Why does the Lord take the children. The death of a child is not a punishment from God, but an inescapable grief

After the murder of Vasilisa Galitsina, the townspeople are seized by strong feelings of grief, pain, fear, despair and guilt, a desire for revenge on a criminal, a desire to understand why it all happened ... People do not find answers to their questions, as soon as tears come up in a lump in our throats, we are all inconsolable. Why do children die? Where does so much evil come from in the world? Is the feeling of revenge appropriate in this situation? What can anyone do now for a girl? We asked these questions to the priests of Naberezhnye Chelny, Zakamsky deanery.

Archpriest Alexander Andrievsky, Church of Sts. indefinite Cosmas and Damian - Oryol Church:

“Many works have been written about how the existence of a good and almighty God is combined with the existence of evil and suffering in the world. In Dostoevsky's novels, for example, the theme of suffering is one of the central ones. If anyone wants to delve deeper into the problem, I can recommend reading the philosophical essay of the English writer Clive Lewis, which is called "Suffering".

In short, evil and suffering stem from the fact that God limits His Omnipotence to human freedom. Where the freedom of man begins, the power of God ends. Why He does this is another question.

What can and should we do in this situation. It is obvious that God gave us freedom, in the hope that we ourselves will arrange our life, we will put things in order in it ourselves. As someone well noted, evil takes over the world when good people do nothing to stop it. In the case of the girl Vasilisa, it can be said without exaggeration that the crime was solved thanks to the help of ordinary people.

As for the feelings of anger and indignation that grips us at the mention of such atrocities, they are quite natural and normal, but one cannot follow their lead. In anger, as it is said, a person does not create the righteousness of God. And it often happens that punishment falls on innocent people. That is why the Lord says in the Scripture “Vengeance is mine, I will repay” (Rom. 12, 19) ”.

Priest George Oparin, Holy Ascension Cathedral - Borovets Church:

The news of the terrible death of the child could not but excite every kind person. How awful it is! You need to understand, only the Lord knows how you can save us. The evil in the world comes from our sins, and each sin increases the evil in our world. And this evil is the cause of all crimes. Until we get rid of our sins, the worst crimes will be committed. Often we do not want to save ourselves voluntarily. It is not love for God, not gratitude to Him that brings us to God, to the Church, but our sorrows and misfortunes. Therefore, all calamities are directed towards our salvation.

What about revenge? Whom to take revenge on? To a sick person? And every criminal is a sick person. A sick person in a sick society. Well, we will take revenge, we will destroy. So what? Then we need to return to our sinful life. Whom to take revenge on? To yourself. After all, it is we, the so-called Orthodox, who sin and produce evil and crimes in the world. Through our indifference and indifference to sin, crimes are committed. And the best revenge for a crime is to start the path to God, the path of correcting ourselves, and through us, and correcting society.

The best we can do is pray for her. And to do a good deed for her: come to confession and correct her sins. Learn to pray to protect yourself and others. And also help other children find God.

Priest Valery Matveev, Borovets Church:

The topic of death is difficult. And this is especially true of the death of children. It is impossible even to imagine what it was like for the girl's parents these days! Life is dense, in order to get through the wall, you need to break through it. It is very difficult and even painful. But behind her is joy, light. This is when a person is an unbeliever, he is forced to worry, he simply has no other way to live spiritually. But God, the Church has given us much more. We have been given clarity, we have been given faith. “Peace be with you,” said the Lord. In the world we must live in clarity and trust in the Lord. The Lord will certainly grant her a blessed life in the Kingdom of Heaven. But we need to think about what is causing this? Look at how many thousands of children die from abortion every year, but for some reason no one is so worried about it. Of course, it is not easy for the girl's relatives to understand and experience this. But as Paisiy Svyatorets wrote: "Parents should know that from the moment their child dies, they have a prayer book in Paradise." May the Lord grant the girl's loved ones strength of spiritual strength, and admonition to us!

Priest Eugene Stupitsky, Borovets Church:

Death ... This word confuses a person. Man was created for eternal life, and therefore the encounter with death leads us to fear and horror. Moreover, death is violent, cruel. Although death accompanies humanity almost from the moment of its creation (the murder of his brother Abel by Cain), when faced with the manifestation of violence against a person, murder, we always come into a state of grief and indignation. And if you manage to detain the rapist, then in a state of anger, revenge. Cruelty for cruelty, tooth for tooth, eye for eye! But that was before our era. With the coming of Christ to earth, humanity received a new commandment - LOVE! He Himself showed us an example of love. He was crucified, and He prayed: “Father! forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing ”(Lk 23:34).

