This agonizing, always resonating in us with acute pain of bewilderment, insidious question is often found in readers' mail. Too often. Therefore, I decided: I will not publish a letter from those that were sent to me recently, I will find one that came one of the first. Why? Because time itself helps me answer it. I will not specifically disclose the name of the person we are talking about now - it's not about the names. So, a letter from not so distant 2008.

“Maria, please don’t think that I am a greedy or envious person for other people’s millions, triumph, fame, power, a beautiful and easy life - luxury cars, spicy blondes, yachts, liners, an office in a prestigious area of ​​London. When in the 1990s my family lost everything they had - on a people's car, remember what seductive videos they played on TV? - "AVVA, reliable, comfortable, economical first people's car, dividends from 30% in foreign currency!", I realized: big business is not for me. What kind of commerce, if, firstly, such combinations of swindling fellow citizens for some reason did not occur to me, a certified mathematician, and secondly, what kind of entrepreneurship can we talk about if I missed the situation in my own family, when my mother-in-law, having knocked out her pregnant wife, took all the money, including for the sold apartment of my deceased father, into this soap bubble! They exchanged everything for candy wrappers! While I was working hard on a business trip! skin understood what a pyramid is! But it's not about that. The criminal who pulled off all this machination did not stop there. And, tellingly, a rogue in Briony suits doesn't just steal! He does it boldly! As if boasting of their impunity! The tears of those he robbed? Suffering? Yes, don't care! My mother-in-law, for example, until the end of her life, could not forgive herself for getting into this scam, no matter how much I talked to her or convinced her! Elena Ivanovna's first stroke happened after the people's car burst! And how many more are deceived! And he at least henna! Criminal proceedings? Stolen assets? Broken businesses? Dead bodies, after all! No, he lives happily ever after in London, he visits Dolce & Gabbana and Hermes stores - they recently told on TV. Why does God allow this!

Alexey, February 2008

Frankly speaking, the question "how does the Lord endure that scoundrels prosper, while honest people suffer and suffer?", not even six, but many hundreds of years. Three millennia ago, a certain Asaph, a clergyman, the head of the choir under King David, pulled out his cry of doubt in God's goodness from the depths of his heart. A choir singing songs of praise to God. Apparently, Asaph lived a difficult life, full of worries and dangers: he was devoted to King David and shared with him the vicissitudes of his fate, the Bible calls Asaph a seer. Asaph expressed his bitter doubts about the justice of the Lord in a prayer called Psalm 72.

We have already written that the Psalter, a book that collected ancient Israeli prayers to God, translated into Slavonic in the 9th century by Saints Cyril and Methodius Equal-to-the-Apostles, was unusually popular in Russia. Once having learned to read and write from the Psalter, our ancestors never parted with it: the Psalter led them through life, offering advice, strengthening them in difficult times, healing, giving guidance for moral life. It was customary to read the entire Psalter, cover to cover, weekly. And in great post within a week - twice. Not all psalms were created by King David, twelve are attributed to Asaph. 72nd is among them. Often it is called a psalm, explaining why one should not be tempted by the happiness of sinners. To understand this, let's analyze sacred text, I assure you, this is the most exciting occupation.

