Basil the Great studied with a certain Livanius, a legendary rhetorician of his time. Livanius did not accept Christianity, although he paid tribute to the virtues of many Christians of his time and was even sincerely surprised by some. Vasily loved this man, was grateful for the knowledge he received from him, and retained a warm and grateful attitude towards him. They corresponded. This correspondence has partially survived. They say that Livanius respected Vasily so much, valued his intelligence and abilities so much that, having received news from him, he joyfully exclaimed, calling his friends: “I have a letter from Vasily!” In one of these letters, Vasily writes that his interlocutors are now non-literate people: fishermen and shepherds. True, there are kings among them, but still these are not the same philosophers with a refined style and florid thoughts that he read during his studies. It is clear that the fishermen and shepherds about whom the saint spoke are prophets and apostles. Moses was shepherding. David did the same thing before he became king. For people who received a Greek education, literally gorged on the beauty and sophistication of style, their speeches sounded simple, too simple. Pagans proud of their learning, for example, Celsus, wanting to offend Christians, constantly pointed out this contrast: they say, we are students of poets and sages, and you are fishermen. Your faith is the faith of the ignorant. In general, during the short period of his power, Julian the Apostate ordered Christians to be excommunicated from the study and teaching of ancient sciences. Leave, he said, our glory and wisdom to us, and listen to the writings of your shepherds! And it was surprising that such generally recognized lovers and experts of ancient intellectual treasures as Vasily changed interlocutors. They changed it happily. Plato to Paul, Aristotle to Moses, tragedians and historians to David and Isaiah. Church people also have these same interlocutors, especially during fasting.
It is not difficult to notice even for the uninitiated that services during fasting on weekdays are different than outside fasting. Longer, simpler, minor key. And everyone reads something, reads it. And they bow. In order to participate in such services, you need at least two qualities. The first is repentance. Participation in guard duty should be perceived as penitential labor, monotonous and tedious, similar to earthworks. And secondly, you need to know what they are reading. The murmuring of psalter streams should not be an inaudible background - it should be the conscious sounds of sacred speech. The Word of God, before descending into the heart, must be forced into the teeth. The Psalter must be learned, read at home, listened to on the go through headphones, etc. Then, even if the reader mumbles, or jabbers, or chews words, or swallows them, or does something else, or there is bad acoustics in the church (there are many options), the praying person, familiar with the text, pronounces familiar words to himself. The thought doesn't fly away. The service is being performed. Smart service. Otherwise, postal services are not portable for ordinary person. You came for joy and you don’t know anything - you have to light a candle and leave in five minutes. You came with repentance, you came to work, and you know what they are reading - then you will work and pray.
David is our constant interlocutor. You can’t escape him and his words all year long, neither during Lent nor on holiday. Not the others. Moses, Isaiah, Job, Solomon are known to most only by name, but not by texts. And then there's Hosea, Jonah, Ezekiel... Oh. Let's heal this ulcer. Let these great ones become our interlocutors. The fact that they are people of the Old Testament does not mean that their time has passed. Has Moses' story about the creation of heaven and earth lost its relevance? After all, the same sky above your head and the same earth under your feet. This is not an old teaching. This is an eternal teaching. The creation of man, the fall of man, the first promises - all this is so alive and important always, right up to the end of the age, that it is the neglect of this ancient knowledge that leads people to many irreparable things. So, let’s take the book of Genesis into our hands for Lent. We take Moses as our interlocutor. The Lord God Himself spoke with him many times face to face, as with a friend. Is it possible to turn away from such an interlocutor?
As for the prophets, they read like a fresh newspaper. Try it yourself and see for yourself. The main work of a prophet is not divination. The prophet is least of all a predictor of the future. His task is to loudly and boldly proclaim the forgotten or trampled truth - once. Throwing off, overturning the idols that have taken the place of truth in the minds of people - two. Tear off the masks from reality and expose hidden essence what is happening, that is, to free the secret springs from the veils of everyday life - three. Whether the future is announced or not is completely unimportant. If it is proclaimed, it is as “one of,” and not as the only main ministry.
Most likely, it is announced, but not with dates and deadlines, but in the same way as an inscription on a stone announces the future to a knight standing at a crossroads. If you go to the right, you will see this, and if you go to the left, you will see something. Here’s how it is in Deuteronomy: “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with gladness and joy of heart, with the abundance of everything, you will serve your enemy, whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, and in every kind of lack.” (Deut. 28:47-48). That is, what kind of enemy the Lord will send, when he will send it, and how long after the beginning of the falling away from the Covenant is unknown. Not indicated. There are no details provided at all. Only the inevitable essence is said. And in this sense, anyone can be a prophet. “Tell the righteous that it is good for him. Tell the sinner that his woe is inevitable.” Here is an example of a genuine prophecy. In this sense (and not in the sense of predictions of the future) one can understand the words of St. Paul: “Achieve love; be zealous for spiritual gifts, especially to prophesy” (1 Cor. 14:1).
By the name idols we do not mean stone and other idols. These, again, are thoughts; it is faith in something other than the Living God. There is faith in the omnipotence of science. There is a belief in endless progress. There is a belief that happiness is wealth and constant pleasure. There is a belief that a person can do whatever he wants, and no one in the world can dictate to a person. All this is poison and lies. These are false gods. These gods sat on the thrones of philistine minds and in the soft chairs of sinful hearts. They need to be driven away, turned over along with the chairs and thrones. This is the job of prophets - to turn people's consciousness over and put it from its head back to its feet.
Are you horrified by wickedness and injustice? - Open Jeremiah, Malachi, Amos. Do you need to strengthen your faith in the midst of the general softening atmosphere of godlessness? - Take Isaiah, take Zechariah. The prophets will tell you about disgusting sins that have become a habit, and about the punishment for them. They will also talk about those leaders of the people who became fat and lost their conscience. They will tell about the difficult times that befell the holy people. They will also talk about why you don’t feel God’s presence vividly and whether you are personally to blame for this. And also about where the Lord is, is He far away, when everything around or much obviously contradicts His will. How long will it take to convince? Isn't it time to start a new interview?
