Special mortal sins: blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. What is “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit”? And what does God's forgiveness mean?

This topic is very serious and relevant. We all want to be blessed, we want God to favor us and our children. We pray and pray persistently, but something is blocking us from receiving God's blessings. Yes, God's mercy is great, it is extended to us.
But let's look at our life: there is still a spiritual struggle in it, and often we are spiritual bankrupts. We pray for the sick for healing, but they are not healed; we cast out demons, and they come back again. We look at Yeshua and understand that He had both power and anointing. When we seriously seek God, a revelation about God comes. Then it’s time to understand yourself, analyze your life and rethink it. God needs clean vessels so that He can use us at any time. The Holy Spirit brings us to the realization of our sinfulness. The Holy Spirit works in the world to convict people of sin and give them new birth. He puts his stamp on us. IN Ephesians at 4:30 said: "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." We have the seal of God on us, we are His property.
IN Holy Scripture vary sins lead to death and not to death. 1 John 5:16“If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin that does not lead to death, let him pray, and God will give him life, that is, he who sins a sin that does not lead to death. There is a sin leading to death: I’m not talking about that, so that he prays.”
What is sin unto death? Sin leading to death is what makes a person’s relationship with God and the presence of God in a person’s life impossible.
There are three types of sin leading to death.

Sin unto death- this is the persistent rejection (non-acceptance) of the Gospel, despite the fact that the Holy Spirit proves its truth.
Sin unto death– it is also conscious refusal from given by God and proclaimed by the Holy Spirit grace of salvation through Yeshua the Messiah when she was already accepted. The Apostle John speaks about such sin among believers. These were people who left the community and began to deny the Messiah as the Anointed One, and at the same time as the Savior. John calls such people “antichrists”
(1 John 2:18-22)« 18 Children! Lately. And as you have heard that the Antichrist will come, and now many antichrists have appeared, then we know from this that the time is last.
19 They went out from us, but they were not ours: for if they had been ours, they would have remained with us; but they came out, and through this it was revealed that they were not all ours.
20 However, you have the anointing of the Holy One and know everything.
21 I wrote to you not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and also that no lie is from the truth.
22 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.”
If a person denies Yeshua the Messiah of Israel, then he has no other way to salvation, for the Son is the only way to the Father. Therefore it is clear that this sin leads to death.
Sin unto death- This blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which Yeshua spoke about in Luke 12:10“And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; and whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.”
For the mission of the Holy Spirit is precisely to lead a person to Yeshua and keep him with Him.

