Foundations of Christian Aesthetics. Part 2 #
By Kiril Mikhailov
How often do we, who call ourselves Christians, dedicate time and effort to attending church services, to receiving Communion and repentance, to reading the Bible, to prayer and fasting? Alas, almost at every step, the response we hear is: “I don’t have time,” “I’m too busy,” “When I find the time, I definitely will!”
But when will this opportunity arise? When a child is young, parents, denying him a Christian upbringing, say: “He is still too little for this. Let him be carefree for as long as possible. When he grows up, he will understand everything on his own.” And so, a person is left without God in the best years of his life.
He grows up, and without proper upbringing in our corrupted world, he becomes overly self-assured and self-centered. Offer him the Word of God at this time—he is too proud to accept it. Besides, young men and women are already preoccupied with their own concerns: studies, romantic affairs, and endless wild amusements, which they call relaxation but which leave them more exhausted than work itself. And so, a person remains without God in the most vibrant years of his life.
The Remembrance of Death #
Time passes… When you invite a mature adult to the Church, he is too busy, too burdened with family and financial worries. Where is there room for God in a life where the primary concerns are earnings, household matters, food, and leisure? Thus, the years slip away from a person, turning into dust, into nothingness, disappearing into the past, leaving behind only a trail of foolish mistakes, unnecessary experiments, and aimless pursuits. And what fills the soul of a person who has crossed the threshold of forty? A weight of insecurities and second-hand opinions, the hardened habits of sin, and an inflated sense of self-importance. And so, a person remains without God in the most productive years of his life.
And what comes next? Next, a person becomes too old to receive the seed of faith into his soul. His soul has already been occupied by the deeply rooted superstitions, prejudices, and stereotypes accumulated over a lifetime. Often, he is already too weak and too fearful to undergo the divine upheaval necessary to turn to the Loving and Waiting Creator. Some elderly people tremble before the face of impending death, yet they cannot shield themselves from this fear with the armor of all-powerful faith—for they have become accustomed to treating faith with indifference and contempt. Some even rage against themselves for not having walked with Christ throughout their lives, and they transfer this resentment onto Christianity itself, for deep down, they sense that only in Christ could they have truly fulfilled their talents and their purpose. And so, a person remains without God in the final years of his life.
And beyond old age—it is too late to do anything for the salvation of the soul. The grave awaits the body, and the soul faces the unquenchable fires of hell.
One day, it may also become too late for us—if we do not, right now, push aside all our distractions and dedicate the years of our lives to the One who gave them to us.
If only we sincerely desire to make room in our hearts for the Lord, it will surely come to pass. And do not think that you are “too busy”—this is a fatal illusion!
“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.” (Ecclesiastes 12:1)
Repentance #
There is no death! There is only the dying of the material body. For the godless, this is the end of life, because they do not separate their consciousness from the body. To them, the destruction of the physical self is the cessation of existence, and the problems of the body are the most vital concerns. This is why the godless fear anything that threatens life, and the end of material existence terrifies them more than anything in the world.
The death of the body is indeed frightening. In our time, few fortunate souls are granted a peaceful and quiet passing in old age. The nightmarish, ever-growing health problems that come with age turn every moment of life into a step toward death. Many cannot bear this realization and plunge into various forms of madness, seeking to numb themselves and avoid sensing the inevitable approach of their final hour. For the godless, there is nothing more terrifying than the death of the body.
Yet, there is something far more terrifying than physical death. Something so dreadful that in comparison, the fear of bodily death fades into insignificance. This is spiritual death.
The unbelievers of all times and nations have always been astonished at the incredible attitude of Christian martyrs toward death. They were boiled in oil, sawn in half, quartered, crucified, roasted on iron grates—yet they prayed for their executioners, they faced bodily death with serenity, and some even rejoiced in it. Scripture describes the death of the first Christian martyr, Saint Stephen the Archdeacon (c. A.D. 33):
“And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” (Acts 7:59–60)
He was not afraid, for just moments before his death, he had said to his killers:
“Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:56)
When one fears spiritual death, physical death loses its terror. The most dreadful thing that can happen is eternal dying in hell. Since the human soul is, by nature, immortal, its destruction by the forces of hell will be endless and unceasing. The demons burning in the fires of hell rejoice at every soul, especially every Christian soul, as they drag it into the abyss and doom it to ceaseless, indescribable torments, the worst of which will be “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power.” (2 Thessalonians 1:9)
There is only one way to escape spiritual death—repentance. To repent of your entire life, of everything you have done and how you have lived. To recognize the complete wrongness of your godless ways, to acknowledge your inability to live without God. To completely renounce yourself and turn to our Lord Jesus Christ and His Church. To cast aside everything from your past and begin a new life—a holy life, a righteous life.
