in response to the question "how to love God and people?" specifically answers: only by faith.

Love is a great blessing and the most powerful force available to man. Its rays, reflected in the life and preaching of the first Christians, illuminated the course of all human history and transformed the world beyond recognition. Greeks, Rome-la-not, tongues-no-ki, Jews-rei not-on-vi-de-whether each other. The sa-ma thought of love and sa-mo-po-zher-t-in-va-nii would be alien to their mouse-le-nia. Seeing that Christians - of the most diverse nationalities, speaking different languages ​​​​and dialects - show love, care and readiness for self-po-zher-t-in-va-niyu ra-di mutually help, they exclaimed in surprise: “Look how these people love each other!”

Here is an incident related by one of the employees of the Christian mission " New life»: «At one of the student conferences, I told the students that it was in their power to change this world through love. As a practical application, I suggested making a list of those they disliked and deciding to love them by faith.

The next day, a girl came up to me. Her face flushed with excitement: “Yesterday evening changed my life. For many years, I felt nothing for my parents but not-on-wee. I didn't see them for five years, because when I was seventeen, after a fight with them, I left home. They tried many times to persuade me to return, but to no avail: I did not answer their letters, because I decided that I did not want to see them. I don't-na-vi-de-la.

The young girl sighed heavily.

“I was a prostitute and drug addict before I came to believe in Christ about six months ago,” she continued. - Yesterday you told me how to love my parents, and without waiting for the end of the meeting, I rushed to call them. Can you imagine? Now that I have experienced the love of God pouring through me, I look forward to meeting my parents.”

Everyone wants to feel that they are loved. Most psycho-ho-lo-govs come to a common opinion: most of all, a person needs to love and be loved. Nothing can resist powerful force love.

The word "love" in Greek has three meanings: "eros", implying the attraction of spouses in marriage - this word does not occur in the New Testament; "fi-leo", from-but-sya-sche-e-sya to friendship and love between friends-i-mi and kind-st-ven-no-ka-mi - that is, love, based on reciprocity; “aga-pe” is the love of God: sa-may chi-s-taya and strong, based not so much on a feeling as on a voluntary decision.

Agape- this is the super-natural, unconditional love of God, which found its highest manifestation in the death of the Lord on the cross for our sins. And He wants to pour out the same love through you - through His Holy Spirit - on those around you. The uniqueness of such love-bwi-aga-pe is that its manifestation depends on the beloved person, and not on the virtues of the one he loves. Often this is love - “in spite of”, and not “because”.

Paul, inspired by God, recorded a beautiful ode to love in his First Epistle to the Corinthians. He wrote that without love, everything that you do for God and others is no good. Think about these words: If I speak languages-ka-mi che-lo-ve-che-ski-mi and an-gel-ski-mi, but not love I have, then I am copper ringing, or kim-shaft sounding. If I have the gift of pro-ro-che-st-va, and I know all the secrets, and I have all sorts of knowledge and all faith, so I can-gu and mountains re-re -stav-lyat, but do not have love, then I am nothing. And if I give away all my property and give my body to co-burning, but I don’t have love, there’s no benefit to me in that.

In other words, if you serve God and help people not because you are driven by His love, there will be no benefit from your actions.

To understand how to love by faith, you need to know what the five fundamental aspects of love are.

1. The love of God does not impose conditions

God loves you with exactly the kind of aga-ne love described in 1 Corinthians 13. His love for you is so great that He sent His Son to die for you on the cross so that you would have access to eternal life. His love does not depend on whether you are worthy of this love. It is not your deeds and actions that arouse love in Him, because Christ loves you so much that he decided to die for you when you were still sinners.

God loves you without conditions, therefore you cannot deserve it in any way. . He loves you, regardless of your non-pos-lu-sha-nie and ego-ism. He loves you to a hundred points, but strongly, in order to open the door to eternal life in abundance in front of you. Even on the cross, Christ interceded for people: "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing."

If God's love for sinners is so great, then you can imagine how much He loves you- Your son, who loves Christ and strives to be obedient to Him? The unconditional love of God for His children is reflected in the parable of the prodigal son. The youngest son of one man-lo-ve-ka asked the father to pour out the part of the inheritance due to him, put his belongings and went to Yes, a country, where I spent money in ku-te-zhah and among prostitutes. As a result, he fell into extreme poverty and starved greatly. Then the thought came to his mind that his father's work-bot-no-kam was, at least, what it is. And he decided: "Go to my father and say: father! I sinned against no-ba and before that battle and no longer - to -in-call-your-son your son; take me among the number on-em-ni-kov your-them.

When he was still yes-le-ko from home, the father saw his son-on, and his heart-d-tse on-half-no-moose love-bo-view . He ran to his son, hugged and kissed him. Most likely, he still saw something going to his son, because for many days he prayed for his return and debt -some hours pro-si-zhi-val at the window, looking-ri-wa-es in the way, for some reason the son could return. The father, without listening to the words of repentance, ordered the servants for-to-lot from the cor-m-len-no-go te-le-nka and go-to-twist-sya for the holiday. His son returned to his father's house!