All other sins do not lead to death, since they can be forgiven if a person repents.
Let's figure it out What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? Hula means to scold, to utter insulting words, to scold, to defame.
Let's read the Gospel of Matthew 12:22-32“ 22 Then they brought to Him a demon-possessed man, blind and dumb; and he healed him, so that the blind and dumb man began to speak and see.
23 And all the people marveled and said, Is this not the Christ the son of David?
24 When the Pharisees heard this, they said: He casts out demons only by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons.
25 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be desolate; and every city or house divided against itself cannot stand.
26 And if Satan casts out Satan, then he is divided with himself: how can his kingdom stand?
27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whose power do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has certainly come upon you.
29 Or how can anyone enter the house of a strong man and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? and then he will plunder his house.
30 He who is not with Me is against Me; and whoever does not gather with Me scatters.
31 Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men;
32 If anyone speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; But if anyone speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the next.”
Yeshua healed the sick and cast out demons. But this time He did something that first century Judaism believed only the Messiah could do to prove His authenticity. This list of evidence included the healing of a leper, the expulsion of a deaf, dumb and blind demon, and others. What did Yeshua do? He cast out a deaf, dumb and blind demon. And in the Gospel of Matthew 8:2-4 it is written that He cleansed the leper:“ 2 And then the leper came up and bowed to Him and said: Lord! if you want, you can cleanse me.
3 Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him and said, “I want you to be clean.” And he was immediately cleansed from leprosy.
4 And Jesus said to him, “See that you do not tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded as a testimony to them.”
When the disciples of John the Baptist came to Yeshua to ask who He was, Yeshua answered (Matthew 11:4-5):“ 4 And Jesus answered and said to them, Go and tell John what you hear and see:
5 The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the poor have the good news preached to them.”
Now Yeshua’s answer becomes clear, because John the Baptist knew that only the Messiah could do such miracles.
I think you have noticed what Yeshua says "See, don't tell anyone." Yeshua tried not to make public the fact that He was the Messiah. Why? Because the people were waiting for the Messiah, who would free Israel from Rome and rule in glory. But I didn’t expect someone who would die like a criminal. If Yeshua had openly declared that He was the Messiah, then people would constantly try to make Him king, as it is written in John 6:15 “Jesus, having learned that they wanted to come and accidentally take him and make him king, again withdrew to the mountain alone.” If this attempt had succeeded and Yeshua had actually taken the throne, He would not have fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 53 about the Messiah who must suffer and die.
In Israel, people were known who healed the sick and raised the dead. For example, in the Tanakh the prophet Elisha (Elisha) resurrected the child. It is also written that the dead man fell on the bones of the prophet, the anointing touched the dead man, and he was resurrected. Naaman received healing by plunging into the waters of the Jordan at the word of the prophet. The book of Acts describes examples of Yeshua's disciples performing many miracles in Yeshua's name, and other examples.
Yeshua always said that He and the Father are one. He never separated Himself from the Father. He brought people a revelation about the Father. Previously, God spoke in the prophets, but now in the Son. But the Pharisees told Him that He was blaspheming. Yeshua speaks in Luke 4:18-19" 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; For He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor, and He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach freedom to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
And they marveled: “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”
The Pharisees were waiting for the Messiah. They knew their history, they read it in synagogues every Saturday. These were highly educated people. Was there anything new to them in what Yeshua was doing? Did they doubt that the Holy Spirit was doing this? What Yeshua did, namely casting out the demons of blindness, deafness and dumbness, was a great miracle that was expected only from the Messiah. You will ask why? Because it is impossible to talk to this demon! Other demons, even a legion of demons, can be commanded to come out in the name of Yeshua, and they will be forced to leave. And they leave! What do you order for a deaf and dumb demon? Only the Messiah had such power.
And the Pharisees knew well that these were the main signs that could only be expected from the Messiah. This means we must admit that Yeshua is the Messiah! The Promised Messiah.
Consider history Pharisee Nicodemus, described in John 3:2“He came to Jesus at night and said to Him: Rabbi! we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do such miracles as You do unless God is with him.”
Nicodemus, Nakdimon from Hebrew, Nikodemos from Greek - teacher of Israel, rabbi, member of the Sanhedrin. Came at night. Fears. He needs born again. This is why he came to Yeshua. He sincerely sought and, in the end, found true faith. Nicodemus accused all the Pharisees of blasphemy, that all the Pharisees, although they say that Yeshua casts out demons by the power of demons and that Yeshua has a demon, in fact they know that Yeshua does not have a demon. Yeshua Himself knew about this, that the Pharisees understood this. He said that a tree is known by its fruit, i.e. our deeds speak for us. What Yeshua did, only God could do.