As for Solomon's parables, their transparency and smoothness, their lulling speech about good and evil, about wisdom and stupidity are irreplaceable in the education of youth. No need to look for words. The son of David and the king in Jerusalem found them for us long ago and put them in the correct order. His sayings are at times so simple that a proud mind will consider them banal. Let us beware of such an assessment. Behind this simplicity stands God Himself, Who is simple in essence and Holy in His simplicity. Parables seem like seeds. No. These are nuts. Take care of your teeth. Not everything is on the surface.
O blessed times! The times when every single Christian has loved the Bible like a bride and cooed to it like a dove to a dove, come! How long to wait? The Bible - I recently read in one article smart person- must be the most a book to read in Russia. Which Nice words. Isn’t it possible to take on their implementation today? What do you think, brothers and sisters, is it today?
And all the time the chaotic flow of dreams seems to be taking place in a certain ring, beyond which it is impossible to escape.
One day Moses jumps up from his sleep in fear.
In the middle of the night, some kind of universal sigh is heard, running with wrinkles and power across the expanses of the desert, the inexpressible sigh of Creation itself, unable to withstand the weight of its own sadness, called eternity.
6. Interlocutor
Moses goes far to the southeast, tending Jethro's sheep flocks. He remembers his wife, the beautiful Sipporah, with constant warmth and love.
But Moses’ main interlocutor is the desert.
This absent and at the same time present companion has amazing qualities.
He doesn’t argue, he shows stubbornness.
Without arguing, he refutes your arguments.
Moreover, perceived as emptiness, it is incredibly voluminous and attractive.
It doesn’t impose itself, but it doesn’t lag behind either.
Infinitely malleable, but at any moment it marks the boundary that your curiosity bumps into like a wall. With undisguised mercy, more like mockery, he watches as your curiosity tries to make a hole in this wall.
It can be described as some kind of insight. He may not respond at all for a long time, but you always feel his absent presence.
Or rather, you don’t even feel it, but are always ready for its appearance, getting angry and realizing that more is not given to you.
In a dream, you can even somehow physically feel his absence, but always just beyond the edge of your vision.
This interlocutor behaves like a complete simpleton, but behind his empty, seemingly absent look, devoid of all thought, absolute knowledge is hidden.
It is so beggarly simple, like the very essence of Existence, so connected with it, as they are tightly connected with their home and those closest to them, that the cunning pyramid builders seem to have emerged from nowhere as tumbleweeds, devoid of affection and an umbilical cord, although it seemed that they had grown forever into land.
In the end, by his behavior, he makes it clear that he is simply sparing you, because the greed of your curiosity threatens your own existence.
He hinted quite clearly that your face, as a form of transitory dust, did not interest him. Letting you see your face means bringing you death.
But at the same time, he exists only and absolutely as your interlocutor. And it depends on you just as much as you depend on him, although you are dust and he is eternity.
By condescending to you, he has already put himself on an equal footing with you.
Moreover, an ever-growing mutual need has established between you.
Dialogue becomes vital and the only proof of the existence of the world.
Moses feels, and not for the first time, how mortal curiosity about his interlocutor turns into loss of strength, alienation and again... a desire for sleep. But sleep does not serve as an obstacle, because the interlocutor in a dream is even more active: he intrudes, touches the sleepy vein - pulsating like a thread, ready to burst into life at any moment.
The presence of an interlocutor in dreams makes them revelation. Let it be instantly forgotten, but it leaves hope as another step towards absolute knowledge, towards mutual knowledge and mutual feeling.
In the dream it came that, in addition to the external reason for escape - the murder of the Egyptian, there was a deeply internal reason: to escape from the stone labyrinths, from the constricting walls that were constantly watching him, because he, with his own essence, rejected them as interlocutors, and they were very thirsty this dialogue.
The failed dialogue was replaced by surveillance, distrust, and suspicion of a simple stupid guard at the gates of Egypt, who, very animal-like, was able to identify not so much an eccentric as a stranger, incorrigible and therefore already a threat to these walls.
Going out on his first long journey as a shepherd, Moses was initially overwhelmed by the desert. And in order to survive physically and mentally, he began to desperately and immediately rush to the interlocutor, and it was like climbing a steep smooth wall in an endless flat space.
Only then came the feeling of anticipation and anticipation of this dialogue, mutual disclosure and mutual trust that came from nowhere and became more and more stable.
The desert is becoming an increasingly reliable and irreplaceable interlocutor.
Before Moses began to consistently and persistently formulate the appearance and character of his interlocutor, without yet feeling his form, voice or silence, big-eyed or eyeless, he, as if out of connection with him, unconsciously compared the desert with Egypt.
In general, both are phantoms.
The desert is surreally organic.
Egypt is unrealistically illusory and artificial.
The consciousness of the desert, gradually invading the consciousness of Moses, mythological.
Egyptian consciousness logical.
Egypt lives in a knotted network of droughts and floods, festivals and services, kingdoms and dynasties, epidemics and invasions.
The desert is always a transition, a clearing from one world to another, bringing salvation through irrationality and irrevocable faith in instinct.
Moses does not at all deny that the stone labyrinth can be the same salvation for other souls, but he understands that this labyrinth, no matter how long it exists, is finite.
The desert and the dust are eternal.
Despite all the outward meagerness at first, the character of the desert interlocutor is complex, capricious, infects with endless laziness, only to suddenly overturn him with a throat-grabbing obsession.
And Moses is frightened by the pliability of his soul to this interlocutor. How is this possible? After all, he is encroaching on his original freedom.
But for the first time one day, when all the internal dialogues with the interlocutor are built into something clear and full of power, Moses, having reached the next and long-awaited well, watered the sheep, washed off the dust and sweat, looks for a fleeting shadow, unexpectedly, at first even frightened his own voice, which he had not heard for a long time, except for the monosyllabic sounds of shouting at sheep, begins to pronounce out loud the words of these strange conversations with a non-existent, but soul-exhausting interlocutor.
Surprisingly: without any stuttering.
While reprimanding them, Moses never ceases to be amazed at his own calmness, with which he accepts from the outside this clearly seemingly insane, unusually smooth and eloquent speech to anyone accustomed to a tongue-tied ear.
Then carefully, as if afraid to violate the internal prohibition he had set for himself, he takes out from the shepherd’s bag a clean bundle of papyrus, a bottle of ink, a pen taken from Itro, and tries to clearly and in simple words describe your interlocutor.