So, the 72nd psalm can be divided into seven parts. The first, shortest, is the exclamation: God is always good to His children, if they are sinless and pure in heart! The second is Asaph's confession that he envied the insane, seeing the prosperity of the dishonest. Translated into Russian, there is a figurative expression: “my feet almost staggered, my feet almost slipped,” and the reference to the Hebrew original deciphers this metaphor: we are not talking about feet in the literal sense of the word, but about the path, about the course of reflection, about the appearance of spiritual thoughts or inclinations of thoughts and feelings away from the path of truth to the path of untruth and error. The next part of the psalm describes the well-being of sinners: much has been given to them, they are physically strong, strong, do not know suffering, until death itself, and, having not experienced the labors and disasters common to human life, indulge in pride, they are unfair towards the weak. Confident in the constancy of their well-being, they dress in iniquity and wickedness, as in habitual clothes, and not only do not hide their iniquities, but also put them on display: “pride, like a necklace, overlaid them, and insolence, like an outfit, dresses them; their eyes rolled out from fat, thoughts roam in their hearts; they scoff at everything, angrily spread slander, speak down. The next phrase, "lift up their mouth to heaven, and their tongue roam the earth," needs an explanation. Here we are talking about the fact that such people can falsely utter high-flown speeches - about God, about goodness, but their language will be tied to the earthly, these are just words spoken for the sake of self-interest and quite mundane goals. Such prosperity of the dishonest leads to the fact that those around them begin to think: "It turns out that everything is allowed! Does God know what is happening?" (part 4). And the author of the psalm himself succumbs to temptation, and he exclaims in bewilderment: "Who needs me to be righteous! That I did no evil! I kept my heart pure!" (Part 5). But then he catches himself: "If I said my doubts out loud, I would already be guilty!" Because it would be doubts about God's goodness! Disbelief in His Divine Providence. Asaph could not solve his painful thoughts on his own: the judgments of God are deep and inscrutable. It is not given to people with their human mind to penetrate the secrets of the Creator, the secrets of the Divine. "When my heart boiled and my inward parts tormented, then I was ignorant and did not understand; I was like cattle before You!" And only when he came to the temple (part 6), where God Himself became his Teacher, where the Lord Himself held him "by the right hand and instructed with His advice", Asaph realized that the prosperity and happiness of sinners is not lasting, fleeting. Because they are on slippery slopes. And as they rise, so they will perish. Because all who distance themselves from God perish, all who depart from Him are destroyed. Only He is a stronghold, only in the Lord can one find support. And wealth and fame disappear like smoke (part 7). By the way, is it worth saying that the notorious B. A. Berezovsky was the hero of Alexei’s letter?

Psalm 72, Asafu

"How good God is to Israel, to the pure in heart!

And I - my legs almost staggered, my feet almost slipped - I envied the insane, seeing the prosperity of the wicked, for they have no suffering until their death, and their strength is strong;

in human work they are not, and with other people they are not subjected to blows.

That is why pride, like a necklace, has surrounded them, and insolence, like a dress, dresses them;

their eyes rolled out from fat, thoughts roam in the heart;

they scoff at everything, viciously spread slander, speak down;

lift up their mouth to heaven, and their tongue roams the earth.

Therefore, His people turn there, and they drink water in a full cup,

and they say: "How does God know? And does the Most High have knowledge?" And behold, these wicked prosper in this age, multiplying wealth.

[And I said:] Was it not in vain that I cleansed my heart and washed my hands in innocence,

and subjected himself to wounds every day, and reproofs every morning?

But if I said: "I will reason thus," then I would be guilty before the generation of your sons. And I thought how to comprehend this, but it was difficult in my eyes,

until I entered into the sanctuary of God and knew their end.

So! You set them on slippery paths and cast them into the abyss.

How inadvertently they fell into ruin, disappeared, perished from horrors!

As a dream upon awakening, so You, Lord, awakening them, will destroy their dreams.

When my heart boiled and my inward parts tormented, then I was ignorant and did not understand; like cattle I was before you.

But I am always with You: You hold my right hand;

You guide me with Your advice and then you will receive me into glory.

Who is in heaven for me? and with you I want nothing on earth.

My flesh and my heart fails: God is the rock of my heart and my part forever.

For behold, those who separate themselves from Thee perish; You destroy everyone who turns away from You.

And it is good for me to draw near to God! I have placed my trust in the Lord God, that I may proclaim all your works [in the gates of the daughter of Zion]."

Answer: You are absolutely right in stating that the question of why the righteous suffer and sinners prosper is an exciting one for many people, "especially in times of temptation." I will tell you more than that: your thought can even be strengthened. Many non-believers think that this question can confuse any Orthodox Christian. They believe that if God is just, then the righteous should not suffer, and if He is also merciful and good, even more so. Thus they accuse us of the failure of our religious views. But they are wrong, and if anyone should be blamed for the failure of thinking, then they themselves.