The Pharisees deliberately spoke, deliberately humiliating the Holy Spirit. They spoke in anger, out of envy. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit- this means attributing the actions of the Spirit of God to the prince of demons.Beelzebub is the name of the Akkaron deity, which means mister flies It was contemptuously changed by the Jews to Beelzebub, what does it mean lord of the dung heap, and was used as the name of the ruler of demons. The leaders of the Jewish religion, by using this extremely blasphemous name, showed that they resolutely rejected Yeshua as the Messiah of Israel and rejected Him.
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit means the obvious works of God, and the works of the Holy Spirit are attributed to the devil. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, because it is an attack against God Himself, the greatest slander, characteristic only of rejected spirits of evil, who have never been invited to repentance and can never repent. In this greatest blasphemy God Himself is denied. Here the deepest fall of man is assumed, from which the grace of God cannot lead him out, because it is denied in such blasphemy. The human spirit that utters such blasphemy becomes on the same level as an unclean spirit. IN In. 8:44 Yeshua said: “Your father is the devil, and you want to do the lusts of your father.” You tell lies just like him because "he is a liar, and the father of lies." Here the rapprochement of the Pharisees with the unclean spirits of malice is obvious.
You may ask: why can’t you repent and receive forgiveness? Because the Spirit of God leads to the awareness of sinfulness. And in such cases, He departs from the person, and the grace of God also departs. If the Spirit is rejected, He leaves with repentance and forgiveness. Repentance occurs under the influence of the Holy Spirit, for without Him we can do nothing. By it we live, and move, and exist.
So, let's summarize. What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh)?
1. Persistently rejecting the Gospel, although the Holy Spirit proves it to be true;
2. Attributing the miracles of the Holy Spirit to the devil, when it is known that only God can do such miracles.
Tell me, can the devil and his servants (sorcerers, psychics, etc.) to perform some miracles and deceive even Christians who are not established in God? Yes maybe. Remember the sorcerers of the Egyptian pharaoh. But the devil can’t do everything, and then he takes the soul from the person who believed him.
I want to clarify the concepts of “blaspheming the Spirit” and “insulting the Spirit.” These are completely different things. To blaspheme the Spirit means to deliberately slander Him.
To offend the Spirit means to disobey Him of your own free will. The Apostle Paul speaks to Ephesians 4:30“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
Unfortunately, many believers grieve and quench the Spirit of God. We grieve the Spirit of God when we do not allow Him to manifest Himself in the way He pleases. For example, the Holy Spirit tells you to come to to a stranger and bring him to the Lord. And you are embarrassed: “Well, what am I going to tell him, he won’t listen to me!”, forgetting that it is not you who will speak, but the Spirit through you.
We “offend” the Spirit by living like pagans, acting according to our sinful nature. “Offence” to the Spirit occurs when we act sinfully, in thought and deed, or only in thought.
If such people confess this sin, they will be forgiven and cleansed by the blood of Yeshua the Messiah. 1 John 1:7-9“ 7 But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, He, being faithful and righteous, will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Let's read Matthew 12:32“If anyone speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; But if anyone speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the next.” Why will a word spoken against the Son of Man be forgiven? Is the Holy Spirit superior to the Son of Man? No! God is one. A person who is not enlightened by the work of the Holy Spirit may say something against the Son of Man, but he will be forgiven because he does not fully understand the importance of his words. He is in the dark. The Holy Spirit did not reveal to him the full significance of these words.
People think in stereotypes, so they often do not perceive God in other churches, other denominations, and other pastors. We get used to certain forms of service, appearance minister, etc. Yeshua knows this. People do not accept Yeshua in forms other than the stereotype they have developed. God works in different ways, but the Spirit is the same. Understanding us, Yeshua forgives us for our blasphemy against Him. Luke 23:32-34“ 32 They led two evildoers with Him to death.
33 And when they came to the place called Skull, there they crucified Him and the evildoers, one on the right and the other on the left.
34 Jesus said: Father! forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. And they divided His garments by casting lots.”
But if a person knows what Yeshua said: “I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6) What “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) and rejects his Savior, then his words become the basis for unforgiveness.
Let's look at our life now. Tell to myself Honestly, has it ever happened to you that you said that in this or that church or denomination there is no Holy Spirit, that there is no God's presence there, that you did not feel the anointing there? Or that this or that pastor has no anointing at all, that he says something from himself. Let's remember, maybe at some service you felt the strong presence of God, but you were told that the Holy Spirit was not there. Maybe you did it out of envy or other evil feelings.
So that we do not remain opponents of God, blasphemers, we need to repent before God and ask for forgiveness. Blasphemy is a sin leading to spiritual death. Life of Saul (Paul), who was a persecutor of the church and a killer of Christians, changed after his repentance. He didn't understand what he was doing. From here we can conclude that since we did this in ignorance, the merciful Lord did not take the Spirit of God away from us and we have a chance to repent.