The next day he reads what he wrote: in general, it’s not bad. But how much does this not compare with the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which rises like these crimson or blue-black mountains rising from the sands, with their sharp teeth abruptly, unexpectedly, bizarrely, but organically merging with the sky.
If the secret of the Creation of the world is ever revealed to him, it is undoubtedly there that the roots of these stories will be revealed.
But without the interlocutor revealed by Moses, without the desert, these stories would not have existed.
Perhaps this is incomparable, because in the relationship with the interlocutor there is an initial flaw: the interlocutor is mute, and the text is dead until it opens to the eye and soul of the reader. Behind the stories, seemingly briefly told, but over time, gradually becoming more and more soul-captivating, one can hear the living voices of Merari, Yahmes, Itro.
Let these voices sound long ago, fleeting, but the burning passion that gave birth to them, emanated from their souls, a disposable and therefore especially precious sound, makes these stories, like underground reservoirs of water, repositories of the immortality of life.
In the middle of the endless desert, in the familiar, seemingly ingrained doll of silence and loneliness, an unexpectedly human voice opens with an urgent and desperate need to feel one’s own presence in the world.
7. On the verge of death
As if bewitched by some kind of draft, Moses continues to drive the herds to the east, although the vegetation is becoming scarce before his eyes, and at night the endless sandy nothingness comes to his ear with the faint rumble of drifting snow, carrying a message about waterlessness, grasslessness, fear and the ashes of death.
: God's promise of deliverance.
The signs and wonders of Moses. Egyptian Plagues:
Midges (third plague -).
Pestilence (fifth plague -).
Inflammation with abscesses (sixth plague -).
Hail (seventh plague -).
Locust (eighth plague -).
Darkness (ninth plague - ).
Announcement from God about the defeat of the firstborn ().
: Establishment of Easter.
: Death of the firstborn (tenth plague).
About long-suffering and the wrath of God. Sequence of Egyptian executions. Disasters are a consequence of disobedience to God with the result being death.
Ten miracles as ten refutations of false deities.
Old Testament Passover. A ray of freedom in the night of slavery. The blood of a sacrificed lamb, as a prototype of the blood-saving sacrifice of the love of Christ.
Exodus from Egypt
Crossing the Red Sea
: Crossing the Red Sea. The death of the entire army of Pharaoh.
Savior of the people of Israel, as a prototype of the Savior of the world. Walking along the bottom of the sea as a prototype of holy baptism.
Wandering through the desert to Mount Sinai
: Marah: bitter water turned into sweet - about the need to fulfill the law of God. Through the tree bitter water is made sweet - a type of the tree of Life and the Promise of Life-giving Cross Lord's.
12 springs and 70 date trees in Elim () - 12 apostles and 70 - source and fruit.
: The murmur of the children of Israel.
God sends quails and gives bread (). Manna from heaven is a wonderful providence of God and a prototype of the coming of Christ, the mysterious Heavenly Bread.
: Decree on the Sabbath: “They went out on the seventh day to gather and did not find it” - about today’s observance of the holidays.
: Water from the rock in Rephidim, - water from the rock of Horeb, - an image of the repentance of a lost soul.
In the 5th century, the entire deserted Sinai region was dotted with monasteries.
The monastery of St. Catherine was founded in the 6th century. Thanks to the care of Emperor Justinian, it was well landscaped, a bell tower was built (the bells were later, in the 19th century, donated by the Russians) and the Church of the Transfiguration, majestic in its decoration (6th century). Near the altar, from the street, a bush of the Burning Bush grows - shoots of an ancient one. The bush covers a small round structure with a green dome.
On the throne of the temple altar there are two reliquaries with the relics of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine - in one is her head, in the other is her hand.
In the crypt, under the altar of the main altar, they indicate the place where the Lord appeared to the prophet Moses in the form of the Burning Bush: “And he saw that the thorn bush was burning with fire, but the bush did not burn” (). Here the prophet heard the voice of God: “I am this (Existing One)” and His command to take off your shoes, for this place is holy. From time immemorial, all pilgrims are required to take off their shoes when approaching the site of the apparition of the Burning Bush.
The Russian pilgrim Abbot Barsanuphius, who visited Sinai in 1461, notes in his description of the trip that if “whoever forgets and enters the church without shoes, then a penance is imposed on him - to walk barefoot for three years.”
At one time, the abbot of the monastery was the Monk John Climacus. Now the head of St. John Climacus is in Meteora, in the monastery (Greece). The cave where the saint labored is located an hour and a half drive from the Sinai Monastery. There he spent the rest of his life (after managing the Sinai monastery) in complete solitude. A church was built there in his honor. There is a source of water associated with his name.
The monastery houses the famous Sinai Library, where in 1859 the learned German theologian Tischendorf discovered the ancient Codex Sinaiticus of the New Testament (IV century) in a waste paper basket, then purchased by the Russian emperor, but after the revolution of 1917, sold in 1934 for the Feast of the Nativity of Christ for next to nothing ($500,000) by the Soviet government to the British Museum.
The Sinai Library has a unique collection of ancient manuscripts and manuscripts in the amount of 3,500 units. This collection is second only to the Vatican Manuscript Museum. Handwritten books are available in ancient languages: Hebrew, Persian, Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopian, Greek, Slavic, etc.
Among other things, the library contains a copy of Muhammad’s letter, certified by his hand in the literal sense, that is, with the imprint of his entire hand (he was illiterate), thanks to which, they say, the Turks spared this holy monastery.
The Monastery of St. Catherine is under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, but in reality it exists completely independently.
It is interesting that in Sinai there are many stones with imprints of small leaves of branches - a sign of the Old Testament miracle that took place here, revealed by God to the prophet Moses in the Burning Bush (bush). No matter how much you split such a stone, branches with leaves of a thorn bush will be clearly visible on the inner walls. Such larger stones can be found on the descent from the mountain. One of our compatriots, who visited Sinai, noted in his notes this wondrous phenomenon, forever imprinted in the depths of the sacred Horeb: “Here, on the mountain of Moses, flowers grow right on the stones. And the stones themselves are unusual: a pattern is clearly visible on them - a green twig and a mirage of fire, as if the bush continues to burn and does not burn out. The whole rock, no matter what parts it is crushed into, is permeated through and through with such patterns, as if made by the hand of an artist-miracle worker.”