God's love was poured out on us even before we became christi-a-na-mi, but this parable reminds us that God does not stop loving His naughty child. He looks forward to his return to the Christian family.

Pa-vel pi-shet: - In this way, all the more so now, bu-du-chi op-rav-da-we to His Blood, save Him from wrath. For, if, bu-du-chi enemies-ha-mi, we-mi-ri-lis with God the death of His Son, then all the more, reconciliation let us save His life. God's love for us cannot be grasped by reason. Jesus prayed:

- May they all be one; as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You, so may they be one in Us, may the world assure that You sent Me ... and exalt loved them as I loved Me-nya.

Stop for a minute and think!

God loves you no less than His one-and-one-kind-no-God Son of the Lord Jesus. What-kaya-trya-sa-yu-schaya, not-by-sti-m-may is-ti-on! You should not be afraid of the one who loves you without-for-vet-but. Do not be afraid to trust God in everything, for He truly loves you. And the best thing about this is that He loves you, even when you are disobedient to Him. People are also capable of this kind of love when it comes to their own children.

The love of parents for their children usually does not depend on the behavior of children. Parents do not begin to love their children less simply because they misbehave and do not obey. Of course, in order to help their children not to sin, loving parents must correct and punish them. It is the same in your ot-no-she-ni-yah with God. When you pro-yav-la-e-those are not-pos-lu-sha-nie, He corrects and on-ka-zy-va-et you exactly in the way that he loves. From Hebrews we learn why the Lord sometimes disciplines His children:

- And for-would there be consolation, someone pre-la-ga-et-sya to you, like sons to us: "my son! do not pre-neb-re-guy on-ka- for the sake of the Lord, and do not be discouraged when He is about you. va-et ... If you endure na-ka-za-ne, then God will deal with you, as with sons-on-mi. For is there any son , someone-ro-go would not be on-ka-zy-val father? -di-te-la-mi na-shi-mi, I was afraid of them, is it not so-time-to-more-we-we-we-to-k-o-o-sya from the Father of spirits what to live? Those on-ka-zy-va-whether us in their own way for a few days; and this for the benefit, so that we can have participation in His holiness. after-on-at-chen-nym through no-go, it delivers the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

The death of Christ on the cross once and for all atoned for the sins of man, therefore, God now does not condemn the one who believes in Him, but corrects, in order to help us to grow up and to reap spirits. -following-to-va-ni-pits and persecution, they went through severe trials and not-vis-given-nye stra-da-nia.

And yet, Pa-vel wrote to them: - Who-beams us from the love of God: sorrow, or tightness, or go-not-nie, or go- lod, or na-go-ta, or danger, or sword? as on-pi-sa-no: "For You, they died-sh-in-la-yut us all day; consider us for sheep, doomed to for- nie". But all this is pre-odo-le-va-em with the power of Voz-loving us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor An-ge-ly, nor Na-cha-la, nor Si-ly, nor the present-I, nor the future, nor you - so-that, neither deep-be-na, nor any other creature can-be-beam us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, Lord-in-de Na-shem. Such love is inaccessible to our understanding, but accessible to our hearts.

2. You are commanded to love

One lawyer asked Jesus: - Teacher! what is the biggest for-for-after all, for-for-no?

Jesus said to him: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” we don’t eat yours: this is the first and greatest for-after-after all; the second one is more like it: "Love your neighbor, not yours, like yourself"; on these two for-ve-dyahs, ut-ver-g-yes-et-sya the whole law and pro-ro-ki.

Perhaps some of you in the op-re-de-laine moment of your christian life stumbled over this commandment.

Maybe you also had to wonder: how can I meet these exorbitantly high requirements? will I ever be able to love with such force?

Think about this

First of all, the Holy Spirit fills your heart with God's love, according to the promise in the Epistle to rome-la-us: - And hopefully yes not ashamed, because the love of God poured into the hearts of ours by the Holy Spirit given to us.

Secondly, turn your eyes to God, think about what He is, how much He has done and continues to do for you. And you na-ru-live in your heart a growing love for Him. We love Him because He first loved us. Why does God love you so much that He showed willingness to die for you?

Why did God choose you to be His son?

Why have you been given the honor of being His sent by anyone, to bless the world about His love and forgiveness? What gives you the right and the privilege to st-yan-but-to-go-dit-sya in His presence? For what merits did He promise to supply you with all your needs according to His riches in glory? How did you deserve the right - someone is missing millions of people who do not know our Spa-si-te-la - every morning pro-sy-pat-sya with joy in the heart and praise on the lips for His love and peace, with which He so generously endows all who believe in His beloved Sy- on - Gos-po-yes Jesus-sa?

