Main news for 22 July 2022

What does it mean to be "rich toward God"? One can reflect on the words of the apostle Paul: "To me, the least of all the saints, this grace was given: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Eph 3:8). "The unsearchable riches of Christ." What is this? But they are unsearchable precisely so that we do not understand this to the end, and therefore do not fully understand what it means to be rich toward God. Our holy teachers say that this means doing works of mercy, giving away one's material possessions and one's labor, and this is understandable and beautiful. But, to tell the truth, this is not entirely enough. One can fall from this into such an abyss if at the moment one is not "the one to whom it is given from above" to do such deeds. We have all witnessed similar sad stories in life. A person seems to have everything: kindness, self-denial, the desire to give everything, but after several years of "holy" life the person falls into an abyss. Why? Because what we have listed, summarizing, let us say, St. Philaret's teaching on the words "rich toward God," is still not enough. This richness toward God, richness for God, richness of God remains unsearchable after all. It is perhaps deeply symbolic that in our language these words have the same root. But let us listen to what the apostle says next. "And to make plain to everyone what is the administration of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that now through the Church the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose that He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him." (Eph 3:9-12) In fact, here the description of what this richness is is fully revealed. It is hard to retell, hard to try to convey these words in one's own words, to bring them closer, to make them more understandable. But apparently the main thing is this: this "manifold wisdom in the heavens," which is this richness, as it seems to us, is acquired only through "boldness and faith in Him."