: Reaching Sinai. Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai.
Sanctification of the people. Fasting preceding the Testament, as a necessary preparation for its perception ().
: Moses before God on Mount Sinai.
: Ten Commandments.
Laws of the Covenant: about the altar, about slaves, about murder, about bodily injury, about property and others (crimes punishable, injunctions of love for one's neighbor, laws about justice, the law about three holidays (Passover, Unleavened Bread and Harvest and others) ().
: Promises about the land of Canaan.
: The covenant is made in blood.
: Moses on Mount Sinai - “I will give you tablets of stone.”
Offerings for the tabernacle, Ark of the Covenant, Table and showbread, seven-branched candlestick, tabernacle, veil, brazen altar, courtyard of the tabernacle, rules of worship (oil for the lamp, clothing for the priests, about the consecration of priests, altar of incense, offerings to the Lord, brass laver, ointment for sacred anointing, incense.
: Ark of the Covenant.
Golden Taurus
Israel breaks the Covenant with idolatry:
Aaron makes a golden calf ().
Moses intercedes for the people on Mount Sinai ().
: Moses destroys the calf and breaks the tablets.
: Punishment of idolaters (jealousy of the tribe of Levi).
Second petition of Moses ().
Renewal of the Covenant ().
Giving of the second tablets ().
Construction of the Tabernacle
The sanctuary is a place of special presence of God. The fundamental difference between the golden image in the form of a calf and the built tabernacle.
: The Glory of the Lord fills the Tabernacle.
Book of LEVITIC
Establishment of the Priesthood
Book of NUMBERS
Trek to the Promised Land
Census of all the people according to the command of God ().
Distribution of tribes in the camp and their leaders ().
Rule about the Levites ().
Laws and rules in the country ():
Removing everything unclean ().
Law on compensation for damages ().
Law on jealousy ().
Last instructions before setting off ():
: Commandment about lamps and seven lamps.
The command to cleanse the Levites ().
: About the ministry of the Levites.
: Instructions for the celebration of Easter.
: Cloud covering the tabernacle.
Wanderings from Sinai to Moab ():
Setting off: the Ark of the Covenant, as the highest shrine in front of the camp.
Sins of Israel:
: Murmur in Tavera.
: Remembrance with sweetness in times of hardship of the abandoned Egypt.
: Tribulation and Moses for help.
: God's answer to Moses: seventy elders.
: Quail and plague in Kibrot-Gattaav, - quail meat, - death, as a punishment for satiety on the path to freedom and God's help, as a reward for patience.
: Moses marries an Ethiopian woman. Miriam and Aaron rebuke Moses. The Lord protects Moses. The educational significance of Moses' marriage.
: The leprosy of Mariam. Moses prays for her healing.
Twelve spies in the Promised Land ():
Appointment of spies ().
: Sending spies.
Inspection of the Promised Land ().
: Message from returning spies.
The unpreparedness of the Israelis at a decisive moment in history, lack of faith in God's help and, as a result, long-term wanderings in the desert.
Rise of Israel ():
–10a: Joshua and Caleb persuade the people.
10b-12: The Wrath of the Lord.
: Intercession of Moses for the people.
: God's judgment on Israel for unbelief - a decision on a forty-year wandering (Joshua and Caleb entered the Promised Land).
Defeat of Israel by the Amalekites and Canaanites ().
Events of a forty-year wandering
The desert is a school of moral education. The severity of punishment, accustoming to the exact execution of the law.
: Revolt of Korah, Dathan and Abiron with a claim to the priesthood and severe punishment God's.
Murmur against Moses and Aaron. Defeat among the people ().
: Aaron's Blooming Rod.
: Water from the rock (Meriva) is a prototype of Christ the Savior and, at the same time, a revived sinful soul.
: The sin of Moses and Aaron. Their punishment.
: Aaron's death.
: Israel's murmur and Poisonous snakes. Copper serpent as a symbol of future deliverance (see).
: Balaam's prophecy about the star from Jacob.
Book of Deuteronomy
Moses' prophetic blessing of the people and his death
: The appearance of the Lord to Moses and Joshua;
: God's command to keep the book of the Law with the Ark of the Covenant.
: Moses' blessing of each tribe individually. A special blessing from the tribe of Levi.
: Death and burial of Moses.
The life of Moses was a prototype of the earthly life of the Savior:
Like Moses in early childhood is saved from death, just as he was saved from death in early childhood.
Moses' name means "drawn out of the water", which has a direct connection with the Baptism of the Lord, before the beginning of His public ministry
Moses agreed to be the redeemer of his people (), thereby prefiguring the Great Redemptive Sacrifice of the Savior of the World.
Both Moses and Christ were mediators between Yahweh and Israel ().
They interceded for sinners (;).
Legislation of Moses
The book of the law is in the holy tabernacle. The Mosaic Law as a model of justice (about the book of Deuteronomy).
Theocracy
Homework
PERIOD FOUR – From the migration to Egypt to the entry into the Promised Land
Repeat questions:
3 . Calling of Moses at Mount Horeb.
4 . Ten Plagues of Egypt.
5 . Exodus. The history of the establishment of the Old Testament Passover.
6 . Crossing the Red Sea.
7 . Wandering through the desert to Mount Sinai.
8 . Sinai legislation.
9 . Golden Taurus.
10 . Construction of the Tabernacle. Establishment of the Priesthood.
11 . Hike to the Promised Land.
12 . Twelve spies in the Promised Land.
13 . Events forty years of wandering through the desert.
14 . Moses' prophetic blessing of the people and his death.
15 . Law of Moses.
16 . Theocratic form of government.
Quiz on the period from the resettlement of the Jewish people to Egypt until their entry into the Promised Land
1 . Who is Ramesses II and what changes in the lives of the Israelis occurred in connection with him?
2 . What order was given to the midwives by Pharaoh?
3 . What does the name Moses mean?
4 . What family did Moses come from?
5 . What were the names of Moses' parents?
6 . What were the names of Moses' sister and brother?
7 . Why was Moses forced to flee Egypt?
8 . Where is Moses running?
9 . What was the name of Moses' wife?
10 . What were the names of Moses' sons?