Here is what one employee of the New Life Christian Mission, who stood at the origins of its creation, said: “I proposed to my future wife shortly after I believed in Christ. She was an active member of the church, although - as it turned out later - she was not a Christian at that time.

Can you imagine how she must have felt when I, with all the fervor of a new convert, told her that I loved God more than her and that He would always be my first priority? Unfortunately, I could not explain, and at that time I did not understand myself, that my love for her only increases as my love for God strengthens.

Over time, when we were the same, she also experienced God's love and forgiveness and became His daughter. Now the Lord takes first place in her heart. And because He takes first place for both of us, our love for each other from this only grows stronger and deeper. However, due to the peculiarities of my ministry, I have to travel all over the world and, therefore, often part with my wife, we both draw joy and strength from Him. And when we manage to be together, our fellowship becomes a hundred times more precious, because we love Him, and He loves us.

What a pity for those who have not yet learned to love God and put Him first in everything! After all, such people cannot receive the blessings that await everyone who loves God with all their heart, with all their soul and with all their mind. Moreover, the commandment “Love your neighbor as yourself” will no longer seem such an impossible requirement if you sincerely love God with all your heart, soul and mind. Your relationship with God directly affects your relationship with people. Let's take an example. Billiard balls, freely rolling on the table, repel each other upon contact, thanks to their structure. But if you tie the balls with a rope and lift them right above the table, the balls are co-e-di-nyat-sya. So it is with us. If every individual Christian clings to Christ and walks in the Spirit, loving Him with all his heart, soul and mind, then by doing so he will fulfill God's command to love your neighbors as yourself. Apo-table Pa-vel raz-ya-na-et: - Za-po-ve-di: "do not pre-lu-bo-dey-st-vuy", "do not kill-wai", "do not steal "," do not lie-vi-de-tel-st-vuy "," do not bark chu-zho-go "and all the other key-cha-yut-sya in this word: "love-be-your-neigh-th-your-th-th-th, as sa-mo-go-be."

Love does not de-la-et the neighbor of evil; so love is the use of-half-not-for-to-on.

Namely, love for God and for neighbors produces fruits, righteousness and glory to Christ in the life of a Christian. In addition, you for-ve-yes-but love-to-beat your neighbors, because this love is w-de-tel-st-vu-et about your kind-st-ven-ny connection with the Father. By showing love for your neighbors, you thereby de-mon-st-ri-ru-e-te your belonging to Christ. The Apostle John says that if you do not love your neighbors, then do not love God, because God is love. In doing so, he emphasizes the non-pos-red-st-ven-ing connection between your salvation and how your love for others is manifested. John from-me-cha-et: - And who has up to a hundred current in the world, but, seeing his brother in need, for-you-re-et from his own heart, how does the love of God pre-exist in that? My children! we will begin to love not with a word or language, but with a de-scrap and is-ty-noy. Jesus says: - This is for My sake, that you love one another, as I have loved you. Bu-du-chi hri-sti-a-ni-nom, you must love to beat your neighbor, because:

1. Your neighbor is God's yours, created in the image of God;

2. Because God loves your neighbor;

3. Because Christ died for your neighbor.

If you want to follow the example of our Lord, you must love everyone, as Christ did it. You must dedicate your life to something so that you can help others experience His love and forgiveness.

Jesus spoke the same way: - Did you hear what he said: "Love your neighbor and don't see your enemy" his". And I say to you: love your enemies, bless the words, lay them about you, bless you not-on-see-ing you and pray for offending you and go-ing you, but b-de-those sy-na-mi Father va-she th Heaven-devil-but-th; for He in-ve-le-va-et the sun-n-tsu of His-e-mu rise above the evil and the good and sends rain on the right nyh and not-great-ved-nyh ... And if you hi-vet-st-wo-e-those only take-your-shih, which is especially-ben-no-go de la-e- those? Isn't it the same way in-stu-pa-yut and tongues-ni-ki ?. When Christ-sti-a-does not act like a Christian and love God, neighbors, enemies, and, especially, their brothers in Christ - not for -vi-si-mo of nationality, race and social belonging - we will witness a qualitative transformation of the whole society. The love of Christians will shock and amaze people, as it was in the first century, when people, observing christi-a-na-mi, exclaimed with surprise: “Look how these people they love each other!” There are many people around who, for one reason or another, are disappointed in themselves. Over one-no-mi does the load of unconfessed sins. Others are not in the state of being able to reconcile with their own fi-zi-che-ski-mi not-to-stat-ka-mi. Someone feels rejected. Only one advice can be given here. God loves you and accepts the way you are. And you do the same. From-ve-di-te look from yourself. Direct your love and attention to Christ and to your neighbors. Na-chi-nay-te from-getting rid of your com-p-lek-owls, serving Him and the people around you. God's love - si-la, ob-e-di-nya-yu-schaya hri-sti-an! Pa-vel calls “to-le-kate-sya in love, someone-paradise is the combination of co-ver-shen-st-va”, “yes, comfort-shi-lis ser-d-tsa, co-e-di-n-nye in love.