Unfortunately, the format of our dialogue does not allow us to explain the issues you have proposed in detail. Therefore, I propose to confine ourselves to the thesis version of the answer.

The first thing I would like to draw your attention to is that on earth there is no full recompense for either the righteous or the sinners. A growing righteous man with a toric will receive all sorts of blessings in the age to come; the sinner in the future life expects sorrow and groaning.

Second. The disasters that the righteous are subjected to often depend on the will of evil, and not good people. God, while providing for the world, although he directs a person to good, protects from evil, but does not take away his free will entirely. For freedom, Alina, is the greatest gift, one of the main features of the image of God in man. If God, every time a person would like to sin, blocked the freedom of his will, deprived him of the right to choose, then such a person could not be called free. But God does not take away this freedom from us, but only helps us to make not a false, but a right choice. Hence, the possibility of abuse, the ability to create lawlessness, including against the righteous.

Tertje. Often, through sorrows and misfortunes, a person is protected from sin. Yes, yes, Alina, don't be surprised. Sometimes, a person inexperienced in misfortunes cannot even imagine what he is really worth. So, the apostle Peter denied Christ, and the rest retreated in fear. And God, for educational purposes, may well allow a person to suffer. After all, it is no secret that such external benefits as wealth, position, power often corrupt a person (not all, of course, but some). A person with great potential is also subjected to great temptations. Someone is ready to resist them, but someone may not be able to stand it. Therefore, by first depriving such a person of great opportunities (that is, power, money, status, etc.), God protects him from sin.

Fourth. Good righteous people, with outward hardships, enjoy the most precious inner blessings, joy and consolation from God, while sinners, with outward prosperity, have a source of torment in their habits, vices, and iniquities. You must have heard more than once or twice, Alina, how often there are scandals and squabbles in rich and (outwardly) prosperous families. This state of affairs can hardly be identified with happiness. On the other hand, in some poor Christian family, even if living without the benefits of civilization, in the very outskirts of the universe, one can often find joy and peace.

Fifth. The suffering of the righteous can also be of a sacrificial nature. So Joseph, sold by his brothers to Egypt, later became the second person after Pharaoh. This allowed him to save, during the famine, his entire family from extinction (including traitor brothers, but I think you are familiar with this biblical story, and there is not the slightest reason to consider it in detail).

Sixth. Far from always the righteous suffer and sinners prosper. It also happens vice versa. It's just not as sharply evident. Let's remember Abraham, the same Joseph...

Seventh. There are no righteous people on earth who are completely sinless. Only the Lord is sinless. Allowing, and even sending down suffering and sorrow to the righteous, God cleanses them from sinful filth, tempers faith, affirms in goodness. The lives of the saints are literally replete with examples of this kind.

Eighth. Sometimes even sinners have a lot of good in themselves. By the fact that God pours out goodness on them, not punishing for sin, He induces them to repentance. This may seem strange to some, but there is nothing strange in these words. Let us recall Zacchaeus, who, after meeting with the Savior, obliged to more than compensate for the damage to those whom he had once offended. And history knows many such examples.

Let us conclude the answer with what we started with: God's justice in relation to people is not limited by the limit of the real, that is, temporary, life. I wish you to live your life in such a way as to acquire heavenly blessings that will never be scarce. May God help you!

W Hello, dear visitors of the Orthodox website "Family and Faith"!

H Perhaps many of us have asked ourselves the following questions: What is the cause of our suffering? Why do the saints suffer? Why do the innocent suffer? And what about those children, babies who do not perceive whether their suffering is love or sacrifice? Awareness is possible from an older age. And what about babies? Why do the innocent suffer and sinners prosper?

These questions are answered by the professor of the Moscow Theological Academy - Alexei Ilyich Osipov.