11 . Tell about the events of the Epiphany to Moses in the Burning Bush.
12 . Show on the map the place where the epiphany to Moses took place.
13 . Explain: why is the Burning Bush a prototype of the Most Holy Theotokos?
14 . What kind of miracles does Moses receive and what is their educational meaning?
15 . What does the name Aaron mean?
16 . Which tribe did Aaron belong to?
17 . List the ten plagues of Egypt.
18 . Explain the educational meaning of the Egyptian plagues.
19 . Talk about the establishment of Easter.
20 . What does the word “Easter” mean?
21 . Tell about the exodus of the Jews from Egypt.
22 . Show the Red Sea on the map.
23 . Tell about the event of the people of Israel crossing the Red Sea.
24 . Explain the educational significance of the events of the crossing of the Red Sea.
25 . Show Mount Sinai on the map.
26 . List the main events of the wandering through the desert of the people of Israel from Egypt to Mount Sinai.
27 . What does the name of the area Marah mean?
28 . Show the area of Marah on the map.
29 . Tell about the events in Marah.
30 . Explain the educational significance of the events at Marah.
31 . Show Elim area on the map.
32 . Tell about the events in Elim.
33 . Explain the educational significance of the events at Elim.
34 . Tell us about the wonderful saturation of quails.
35 . What does the word “manna” mean?
36 . Talk about manna from heaven.
37 . Explain the educational significance of events with manna from heaven.
38 . Moses' Decree on the Sabbath Day.
39 . Show the area of Refidim (Meriba) on the map.
40 . Tell about the events in Refidim.
41 . Explain the educational significance of the events in Rephidim.
42 . Who is Jethro?
43 . What advice does Jethro give to Moses?
44 . What events preceded the receipt of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai?
45 . List the Ten Commandments Old Testament.
46 . : The Ten Commandments - by heart.
47 . Which book and chapter describes the events of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments?
48 . Tell about the Canaanites and the land of Canaan.
49 . Talk about making a Covenant with blood.
50 . Old Testament foundation of the Feast of Pentecost. What was this holiday called in Hebrew?
51 . What is a tablet?
52 . What do the two tablets in the hands of Moses mean?
53 . Who makes the golden calf?
54 . Talk about the Levin tribe and their role in the golden calf case.
55 . : last words Book of Exodus, the glory of the Lord fills the tabernacle - by heart.
56 . Tell us briefly about the construction of the tabernacle.
57 . List the events that occurred on Israel's journey from Sinai to Moab.
58 . Tell about the events in the town of Tavera.
59 . What does the name of the area Kibrot-Ghattaawa mean?
60 . Tell about the events in Kibrot-Gattaav.
61 . Tell about the reproaches of Miriam and Aaron to Moses.
62 . Explain the educational significance of Moses' first and second marriages.
63 . Tell about the twelve spies in the Promised Land.
64 . Name the spies who advocated for Israel to enter the Promised Land.
65 . What does the name Jesus mean?
66 . What was God's judgment on Israel for fearing entry into the Promised Land?
67 . What is the reason for the forty years of wandering in the Sinai desert?
68 . Explain the educational significance of a forty-year wandering.
69 . List the main events of the forty-year wandering.
70 . What does the name Korey mean?
71 . Who are Korah, Dathan and Abiron?
72 . Talk about events in Korea.
73 . Where does Moses' sister die?
74 . Show on the map the place of death of Moses' sister.
75 . Event at the Meriva rock.
76 . The educational meaning of the events at the Meribah rock.
77 . Show on the map where Aaron died.
78 . Tell about the events with the copper serpent.
79 . Explain the educational significance of the events with the brass serpent.
80 . Tell about the events of Balaam's prophecy about the star of Jacob.
82 . Tell about Moses' last instructions to the people before him.
83 . Show on the map where Moses died.
84 . Moses as a prototype of the Savior of the world.
85 . What does the word “theocracy” mean?
Mount Sinai is the place where the Lord revealed himself to the prophet Moses in the burning bush. And then again, already on the top of the mountain, he spoke with the prophet and gave the 10 commandments. 600 years after Moses, the prophet Elijah came to the same place and also spoke with God. Both of these prophets turned out to be interlocutors of Christ during the transfiguration on Mount Tabor. The Lord himself called this land sacred when he spoke from the burning bush, and even ordered Moses to take off his shoes.
From the first years of the existence of monasticism, hermits began to settle near Sinai. The first temple for hermits was built by order of St. Queen Helen Equal to the Apostles in about 320.
The high walls that protect the monastery were erected by order of Emperor Justinian in the mid-6th century. Justinian was a very religious man and did a lot for the Church. His confessor was Rev. Savva Sanctified, whom he often invited to Constantinople to participate in the Councils. Justinian himself lived for several years in the Holy Land, and also here on Mount Sinai. He came here and found this desert with a small temple in honor of the Burning Bush.
Local hermits came to greet him as the Emperor. Having looked at their life, he decided to establish a communal monastery here. This is a completely different charter. This is not when everyone lives separately and meets only in the Temple for worship once a week (a special charter), but when the brethren live together, have common obediences, a common meal, and most importantly, have a completely different way of working on themselves - they ascend to spiritual heights through humility before each other, obedience, etc.
Since the 6th century, the monastery has become what we see it now. Justinian builds a cathedral church in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord, which since that time has never been destroyed. Over time, the Temple was only beautified, a new iconostasis, new chandeliers, candelabra, etc. appeared.
The special mercy of God is seen over the monastery, that even the recent revolution in Egypt did not affect the monastery.
That night almost all of our pilgrims climbed Mount Moses(or in other words Mount Horeb). The height of Mount Moses is 2285 m above sea level; climbing it from the monastery of St. Catherine takes about 2-3 hours. There are two roads leading to the top: steps carved into the rock (3,750 steps) - a shorter but more difficult path, and the Camel Trail, laid in the 19th century. For those who are unable to make the trek, part of the climb can be covered on camels.
At the top of the mountain are Orthodox church Holy Trinity, where we celebrated the Divine Liturgy at night.
Once in such places, a person realizes that he has long been living a littered, fussy life, which he spends essentially completely meaninglessly, and therefore all achievements in it are ephemeral and doubtful. Here he feels all the greatness of the universe and man as God’s creation. Here prayer becomes sharper, as if the Lord is getting closer. You also begin to experience a feeling of gratitude. Here the thought of God is the most natural thought.