If we all lived in a state of love for those around us, then there would be no violence, cruelty in our life. But why cruelty, revenge, evil more and more often settle in our hearts. And love, forgiveness is considered a sign of weakness and lack of will. The fact is that, according to God's will, this world is ruled by the prince of darkness - the devil. And we, in pursuit of the "joys" and "delights" of this world, fall under its influence. And thus, we voluntarily remove God from ourselves. And the devil is an unambiguous evil, just like God is Love Itself. That is, we deliberately accept evil as the norm in our lives, while rejecting love. And our popular culture, under the influence of dark forces, filled us with thrillers, detectives, action films, where the plot is the same: a cruel, sophisticated crime and no less cruel revenge. Moreover, more and more often women are becoming killers, created by God to bring love to the world through motherhood. And a person spiritually damaged by such a "culture", having seen enough of these "spectacles", tries to reproduce them in real life. Press reports have repeatedly flashed that this or that crime was committed according to the scenario of the next blockbuster.

Our society has long been suffering from a chronic love deficit. And there is only one cure for this disease - Christianity, with its main value: "HUMAN LIFE"! And only God gives us this life, and only He has the right to take it ... The Chelninskaya tragedy makes each of us shudder, wake up from spiritual slumber, remember who we are and why we are here. Makes you think about educating young people, who will grow up? And how long can our civilization survive with a progressive deficit of love?

Orthodoxy in no way calls for the release of all criminals and murderers free, for this there is a law. Christianity calls to reconsider YOUR attitude towards the people around us in the direction of compassion, mercy and love so that there is less anger, hatred, envy in our hearts, which lead a person to crime. It is from the lack of love in each of us that our world gives rise to such killers.

Priest Roman Khramutichev, Intercession Church, Konovalovka village, Menzelinsky district:

Firstly, I would like to express my condolences to the parents, relatives and friends of the innocent murdered Vasilisa! Just like many residents of Chelny, we share with you the bitterness of the loss of your child.

The death or some kind of illness of children is sacrificial, since they are caused not by personal sins, but by the sins of their neighbors (John 9. 2). The children themselves do not realize this, but being already in eternal life, it will be revealed to them that God, through their death, suffered for their loved ones, what benefit they themselves acquired by this act of love.

Love is stronger than death - everyone knows this. True love is sacrificial. People with pure souls and children, above all, are capable of such love! This suffering can be understood and realized only with the belief that death here is not the end of life, but only the end of its serious preparatory stage for eternal life, and that suffering for others will not remain without God's great reward! And each of us should always think about what the Lord is doing for us and how he tries to reason with us, sometimes with such heavy sorrows!

Where does so much evil come from in the world? The whole reason is in ourselves. The fact is that our human nature is prone to sin. The Lord endowed everyone with freedom and freedom of choice. So everyone chooses for himself. Someone easily succumbs to the temptations of the devil, someone fights with him, fights with fasting and prayer. There are two paths: the first path is the true path, when a person abides with God and the grace of God always abides with him, and the second path is the path of self-will and submission to worldly vanity and passions, which lead us into the most serious sins.

Is the feeling of revenge appropriate in this situation? “If you will not forgive people their sins, then your Father will not forgive you your sins” (Matthew 6: 14-15). Words and thoughts about revenge should never arise in our minds. “Do not judge, lest you be judged” - the Lord will judge what to do with him!

What we can do? Pray for the peace of the soul of the murdered Vasilisa.

Vitaly Sidorenko, secretary of the Zakamsky deanery:

These days, all the inhabitants of our city were stirred up by the terrible news of the abduction and then the murder of an innocent eight-year-old girl Vasilisa Galitsina. Moreover, this terrible news swept the whole country and touched to the depths of the soul of every caring person. Many, after the incident, experience terrible anger towards the offender. This is very reminiscent of the Old Testament prescription "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth", which assumed bloody revenge, murder after murder dragged on in the event of crimes and offenses of people. With the coming of Christ the Savior into the world and bringing us the commandment of love, we cannot allow this to happen. After all, we know how terrible bloody revenge is among those peoples in whom it has survived to the present day. Our Lord Jesus Christ calls all of us to the highest measure of love, commanding us to be guided not only by the law of justice, but also by the law of forgiveness. This principle may not fit in our minds, but only love can lead us to becoming God-like. An egregious incident in our city should become an occasion for each of us to change ourselves for the better, in order to thereby lead the entire society to a moral change.