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, in the name of Your Son Yeshua the Messiah, I deeply repent for my dangerous thoughts and words that I had against God and the servants of God, against other denominations, and against the children of God. Forgive me, because I did not understand what I was doing! Forgive me for not receiving the Spirit of God in other people! Cleanse me! Let this sin stop! Remove anger, envy and other impurities from my heart! I don't want to be a blasphemer and lose my salvation. I want to obey You, Lord. I want to always be in Your will and will forgive Your guidance. I dedicate my life to You. Have mercy and bless me!
Amen.

I don’t remember where I read this story about a boy who, having learned that there was one single unforgivable sin, suffered terribly, suffered, and then climbed onto the stove, covered himself with a sheepskin coat and - expecting the sky to fall on him - and said : “The Holy Spirit is a fool”... The sky did not fall...

By the way, as a child I was the same as this boy - having heard from my grandmother about this unforgivable sin, I spent the whole day fighting with myself not to say the same thing and also expected that I would either be incinerated by lightning, or something worse.

And only very soon, after a couple of decades, I finally found out that I was mistaken.

“Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men; if anyone speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; But if anyone speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come” (Matthew 12:31-32; similar in Mark 3:28-29 and Luke 12:10)

What is it? It turns out that it is possible to scold Christ, but if you scold the Spirit, then that’s it, you can’t expect forgiveness? And this is said in the Book, where forgiveness is spoken of very often, where the Prodigal Son, the harlot, the Pharisee, and the thief are forgiven? How is it that someone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven, but a mass murderer, it turns out, can? The human mind rebels against this statement - and rightly so.

Let us not judge so hastily, especially since the Fathers of the Church were unanimous: this has nothing to do with swearing and “degrees of sinfulness.”

St. Basil Veliki He formulated his interpretation as follows:

“He blasphemes the Holy Spirit who attributes the actions and fruits of the Holy Spirit to the enemy” (i.e., the devil).

St. John Chrysostom With his characteristic eloquence he explains:

“Just as the one who considers the sun dark does not disparage this luminary, but provides clear evidence of his blindness, and as the one who calls honey bitter does not diminish its sweetness, but reveals his illness, so do those who condemn the works of God... Whoever blasphemes , he inflicts wounds on himself.”

And St. Simeon the New Theologian This interpretation even expands somewhat:

“Whoever says that in modern times it is impossible to receive the Holy Spirit, and whoever blasphemes the actions of the Holy Spirit, saying that such actions are from the devil, introduces a new heresy into the Church of God.”

When were the words about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit spoken? Luke places them within a rather long speech, which is devoted, speaking in the most general terms, to the fate of man before God. But Matthew and Mark cite them in connection with a specific situation, it is described in especially detail in Matthew.

Jesus heals the sick, casts out demons from the possessed - in other words, performs miracles that cannot be ignored. But His opponents find their own explanation for this: “He does not cast out demons except by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons.”(Matthew 12:24). Since the demons obey Him, then, in the opinion of these people, He is the most important among them!

Jesus shows the absurdity of their constructions, and concludes His answer with these very words about the unforgivability of blasphemy against the Spirit. And in this context, they can be understood exactly as the Fathers understood: abuse directed against the person of Jesus can still be forgiven, like any human sin. Moreover, the Son of Man came in the guise of a slave - and according to Christ, a person could confess Him as the Son of God only under the influence of the Holy Spirit. And to blame man (especially a contemporary of Christ) for mistaking God incarnate for common man- it is forbidden. Christ hides his Divinity. But if people attribute to the devil that which clearly and obviously demonstrates the saving action of God for people in this world, what then can save them?

The Pharisees saw that Christ was obviously doing good - but they needed to prove for their own benefit that white was black. And they did not hesitate - seeing all the miracles and healings - to directly lie, attributing obvious goodness to its opposite. Even if they did not know that Christ is God, how could good be called evil?

The Divinity of the Son may be hidden by Himself, but the Holy Spirit REVEALS this divinity! He also reveals His divinity. That is, with the action of the Spirit, the Lord clearly reveals His presence to man. The action of the Spirit reveals signs and wonders, the Spirit invades the familiar world of man and brings Light and Good completely openly, sometimes violating the laws of nature familiar to man.

But if a person consciously turns away from the obvious presence of God, He blasphemes the Holy Spirit.

Now modern Orthodox Christians love to use this expression: “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit” on all occasions. The filthy girls desecrated the Cathedral of Christ the Savior - blasphemy. Someone says the wrong things, even heretical ones - blasphemy. Someone misinterpreting a passage of Scripture is blasphemy.