Among the very mountains, under the very stars that Moses looked at, you too will receive revelation. It will be different for everyone. But in these places, the pictures of the Old Testament will become reality, and Moses and Aaron will cease to be just abstract characters from an ancient book.
The descent from the mountain was easier
Those who did not climb the mountain received communion at the Divine Liturgy in the monastery. For the last 1700 years, the Divine Liturgy has been celebrated every day in the monastery of St. Catherine. After breakfast and a short rest, we went to a hermit - Father Moses.
He has been in Sinai for 30 years, of which 27 years he has lived as a hermit. He himself comes from the island of Crete (Greece) and his confessor was the recently canonized elder Porfiry Kavsokalivit. It was from his confessor that Father Moses learned about the existence of Sinai, and it was Elder Porfiry who blessed him to come here. At first he lived in a monastery, and then he discovered this destroyed monastery in the mountains, restored it and named it in honor Saint John the Russian(relics on the island of Euboea in Greece). Saint John the Russian lived among the Muslim Turks and professed Christianity with his life, and a handful of monks of the monastery of Saint Catherine live among the Muslim people.
We sat for a long time visiting the elder, who gave us Greek mountain tea, answered our questions and gave instructions. His first instruction was: “If you work on the land, this is an excellent treatment for all psychological problems.”
The most important place Truth is what occupies our lives. When I was in the army (21-22 years old), I remember that for the first time the question arose in my soul: “Where can I find the truth?” I didn’t have a spiritual path at that time. And at this time I tried to find the truth everywhere, read various philosophical books, studied other religions - Buddhism, yoga, tried to find the truth everywhere. I'm from the island of Crete. We have two favorite things in Crete: freedom and truth. And all my life I have been searching for the truth. And I really wanted to find inner freedom in the truth. Time passed, I became closer to the Church, I realized that the Church is closest to the Truth. Then I found the confessor Elder Photius, then Elder Porfiry, who directed me here.
One day a group of Germans entered the monastery of St. Catherine. Approximately 35-40 people. Father Daniel and I looked after them in the temple. Everyone in the group was Protestant. But we noticed one woman and thought that she was Orthodox. We called her aside and asked: “Perhaps you are Orthodox?” And she really turned out to be Orthodox. This incident shows that grace Orthodox Church visible on a person's face. We were very happy then, took her to the casket where all the relics were kept, and gave her all sorts of gifts...
I felt this same joy today when I saw all your faces. I thank you very much for the joy that you brought to me today with your bright Orthodox faces.
Our Church is not the work of people, it is divine work. This is exactly what the human soul longs for, this is the very Truth. Starting from holy baptism, this truth shines through a person’s face. Therefore, you and I, every day and night, every moment of our lives, must thank the Lord a lot for this, for the fact that we have this Truth. Along with this gratitude to God, we have another responsibility - we must carry this message to the rest of the world. The face of a Christian must express joy and peace, which are gifts of the Holy Spirit.
And I want to say again how glad I am, because almost everyone I see in front of me now expresses this joy and peace on their faces. All we are talking about is the great gift of God and this applies not only to individuals, because look at the saints in our Church, in the 20th century how many saints were revealed in Russia, and in Greece, and in Georgia, and in other countries . Where is the holiness in Germany, in England, where is the holiness in Europe? In addition to the recently glorified reverends in Greece. Porfiria and Paisia are also preparing for the glorification of St. Ephraim, St. Sophrony and many other of our contemporaries. We must understand that the truth that the Church gives us is so valuable that it is even difficult to realize it; it is a real treasure that a person has.
We must never stop; we must take new steps every day to comprehend this truth of Orthodoxy. Like any warrior on the battlefield, if he suddenly stops and lowers his weapon, what will happen? He must fight non-stop until all his enemies are killed. Christ expects us to be fighters, warriors until our last breath, so that we do not leave the battlefield. Elder Paisius, Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, Elder Gabriel Urgebadze (Georgia) and others were precisely such warriors. The saints show us the path we must follow: this is fasting, prayer, all-night vigil, regular confession, communion - which is our spiritual weapon. As much effort and effort as we make in this struggle, Christ will give us so many gifts.
Christ outlined for us the most valuable thing - love, love for God and love for neighbor. This is why we are in the struggle, so that our love grows. Wherever we go, no matter who we communicate with, our task is to distribute this goodness and happiness, to bring it to the world. You, too, can observe people’s faces in this way in order to experimentally understand how Orthodox faces differ from others. I also ask you very much to remember us, the Sinai monks, with all love. Because a very difficult period has come for us. Among our brethren there are a lot of elderly and sick monks, our Bishop Domian is in Greece in intensive care, and there are very few young and healthy monks in the monastery, but the monastery is large and there is a lot of work in it. So please pray.
Then Father Moses answered numerous questions from the pilgrims. Here are some of them.
Question: The Gospel says: “Do not cast pearls before swine.” How can I divide people into pigs and good ones? This is not right. There is pride and condemnation in this.
Father Moses: Preaching is not the job of the laity. Preaching and such division of listeners is the work of priests and monks. And for the laity: if they ask, they must answer the question and say: “If you want to know more, then go to the priest.” The main sermon is preaching in deeds, without distinguishing for whom they are done. By good deeds people will know that you are Christians and possess the truth. Also, the message that can be brought into the world is humility. Anyone will retreat and humble themselves before a truly humble person. Another thing that will help a lot is the ability to remain silent. Because most people want to speak more than listen. If we Christians take on this role, open our hearts and listen patiently and remain silent, we can help many.
Question: Often our memory prevents us from living. How to live not in the past, but in the present?