Only God's love in co-hundred-i-nii pre-overcome tya-go-st-bar-e-ry, created by people-ski-mi pro-ti-vo-re-chi -i-mi. Only unity in Christ - the source of love - can ease tension, destroy dis-belief, sti, to revive all the best in people and help them to serve Christ more fruitfully.

The mother of four children once shared that understanding how to love with faith, did she show more tolerance towards her husband and de- tyam. “De-ti just drive me crazy,” she said. - I was irritated over trifles, found fault with my husband and was always dissatisfied with everything. I felt miserable. It is not surprising that the husband found various excuses to stay longer at work. But now everything has changed. Ever since I learned to love by faith, God's love has entered our home and transformed everything beyond recognition.

Here is what one young man noted with joy: “Having learned to love by faith, my wife and I fell in love again, and for the first time in many years, working in the office began to bring me pleasure - now I I work with those whom I could not bear before.

3. You yourself are incapable of loving others the way God wants you to. You cannot love others the way God wants you to, just as "carnal" people cannot please God. In your own strength you cannot manifest aha-pe- unconditional love for other people. How many times have you made the decision to love someone? Have you ever tried to show sincere love towards someone who is deeply indifferent to you? Maybe at the very least you were able to squeeze something out of yourself, but how long did you last? Man does not have the strength to love others the way God wants him to. People do not tend to show patience and kindness. We re-vni-you, for-vi-st-li-you and hwa-st-li-you. We are proud, for-nos-chi-you, ego-true and rude. We know how to act and do not need to teach us!

We are simply incapable of loving others the way God loves us. This idea was put into poetic form by the Russian poet D. S. Merezhkovsky:

And I want, but I am unable to love people;

I am a stranger among them; closer to the heart of friends

Stars, sky, cold, blue distance

And the forests and the desert mute sadness ......

Meanwhile, I can't live with the wave and the wind,

And I'm afraid not to love anyone all my life.

Is my heart forever dead?

Give me strength, Lord, to love my brothers!

4. You can love others with the help of God and His love

Namely, God's love brought you to Christ. It is His love that sustains and strengthens you daily. It is His love that abides in you that helps to bring people to Christ and serve brothers by faith, as God ve-le-was God’s love with special the battle of power appeared in the life of Jesus Christ. In His unique birth, teaching, life, death, and In-to-re-se-ne, we see the perfect, full manifestation -le-ing of God's love. Who has access to such a love? Everyone who has come to God the Father through faith in God the Son through God the Holy Spirit.

In Pi-sa-nii, it is said-for-no: - The love of God was poured into the hearts of ours by the Holy Spirit, given to us. God is a Spirit, and “The fruit of the spirit is love ...”. When you are under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you can love others with the love of God Himself.

When Christ enters your life and you become hri-sti-a-ni-nom, God gives you everything you need so that you can change. You have access to new love which humans are incapable of. But how can you show this love in your life? How to love for real? Deciding to love? Willpower? Trying your best? No. There is only one way in which such love can be shown, and that will be discussed in the next section.

5. You love the swarm

In hri-sti-an-sky life, everything is os-no-va-but on the ve-re. You are loved by faith, just as you received Christ by faith, just as you are filled with the Holy Spirit by faith and live by faith .. The Bible answers our many questions

And one of them, a lawyer, tempting Him, asked, saying: Teacher! What is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus said to him: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind: this is the first and greatest commandment; the second is like it: love thy neighbor as thyself; on these two commandments all the law and the prophets are established (Matthew 22:35-40).

So, we must love God first of all. But how can I answer the question for myself: do I love the Lord? By what signs, by what feelings or experiences can and should a person understand: yes, I love Him. And vice versa: what are our traits, what manifestations of our inner life speak of the absence or extreme weakness of love for God?

Difficult (as always!) questions are answered by the editor-in-chief of the journal of the Saratov Metropolis "Orthodoxy and Modernity" hegumen Nektariy (Morozov).

“Father Nektary, it is not so difficult for me, as, I think, for many others, to answer the question of what it means to love a person. If I miss in separation from a person, I want to see him, I rejoice when I finally see him, and if this joy of mine is disinterested - that is, there are no wealth, I don’t expect any practical help from this person, I don’t need help, but he himself - which means I love him. But how does this apply to God?

- First of all, it is good when this question arises in principle in today's Christian. I, as, I believe, and any other priest, very often have to deal with people who, when asked about love for God, answer right away, without hesitation and unambiguously in the affirmative: “Yes, of course I love!”. But they cannot answer the second question: what is love for God? At best, a person says: “Well, it’s natural to love God, so I love Him.” And it doesn't go any further than this.