About innocent suffering

A lexey osipov, professor.

"P The reason that I have cirrhosis of the liver turned out to be simple - I drank a lot of alcohol in my life. Drink, drink, drink, and finally cirrhosis of the liver. And I say: “Oh, it was God who punished me!”

Did God punish me? Of course not! And this is what we see. Indeed, in this case, we understand the cause of the disease. And when a person lies, dissembles, hypocrites, deceives, steals... (not to mention that he kills. I'm talking about those things that are invisible to others) ... condemnation, pretense, slyness - no one sees this, everything happens in me . From the outside, I am a decent person, my behavior seems irreproachable. And what's inside? Okay, others can't see, but it's scary that I can't see myself. And when something happens to me that we call sorrows, sufferings, I raise my eyes to heaven in amazement: “Lord, why did you punish me?! Me, so pure and beautiful!”

And this purity and beauty was magnificently shown by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, in my opinion, in The Humiliated and Insulted, through the lips of the prince, who uttered such magnificent words depicting the essence that is in us: “Oh, if only that which in a person or a person has discovered, what is in him, not even what he is afraid to reveal to others, and not even what he is afraid to reveal to his closest friends, and not even what he is afraid to reveal to himself, oh if all this were revealed, the world would be filled with such a stench that it would be impossible to live.

But if we were more attentive to our spiritual world, our thoughts, feelings, moods, experiences, thought about the attitude towards other people, remembered our grievances, envy, vanity, probably, in this case, it would not have occurred to me: “Why are you, Lord, punishing me?”

It turns out that objectively there is a law, the violation of which entails corresponding disasters for me. Moreover, if in the physical, material, rough world, the causes and effects are obvious: a person drinks and some diseases are the result, a person injects drugs - and the result is other diseases, a person jumped from a great height - broke his arms and legs, then when we move on to spiritual world, such a direct relationship is not traced directly.

The reason is that we are entering the spiritual world, that is, the world of freedom. If for a bad thought that came to my mind, I got hit on the top of my head, and even so much that I would howl, well, next time I would even be afraid that such a thought would not come to my mind. Then I would be a slave, not a man. Man is the image of God, and one of the sides of this image of God is his freedom in relation to good and evil, both external and internal.

So, I have this freedom, but I must know that I will not offend God with my bad thought, but will break the law, the real, objective, the law of my being. And the violation of the law of nature, any law, entails sad consequences. This is what happens, this is where all the sorrows of our world come from. It is very important to understand where. Sometimes these sorrows are very strange, everything seems to be in order with a person, but there is no peace, he is bored, he is sad, he does not find a place for himself, there is despondency in his soul. Where does all this come from? All from the same. When many thorns cling to the skin, itching begins throughout the body.

So, the cause of all the sorrows of people is the violation of the objectively existing spiritual law of our being, and, if you like, this spiritual law, ultimately, is God himself. We do not offend God, we cannot offend him with our sins, otherwise He would be the most offended of all, because we all sin. We do not offend God, but we hurt ourselves with everything that is called sin.

So the question of innocent suffering

Well, well, now it is clear that we suffer for sins. What about babies? What about the righteous? This question arises in many and naturally, confuses and sometimes causes protests. And the main reason for the protest and the question: what does the innocent suffer for? I draw your attention to the question. We are used to evaluating everything from the point of view of cause-and-effect relations of a legal order. That is, from the point of view of the concept of justice. Fair or not fair. Someone was sent to prison - for what? He's not guilty. We are outraged. And the robber was left free, “they threw the pike into the river” - why? He is a villain! We evaluate everything from the point of view of law and justice.

That is, whether we like it or not, we constantly underestimate the level of understanding ... of being itself. We believe that our entire existence is built on the principle of justice. And don't be surprised by this. All pre-Christian consciousness and, alas, the modern Christian world, unfortunately, builds its assessments precisely on legal grounds. In fact, this law is not the primary one, this law is not the main one. By the way, in Judaism - the Old Testament religion, the Muslim religion (I'm not talking about pagan religions!), the basic principle of the relationship between God and man is the principle of justice. These religions are based on it.