Our earthly journey, our life in the material body, is a test, an examination. Your eternal destiny is determined by its outcome. And you are the one who determines it—there is no fate. Either eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven or eternal death of the soul. Reality will be revealed when the body perishes. Make sure it is not too late. If you are still alive, then you still have the chance to rise above this vile, godless world. Cherish this time. How much of it do you have left?
True Christianity begins with repentance. If you do not repent, you will perish. Truly.
Determination #
The Good News is addressed to a person, not to a slug. Paradise is not for a lazy, self-indulgent idler. People often ask, “Where was your God when… (insert situation here)?” We want to live as we please while expecting God to act like some kind of Santa Claus. Like in a Hollywood movie, He is supposed to appear occasionally—charming, blessing everyone—without disrupting the familiar rhythm of our worldly lives. A pleasant addition that makes life more interesting and comfortable. You have no objection to such a God. But to a God who demands something of you—you do object.
The outstanding preacher of the early 20th century, Old Believer Bishop Mikhail (Semyonov), said that the moment one begins to move toward salvation is the moment of Encounter. It is the participation of both sides. The Lord is always turned toward you. But what have you done for Him? Or at the very least, for your own soul? Even from a selfish perspective—what have you done for your salvation? You cannot enter Eternity reclining on a couch.
The key to salvation is faith. And most importantly, not just to believe, but to have faith. As St. Ephrem the Syrian wrote, even the demons believe; they certainly know about God, about paradise, and about the salvation of the soul. But they have no will to be saved. Do you? And if so, how does it manifest? By occasionally stopping by a church to light a candle when it’s not too inconvenient? By claiming “I don’t kill or steal”?
Not long ago, a woman who called herself a Christian told me that she didn’t understand anything about doctrine and that belonging to the Old Believer Church did nothing to solve her problems. I told her the same thing I am telling you: “You must live as a Christian—read the New Testament daily, pray in the morning and evening, observe the fasts, attend church every Sunday, at the very least memorize the Ten Commandments, and so on. And then your problems will begin to be resolved.” She objected, just as most readers of this text would: “I don’t want to!” Well, that’s up to you. Your problems! If you refuse to make an effort, you will not be saved.
“Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.” (James 4:8)
Lack faith or feel you don’t have enough? If you have the will, faith will come. The Lord does not refuse those who ask for what brings them closer to Him. The most important thing is to want it! If you want to have faith, if you thirst to be with the Lord, if you passionately strive for the salvation of your soul—it will happen.
There is a work that the Lord fundamentally does not want and cannot do. He has given us free will, and so the first step toward your personal salvation must be taken by you. The Lord has already done everything. He took on human flesh, was crucified, and rose again, granting both me and you the possibility of Eternal Life. All that remains is to break free from the cocoon of self-love and accept His Sacrifice as a sacrifice made for you personally. And to become worthy of that Sacrifice.
You must exert yourself. Modernity has conditioned us to be consumers who want to do nothing. But “the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12). And if you do not want to tear through your cocoon, to struggle and change yourself, to destroy within yourself everything that stands in the way of salvation, then you are poor soil—the seed of God’s Word, falling into you, will either not take root at all or will be choked by what you love and cling to but refuse to abandon.
Faith is an act of radical trust. Faith is an act of liberation from oneself—or rather, from what one considers to be oneself. To be strong and turn all the passion of the soul toward the salvation of the soul itself. To have the courage to give up—if necessary—everything you possess, everything you love, everything you live by, in order to follow Him. To have the bravery to deny yourself pity. To have the ability to laugh at yourself. To despise yourself when you see yourself captured by habits, attachments, and doubts. To have the fury to cast away sin, even if it seems that without it, nothing will remain of you. To have the eagerness to find the roots of sin within yourself—and to ruthlessly destroy them.
If there is will, there will be faith. If there is faith, there will be salvation. It takes place here and now.
The most important thing is to want it!
Steadfastness #
Spiritual weakness is one of the greatest afflictions of modern Russians, especially the youth. No one cares about the soul at all, and even if someone does wish to tend to it—how should they begin?
