Question on Soyuz TV channel on December 8, 2013.
Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov answers, the host is Archpriest Alexander Berezovsky.
Question: In the writings of the holy fathers and in your sermons, sobriety is often mentioned as an extremely desirable condition for success in the Christian life. Define this term as applied to modern laity, if possible, with examples.
Archpriest Dimitry answers:
Sobriety is a derivative of discernment. Besides, sobriety can be considered as a certain step. Discernment is a very high virtue, which many Holy Fathers put even higher than love, because everyone can achieve love, while discernment can not be achieved by everyone. But the first stage of reasoning is sobriety, and every Christian must somehow succeed in this. Because, unfortunately, very often, especially in the beginning of the Christian life, a person falls into some kind of euphoria. It is simply explained. Because, firstly, a person discovers a new world, and this always happens. He experiences a certain fascination - quite legitimate - since he plunges into the two-thousand-year-old tradition. He begins to meaningfully read the Holy Scriptures, because for a person far from tradition, this is generally a closed book. Thirdly, he immediately encounters new, one might say, objects: a church, a priest, vestments, a choir, and icons. And to research everything, dozens of books are needed. He begins to plunge into it, and, of course, he becomes overwhelmed. Many people, when facing churchliness like that, even stop reading secular books - everything seems tasteless. And one more aspect. This is a contact with the church world, and yet there is also the grace-filled life. And the grace of God affects not only our spirit, but also the soul and body. Man is also transformed externally - he is radiant, dozens of miracles happen every day in his life, and he almost flies. And he still does not know how to fly. And much of what he perceives as the direct action of the grace of God is not really this - it is a spiritual perception of his real contact with the grace-filled life. That is, indirectly. Therefore, there is always a danger to take one thing for another.
