In the summer of 1921, St. Luke of Crimea (Voyno-Yasenetsky) had to appear before the court to protect Professor P. Sitkovsky and his colleagues in a case of “wrecking”. It was decided by the authorities to make this case indicative. Professor S. Masumov recalls the following about the case:
“The elaborate plan of the authorities failed at the very moment, when Professor Voyno-Yasenetsky was invited as a specialist:
- Priest and surgeon Voyno-Yasenetsky, tell me, how is it possible that you pray at night and cut people in the daytime?
In fact, when St. Patriarch Tikhon found out that professor Voyno-Yasenetsky became a priest, he blessed him to continue surgery. Fr. Valentine did not explain anything to public prosecutor Peters and replied:
- I cut people to save their lives. But what for do you cut them, Mr. public prosecutor?
Both the working people and the doctors applauded the father’s answer, and the sympathy of the audience was on his side from that moment. Prosecutor Peters thought that his next question would change the mood of the working part of the audience.
- How is it so that you believe in God, priest and surgeon Voyno-Yasenetsky? Have you ever seen him – your God?
- It is truth that I have never seen God, Mr. public prosecutor. However, I have operated on brain a lot, and when I opened the cranial cavity, I did not see any traces of intellect there. And I did not find a conscience either.
The audience burst out laughing and the trial of the doctors failed spectacularly.
Once, a wise man met the king.
- Where are you
coming from? – the king asked.
- From hell, - the
man replied.
- And what did
you there? –the king wondered.
- I was looking
for fire, - the man said. – I asked them whether they could share some fire with
me. But their head said they have no fire. I was surprised - how is it so? And
then he answered me: “I’m telling you, there is no fire. Everyone who comes there brings their own fire along with them”.
Once, there was a fire in a house late at night. The whole family – the father, the
mother and their children – were shocked by what was going on. They ran out of
the house and watched how the fire spread all over. Suddenly they
all understood that the youngest family member, a five-year old son, was not
with them. Perhaps, he was scared by the smoke and the flames and climbed the stairs to the very
top of the house, instead of running out with other family members. They could
not even hope to find him. Suddenly, a window opened and the parents saw the
scared face of their son in it. The father shouted: “Jump!” But the boy did not
see anything but the clouds of smoke:
- Dad, I can’t
see you!
- But I can see
you. Be not afraid and jump now!
The boy had the
courage, jumped out of the window and found himself in his father’s arms.
God wants us to have the same faith in Him as the boy had in his father.
There was a priest who could not handle
several neophytes in his parish. When he tried to talk to them and educate
them, they always found what to answer and proved their words by the examples
from the books of the Holy Fathers. They even began to look down on him, while in fact they did
not attain even the basic of the faith. At one moment, they thought that they
managed to defeat him, but the father took a large glass jar, filled it with
stones and asked them:
- Is the jar
full?
- It is, - he
heard a firm answer.
Then he began
to add pea in it. Of course, there was a lot of free space for it between the
stones. Then he asked them again:
- Is it full
now?
- It is, - they
said at once, although they were less self-confident then before.
The priest
sprinkled a large sack of sand in the jar and asked:
- And now?
- It is full, –
one uncertain voice said.
Then the priest
took a glass and begin to pour water in the jar saying:
- Stones
symbolize everything you have read about the faith, pea symbolizes your deeds, sand
is your experience, and water is God’s grace. The earlier you think you have
known everything, the less chance you have to become full of this grace.
A person came
to a wise man and said:
- I want to
find the path to God. Help me to do this!
The wise man
looked at him attentively and asked:
- Tell me
first, have you ever loved anyone?
The guest
replied:
- I am not
interested in secular affairs, in love and other things. I want to find God!
- Think again.
Have you ever loved a woman, a child or at least anyone?
- I have told
you already that I am not a simple layman. I am a person who wants to know God.
No other things bother me.
The wise man’s
eyes were full of sorrow, and he said the person:
- It is
impossible then. At first, you need to know what it is like to love someone. It will be
your first step towards God. But now you are asking me about the last step,
although you have not made even the first one.
A faithful
person had an unfaithful son. The father worried a lot about that, but he could
not instill religious beliefs in the young man. When he felt he would die soon, he
called his son and said:
- I want you to
comply with my request.
- Which one,
father?
- When I die,
come to this room for forty days and spend about fifteen minutes there.
- What should I
do there?
- Nothing. Just
sit there. Every day for no less than fifteen minutes.
The son buried
his father and complied with his request. He entered his room every day and was
sitting there for fifteen minutes. When forty days passed, the young man came
to church willingly and became a religious person. Many years later, he would
understand how wise was his father’s will .
The father understood
that the life rhythm of young people is too quick. They do not have time to
think about eternal things: about the sense of life, about their soul, about
eternal life and God. However, should they stop and spend some time in silence,
the Lord will knock and enter into their heart.
Once, an
atheist came to an elder and began to tell him that he did not believe in God.
He just could not believe in a “Creator”, Who could create the whole Universe.
Several days
later, the elder made a return visit to the atheist and brought a beautiful picture
with him. The atheist was astonished. He had never seen such a beautiful
painting:
- What a
beautiful painting. Tell me, who painted that? Who is the author?
- Who? None. A
clean canvas was lying, and there was a shelf with the paints above it. The
paints capsized accidentally, spread over – so now you can see the result.
- Why are you
joking like this? – The atheist laughed. – It is impossible. The work is
beautiful, the lines and the stroke are so accurate, and the combination of
colors is great. One can feel a deep meaning behind this beautiful painting. It
cannot be that such work appeared without an author.
The elder
smiled and said:
- You cannot
believe that this small painting has appeared accidentally, without any
provisional idea of the creator. And you want me to believe that our beautiful
world – with its forests and mountains, oceans and valleys, the changing
seasons, wonderful dawns and quiet moonlit nights – has appeared by chance,
without the work of the Creator?
Translated from: https://azbyka.ru/days/
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