But this is a mistake. A person blasphemes the Holy Spirit if he commits three types of actions. If in response to an obvious miracle, to the obvious discovery of Himself by God - he says that all this “science will explain and discover”, “this cannot be, I’m still an atheist” - that is, a person consciously turns away from God, despite the fact that The Lord openly makes Himself known. I once read a story by a priest, it said that he went to hospitals and administered communion, unction, and confession to the sick who were already on the verge of death. One day he was brought to the intensive care unit, where a woman lay in agony, consumed by cancer at the last stage. While she was conscious, the priest administered unction to her, but the doctor said that the patient had only a few hours to live.

The priest decided to come and perform the funeral service for the woman the next day. Imagine his surprise when the next day the woman met him on her feet. An obvious miracle - and the priest asked the woman to come to the temple, because the Lord saved her life by an obvious miracle.

The woman did not come to the temple - moreover, the priest often came to her home and asked her to come - and in the end she kicked him out of the house with terrible words both addressed to the priest and to Christ. The miracle of healing was revealed completely openly - but the man rejected God.

A person blasphemes the Holy Spirit if, in response to the obvious revelation of Himself by God, he, like the Pharisees, says: “This is a manifestation of the devil,” that is, he turns away from the obvious Good and considers it evil.

Another type of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is now, unfortunately, very common. This is when a person mistakes his man-made experiences for the action of the Holy Spirit. Charismatic “services”, where people fall into hysterics, scream, fall into epilepsy, are covered with “laughter in the Holy Spirit”, “peace in the Holy Spirit”, “glossolalia in the Holy Spirit”... All this is blasphemy when a person’s own man-made mental experiences attributes to the action of God. He has already found “God,” so when the Lord comes to such a soul and knocks on its door, it will already be occupied, the person there has already built an altar to the “Holy Spirit” and will not let anyone else in there. He is already a “saint,” already “marked with the seal of the Spirit,” already met “a friend of Jesus and opened an account in the heavenly bank.” He has already spent his free will on choosing an object of service - and the joy of meeting the Living God, the joy of mystical marriage, the joy of finding real Life will pass him by.

Many people believe that the words: “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men; if anyone speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; But if anyone speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the next.”- cruel. They are not cruel - Christ did not threaten us. He was simply honest - He told people honestly about the conditions of salvation. Salvation is when someone snatches you from the clutches of death. Christ came to earth to do this - and He speaks honestly about the conditions under which He cannot save us. Almighty God truly created a stone that he cannot lift: he created us free. Our free will is this stone. If we freely push away the hand that saves us, if we turn away from the rescuer, if we believe that we are already saved, even though we are drowning, we are left alone with death.

(When writing the article, lectures by Deacon A. Kuraev and St. A. Desnitsky were used)

The entire Gospel speaks of forgiveness. This, in fact, is what distinguishes it from many other religions, including the Old Testament. Almost all of them talk in one way or another about sins and responsibility for them, and even the possibility of forgiveness. But only the Gospel makes this forgiveness all-encompassing: the thief on the cross, who probably committed many atrocities and caused people a lot of grief, receives complete forgiveness as soon as he turns to Christ! And the parable of the prodigal son, whom his father not only does not punish, but also accepts as long-awaited, and is the first to run towards him?

And against this background, a warning sounds with sharp dissonance:

“Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men; if anyone speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; But if anyone speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the next.”(Matthew 12:31-32; similar in Mark 3:28-29 and Luke 12:10; however, Mark does not mention the Son and speaks generally of “blasphemies”).

We perceive this text through the prism of . It turns out that it is excusable to blaspheme the Son and unforgivable -. What can we say about the Father? And how can this even be if the Father, Son and Spirit are One God?

But in the Gospel, Christ does not speak in dogmatic formulations; He usually responds to the situation that has arisen, to the specific need of this or that person.

The Fathers of the Church spoke quite a lot about this statement, and, which is quite unusual, they spoke almost with one voice.

He formulated his interpretation as follows:

“He blasphemes the Holy Spirit who attributes the actions and fruits of the Holy Spirit to the enemy” (i.e., the devil).

With his characteristic eloquence he explains:

And this interpretation even expands somewhat:

But before discussing their interpretations, let us return to the Gospel text itself and see in what setting these words were spoken.

Luke places them within a rather long speech, which is devoted, speaking in the most general terms, to the fate of man before God. But Matthew and Mark cite them in connection with a specific situation, it is described in especially detail in Matthew.