And so, from the point of view of this principle, the question of the sufferings of the righteous is raised. And the main mistake is rooted here in the very formulation of the question. What is the basic principle of being? The basic principle, the law of being, was discovered by Christianity. This is a thing unknown to Christianity. Nobody ever knew this. The basic law of being is love, not truth. Isaac Sirin writes: “Where there is retribution, there is no love, and where there is love, there is no retribution.” Superbly said. Justice and love are things, if you like, not even compatible. Where there is truth, there is no love. You don't think that love violates truth or that truth violates love. No no! This has a different meaning.

I often have to give this example: a mother throws herself into a burning house, dies while saving a child. Was it fair that she died, or unfair? Everyone will shrug their shoulders and say: “Excuse me, what kind of question is this? And is it fair or unfair? She died, oh what justice in question? What are you? You've gone crazy, haven't you? She died for love! She, without thinking, sacrificed herself, saving the child. What is the truth here?" Christ, the righteous, suffered for the unrighteous. A whole series of holy fathers and all of them repeat the same thought: if only God dealt with us in truth, we would long ago have turned into dust and ashes or were in hellish torment. If only He would do the right thing...

Not this law reigns in our world. From this point of view, we can already understand the suffering of the righteous and the suffering of the innocent, the suffering of children. How can this be understood?

Christianity has discovered another thought that humanity has been dreaming about. Christianity has said a striking thing: it turns out that all of us, whether we love each other or not, like or dislike each other, all the same, we all represent one living organism. And, no matter how much my eye hates my hand, because it sometimes scratches this eye too much, it turns out that both are needed in the body. And the organism cannot be without one or the other, moreover, the same eye and the same hand take care of each other, invisibly.

Great truth: The Church is the body of Christ. The center of the universal human organism is the organism of the Church. Like leaven in bread, like the very essence of all things, like the most sacred thing in man, like the purest thing in the world. By the Church, in this case, I do not mean just Christians who have been baptized. Here I understand the unity in the Holy Spirit of all those believers who strive to live the gospel. This is not just a gathering of believers, this is the unity of those believers living in the Holy Spirit who sincerely strive to live according to the Gospel, because then their unity is really realized in the Holy Spirit. The participation of each believer in the Holy Spirit is determined by the degree of his zeal for God. And every Christian abides in the body of the Church, in this center of humanity, only insofar as he is involved in the Holy Spirit. This involvement can be minimal, insignificant, then it is hardly noticeable, or it can be infinitely great, we are talking about such Christians: Anthony the Great, Arseny the Great. Involvement can be different. So here we are, Christians, in varying degrees, but we are partakers of this Holy Spirit, we are partakers to the extent that corresponds to our zeal. People, and not only Christians, are one whole, a single universal organism. We are all cells of this organism. And here, notice, some organs have one set of cells, others have another, and some cells are in close proximity to each other, and they especially influence each other, especially feel this effect on each other. Likewise, close people are especially able to help each other.

You know this phrase: have a family small church» . In a family, people are especially close to each other. Here they are especially able to empathize with each other. Whether they want it or not, they are connected. Even in a purely natural way, they are connected, you can’t get anywhere. So, everything is inherited from parents to children. And how much is transmitted! Colossal threads bind them together.

I hope now you understand what will be discussed next? We empathize with each other. It happens consciously, but maybe not consciously. Because of these bonds that connect us. When empathy occurs consciously, when we sympathize with a person, we sympathize with him, then this is already a spiritual gift. If you want, then even if we do something to diminish the suffering of another person. These are conscious experiences. But, it turns out, we can not consciously, because of this connection, sympathize with each other.