Father Moses: If we have something that prevents us from living, then there is confession for this. A very important spiritual law that all the holy fathers tell us about: Do not delve into the past. That is, what has passed has already passed, if we have realized and confessed everything, then we don’t even need to look in this direction, we need to live in the present moment. There is also practical help that helps us expel the unwanted from our memory, this is helping our neighbor. That is, look around you all the time: you need to talk to this person, listen, do something good for this person, devote time to prayer here... By doing good deeds, our mind will be completely immersed in the present moment. Work and good deeds not only heal us from the past, but even from psychological problems. When the Lord created Adam and Eve, He said: “Till the Garden of Eden.” They should have worked from the very beginning. From the moment of the creation of man, the commandment to work was given. Many people, maybe they fast and pray, and confess, and take communion..., but they do not do good deeds. Therefore, not everything is good with them. It is very useful to be busy all the time, because when we leave ourselves free time, then thoughts will immediately come that will fill our consciousness and control us. Work will help us keep our mind pure. In Greece for last years There are a lot of people who commit suicide. Some have lost their jobs, some simply don’t want to work, mental damage begins and it all ends in tears. In spiritual life, work, along with fasting and prayer, is very important.
Question: I travel a lot to holy places. But my relatives don’t understand me and scold me for wasting money. They say: “Don’t pray for us.” But I still pray and order services.
Father Moses: You must not only travel to monasteries, but also walk. Do everything in secret from them. Our most important task is not to turn into a preacher in the family. We can pray for them, we can do good deeds for them, but only with absolute silence, so that in no way can they guess. And under no circumstances should you lecture anyone. If we are silent with our neighbors, no one will bother us. My brother and sister live in Greece and don’t go to Church, and I don’t tell them anything at all. One of the greatest gifts that man has from God is freedom. The Lord seems to be saying: “If you want, you can go to Church.” Also in our Church there is the following commandment: “Whoever wants to eat and spend money must also work.” Therefore, money must be earned; we should not do good deeds at the expense of others. When we want to do something good for someone, we should not offend our neighbors, our family.
Question: At what age should a child be involved in Church life?
Father Moses: From the very smallest. Children 3-4-5 years old should be led by the hand. After 8 years, the child must be left free. Mom says: “I’m going to Church. Who's with me? Whoever wants to, goes. From a very young age the need for confession must be explained to them, even before the age of 7. It is important to give the concept of what exactly is sin, to teach him to confess. And then, in adolescence if a child leaves the Church, then the seed planted in childhood will certainly sprout.
Question: How to distinguish true love from the feeling that we take for love?
Father Moses: There is no real love in the world. True love is only the love of Christ for us. People often think that they love someone, but, as a rule, this is love and affection. Often these are external impressions. Love is based on years of marriage, on humility, on forgiveness. And only after going through patience, after many, many years, a person has the right to say that he loves. Love is the great good that exists in life. Therefore, this is what people hunt all their lives. But at the same time, everyone forgets that love cannot just be caught out of thin air or caught on the road. It is the result of constant struggle and self-control. All people on earth are very different, there are no alike or ideal for each other suitable people. Therefore, if people create a family, then this is work, self-control. And you need to not look for what you want for yourself, but strive to look for his dignity in another person, and behave in such a way that he opens up even more. That is why Christ attended the marriage in Cana of Galilee and blessed the very sacrament of Marriage, because in Marriage a person must devote himself to another person in order not to take away his freedom, but to better recognize the image of God in him. It would be good if we taught our children from childhood how to live in a family, in relationships between brothers and sisters. Then all human society would be different. We also need to explain to children that all people are one whole. Because the Lord gave each person his own image of God. Just like the Holy Trinity: one God in three Persons. There are many people in one person. All humanity is like one person. Each of us is a piece of another person.
Question: When you treat a person, what does recovery depend on most? From the providence of God or from the skill of the doctor or from the personality of the doctor? And what should a doctor pay attention to in order to better help the patient. (Psychiatrist) Father Moses: The most important thing that can help is the doctor’s love for the patient. Any person experiences psychological problems when he feels that no one loves him. Except in cases where a person gets sick due to pride (schizophrenia). Then you need to try to humble him. It is very important to understand that we are nothing in the face of God. A person can get an education, possess some knowledge, and imagine that he is something of himself. This is mistake. I have one friend who fell very seriously ill mentally and spent many years in bed. He was completely in helpless state. And I asked him: “Do you yourself understand the cause of your illness?” He replied: “I understand. Pride". The doctor needs to figure out, looking at the person who came, whether psychological problems arose from a lack of love or from pride. In the first case, you need to give the person maximum love, in the second case, try to bring him to humility. Medicines alone cannot cure. To treat others, a doctor must first of all have love. If a person comes in who has lost his job and feels at the bottom. Give him maximum love and explain to his family so that they too will show him love. Another thing that can help is to try to find a person something to do that will distract him from the awareness of his unhappy situation.
Question: One saint said: “Prayer is the beginning of eternal life.” What can be the beginning of eternal life for the laity? Just prayer or deeds, or something else?
Father Moses: The era we live in is difficult. And obviously it will become even more difficult. Let everything be lost, but not our faith. Many saints answered this question: “What is most necessary for us?” - they answered - “Faith, faith and faith.” If I can maintain faith, faith gives birth to prayer, faith gives birth to love and all other virtues. “When the Son of God comes to earth, will he find faith on earth?”
Answer: I'm a writer, I write books. It seems that I have no right to lecture others. But through my heroes I teach people how to act in a given situation. Where is the truth here?
Questions about children in the family, the elder replied: If the relationship in the family between husband and wife is built correctly - to see the image of God in another person, to know him, to appreciate his merits, to give him freedom, to love him as he is... if there is this true love, then In general, they don’t need children. Often people use the desire for children to cover up other unresolved problems. And when children appear, it will be even worse. Because if there are no normal relationships in the family. The main thing is to learn to love another person. Many spouses become unhappy when they beg for children. Either the child gets sick or becomes ill a good man,...God gives children, does not give, you need to thank God for everything.
All children in general now suffer from parental pressure. Don't put pressure on them. Children can only be taught by personal example. And often our words are at odds with our actions. Something can be explained and instilled only up to 7–8 years of age. After this, you can only influence by personal example. Just say: “Son, you are already big, you are already responsible for your actions. If you don't understand something, you can ask me. And so – decide for yourself.”
The monastery of Father Moses is a real oasis in the desert. 
In the evening after the service we visited the ossuary. The ossuary and cemetery are located outside the monastery walls, next to the garden. The cemetery has a chapel of St. Tryphon and seven graves that are used repeatedly. After a certain time, the bones are removed from the grave and placed in the ossuary. The only complete skeleton is the relics of the hermit Stephen, who lived in the 6th century and is mentioned in the “Ladder” of St. John Climacus. Stephen's relics, dressed in monastic robes, rest in a glass case.