Let's say a person falls into the water from the side of a sailing ship and drowns. If those who seek to help him abandon Lifebuoy, he blasphemes with the dirtiest words - he can still take advantage of the thrown circle and save himself, although he will have to apologize later. But if he hides from the circle itself, swims away, mistaking it for a shark, it means he refuses salvation. All he had to do was drown.

This is how it looked then: it was so important for those Pharisees to prove that they were right that they did not hesitate to declare white as black, God’s as demonic. We were not talking about some subtle theological error, incorrect verbal construction, but about things that were quite clear and unambiguous. One could doubt whether Jesus spoke correctly during his sermon, but it was impossible not to admit that those who were brought to Him sick or brought to Him who were demon-possessed left Him healed, and that this was a great blessing for man.

Miracles confirmed that He was not just talking about the Kingdom of God, but establishing it here and now, and those Pharisees chose to accept all this as the action of the devil, just to remain right in their own eyes.

Accusations of “blasphemy against the Spirit” are often heard in polemics among Christians today. Indeed, such a killer argument! In fact, this accusation usually goes something like this: “I don’t like the way you talk about God.” I think that in most cases this accusation is unfounded.

But when a person suddenly begins to call “delusion” or “possession” or “heresy” something that he does not yet understand, but in which the action of the Spirit can clearly be discerned, I am afraid that he is approaching a very dangerous line.

The main problem is not even that for some particularly impudent words he will later be asked especially strictly (although this is not sweet), but rather that he risks rejecting God’s hand extended to him, if for some reason it seems to him, that it was not stretched there, not then and not in the way that the person himself considered necessary.

Hello, please help. She committed the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. According to this quote: Rev. Nikon Optina: “Try to have mental and physical purity, try after confession not to sin consciously, not to sin arbitrarily in the hope of repentance, since, according to the teachings of the Holy Orthodox Church If anyone sins in the hope of repentance, he is guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. People who are sick at heart come to us, confessors, to repent of their sins, but they do not want to part with them, especially they do not want to part with any of their favorite sins. This reluctance to leave sin, this secret love for sin is what makes a person unable to sincerely repent, and therefore does not result in healing of the soul. What a person was before confession, remained so during confession, and continues to remain so after confession. It should not be like this." Archpriest Valentin Mordasov: "Whoever sins in the hope of repentance is guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. To deliberately sin with reckless hope in the grace of God and think: “Nothing, I’ll repent” is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. It is one thing to sin fearlessly, consciously and not repent, but it is another thing when a person does not want to sin, cries, repents, asks for forgiveness, but, due to human weakness, sins. It is human nature to sin, to fall, and one should not become discouraged and become overly sad if one has to sin..." http://verapravoslavnaya.ru I know that this is an unforgivable sin. What should I do? Is it possible to earn forgiveness? Olga.

Priest Philip Parfenov answers:

Hello Olga!

In fact, there is no unforgivable sin except that in which a person maliciously persists. That is, this is clearly not your case, so quickly calm down and trust the love of God and His forgiveness!
Keep in mind also that many interpret “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit” in an overly broad manner. But in the Gospel, Jesus warned very specifically about what is unacceptable. The scribes and Pharisees slandered Him, saying that He heals people by the power of the prince of demons, that “there is an unclean spirit in Him” (Mark 3:30). And it was in response to these accusations that Jesus warned that such sin would not be forgiven, either in this age or in the next. Which is understandable if people were maliciously passing off the Spirit of God as an unclean spirit!

Sincerely, priest Philip Parfenov.

Everyone knows the phrase that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this century or in the future. Fearing to commit this sin, many avoid the tenth expensive topic of the Holy Spirit, so that suddenly some of their thoughts and words would not turn out to be blasphemy. But did the Lord only say that it is dangerous to say or think something wrong about the Holy Spirit?

According to dictionaries, the meaning of the word “blaspheme” is harsh condemnation, defamatory words, “causing disrespect.” The definition of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the persistent and conscious rejection of the saving grace of God in its obvious action for a person.

Also, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is when there is a clear manifestation of God’s Grace, but a person ambitiously denies it and calls God’s manifestation demonic. This was the case when the priests, scribes and Pharisees claimed that Jesus performed His miracles by the power of Beelzebub. This is the complete blindness of a soul that has placed its earthly mind on a pedestal.