Moreover, there is another very important principle. Take the example of a hike. There is a group. Everyone carries backpacks. Have you ever gone on a hike? With a backpack, and even a compass. You walk a hundred meters - oh, they didn’t go there. Come on again. Like this. Suddenly, one leg twisted. What should I do? Unpack your backpack, let's unpack things. You are stronger - we will put more for you. You are weaker - well, you are smaller. We take on everything that burden that the one who walks with a stick, limps, must bear.

A child is the most spiritually healthy being. Still pure, still undefiled, not yet corrupted by the spiritual acts we call sin. Have you ever noticed that people die for people - heroes, the best people; that they tell the truth in the eyes of the king, or to someone else convicted of power - holy people? Again, the cleanest. Always suffering, always risking themselves, always sacrificing the best people. The best - that is, spiritually the most healthy. That is why children suffer, because these most innocent sufferings occur, because they still have the purest, childish, holy soul, which is able to bear or take on those sufferings that naturally follow the sins of their parents, their loved ones, their relatives. . They are capable of it. Why? Yes, because they are the best!

You say, "Well, that's right. But they don't realize it!" This is where we enter into the sphere of worldview. From the point of view that a person lives only on earth and only once, this statement is true. From a Christian position, we will say frankly - no, you are mistaken, we must look at everything from the point of view of eternal life. The same baby, whose soul left the body, is aware of everything THERE. And this realization that God gave him the opportunity to suffer for those he loves will bring infinite blessing to this soul. You read old novels, as this one is sometimes superbly described there. real love young people, men and women; how willing they are to sacrifice for each other; how they go to suffering for a loved one. Remember "Aida", because even those who love each other are walled up! That's the power of this love. But this was possible only in people who were pure, unstained, who did not know this disgusting word, which I don’t even want to pronounce. The word with which the souls of our children are now filthy is “sex”. What a horror! How they wash everyone with mud. Pure souls did not know this, and they were ready to really suffer to death, even go to torment, if only to be with their loved one. What gratitude to God, what joy these children give to God, who suffered for their parents, for their loved ones. Not a single child's suffering passes without a trace from the point of view of eternal life. They take on our suffering.

After all, what is it when we sympathize? We do take on some of the suffering. Pay attention to how much the patient helps, sometimes when he sees the love of others. It's a fact! That is, the word "innocent suffering" is the wrong word, a stupid word. This is the wrong word. It's not about innocence, it's about love! God gives these innocent beings the opportunity to fulfill this love and then thank God for this opportunity for all eternity. By the way, this is not given to all children, but only to some, not everything means they are able to endure these sufferings with subsequent eternal gratitude to God. Many are not capable. Not everyone, by the way, is capable of dying as children.

You hear? The fact that you and I live already testifies that without going through this earthly path, without going through the path of self-knowledge, without answering ourselves - who we are, we are unable to accept the Kingdom of God. We are not able, because we become proud. We are here, now, give us a little something good, and the nose stuck to the ceiling. And when tremendous blessings, glory, greatness, strength are given there, one may not endure it at all. Let's turn into the devil. There are those who are able to accept this, based on the experience of other people, and not become proud. They are blessed children. That's who is capable, we are not capable of you. We, alas, have to wallow in the mud, to see that, wallowing in a puddle, we can’t get up in any way. Call out "Lord, help me!" To know ourselves, to humble ourselves, and then only perhaps, God willing, we will be able to accept the kingdom of God without harm to ourselves. So there is no innocent suffering. They can only be assessed in this way on the earth plane. From the point of view of eternity - there are suffering, only due to love, sacrifice, conscious or not conscious.

And the last thing I want to say on this issue: from a Christian point of view, from the point of view of accepting that the basic law of being is love, and God is love - everything is clear. Even if these explanations of mine did not exist, simply believing that God is love - even those sufferings that are committed here, all of them, what character are they? The character of necessity, the character of utility, because they spring from love.