And I immediately recall the dialogue of the Valaam elder with the officers from St. Petersburg who came to the monastery. They began to assure him that they loved Christ very much. And the elder said: “How blessed you are. I left the world, retired here, and in the strictest solitude I labor here all my life in order to at least a little come closer to the love of God. And you live in the noise of a great light, among all possible temptations, you fall into all the sins that you can fall into, and you manage to love God at the same time. What lucky people you are! And then they thought...

In your statement - I know what it means to love a person, but I don’t know what it means to love God - there is a certain contradiction. After all, everything that you said about love for a person applies to love for God. You say that communication with a person is dear to you, you miss when you don’t see him for a long time, you rejoice when you see him; in addition, you are probably trying to do something pleasant for this person, help him, take care of him. Knowing this person - and it's impossible to love a person and not know at the same time - you guess his desires, understand what exactly will bring him joy now, and do just that. The same can be said about man's love for God. The problem is that a person is concrete for us: here he is, here, you can touch him with your hands, our emotions, our reactions are directly connected with him. But the love of God in many people has a certain abstract character. And that's why it seems to people that you can't say anything concrete here: here, I love you, that's all. Meanwhile, the Lord in the Gospel very specifically answers the question of how a person's love for Him is manifested: if you love Me, keep My commandments (John 14:15). This is the evidence of man's love for God. A person who remembers and fulfills the commandments of God loves God and proves this by his deeds. A person who does not fulfill them, no matter what he says about himself, does not have love for Christ. Because just as faith, if it does not have works, is dead in itself (James 2:17), so love is dead without works. She lives in business.

“After all, this is also a matter of love for people, too?”

- Speaking of the Last Judgment, the Savior informs His disciples and all of us something very important: everything that we did in relation to our neighbors, we did in relation to Him, and it is on the basis of this that each of us will be condemned or justified: so as you did it to one of these least of my brethren, you did it to me (Matthew 25:40).

The Lord paid a terrible price for our salvation: the price of His suffering and death on the Cross. He came to save us because of His immeasurable love for us, He suffered for us, and our response to His love is the fulfillment in our life of that for which He gave us this freedom and the possibility of rebirth, ascension to Him.

– And if I don’t feel, I don’t recognize in myself love for God as such, but I still try to fulfill the commandments?

“The fact of the matter is that the fulfillment of the commandments of Christ is not only evidence of a person’s love for God, but also the path to this love. Saint Ambrose Optinsky answered a man who complained that he did not know how to love: “In order to learn to love people, do deeds of love. Do you know what love works? You know. So do it. And after some time, your heart will open to people: for your work, the Lord will give you the grace of love. The same goes for the love of God. When a person works, fulfilling the commandments of Christ, love for Him is born and strengthens in his heart. After all, each Gospel commandment opposes our passions, the illnesses of our souls. The commandments are not heavy: My yoke is easy, and My burden is light (Matthew 11:30), says the Lord. It's easy because it's natural for us. Everything that is said in the Gospel is natural for a person.

- Naturally? Why is it so hard for us to follow this?

“Because we are in an unnatural state. It is difficult for us, but at the same time this law lives in us - the law according to which man, created by God, must live. It would be more correct to say that two laws live in us: the law of the old man and the law of the new, renewed man. And so we tend to be both evil and good at the same time. Both evil and good are present in our hearts, in our feelings: there is a desire for good in me, but I can’t find it to do it. The good that I want, I do not do, but the evil that I do not want, I do - this is how the apostle Paul wrote about the state of man in the Epistle to the Romans (7, 18-19).

Why Reverend Abba Dorotheus writes that a person is a creature that depends very much on skill? When a person gets used to doing good deeds, that is, deeds of love, it becomes, as it were, his nature. Thanks to this, a person changes: a new person begins to win in him. And in the same way, and perhaps to a greater extent, a person is changed by the fulfillment of the commandments of Christ. He changes, because there is a purification from passions, deliverance from the oppression of self-love, and after all, where self-love is, there is vanity, and pride, and so on.

What prevents us from loving our neighbors? We love ourselves, and our interests collide with the interests of other people. But, as soon as I step on the path of self-sacrifice, at least partial, I have the opportunity to move a huge boulder of self-esteem to the side, and my neighbor opens up to me, and I can, I want to do something for him. I remove the obstacles to loving this person, which means that I have freedom - the freedom to love. And in exactly the same way, when a person rejects himself in order to fulfill the commandments of Christ, when it becomes a habit for him that changes his whole life, then his path is cleared of obstacles for the love of God. Imagine - the Lord says: do this and that, but I do not want to do this. The Lord says: don't do this, but I want to do it. Here it is, an obstacle that prevents me from loving God, standing between me and God. When I begin to gradually free myself from these attachments, from this lack of freedom, I have the freedom to love God. And the natural longing for God that lives in me awakens in the same natural way. What can it be compared to? Here, they put a stone on a plant, and it dies under this stone. They moved the stone, and it immediately begins to straighten out: the leaves straighten out, the twigs. And here it is already standing, reaching for the light. Similar human soul. When we are the stone of our passions, our sins are shifted aside, when we get out from under our rubble, we naturally rush upwards, towards God. A feeling awakens in us that has been instilled since our creation - love for Him. And we make sure that it is natural.