“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, and have fallen away, to renew them again with repentance, when they again crucify the Son of God within themselves and mock (Him)” ( Hebrews 6:4-6).

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is when a person believes, but does not live according to the word of God: “I want to remind you, who already know this, that the Lord, having delivered the people from the land of Egypt, then destroyed those who did not believe (...) so it will certainly be with these dreamers who defile the flesh, reject the principalities and slander the high authorities (...) Such are the temptation at your suppers of love; feasting with you, they fatten themselves without fear. These are waterless clouds carried by the wind; autumn trees, barren, twice dead, plucked out” (Jude 1:5,8,12). The worst thing is that this is written about believers, about Christians. This is indicated by the words of those who died twice, that is, at first they were dead in sins, but then, having received sanctification and life from the Lord, they died again, not living according to the word, and there is no hope for them. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is when a person believes in God and knows that he should not do evil - but does it consciously, because such a person has such malice in his soul that he is not able to turn to the Lord with repentance.

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not a sinful act or verbal blasphemy, but a state of mind in which repentance becomes impossible. And for this reason, forgiveness becomes impossible. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is conscious, persistent and unrepentant opposition to the obvious truth, which a person knows within himself to be the truth.

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the final and irreversible victory of selfishness and pride over the spirit.

Deep within ourselves, we know what is good and what is bad. Rejecting this knowledge from oneself, resisting it, denying it for the sake of desire, passions and lusts, autocracy, love of glory, love of money (in the broad sense) is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

So, what is the “stubborn and conscious rejection of the saving grace of God in its obvious action for man”? The definition emphasizes that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is committed consciously, it is a mature decision that arises when the soul stubbornly rejects the Holy Spirit, God's Grace and Mercy, and thereby reaches a state in which repentance is impossible.

Everyone who has taken the path of God, the path of saving the soul, the path of serving God, essentially strives for good, for Light and does not want bad. Having escaped from a sinful state and entered God's bright world, a person is happy. Everything around is transformed, filled with joy and faith in the best. The soul swears allegiance to God, that it will never betray, that the Lord is the essence of its life. And it seems to some that everything is far behind, life will become different, happy, carefree, all the bad things will go away by itself. God will arrange everything Himself. But the Lord said, “take up your cross and follow Me.” That is, now, with God’s help, we must restore order in our lives, having seen and realized, freed from many shackles, we can pluck out and remove the reasons that brought us to such a state. But often a person is driven much more by the desire to have than by the desire to thank God, to give, to sacrifice something for the sake of saving himself and others. As a result, seeing that problems in life do not go away, disappointment begins. A person, as it were, makes a claim to God - that everything that He gave him has no value or meaning. Most often, the reason, sin, that caused a crisis in a person’s life was never removed. Some have resentment, some have fornication, some have vanity and pride, fear and lies, envy and jealousy - the most terrible enemy is not defeated, but enraged by the influence of God's Grace. There are no worse people who were resurrected by God from their sins, but return to their vomit and die, but forever...