We all know that the Lord suffered death on the Cross for our sins and iniquities. And next to Christ, two robbers were crucified for grave crimes. One of them blasphemed Christ, and the second, admitting his guilt and the righteousness of his punishment, received forgiveness from the Savior. Moreover, this robber was promised: “today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23, 43). I wish that in these difficult days we maintain our inner sobriety, and that the example of a prudent robber would open to us, as well as to many rapists and murderers, the way to salvation through sincere repentance and prayer to God: “Remember me, Lord, when you come to Your Kingdom! " (Luke 23, 42).

Prepared by:

Deacon Dmitry ALIKIN

Veronica VYATKINA

Yulia KOKORINA

Why does God allow the suffering of the innocent? Does this make sense? How can you reconcile faith in an almighty, loving God and such gross injustice?

Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevsky is thinking.

Suffering overwhelms the earth

When you meet people who have experienced a terrible tragedy, it is difficult to talk about suffering. If I now looked into the eyes of a mother whose child died, a husband whose wife died, a son whose mother died, I don’t know what I would say ... Although I myself have experienced this and understand how hard it is. My wife died, my three grandchildren died in infancy. The world becomes black and white instead of color. Food loses its taste when you are with a loved one going through the experience of dying. I wish there was no suffering, that everyone lived happily, cheerfully, joyfully, that no one had cancer, multiple sclerosis, that people would never get into car accidents, so that planes would not crash. Nevertheless, no one can escape suffering and sorrow. They are in life. How should we treat them?

Recently a man came to me - a very good, very religious person. He said that he could no longer pray, that he could not enter the temple. A terrible story happened to him. He had a 20-year-old friend whom he had known since childhood. This poor girl had long periods of depression, she was mentally ill. She and her mother were unbaptized, unbelievers. Once this girl disappeared. They could not find her for a long time. But on the phone they were able to determine that she went into the forest, where there were towers from which in summer you can jump down on a rubber rope - such an attraction. When my friend was looking for her, he prayed very fervently. It seemed to him that God hears him and that she will definitely stay alive. But he found it himself. She was dead. The girl committed suicide by jumping from the tower. It was scary. And he could not accept that God allowed the death of this girl. It is clear that the world is imperfect. But as the almighty God who created this world, how could He allow this? And how can you believe in God when this happens on earth?

Deserved suffering is easier to accept

Probably, it is easier to die for a high idea, maybe it is joyful to die in the name of love, you can safely go to death if you have committed a serious crime and understand that you are worthy of punishment. It happens that the criminals themselves want to be punished. In the lives of the saints there is a story about a robber who killed many people, including children. In those days, criminals sometimes fled from justice in monasteries. The monks lived separately, wore special clothes, behind which they could hide. This robber also went to the monastery and was received by the monks. At first he deceived them, but then he repented and received forgiveness from God - every sinner receives forgiveness from God if he sincerely repents of his sins (among the saints there is one who killed 400 people). But having already received forgiveness, he still decided to surrender to the authorities, and was executed. Although no one drove him out of the monastery, no one demanded that he surrender - the priest to whom he repented could not have betrayed him, otherwise he would have violated the secret of confession. But this robber himself, approaching the Chalice, saw one of the babies he had killed and was greatly tormented. The awakened conscience did not allow him to live in peace, he wanted to be punished.

If a person knows that he is suffering for his sins, then he accepts this suffering. The prudent thief, who was crucified with Christ, said: We accept what is worthy for our sins. I recently read a story about a woman who took upon herself the sin of her son. The husband greatly mocked her, and the grown son, unable to bear it, killed him, and this woman took the blame of her son on herself and sat in prison instead of him. She told her cellmates: "I know why I am imprisoned, and every day I am glad that I am serving time for my son, and he is living free." This happens if a person understands why he is suffering. But if he doesn't understand?

Humanity is a single organism

It must be remembered, dear friends, that when this world was created, there was no suffering in it. God did not create suffering. How did they come about then? Some say, “God knew that Adam would sin. Why didn't He create Adam so that he would not commit sin? " The answer is simple: God created us free. We are not programmed, like machines, for good. We ourselves decide where to go, what to do, what to do, how to live. We can even decide whether to believe in God or not - this is the greatest freedom we have been given. God exists, and some people are absolutely convinced that He does not exist.

The beginning of suffering, the beginning of sin lies precisely in the fact that a person in his freedom can choose the path of evil. Animals, birds - they have relative freedom, but they do not choose between good and evil. You can, of course, shoot a wolf for picking up sheep, a man-eating bear can be killed, but still you can't put him in jail and give him a term for what he did. He doesn't understand what he is doing. And the person understands.