But love for God is also gratitude...

- There are difficult moments in our life when we were either abandoned or involuntarily left - they simply cannot help us with anything - everyone, even the closest people. And we are completely alone. But it is precisely at such moments that a person, if he has at least a little faith, understands that the only one who has not left him and will never leave him is the Lord. There is no one closer, there is no one closer. There is no one who loves you more than He. When you understand this, your response arises in a completely natural way: you are grateful, and this is also the awakening of the love for God originally inherent in a person.

Blessed Augustine said that God created man for himself. These words contain the meaning of the creation of man. He was created for fellowship with God. Each Living being exists in some order. The predator lives like a predator, the herbivore lives like a herbivore. Here we have a huge anthill, and in it every ant knows exactly what to do. And only man is some kind of restless creature. There is no predetermined order for him, and his life is constantly under the threat of chaos or catastrophe. We see that the vast majority of people do not know what to do. People are lost, everyone is frantically looking for at least something that he could cling to in order to somehow realize himself in this life. And always something goes wrong, and the person feels miserable. Why do so many slide into alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling, other terrible vices? Because a person cannot get enough of anything in life. The unbridled desire to kill oneself with drugs, alcohol suggests that in all this a person is trying to find not even himself, but the opportunity to fill the abyss that constantly opens up in him. All attempts to treat alcoholism or drug addiction are temporary - physiological dependence can be removed, but teaching a person to live differently is no longer a medical issue. If the abyss that a person feels in himself is not given real fulfillment, he will return to a false and pernicious fulfillment. And if he still does not return, then he will not become a full-fledged person anyway. We know people who have quit drinking or taking drugs, but look unhappy, depressed, often angry, because they were deprived of the former content of their lives, and there was no other. And many of them break, lose interest in family life to work, to everything. Because the most important thing in their life is missing. And while it is not there, until a person feels God's love for himself, he always remains somehow empty. For the abyss, of which we are talking, can, again, Blessed Augustine fill only the abyss of Divine love. And as soon as a person returns to his place - and his place is where he is with God, and everything else in his life is built properly.

Is accepting the Divine love that you are talking about and loving God the same thing?

- No. We are very selfish in our fallen state. In life, we often observe situations when one person loves another recklessly and completely without criticism, while the other takes advantage of it. And just like that, we get used to enjoying the love of God. Yes, we know and learn by experience that the Lord is merciful, philanthropic, that He easily forgives us, and we unconsciously begin to use this, to exploit His love. True, without realizing that the grace of God, rejected by us in sin, each time returns with more and more difficulty; that our hearts are hardened, and we are not changing at all in better side. Man is likened to an unreasonable animal: behold, the mousetrap has not slammed shut, which means that it is possible to drag the cheese further. And the fact that you cannot live a full life, that your life is not life, but some kind of vegetation, is not so important anymore. The main thing is that you are alive and well. But a person lives a full life only when he fulfills the gospel commandments, which open the way for him to love God.

“Sin is a barrier between us and God, a hindrance in our relationship with Him, right? I feel it very well just when repentance for any sin comes to me. Why do I repent? Because I'm afraid of punishment? No, I have no such fear. But I feel that I cut off my own oxygen somewhere, made it impossible to receive the help I needed from Him.

- In fact, the fear, if not of punishment, then of the inevitable onset of consequences, is also necessary for a person. It was not for nothing that Adam was told: on the day you eat from him (from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. - Ed.), you will die by death (Gen. 2, 17). This is not a threat, this is a statement, this is how we tell the child: if you stick two fingers or your mother's hairpin into the socket, you will be shocked. When we commit sin, we must know that there will be consequences. It is natural for us to fear these consequences. Yes, this is the lowest level, but it's good to have at least this. In life, this rarely happens in its purest form: more often in repentance there is both a fear of consequences, and what you are talking about: the feeling that I myself place obstacles for a normal, full, genuine life, I myself break the harmony that I need so much .

But, besides this, there is also something that we cannot really fully comprehend. For a person, no matter how embittered he is, no matter how he is distorted by evil, it is still natural to strive for good and do good and it is unnatural to do evil. Silouan of Athos said that a person who does good changes his face, he becomes like an angel. And the face of a person who does evil changes, he becomes like a demon. We are not in everything good people but the feeling of goodness, the feeling of what is natural for us, is present in us, and when we do something contrary to it, we feel that we have broken, damaged something very important: that which is greater than us, which is at the core just lies. And in moments of repentance, we are like a child who has broken something and still does not understand what and how he broke, he only understands that it was whole, good, and now it is no longer good for anything. What is the child doing? He runs to his father or mother in the hope that they will fix it. True, there are children who prefer to hide the broken. This is just the psychology of Adam hiding from God between the trees of paradise (Gen. 3, 8). But for us, if we break something, it is better to become like a child running with a broken thing to his parents. Repenting for what we have done, we kind of say to God: I can’t fix it myself, help me. And the Lord, by His mercy, helps, restores the destroyed. Thus, the experience of repentance contributes to kindling in the heart of a person the flame of love for God.