We have the opportunity to hear God's Will, to know what He wants. But as far as we understand, this is a Shrine! We all want to know what awaits us, we want to know right decisions our situations, so as not to fall into a trap, not to fail. We ask - and the Lord reveals His Will to us. Are we fulfilling it? We ask for salvation and the Lord will give us the way to it. Do we follow it or are we carried away by our passions? We ask for blessings, for our daily bread, and God gives us everything we need. Do we appreciate it? We ask for service and the Lord blesses us. Are we doing everything we can to accept this blessing and realize the gifts given to us?
We have been given a lot and we have become accustomed to this state; the Lord manifests himself so much in our lives that it often becomes commonplace. We take ordinary miracles that are constantly present in our paths for granted, and we do not notice how the reverence disappears when meeting God. Gradually, in relation to God, we begin to manifest the qualities inherent in us in ordinary life which we show to all people. Claims, grumbling, discontent, resentment, indignation, lies. Here, of course, our real essence. In relation to God, people try to show best qualities, often literally “stand on their toes,” trying to be better than they are. But with getting used to, this line becomes more and more blurred and, in the end, if complete awareness and change of oneself has not occurred, then how a person treated his neighbor, so he manifests himself in relation to God. The Lord forgives us a lot, a lot, He is long-suffering, but everything has its own measure. How do we feel when the Lord reveals His Will to us, if we expected something completely different? Do we accept it with our whole being, humble ourselves, submit to it? Either let us accept it outwardly, create a wall inside ourselves and remain unconvinced, or we do as the Lord wishes, but remain extremely dissatisfied, which subsequently inevitably affects our actions. Or we seem to agree, but we are still delaying execution, waiting for the right time and circumstances that will never come. After all, when God reveals what kind of sin there is in a person, this means that He wants the person to remove it from his life. A person’s reaction is usually quite passive, something like this – “yes, of course, we need to remove all this, but for now it’s unrealistic, because...” (there are many reasons that prevent all this from being done). This is the beginning of a conflict, the beginning of rejection of the Holy Spirit, who, for our good, leads us through earthly thorns. This is a lie between man and God. The body bows before God, thoughts and desires do not. Dissatisfaction and rejection are the beginning of blasphemy. Not out of fear, not fanatically, but with all my soul, understanding and heart, the Lord wants us to fulfill His Will. And they were not puppets, but creative, independent people. People, sometimes, do not want to take on any responsibility, and only wait for the Lord Himself to arrange everything, make a choice for them and solve all the problems. And if while a person is at the beginning of his spiritual path, many of his vices are forgiven, then if he did not want to change himself during the time allotted to him for correction, through the situations that were given for this, this is also regarded as resistance to the Holy Spirit. This is how a person becomes a source of serious spiritual viruses.
In order for a grain thrown into the ground to germinate, it needs to make enormous efforts. At first, it seems to die in relation to its initial state, losing its previous shape and stability. And all this in order to be born new life to give way to many new fruits. It breaks through the layers of the earth, takes root to find water and nutrition, sprouts a sprout that is vulnerable to cold, heat, and other factors. Why does he need all this? After all, being a seed, he needed nothing and depended on almost nothing. But the life, the movement that is contained in a small embryo inside the grain pushes it to grow, to comprehend new things, to open up, to bloom and, finally, to bear fruit, which will be the beginning of a new life, a new world. Likewise, a person, when the rays of God’s Grace fall into him, the embryo of the spirit inside his heart begins to grow, wants to break through the thickness of the world, open up and bear fruit. Anyone who resists this, does not allow his soul to bear fruit, does not care, does not make every effort to allow the Holy Spirit to transform his soul - he, in the end, turns out to be an enemy of God, his seed may die. For if it has already begun to grow, we must do everything possible so that it strengthens and becomes an independent fruit-bearing tree. We often take this very lightly. The Lord reveals our sins, points out what is displeasing to Him in us, but we often do not make every effort to eradicate this sin, to sacrifice our passions, habits, desires. While the Holy Spirit exerts strength towards our salvation, warming and cultivating the fire of new life in us, a person treats this without due diligence, being absorbed in other goals. Being in a state of vegetation, he risks that God's grain in him may wither or rot. And just as the Lord once cursed a barren fig tree, so this can also befall that person who did not fulfill God’s Will for himself. When the allotted time passes, and a person has not put things in order in his soul, has not properly accepted the gifts given by the Holy Spirit, has not realized them for service, has not found, has not built a way for this, has not prepared the way for God - then in these voids unfilled with Light The chaff of vices that he had not pulled out grows and choke the grain.

The Holy Spirit comes and goes as it wishes, manifests itself and leads, tests and leaves us alone with ourselves - we need to wait for Her influence with reverence, with great thirst, be able to distinguish Her voice from all other voices, become obedient to Her, follow Her unquestioningly, although “She tortures us with Her guidance” - but this is for our good, for the Holy Spirit sees through the very essence of the soul and heart, and knows us from the beginning, and knows all our paths. She is Mother, and our Source, and our Life. Let’s trust Her, and let’s throw away everything that interferes with this, forget about ourselves and put all our strength into ensuring that the Fire lit in our heart does not go out, but grows and consumes our entire being. There is nothing more important than this.

Special mortal sins: blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. What is “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit”? And what does God's forgiveness mean?

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