The Gospel in Brief

A Summary of the Chapters
Jesus in his childhood spoke of God as his Father, There was in Judaea at that time a prophet named John, who preached the coming of God on earth. He said that if people changed their way of life, considered all men equal, and instead of injuring, helped one another, God would appear and His Kingdom would be established on earth. Contents 1 I 2 II 3 III 4 IV 5 V 6 VI 7 VII 8 VIII 9 IX 10 X 11 XI 12 XII I HAVING heard this preaching, Jesus withdrew into the desert to consider the meaning of man's life and his relation to the infinite origin of all, called God. Jesus recognized as his Father that infinite source of being whom John called God. Having stayed in the... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Chapter 12 : The Victory of Spirit over Matter
And so for a man who lives not the personal life but the common life in the will of the Father, there is no death. Physical death is union with the Father. FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM, THE POWER, AND THE GLORY After this Jesus said: Come now, let us go: he who will betray me is near. Hardly had he said this before Judas, one of the twelve pupils, appeared, and with him a large throng carrying sticks and swords. Judas said to them: I will show you where he is with his pupils, and that you may know him among them all, he whom I shall first kiss, is he. And he at once went up to Jesus and said: Hall, master! and kissed him. And Jesus said to him: Why are you here, friend? Then the guard surrounded Jesus and were about to take him. And Peter snatched a sword from a servant of the high priest and slashed the man's ear. But Jesus rebuked him and said: You must not resist evil. Do not do so. Give back the sword... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Chapter 11 : The Farewell Discourse
The personal life is an illusion of the flesh, an evil. The true life is a life common to all men. BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL And Peter said to Jesus: Where are you going? Jesus replied: You cannot come where I am going now, but later on you will go there too. And Peter said: Why do you think I have not the strength now to go where you are going? I would give my life for you. Jesus said: You say you would give your life for me: see that you do not deny me thrice before cock-crow. And he turned to the pupils and said: Do not be troubled or afraid, but believe in the true God of life, and in my teaching. The life of the Father is not only the life here on earth, there is another life also. If the life of the Father were only such a life as this, I would promise you that when I die I would go to Abraham's bosom and prepare a place for you there and that I would come and take you and that we should be happy together in... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Chapter 10 : The Struggle with Temptation
So, not to fall into temptation, we must at every moment Of our life be at one with the Father. AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION After this, the Orthodox chief priests tried to do all they could to ensnare Jesus, so as in one way or other to destroy him. They assembled in council and began to consider. They said: We must somehow finish with this man. He so proves his teaching that if we let him alone everyone will believe in him and cast off our belief. Now already half the people believe in him. But if the Jews come to believe his teaching that all men are sons of one Father and are brothers, and that our Hebrew people are not different from others, then the Romans will overwhelm us completely and we shall no longer have a Hebrew kingdom. And the Orthodox chief priests and scholars long consulted together and could not decide what to do with him, for they could not make up their minds to kill him. Then one of them, Cai... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Chapter 9 : Temptations
The deceptions of temporal life hide from men the true life in the present. AND FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS AS WE FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS Some children were brought to Jesus and he saw that his pupils were sending them away. He was grieved at this. and said: It is wrong to send children away. They are better than anyone, for they live according to the will of the Father: they are indeed in the kingdom of heaven. Instead of sending them away you should learn from them, for to live in the Father's will you must live as children do. They do not abuse people, do not bear ill-will, do not lust, do not bind themselves by oaths, do not resist evil, do not go to law with anyone, acknowledge no difference between their own and other nations; and so they are better than grown-up people and are in the kingdom of heaven. If you do not become as children and refrain from all the snares of the flesh, you will not be in the kingdom of heaven. Only he u... (From : Wikisource.org.)

I and the Father are One
The true food of everlasting life is the fulfillment Of the Father's will GIVE US OUR DAILY BREAD After that the Jews wished to condemn Jesus to death, and he went away into Galilee and lived with his relations. The Jewish feast of tabernacles was come, and the brothers of Jesus prepared to go to the feast, and called him to go with them. They did not believe in his teaching and said to him:You say that the Jewish service of God is wrong and that you know the real way to serve God by deeds. If you really think that no one but you knows how to serve God come with us to the feast. Many people will be there and you can declare before them all that the teaching of Moses is wrong. If they all believe you, then your pupils also will see that you ... (From : Wikisource.org.)

The True life
The satisfaction of the personal will leads to death; the satisfaction of the Father's will gives true life. THY WILL BE DONE And Jesus rejoiced in the power of the spirit and said: I acknowledge the spirit of the Father, the source of everything in heaven and earth, who has revealed what was hidden from the wise and learned to the simple, because they acknowledge themselves sons of the Father. All who are concerned for the happiness of the body have put on a yoke not made for them, and have harnessed themselves to a load they cannot draw. Understand my teaching and follow it and you shall have peace and joy in life. I give you another yoke and another load-the spiritual life. Yoke yourselves to this, and you shall learn from me peace and h... (From : Wikisource.org.)

The False Life
To obtain true life, man must on earth resign the false life of the flesh and live by the spirit. AS IN HEAVEN SO ON EARTH Once his mother and brothers came to Jesus, and could not get to him because there were so many around him. A man seeing them went to Jesus and said: Your family, your mother and brothers, are standing outside wanting to see you. But Jesus said: My mother and my brothers are those who have understood the will of the Father, and do it. And a woman exclaimed: Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that you have sucked! And Jesus replied: Only they are blessed who have understood the spirit of the Father and keep it. And a man said to Jesus: I will follow you wherever you may go. Jesus answered him: There is now... (From : Wikisource.org.)

This short exposition of the Gospel is a summary of a large work which exists in manuscript and cannot be published in Russia. That work consists of four parts: An account (Confession) of the course of my own life and of the thoughts which led me to the conviction that the Christian teaching contains the truth. An examination of the Christian teaching: first according to its interpretation by the Orthodox Russo-Greek Church, then according to its interpretation by the Church in general-by the Apostles, the Councils, the so-called Fathers of the Church-and an exposure of what is false in those interpretations. An examination of Christian teaching not according to those interpretations but solely according to what has come down to us of Chris... (From : Wikisource.org.)

The Service of God
Therefore man should work not for the flesh, but for the spirit. WHICH ART IN HEAVEN It happened that Jesus was walking across a field with his pupils one Saturday. The pupils were hungry, and on the way they plucked ears of corn and rubbed them in their hands and ate the grain. But according to the teaching of the Orthodox, God had given Moses a law that everyone should observe Saturday and do nothing that day. According to the teaching of the Orthodox, God had ordered that anyone who worked on Saturday should be stoned. The Orthodox noticed that the pupils rubbed ears of corn on a Saturday and said to them: It is wrong to do that on a Saturday. One must not work on Saturday, and you are rubbing ears of corn. God made Saturday holy, and co... (From : Wikisource.org.)