Christ was crucified for all of us - and such, and such, and others: He loved us as we are. St. Nicholas of Serbia has this thought: imagine villains, robbers, harlots, tax collectors, people with a completely burned conscience are walking along the roads of Palestine. They go and suddenly they see Christ. And at once they drop everything and rush after Him. And How! One climbs a tree, the other buys myrrh with all the last, perhaps money, and is not afraid to approach Him in front of everyone, does not think about what they can do with her now (see: Lk. 7, 37-50; 19:1-10). What is happening to them? Here's the thing: they see Christ, and they meet Him, and their eyes meet. And suddenly they see in Him the best that is in themselves, which, in spite of everything, remains in them. And awaken to life.

And when we experience something similar at the moment of our repentance, then, of course, we have a completely personal, direct relationship to God. After all, the most terrible misfortune of modern Christianity, and in general, the most terrible vice that reduces Christianity in a person to nothing, is the lack of a sense that God is a Personality, an attitude towards Him as a Personality. After all, faith is not just faith that there is a God, that there will be Judgment and eternal life. All this is just the periphery of faith. And faith is that God is a reality, that He called me to life, and that there is no other reason for me to exist, except for His will and His love. Faith presupposes a personal relationship of man with God. Only when these personal relationships are there is everything else. Without this, there is nothing.

- We tend to think about the people we love - all the time or not all the time, more or less, it depends on the strength of attachment. To think, in essence, means to remember this person. But how can one learn to think and remember God?

- Of course, a person should think, because it is not in vain that he was given this amazing ability to think. As St. Barsanuphius the Great says, your brain, your mind works like a millstone: you can throw some kind of dust at them in the morning, and they will grind this dust all day, or you can pour in good grain, and you will have flour and then bread . In the millstones of your mind, you need to put those grains that can nourish our soul, our heart and nurture us. The grains in this case are those thoughts that can kindle, strengthen, intensify the love for God in us.

After all, how are we organized? As long as we do not remember some things, they seem to be non-existent for us. We forgot about something, and it's like it never happened in our life. Remembered - and it came to life for us. What if they not only remembered, but kept their attention on this?.. An example that can be given here is the thought of death: but I will die, and I will die soon, but this is inevitable, but I don’t know at all what will happen next. A minute ago, the person did not think about it, but then he thought, and everything changed for him.

And so, of course, it should be with the thought of God and that which binds and unites us with Him. To do this, everyone should think: where did I come from, why do I exist? Because God gave me this life. How many situations in my life were situations when my life could be interrupted?.. But the Lord saved me. How many situations were there when I deserved to be punished, but I was not subjected to any punishment. And he was pardoned a hundred times, and a thousand times. And how many times in difficult moments help came - such, which I could not even hope for. And how many times something sacred happened in my heart — something that no one knows except me and Him… Let us remember the Apostle Nathanael (see: John 1, 45-50): he comes to Christ full of doubts, skepticism: … from Nazareth could it be good? (46). And the Lord says to him: When you were under the fig tree, I saw you (48). What was there, under that fig tree? Unknown. However, it is clear that under the fig tree Nathanael was alone, alone with his own thoughts, and there something happened that was very important for him. And, having heard the words of Christ, Nathanael understands: here is the One Who was with him together under the fig tree, Who knew him there, and before, and before his birth - always. And then Nathanael says: Rabbi! You are the Son of God, You are the King of Israel! (John 1:49). This is a meeting, this is a delight that cannot be described. Have there been such moments in your life? Probably they were. But all this needs to be remembered regularly. And just as Tsar Koschey languishes over gold and sorts it out, sorts it out, so a Christian must regularly sort out this treasure, this gold, examine it: that's what I have! But do not languish over it, of course, but, on the contrary, come to life with your heart, be filled with a living feeling - gratitude to God. When we have this feeling, all temptations and trials are experienced by us in a completely different way. And every temptation, in which we have kept our faithfulness to Christ, brings us closer to Him and strengthens our love for Him.

— The Creator manifests itself in the creature, and if we see, feel Him in the created world and respond to it, then we love Him, don't we? If you think about it, why do we love nature? Why do we so need to communicate with her, so we get tired without her? Why do we love springs, rivers and seas, mountains, trees, animals? Someone will say: we like it because it's beautiful. But what does "beautiful" mean? Somewhere I read that the impossibility of defining beauty is proof of the existence of God. After all, it is also impossible to define God, to explain, to look at Him from the outside - you can only meet Him face to face.