A true Christian is a transformed, reborn, new person. At baptism, a person is even given a new name. A Christian completely rejects the works of the flesh, the ways of the world, and begins a new life—in the Holy Spirit, a righteous, ecclesial life. But how does one become such a person? Undoubtedly, preparation is necessary for transformation. Old Orthodoxy has preserved a very important practice of the ancient Church—the community of catechumens, those preparing for Holy Baptism. Catechumens observed Christians, studied the Holy Scriptures and the teachings of the Church, and examined themselves to determine whether they were ready for new birth in Christ.
The Savior taught: “Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. … Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” (Matthew 5:39–40, 44)
Spiritual weaklings nod at these verses and mutter, “That’s impossible! How can one become like that?”
It is possible! One can come to inner transformation. With simple steps.
Quit smoking and drinking. Stop indulging in fornication with others or by yourself—keep yourself in purity. Stop watching films that incite lust and aggression, and stop browsing pornographic or idle websites. Remove foul language from your vocabulary, and idleness from your daily life. Dress as a Christian should—modestly and in a way befitting your sex. Stop engaging in vulgar, obscene, angry, and meaningless conversations. Begin filtering your social circle. If your friends are true friends, they will understand. And if they refuse to change in your presence—are they really friends? Do you need them?
Train yourself in prayer. At the very least, constantly pray inwardly, in your own words, asking the Lord and the Most Holy God-bearer to preserve you and help you in your struggles and sorrows, and give thanks for your joys. In addition to this, read the morning and evening prayer rules, and memorize the most important prayers. Teach yourself to fast—restrain your stomach on Wednesdays and Fridays and during the multi-day fasts. You won’t die; you will get used to it. Attend church services and strive to understand their deep symbolism and the Church Slavonic language. Read the New Testament regularly.
Devote more time and effort to your soul. It is difficult, but the reward is immense.
Summon the courage to go to confession. You are not confessing to a man, but to God—though the priest has the power to absolve your sins if you have truly repented. Deep, heartfelt repentance is where Christianity begins, and one must prepare oneself for it. The steps outlined above are necessary to cultivate discipline in the modern soul, which has become slack and scattered.
Of course, these steps are only the first, the simplest ones. Beyond them come more important ones—learning not to allow pride, lust, malice, envy, laziness, and self-love to take root even in the mind. But at least begin with something small. Take care of your soul! It longs for God, though your spoiled body and corrupted mind try to ignore it. Grant it this longing.
“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. … Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. … And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:17–25)
Love #
Which is greater: faith or love? At first glance, the answer seems obvious—if we are speaking of Christian faith, then faith must be the most important. But the Apostle Paul tells us that of the three greatest Christian virtues—faith, hope, and love—love is the greatest.
It is in this relationship between love and faith that the essence of Christianity lies. Every religion speaks of the necessity of faith. But in non-Christian religions, the core is submission, reverence before the object of belief; nowhere is love spoken of as the Way.
Faith is a complete conviction in something that requires no proof. But love is a profound sense of belonging. If faith places a person behind the shield of his trust, then love goes much further. In love, I perceive myself as part of something that is not me, something greater than myself. In love, a person breaks free from the cocoon of isolation and self-centeredness and reaches outward. This is why Christianity is a religion of deep transformation. If I truly love the Lord, who was crucified and risen for me, He will give me the strength to believe, to hope, and to shine amidst the darkness of this world. But within myself, I do not have the strength to do this. “Only through the power of love can one go beyond the boundaries.”
But how can one love God? Immersed in the world and its evils, we do not see Him, and often, we see only His apparent absence in a world of wickedness, suffering, and filth. Where is God? The Savior Himself answered this question when speaking with the Jewish law teachers—the Pharisees—who claimed that salvation required only adherence to the Old Testament Law. Christ came and said: no! Ritual alone is not enough for the soul to break free from its suffocating demonic chains and reach toward the Father of Light. What is needed is a revolution of the self—a union with the Lord, a becoming part of Him—love. And love for Him begins with love for one’s neighbor:
“If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” (1 John 4:20)
Learn at the very least to respect, value, understand, care for, and have compassion for those whom life has placed on your path. If you sincerely desire this, you will succeed. But if a person does not want to be transformed—to love his neighbor, to love God, to ask Him for strength in this very transformation—then that person does not truly desire the Kingdom of Heaven.