But why do we suffer from the fact that Adam misused the freedom given to him by God? We didn't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, did we? Although some of them probably already ate ... Well, babies definitely didn’t eat. Why, then, are babies born with heart pathologies, with deformities incompatible with life? Are babies to blame for anything?

We are created by God as a single organism. The sin or holiness of one is reflected in all others. It only seems that we are separated from each other by space, we have different intelligence, different appearance, different skin color, different addictions. In fact, humanity is a single organism, created by God in His own image - the image of the Most Holy Trinity, one in Love. That is, we are all persons of the same human nature and are very closely related. We are all relatives, we are brothers and sisters. And those who lived, and those who will live, and those who now live throughout the earth - we are all one. And therefore, what is violated in one affects others. Since Adam is our common forefather, his act as a kind of genetic disease is passed from generation to generation, from generation to generation.

Why doesn't God put things in order?

But then you can say: “Why doesn't God, in the end, put things in order? After all, he knows who sins more and who sins less. Among us, there may be future criminals who will commit serious crimes. So maybe it is better to eliminate them right away so that they do not interfere with others? " We do not know this, but God knows. Why does He allow these people to live?

The fact is that you and I live in time, which is the path to Eternity. The life we ​​are living now is not the real life for which we were created by God. Into this world, where you and I are, we were expelled from paradise after committing sin. And our stay here is temporary. This is not a place where we can settle down well, buy ourselves beautiful furniture, a summer house, a car, find a wonderful wife or husband, settle down forever and enjoy all these benefits.

Life is a road where we cannot collect many things, it is a road that will end one day. God is waiting for the end of history to draw a line. After all, if right now we begin to figure out who is right and who is wrong, I’m afraid that all of us will be in trouble. Each of us has sins, and I am far from being a saint. If a person is a priest or goes to church, this does not mean that he is a saint, as some think. To make a judgment, you need to end up with this world altogether, stop time and deal with everyone who has lived and who still lives. And this will happen without fail, but God is waiting for people who have not yet come to the consciousness of sin to repent.

Some even think that God, as it were, wound some clock, and now we are ticking here on our own, and He looks from above and does not interfere. But how does He endure so much evil? Why doesn't he interfere? Some kind of cruel God turns out, you say. Where is He looking? Where is he? And here we come to the most important thing.

God on the cross

One wise father, when asked where God is, said very simply: God is on the Cross. God comes to earth, becomes a man and lives a human life with all its difficulties, accepting even the consequences of original sin, although He is cleaner and more sinless than a newborn baby. It is very difficult for a sinless person to live among us sinners. Have you read Dostoevsky's The Idiot? It was an attempt to show the image of a holy man in our sinful world. And how did it end? The hero just went crazy.

When the Lord was on earth, He was so tired that He slept on the stern of the boat, which was literally drowning in the waves. Before accepting the sins of the whole world, before suffering on the Cross, the Lord prayed so fervently in the Garden of Gethsemane that his sweat was like drops of blood.

He took upon himself a terrible painful death. Has experienced many humiliations. The people whom He healed - and not a single person left Him without help - shouted: "Crucify, crucify Him!" Although these people could have set Him free, they set the robber free.

Death on the cross is a terrible death, death is torture. When a person is nailed to a cross, he is forced to lean on the wounds in his hands or on the nailed legs. The crucified man dies of suffocation. This is a terrible torture, a terrible torment. They even carried out such an experiment: people just stood for a long time with their arms raised - they began to choke from the fact that the chest was lifted up. And a crowd of people stood at the cross, they laughed and shouted: "Save yourself if you are God." As is known from modern studies of the shroud, Christ was flogged with terrible scourges with lead tips, ripping off the skin. It can be seen on the Shroud that His whole back was streaked with them.

He was so beaten that he himself could not bear the cross, Simon of Cyrene helped Him. When He carried the upper bar, which was tied to His hands, and when, exhausted, He stumbled on the way to Golgotha ​​- He fell face down into the dust, particles of this dust were found on the shroud. A crown of thorns with sharp thorns was put on His head, they dug into the skin, and streams of blood flowed down His face.

Physical suffering was further aggravated by moral, spiritual suffering, which is incomprehensible to us - He uttered a phrase on the cross that always leads me personally to a state of inner shudder, on the cross God the Son turns to God the Father: “My God, my God, why You left me?"