What if there is no God? What if a person only lives once? What then does all this sorrow and suffering mean? What is the point in them, tell me? Where do they come from? From the malice of people? By coincidence? From a wild tsunami? From coincidence? What nonsense! Is there nonsense without God? And then comes the savagery and horror. As soon as “God is love”, everything falls into place, everything becomes clear. We understand that our life here is a moment, and our life in general is eternity; and from the point of view of eternity, we must evaluate everything that happens in our life.

– We are talking about the fact that the suffering of children is love and sacrifice. And what about those children, babies who do not perceive whether their suffering is love or sacrifice? Awareness is possible from an older age. And what about babies?

- Well, I also said about this, that children may not be aware, and may not perceive what is happening. However, not only can, but often it is. They can just suffer and that's it. I repeat that from a materialistic point of view their suffering is meaningless, it is the suffering of accidents, the cruelties of nature, heredity, or from the cruelty of people. From a Christian point of view, we say that in the realm of eternal life, into which we all depart, everything is revealed to the child, as well as the causes of his suffering. That he, it turns out, was given the opportunity to sympathize, to suffer for someone. Here's what's going on. That is, he does not realize it now, but he realizes later.

And then, I must tell you such a simple fact that we all faced. So many parents suffering children lead to faith. And it's not some kind of violence, no. A person simply begins to think about what is the meaning of life. Here a person was born, a child, and he was already sick, crippled, freaked out. And the parent begins to think. After all, why do we often think about the meaning of our lives? We think about anything, but “why do I live?” - It's just not possible to think about it. But the sorrows and illnesses of children make many people think. And many people turn to God. So this is another one of so many important things about the suffering of children. And I think these children will also be extremely grateful to God, not understanding anything here yet.

– On the basis of the works of which Church Fathers is this point of view expressed?

– You know, Ephrem the Syrian has a very good saying about children, whom he calls not only the angels of God, but even holds the idea that these children sometimes turn out to be higher than the ascetics we know. Like this.

– Does the suffering of children benefit those for whom they suffer, other than their own? I mean the benefit to their relatives. There is a certain "jurisprudence" here. It turns out that people could not suffer for themselves, and children suffer for them, which brings some satisfaction to God, for their relatives.

– I think that your question can be answered as follows: when it is required to give blood to the victim, we give our own blood. Is there a lot of legalism here? And when suddenly a parent gives one kidney to his child? Is there any jurisprudence here? No. It is a sacrifice of love and only a sacrifice. There is no mention of legalism here.

Yes, we are helping people. Love, it always lives for only one thing - to benefit a person. And what? I cited images from a purely earthly life, but in fact you need to understand that God does everything not from the point of view of our earthly blessings, but allows it from the point of view of spiritual benefit. We will talk with you about the providence of God in more detail, but now I want to say that what is the use? Spiritual! One of the types of this spiritual benefit, which is especially obvious to everyone, is that sometimes parents turn to faith, turn to the church, and begin to live like a Christian. Here is one of those obvious signs, signs, if you like.

– Is it possible to judge the innocent death of children by such a criterion that God delivers these children from their subsequent evil deeds, delivers them from eternal punishment?

No, you can't judge like that. Although this point of view is found many times in different writings, that God, in anticipation of the fact that some kind of villain may grow out of this person, takes him away in childhood. In that case, why didn't he take Judas, tell me? Why wasn't Cain taken away? Why Pilate, Anna, Caiaphas? Is God unfair? I would take them right away as babies, really, what a beauty ?! There would be no Judas! Nothing like this. This is a wrong point of view, deeply wrong. That baby, who is not at all able to use the experience of other people, in order to live forever later in God and not become proud, cannot be allowed to die as a baby. He will be proud There, and the last will be bitterer than the first.

Only those who are able, on the basis of the experience of other people, accept this experience, and then live in eternal life die. Only these people. Everyone has their own data. Some are capable of it, others are not. So there are already inclinations, apparently of a spiritual order, personal moments. Not everyone can die as a child and thus get rid of such acts. And the wrong point of view immediately drives a person to a dead end.