“And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16)
No religion apart from the Christian faith demands not just confession, not just ritual, but a new birth in love. This is a difficult path, harder than in any other religion. But it is the only true Path, because this is the Path of God:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
Christ did not merely give an answer—He fulfilled love!
It is a difficult path, but the Lord will help those who truly desire to love—not with a thirst for possession, not with self-interest, not with hypocrisy or cowardice, but with a love that sees beyond oneself, even beyond the instinct for self-preservation. To love as oneself, and even more than oneself. This is the Royal Path.
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.” (1 Corinthians 13:1–8)
Sobriety #
This slogan is repeated today, as if by the hypnotized, by almost all young men and women: “You have to try everything in life!” The television has trained us well—we don’t even think anymore, we just try, as long as there’s an opportunity and no immediate punishment. The moral, internal restraints are gone. After all, television teaches “being free of complexes.”
But if everything must be tried, then why not try going to church, going to confession, praying, fasting, doing good for others, helping the poor, the elderly, the sick? Why is it that people eagerly try debauchery, alcohol, smoking, and drugs? Why do good children become lustful cynics, reckless brutes, and uncontrollably self-absorbed?
Young people live not by reason, but by feelings, by impulses. This is neither good nor bad in itself—after all, true wisdom is acquired through experience. But in ancient times, the young listened to their elders, learned wisdom from them, and this helped smooth out the folly of youth. Now, obedience and family hierarchy are not even spoken of, and what wisdom can modern parents pass down?
Sensuality has two directions—one that elevates and one that corrupts. Higher emotions include the joy of virtue, sincerity, mercy, and compassion. Higher still is the fulfillment of duty, the defense of honor, the noble service to one’s neighbor, one’s homeland, and the Church, as well as heroism, steadfastness, and the overcoming of one’s weaknesses and vices. The highest of all is the bliss of feeling the presence of the Lord in one’s soul, of perceiving His will and love.
Corrupting sensuality, on the other hand, is the pursuit of bodily pleasures (alcohol, smoking, debauchery) and the indulgence in the lower passions of the soul (self-satisfaction, the craving for originality, self-promotion, thrill-seeking). The kind of sensuality that destroys the soul begins with the words “I want.” Naturally, it is much easier to fall downward than to climb upward. And so, if one does nothing with oneself, brutalization is inevitable. For some, it will manifest on the level of the heart (rudeness, vulgarity, cruelty, malice), for others, on the level of the mind (shallowness, self-admiration, selfishness), and for others still, on the level of the body (drunkenness, smoking, drugs, debauchery, gluttony). And for some, it will take hold at every level.
When people speak of “trying everything,” they usually mean complete indulgence in unrestrained thoughts and emotions. Wherever the wind carries them, there they go. And of course, the wind always blows downward.
Brutalization successfully disfigures a person. First, it happens gradually and imperceptibly. Second, it arises from within (and we trust ourselves, not suspecting our own innate corruption). Third, it provokes no external criticism, for modern culture tirelessly whispers: “Don’t hold back!” “Live in the moment!” “Indulge yourself!”
Only Christians speak of the unacceptability of such an approach to life. Christ teaches that for true joy (in comparison to which even the purest earthly pleasures are mere pale shadows), one must deny oneself. One must cast aside the corrupt animal nature and, in its place, receive from the Lord a new life. This is called repentance, and it is with this that a person’s entrance into the Church of Christ must begin.
Why try everything? Try what is best—what elevates and ennobles. That which is Christian morality: purity, goodness, love, faith, sincerity, responsibility, diligence, courage, self-control, care, compassion, mercy, devotion. Each person knows how these virtues manifest in daily life. They bring true, sacred joy—because by serving your neighbor, you serve the Savior Himself. Because nothing is more important than the salvation of the soul. And the soul rejoices in every step you take toward the Lord.
And what of the evil things? Lust, intoxication of any kind, madness, malice, envy, cowardice, hatred, cruelty, selfishness, cynicism, greed. Worst of all—the deeper you sink, the harder it is to wake up and rise again. The more you grow to love the life you’ve settled into.
Yet the Lord gives strength to anyone who finds even a drop of sincere repentance in their heart, who sincerely desires the Kingdom of Heaven. Even if one has no strength left for change, a heartfelt cry to the Savior—and already, one has taken a step out of the abyss of sin and despair.
In life, we must choose the best!