Sometimes it seems to us that everything that happens to us is exceptional and unique. But it is no true.

And this idea is about not only individual destinies of people, but also about the destinies of countries and the destinies of the Church.

Those who know the history of the Church well usually perceive all the trials, that fall to the lot of the church people, more calmly and humbly. Because how many times,during the almost two-thousand-year history of the Church, it could seem that it was standing on the edge of an abyss, that the hierarchs and clergy had lost their fortitude, and the laity had thought only about earthly problems. But again and again the Lord Himself led the Church on the right path.

The times were different: there were also the most severe persecutions from pagan or God-fighting authorities, also internal disorders and schisms, sometimes persecutions and schisms happenedat the same time. Sometimes the Church was forced to make some concessions to the persecutors. Everything happened. But the Church always came out of all trials stronger than it was before them.

Also, sometimes it seems to us that all challenges are something external, that they have nothing to do with us: they say that they lived normally, but then the persecutors came (schismatics, heretics, revolutions, wars — whatever). That's the point, that "normality" was apparent. Because all problems are the result of our sins, both in the life of individuals and in the life of societies (and the Church in its earthly part is precisely a community of people).

Usually, such a picture appears in the mind of an inhabitant: a person commits a sin – God punishes him with suffering. This is not quite true. By committing sin, we drive away God's grace from ourselves, and thereby we become vulnerable to the forces of evil. Thoroughly, having repented, we return not only to the loving embrace of the Lord, but also we receive protection from evil. After all, the Lord does not force our will.

Of course, the consequences of sins can be felt for a long time. But our patient endurance of trials and sorrows will certainly be rewarded, if not in this temporary and suffering life, then certainly in the life of the next century, which we expect, repeating it every day in the Article of our faith.

No matter what dramatic happenings occur, no matter what events confuse the soul, we must always and in everything trust the Lord and pray to Him, fight against despondency, weak faith, our own sins in order to be cleansed from evil, to get rid of everything vain and momentary, to unite with our Lord. The humility, the patience, the hope, the faith and the love. Only then the world will become brighter, and the Lord will be in everything.

Recorded by Natalia Gorshkova