The relics of the hermit Stephen, who lived in the 6th century and is mentioned in the “Ladder”
The remains of the other monks are divided into two parts: their skulls are piled up against the northern wall, and their bones are collected in the central part of the ossuary. 
The bones of the Sinai archbishops are kept in separate niches. 
To be continued…
Ooh, this is my favorite desert! :-) How clearly the presence of God is here!!! If you break away from the group and hide on a mountain path to remain in solitude, silence and contemplation of everything around you, the impressions are fantastic! This is living SILENCE. In which GOD. And the rejoicing of the soul. It happens that you turn around the ledge, take in the opening views - and it seems that these are animated lines from the story about the prophet Elijah, who was hiding here. It’s as if just a moment ago there was a storm, an earthquake and fire melting the stones. But that was not God's point. And now you feel the breath of a quiet wind - and God’s presence in this. Here everything silently testifies to the glory of God, and even the stones cry out about it. But this is not required, the heart itself sees and knows. It’s amazing: you sit on a stone, immerse yourself in yourself, and it’s as if there is no time around, it’s not felt here at all. Only the movement of the sun shows that time still flows. But it seems that it has stopped. Incredible...
True, on this visit my climb up the mountain was in question. On the way from Israel to Egypt, I caught a terrible cold under the air conditioning on the bus. In the morning in Jerusalem she was healthy, and in the evening in Sinai she was already deeply ill with all the consequences of a cold (throat, cough, runny nose, extreme weakness, etc.). There was almost no medicine left (I used it up in two weeks, because I was also trying to get sick). We only had to wait a couple of days until we got home. But how can one be in Sinai and not climb the Mount of Moses?! The priest and the guide consoled me that it was okay, everything would pass during the day on the holy mountain :) In general, I also had such hopes, answering: “May it be according to your faith!” :) That is, of course, I went up the mountain in a state of non-standing. Although the illness did not go away, I really felt much lighter and better all day on the mountain. And in the evening, after descending, another interesting event happened to us, completely unexpected - a visit to a monastery on the mountainside (opposite the monastery), where a hermit monk labors.
Monastery of St. Catherine 
Climbing Mount Moses along the monastic path 
On the mountainside opposite the monastery of St. Catherine there is the monastery of St. Galaktion and Epistimia. It is very ancient; hermits have labored there since the first centuries. And in the 20th century. Elder Paisius the Svyatogorets lived in this monastery for some time. 
The monastery is green on the slope :) For all the times that I was in Sinai, I only saw it like this, from afar, but it was not possible to get there due to limited time. And this time it so happened that we ended up visiting the hermit Fr. Moses.
Having descended to the monastery, we began to climb the opposite slope.
The beginning of the ascent to the monastery. View of the monastery of St. Catherine. 
Skete of St. Galaktion and Epistimia. Everything here is supported by Fr. Moses, already an elderly hermit. 
Fr. himself I didn’t take pictures of Moses; that would have been inconvenient, in my opinion. I just took a few shots of the monastery.
The area is small. But as far as I understand, several people can stay here for a while. In any case, when we arrived, we met several Greek women here helping with the housework.
"Reception" for pilgrims :-)
We spent several hours with Father Moses. They arrived before dark and left in pitch darkness. When on the way back we groped our way along a mountain path among the stones, Father Moses stood for a long time at the entrance and blessed us, who had dived into the Egyptian darkness, so that everything would be fine with us.
And then we walked for a long time and leisurely through the desert under the bottomless starry sky, absorbing every moment of a wonderful evening in this wonderful place... They were either silent, listening to the desert, or they spoke quietly, under the impression of the meeting and conversation.
Father told a little about himself, how he came to faith, how he came to Sinai, how he became a hermit. Also, many from the group asked their own troubling spiritual questions. Who was worried about loved ones, how to do it so that everything would always be okay with them. Who asked how to lead a spiritual life in everyday life. Etc. and so on. The main idea that was in the answers to any question: look for Christ. The most important thing is your personal relationship with Christ. Let your love not be consumerist and selfish (give this, do that, send me this and that). All you need to look for is CHRIST HIMSELF, so that He may dwell in your heart. To love Him not because He can give something or punish for something, but to love Him as the dearest and closest Beloved. He loves us all infinitely, and we can respond to this love with all the strength of our being: soul, heart, dedicate our thoughts, feelings and aspirations to Him. And then this mutual love soul and God, the indwelling of Christ in the heart - this is the Kingdom of God on earth, accessible even in this life. “Everything else will be added” (c) Anyone who has acquired Christ in this way already entrusts himself to Him without a trace and with complete trust says to God: “Here I am. Do with me what you want, because I know that all this will be good.” ".
That is, for all different questions asked O. Moses said essentially one thing - look for Christ, be a temple for His indwelling. This reveals the highest happiness. And each of you can experience this for yourself.
When he was asked if there were ascetics like the ancients now in the Sinai desert. He said that yes, there are and they strive, but they live in the depths of the desert and do not see anyone. And then, answering someone’s question about prayer, he said that we should all pray for each other. Then one granny pulled out a notebook with a pen to write down the names of the Sinai hermits, who to remember :-)
But oh. Moses replied that there was no need to write it down, it was possible without names. Because when we get up to pray, even if thousands of kilometers away, not in the desert, but in our “city cells,” through our prayer we all unite together, with those who also pray in other places on earth. We all become one, united in God. Me and you are one. Just like the Son and the Father are one. In the same way, we are all one in God, we are all members of His Body.
In general, I was very pleased to listen to Fr. Moses is like a balm for the soul. In his words one could guess what Silouan of Athos, Sophrony Sakharov, and other Svyatogortsy also wrote about. But these were not just book words, like a retelling of what they had read. Father Moses spoke from his own experience, he lived it himself and personally experienced that this is how it is. And I must admit, I was simply blissful, sitting next to you :-) Hearing confirmation from a living ascetic of what I read in my favorite books is so great! And this inspires them to follow the path they have tested (to the extent possible).
Finally, before we leave, Fr. Moses carried out part of the relics of St. from his tiny church. right John the Russian, to whom the church is dedicated. And then we sang the Easter troparion and set off on the way back.