Something similar is experienced by my friend, who thinks that God has left this girl. This is an unbearably painful suffering, and it was experienced by God himself. This suffering is what God did to overcome evil, to destroy suffering itself. This is the way to get rid of suffering. Suffering is healed by suffering. Death is killed by death. Dying on the cross, enduring suffering, He destroys its strength. Now everyone who suffers can turn to Christ, and be with Him, and receive help from Him. Such help comes. Because now suffering does not have the same power that it had before Christ. Suffering now makes sense. And every suffering person now sacrifices himself and suffers with Christ.

You can’t resign yourself to evil

When we are faced with injustice, with old age, with death, we can turn with prayer to Christ, remember His suffering for us, and help will come, although perhaps not immediately.

This does not mean that suffering will end instantly. It was allowed by God in order to cleanse us from sin. Our soul, defiled by sin, cannot otherwise be cleansed. Just as it is impossible to cleanse the ingrained dirt without a brush, so suffering cleans the dirt of sin that has eaten into the soul, it has a cleansing meaning for us, it makes a person perfect. After all, when a person suffers, he shows his love, and this is another meaning of suffering.

I will end with a story about a book that reveals the mystery of suffering. This is the book of Job: it tells how one righteous man lived on earth, he was rich and he had many children - his name was Job. And the devil said to God: "Job loves You, because he has everything, take away his wealth, let's see how he will love You." And so with Job everything is crumbling, children are dying. His wife says to him: "Blaspheme God!" And Job answers her: "God gave, God took." Then he fell ill with a serious illness. His wife says to him: "Blaspheme God and die." And he says: "We must accept everything from God, good and bad." His friends came to Job and said: "This is all for your sins, you repent, and everything will pass." But Job knew no sin behind him. He accepted his fate, his suffering, and in the end God revealed Himself to him and revealed a certain secret. The mystery of reconciliation with God is revealed to man in an incomprehensible way.

You cannot put up with evil, you must definitely try to make the world less suffering, you cannot step aside, you need to help people. We have young people - volunteers go to help in the regional children's hospital. There are children from orphanages there, and no one visits them. Volunteers visit them every day, play, pick them up, take care of them.

If a person does not agree with the fact that there is suffering in the world, then he should try to make the suffering in the world less and more love. It is necessary not only to think, but to begin to work on it yourself, to pray with compassion, help others to multiply love in the world. In this deed and in prayer to Christ, crucified and risen, the mystery of suffering is revealed.

As Saint-Exupery said:

Saint-exupery

French writer

“To love is not to look at each other, to love is to look together in the same direction”

Those. learns together to love another person - her baby. V. Hugo wrote:

Victor Hugo

French writer

"Children immediately and at ease master with happiness, for they themselves are by their very nature joy and happiness."

Children are pure and sinless, they bring families closer, bring joy to others and teach adults kindness and sincerity.

“This is the inheritance from the Lord: children; the reward from Him is the fruit of the womb "

If children are a reward, then why does God take children from their parents? Why does the Lord take the young?

The death of a child in the Christian faith

"..In the power of the Lord Almighty the gates of death »

It is worth starting from this phrase in search of answers to the question: why does God allow the death of children? In addition to external causes, early mortality also carries the Providence of God. When the Lord takes a person, he takes care of his eternal blissful life. Orthodoxy tells us: death is a new beginning, bitter separation for a certain period of time.

"But the promise that He (the Lord) promised us is eternal life."

Passion Svyatogorets: "God takes every person at the most suitable moment of his life"

To the question "why do children die?" The Monk Paisios Svyatorets answers:

Passion Svyatorets

Reverend

“No one has yet signed a contract with God on when to die. God takes each person at the most suitable moment of his life, takes him in a special, only suitable way for him - so as to save his soul ...

When they tell me that a young man has died, I grieve, but I grieve as a human being. After examining things deeper, we will see that the more mature a person becomes, the more he has to fight and the more sins he accumulates.

Especially the people of this world: the longer they live, the more - by their worries, injustices and the like - they worsen their condition, instead of improving it. Therefore, a person whom God takes from this life in childhood or youth gains more than he loses. "

Theophan the Recluse: "the daughter is saved, not destroyed"

St. Theophan the Recluse, during a conversation with a mother who has lost her daughter, to the question "why does God allow the death of the young?" answers:

Theophan the Recluse

Saint

“The daughter died - good, good-natured. We must say: glory to Thee, Lord, that you removed her as soon as possible, not allowing her to get entangled in the temptations and seductive joys of the world. And you grieve - why did God deliver her from these hobbies and took her into His holy kingdom, pure and pure. It turns out that it would be better if she grew up, went into all the hard, which is now very unsurprising, especially for such pretty ones, which, as you say, the deceased was. Here is a tricky mother who regrets that her daughter has been saved and not ruined. "

Father Alexy Darashevich: "Death, first of all, is the Word of God to man"

As you read this article, you may be thinking, "It is easy to give answers to priests if there has been no loss in their lives." Therefore, below is the point of view on the question "why innocent people die" father Alexy Darashevich, rector of the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Polenovo, who lost his daughter and son in a car accident:

Alexey Darashevich

Priest

“I am grateful to everyone who remembers my children and prays for them. Know that when we pray, we connect with them and not only with them. In that world, all relatives, all really brothers and sisters. And when someone is remembered, everyone is remembered. You not only remember strangers, you remember yours with this.