“They say that righteous parents give birth to sick children. Can we assume that a sick child takes on the sins of the neighbors?

– I didn’t say “sins”, do you hear? Do not confuse, not sins. Sins and the suffering that results from sins are two different things. Regarding righteous parents and sick children... First, about righteous parents. What are righteous parents? What is a righteous person?

- A person who considers himself righteous.

– No, this is not only the one who considers himself righteous, but the one who sees himself as such. Not "thinking" himself righteous, but "seeing" himself, this is something more. No, this is not a sufficient criterion. So what is righteous? Here John of Kronstadt was righteous. After all, you remember his diaries, how he often repented and said that he had sinned in one way or another, and repented before God and said that he had received forgiveness before God, etc. And please... Righteousness is an infinite level of perfection. And every sin, we said, brings suffering. Every sin! What is suffering? So I pricked a cell in myself, and the whole organism shuddered. Or: "What's wrong with you?" - "My tooth hurts!" “Well, what if the tooth hurts. And you, what are you writhing about? The tooth is sick, but you are not sick. ”It turns out that this is how everything is interconnected. No wonder the apostle Paul writes: “If one member hurts, the whole body hurts, if one member rejoices, the whole body rejoices!”

See how interconnected we are. We are all with each other. As individual cells in the body are connected, so are we all with each other. Especially, the unity that exists between parents and children, that closeness with relatives, close people. Close sometimes in spirit people. Between spouses, for example. In general, this closeness can have different categories, different connections.

- Usually the question is: Why do the innocent suffer and sinners prosper?

-Now at the expense of the welfare of sinners! Remember one such simple thing. Once, while in America, I was visiting a millionaire who, figuratively speaking, was in charge of the “dead house”. What does it mean - "dead house"? This is a company that was engaged in decorating the burial of the dead, ritual services, and everything connected with this. But, these ritual services could be very, very different. If you gave a thousand dollars, you are buried in a simple coffin. They gave you five thousand - they gave you a coffin made of some kind of wood with expensive material. Where you give 10 thousand, the deceased will be so decorated that even his relatives and friends forever and ever cannot recognize him. So many different colors and make-up on it. It all depends on how much you pay. The dead are decorated, but the sick, but alive, are treated, even cut. Quickly, immediately, put on the operating table! And now, you can imagine what terrible people, they take the sharpest knife and once - cut open the stomach, two - cut off something. What horror, what suffering, but ... they say they saved him! We did. Managed to save, managed to do the operation. But the corpses only decorate.

Christ said, "Let the dead bury their dead." It is possible to reach such a spiritual state and complete insensitivity, when no illnesses and sorrows can turn a person to the truth. Imagine that we have lost sensitivity. I take a mug of boiling water and start drinking. Everyone looks at me in horror. And after a while I die. It turns out that I burned everything inside. And I didn't even feel it. It turns out what a great blessing it is to feel everything that harms me. Pain, suffering, sorrow - this is a sign of what? A sign that I drank boiling water! Sat on something hot. Any grief and suffering about what speak? Look inside yourself, look inside yourself! Look what you've done. They say: “Oh, my stomach hurts!” “What did you eat? Come on, tell me what you ate!” It's true?

Here, it turns out, what suffering and sorrow testify to. And, for a reasonable person, they mean: quickly look - what you swallowed, my dear! So that's why some thrive. Decorated corpses! The more money, the more decoration. The dead bury their dead.

Therefore, do not be surprised, by the way, when they say that Europe and America are prospering, while in Russia there is one suffering, then another and a third. This is just one of the clear signs - we are sick, but still alive. There in the West - I'm afraid that it's already a corpse! By the way, many people, both saints and thinkers, already spoke about this in the 19th century. Dostoevsky as he wrote! “Europe is yours, it’s all rotten, this cemetery is already real.” And this was already written in the 19th century, and now it’s even worse! .. Right now, Europe and America have moved on us, and we, too, have been covered with this putrid smell.”