“Beautiful” is a very limited definition, really. Of course, there is the beauty of the world around us, beauty and greatness. But, apart from that, there are things even more interesting. You look at some animal - it may not be very beautiful (can we call a hedgehog beautiful, for example? Hardly), but it is so attractive, it occupies us so much, it is so interesting for us to watch her: she is both funny and touching. You look, and your heart rejoices, and you understand: after all, the Lord created this creature as it is ... And this really brings a person closer to God.

But there are other ways. And the ways of the saints were different. Some of them looked at the world and in it they saw the perfection of the Divine plan, the wisdom of God. For example, the great martyr Varvara comprehended God exactly in this way. It is no coincidence that in many church hymns the Lord is referred to as the "Fairly Artist". But there were other saints who, on the contrary, moved away from all this and lived, for example, in the Sinai desert, and there there is nothing to console the eye at all, there are only bare rocks, then heat, then cold and practically nothing alive. And there God taught them and revealed himself to them. But this is the next step. There is a time when the world around us should tell us about God, and there is a time when even this world needs to be forgotten, we need to remember only about Him. At the first stages of our formation, God constantly guides us with the help of concrete, directly experienced things. And then things can happen differently. The same is evidenced by the presence of two theologies: cataphatic and apophatic. First, a person, as it were, characterizes God, telling himself something necessary about Him: that He is omnipotent, that He is Love; and then the person simply says that God exists and cannot be defined by any human characteristics, and no supports, no concepts and images are needed for a person anymore - he directly ascends to the knowledge of God. But this is a different measure.

“However, you look at another person and you see that he can no longer love anything — neither nature, nor people, nor God — and is hardly able to accept God’s love for himself.

– Barsanuphius the Great has this idea: the softer you make your heart, the more it will be able to receive grace. And when a person lives in grace, when his heart receives grace, then this is both a feeling of God's love and love for God, because only by the grace of God is it possible to love. Therefore, hardening of the heart is precisely what prevents us from loving both God and our neighbor, and simply living to the fullest, real life. The hardening of the heart is not only evidenced by the fact that we are angry with someone, we hold a grudge, we want to take revenge on someone, we hate someone. The hardening of the heart is when we consciously allow our heart to harden, because supposedly it is impossible in this life otherwise, you will not survive. The world lies in evil, people in their fallen state are both rude, and cruel, and insidious. And our reaction to all this is expressed in the fact that we often stand in a fighting stance all our lives. This can be observed all the time - in transport, on the street ... One person touched another, and this other immediately responds as if he had been preparing for this all the previous day. He's got everything ready! What does it say? About how hard the heart is. Not only in relation to people - just in bitterness.

- Bitterness is a very common disease, it is observed not only in transport, many suffer from it, and, by the way, in the Church too. Moreover, I'm afraid that none of us can be called perfectly healthy. But how to deal with it?

“It's very difficult to deal with it. It is very difficult, scary to decide to live without defending yourself, to give up this constant self-defense. Yes, aggression is a manifestation of fear. But sometimes a person may not be aggressive, or may just be afraid. Just hide, live in your house like a snail, not seeing anything, not hearing around, not participating in anything, only saving yourself. But such a life in a shell also hardens the heart. Your heart, no matter how hard it is, should never be hardened. Every time we want to defend ourselves or just slam our door and let no one, nothing into our house, we must remember that the Lord exists, that He is everywhere, including between me and this threat, me and this person. I have a Witness who will justify me if someone slanders me, there is a Protector of my whole life. And when you trust Him, then you no longer need to close yourself, and your heart is open to both God and people, and nothing prevents you from loving God. There are no barriers.

This is what a person also needs in order to love God - defenselessness. After all, when you are your own protection, you do not need a protector.

– In fact, this is very understandable and tangible – defending ourselves (at least internally, painfully experiencing our offense and arguing with the offender), each time we oppose ourselves to God, as if we refuse Him or demonstrate distrust towards Him.

- Certainly. At the same time, we seem to be saying to God: Lord, I certainly hope for You, but here I am myself. This our refusal to God, it happens quite imperceptibly, very subtly. Why did the Monk Seraphim lower his hands and allow the robbers who attacked him to cripple him? Here for this reason. Did he want to be crippled, did he want these people to take sin upon their souls? Of course, he didn't want to. But he wanted something else - to be defenseless for the love of God.

My soul, Lord, is occupied with You: all day and all night I seek You. Your Spirit draws me to seek You, and the memory of You gladdens my mind. My soul has loved You and rejoices that You are my God and Lord, and I miss You to tears. And although everything in the world is beautiful, nothing earthly interests me, and the soul desires only the Lord.

The soul that has known God cannot be satisfied with anything on earth, but still strives for the Lord and cries out like a little child who has lost her mother: “My soul misses You, and I tearfully seek You.”

From the notes of St. Silouan of Athos

Journal "Orthodoxy and Modernity" No. 35 (51)