Recently, more and more people have become afraid of death. Death, first of all, is the Word of God to man, and man must definitely hear Him. You cannot deprive a person of the Word that the Lord says. We are all one, and when the Lord says something to a person, He also says it to his son, daughter, mother, father, all those close to us, because we all live each other.

There is more and more suffering in the world, more and more deaths, some kind of misfortune. But next to these misfortunes there is grace, and it is very close. I didn't realize it right away. First you live, you act, and only then you come to the thought: "Lord, I did not count on such calmness, such simplicity." And all this is given, given by prayer and trust in the Lord.

There is nothing simpler than the prayer "Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner." We used to say that without even thinking. But the word “have mercy” means not only “forgive”, but also “have mercy”, that is, “love”. And what does "love" mean? True love-mercy will be when the Lord takes us to Himself, and this is death. In this world we see death, but in essence it is the taking of us by the Lord to Himself.

Father Alexy Darashevich: "Everything happens by the will of God"

Our parishioner shares her misfortune with me: “I also have grief, my son died two years ago. I cry for him day and night and wait for him home. I do not know what to do…".

Alexey Darashevich

Priest

I'll tell you: mother, no matter how bitter it is for you to say this, but why are you doing this? Do you think that you can help him with something with your tears? What you are doing is done by very many, but ... Now, perhaps, I have the right to tell you: that this is godlessness, to act this way. Just the way you do it. This lack of faith, this disbelief, this, in fact, is not help to him, but just a stone on him. Do you think it is easy for him there? And you still crush with this hopelessness of yours, melancholy and despondency.

Has the Lord commanded us this? Do you think your son is expecting this from you? I have already said, I want to repeat: we are afraid of death. We often refer to the holy fathers: "remember the hour of death, and you will never sin." Yes, the saint says this, but in his words there is no fear of death, you see - no!

Do you remember that there was your son, the boy Sasha, God rest his soul. And you clung to him, the past, not today, without thinking about what is with him, with his soul now. So, "remember the hour of death" means "remember what awaits you, remember and strive for it, think about it and get ready for it."

When a person groans, cries, cries out, he is afraid and realizes that his fate is hard, bitter, and at least to some extent, unconsciously, perhaps, he is trying to share this fate. This is essentially what we are doing. But it's not right. Everything happens according to the will of God.

Even a hair from a person's head cannot fall without His will. If this is the will of God, then what kind of experience can there be? When a person is not a believer, he is forced to experience, he has no other way to live spiritually, there is simply no.

And he takes at least this crutch - excitement. He cries, cries. But God, the Church has given us much more. We have been given clarity, we have been given faith. “Peace be with you,” said the Lord. In the world, we must live in clarity, in peace, with hope, with trust in the Lord.

The peace of God exists, it is near and it is beautiful. We are confused, we are not immediately aware of the surprise. Yes, there was, of course, some terrible moment, a gap, an anguish, but I had to go through it. Life is dense, in order to get through the wall, you need to break through it. It is very difficult and even painful. But there is joy and light behind it. "

The Church Can Help Cope With Loss

Why do small children die? why does God take babies? - no one but our Lord can give an exact answer to these questions

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life ».

If trouble happens in your home, go to church and confess. The sacrament will bring you and your family humility, and

(Proverbs 22.4)

“Humility is followed by the fear of the Lord, wealth and glory and life »

It is impossible to give an unambiguous answer to this question. For we do not know God's providence for every person ”Oh, the abyss of wealth and wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments and past tracing His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who was His counselor? Or who gave Him in advance so that He should repay? For all are of Him, by Him, and to Him. Glory to him forever, amen. " - exclaims the Apostle Paul (Rom. Ch. 11, v. 33, 34). The Lord loves all people equally and wants everyone to be saved. Therefore, he sends people death only in two cases: either when he sees that a person deserves the Kingdom of Heaven and is ready to pass into eternity, or when he sees that a person has become rigid in sins and will never repent or even believe in God. Therefore, the Lord takes away from him. this life of both young people and old people. This also explains why accidents, plane crashes, etc. Everything in this world is providential. The same applies to infants and all children in general. The Lord sees everything in advance (One of the properties of God is Omniscience). And if God sees that a child in the future will become an unrepentant sinner and will slide down to the abyss of hell, then He, out of His love, takes this child from this life at an early age, so that the child's soul may be blessed in the Kingdom of Heaven, and not be tormented in hell. We do not understand this and grumble, forgetting the Biblical truth that "There is another human judgment, and another judgment of God." their strengths, connections and wealth, thinking that they have already grasped everything and they can live carefree and without sorrow until the end of their lives. And the death of a child will make them remember Eternity. And in the end, both the child and the parents who believe in God will be saved. Remember the parable of the unreasonable rich man. Jesus Christ taught: “... a person's life does not depend on the abundance of his possessions. And so that people better understand this, the Lord told the parable of the unreasonable rich man. One rich man had a good harvest in the field. And he began to reason with himself: “What should I do? I have nowhere to gather my fruits. " And, having made up his mind, he said: “This is what I will do: I will break down my granaries, and I will build new larger ones, and I will gather there all my bread and all my goods, and I will say to my soul: soul! You have a lot of good things for many years, rest, eat, drink and be merry! ”But God said to him:“ insane! On this night they will take your soul from you (that is, you will die); Who will get what you have prepared? ”Having finished this parable, the Lord said:“ This is the case with the one who collects treasures for himself, and does not become rich in God ”, i.e. That is, this should happen to every person who collects wealth only for himself, for his comfort and pleasure, and not for God, that is, not for good deeds pleasing to God - he does not help his neighbors and does not alleviate their suffering. Death will come to a person, and his earthly wealth will not bring his soul in the next world, in the future life, any benefit. In general, the reasons why children die can be different, because the Lord provides for each person in His own way. The book The Father of the Preacher describes the following case: The pious widow Cleopatra had a special love for the holy martyr Uar, whose body was buried by her in her possession. She built a church in his honor and wished to transfer his holy relics to it. On the day of their transfer, she especially fervently prayed to the holy martyr that he would accept under his protection her only son, a boy of twelve years old, who was to be sent to military service. Her prayer was heard, and the martyr, indeed, became the patron saint of her son, but not in military service. It happened that the boy fell seriously ill that day and died at night. Instead of submitting to the will of the inscrutable in the ways of His Lord, Cleopatra gave herself up to great despair. She even went so far as to attribute the loss of her son to the martyr and severely reproach him. The temptation did not last long, however. Soon Saint Uar appeared to her along with her son and said: “Why do you reproach me? Is it just because I took your son into the army of the Heavenly King? " Following the martyr, her son turned to her with the following words: “Why do you grieve so hopelessly, my mother? I am now led into the army of the King of Christ and together with the Angels I stand before Him, and you want me to pass from the Kingdom into poverty. " Hearing these words and seeing her son clothed in Heavenly glory, the amazed and delighted mother exclaimed: "Oh, if so, then take me with you!" “Be patient,” the martyr answered her, “and arrange your possessions for the glory of the Lord, and after that you yourself will come to eternal dwellings.” The vision ended, and with it Cleopatra's despair passed. After the burial of her son, she really did with the estate, as the martyr advised her, that is, distributed it to the poor, and then during the year every Sunday she was honored to see her son with the martyr Uar in angelic clothes, and then she herself died peacefully, pleasing God ... (Archpriest V. Guriev. Prologue. P. 119). Here is another case: They say that Abba Anthony, once perplexed by the depth of God's economy (government of the world) and God's judgments, prayed and said: “Lord! Why do some of people reach old age and a state of weakness, while others die in childhood and live a little? Why are some poor and others rich? Why do tyrants and villains prosper and abound in earthly blessings, while the righteous are oppressed by misfortunes and poverty? " For a long time he thought so, and there was a voice to him: “Antony! Pay attention to yourself and do not subject yourself to the investigation of the fate of God, because it is soul-damaging. " (Bishop Ignatius. Father of the Father. S. 38. No. 195). One hermit asked God to make him understand the ways of His Providence, and imposed a fast on himself. However, God did not reveal to him what he wanted to know. The monk still did not stop praying, and, finally, the Lord admonished him. When he went to an old man living far from him, an angel appeared to him in the form of a monk and offered to be a companion. The hermit was very happy with the offer, and they went on together. When the day turned to evening, they stopped for the night with a pious husband, and he received them with such honor that he even offered food on a silver platter. But what a surprise! Immediately after the meal, the Angel took the dish and threw it into the sea. The elder was perplexed, but said nothing. They went on and the next day they stayed with another, also pious man, and this one also received them with joy: he washed their feet and showed all the attention. But again the trouble! When the hermit and his companion began to get ready for the journey, the owner brought his young son to them to be blessed. But instead of a blessing, the Angel, touching the boy, took his soul. Neither the elder from horror, nor the father from despair could utter a word, and the elder ran out, and the companion, not lagging behind, followed him. On the third day of the journey, they had nowhere to stop, except for one dilapidated and abandoned house, and they took refuge in it. The elder sat down to eat the food, and the companion, to his amazement, again began a strange thing. He began to destroy the house, and having destroyed, he began to build anew. Seeing this, the elder could not bear it: “Who are you, a demon or an Angel? What are you doing? he cried angrily. - The day before yesterday he took a dish from a kind man and threw it into the sea. Yesterday he took the boy's life, but today for some reason he destroyed and started building this house again? ” Then the Angel said to him: “Do not be astonished, elder, this and do not be tempted about me, but listen to what I tell you. The first husband who accepted us, indeed, acts in all things God-please, but the dish I threw was not acquired by him in truth. That is why I abandoned him so that he would not ruin his reward. The second husband is also pleasing to God, but if his young son grew up, he would become a terrible villain; that's why I took his soul for the good of his father, so that he too would be saved. "-" Well, here, what did you do? " - asked the old man. The angel continued: “The owner of this house was an immoral man, because of this he became impoverished and left. His grandfather, having built this house, hid gold in the wall, and some know about it. That is why I ruined it, so that from that time no one would seek gold here and die through it. " The angel concluded his speech in the following way: “Return, elder, to your cell and do not be tormented without your mind, for this is how the Holy Spirit says:“ Marvelous are His fates, great is His wisdom! ” (Isa. 28:29). Therefore, you do not try them, - it will not do you any good. " The angel then became invisible, and the stricken elder repented of his error and afterwards told everyone about what had happened. (Archpriest V. Guriev. Prologue. P. 200) Think about it! God bless you!

Geronda, one mother lost her child nine years ago. Now she asks you to pray so that she will see him at least in a dream and be comforted.

How old was the child? Was he small? It matters. If the child was small and if the mother is in such a state that when he appears, she will not lose - peace of mind, then he will appear to her. The reason that the child does not appear is in herself.

Geronda, can a child appear not to his mother, who asks about it, but to someone else?
- How can it not! After all, God arranges everything for our benefit. After all, we see that the more mature a person becomes, the MORE sins he has - accumulates. Especially the people of this world: the longer they live, the more - by their sins they WORK OUT - their condition, instead of improving it. Therefore, a person whom God takes from this life in childhood or youth gains more than he loses.

- Geronda, why does God allow so many young people to die?
- No one has signed a contract with God on when to die.

God takes each person - at the most suitable moment of his life, takes him in a special, only for him, a suitable way - so that to SAVE - his soul.

If God sees that a person WILL BECOME - better and WILL BE CORRECTED, He leaves him - to live. However, seeing that a person WILL BECOME worse, He takes him to save him.

And others - those who LEAD - a sinful life, but have a disposition - to do good, He takes to Himself before they have time to do this good. God does this because he knows that these people would do good if given the opportunity to do so. That is, God does not care what says to them: "Do not work: that good disposition that you have is enough."

Of course, this is not easy for parents and relatives of a deceased child to understand. Look: when a baby dies, Christ takes him to Himself - like a little Angel, and his parents cry, although they should have rejoiced. After all, how do they know what he would have become when he grew up? Could he have been saved?

When we left Asia Minor by ship in 1924, I was a baby. The ship was full of refugees. I was lying on the deck, wrapped in swaddling clothes by my mother. One sailor accidentally stepped on me. Mother thought I was dead and began to cry. One woman from our village unwound the diapers and made sure that nothing had happened to me. But, if I died then, then I would definitely be in Paradise. And now I have been for so many years, I have struggled so much, but I am still not sure whether I will be there or not.

But, in addition, the death of children - HELPS and their parents. Parents should know that from the moment their child dies, they will have a prayer book in Paradise. When the parents die, their children will come - to the door of Paradise to MEET - the souls of the father and mother.

In addition, to young children who have been tormented by illness or injury, Christ will say: "Come to Paradise and choose the best place in it."

And the children will answer Christ like this: "It is wonderful here, Christ, but we want our mother to be with us," and Christ, having heard the request of the children, will find a way to save their mother.