Об Иосифе и Сусанне и о том, что подвиг Иосифов выше подвига блаженной Сусанны

What was it that brought Joseph, who shone with physical and spiritual beauty, into prison and forced him to endure all kinds of suffering in it? Was it not concern for chastity that became the reason for all this for him, when she who failed in what she sought, changing the caresses of love into fierce rage, in anger for her failed adultery in front of her unreasonable husband, armed herself with accusations? The clothes, which she presented as having been subjected to violence, really served as a denunciation of the violence, although not inflicted on her, but inflicted by her on the young man, who left the clothes 2 for which she attracted him, just to save him by fleeing from the reproach of sin. For after failure, if she indulged in frenzy both from lust and anger, she found it useful for herself to destroy what had been done to her, as it seemed to her, impudently, so that, by mocking her, he would not also disgrace his frantic lust before everyone. And Susanna was exposed to the same mortal danger by the verdict of the court, deceived by slander, because here, too, the lawless lusters and judges rightly considered it hard for themselves to see someone alive who knew about such an act of theirs, for which those who dared to do something unworthy of both age and dignity in extreme old age would very rightly be ridiculed, because when the impulses of lust subside and weaken, by natural order they themselves losing strength in themselves, then, having become overripe and outlived in years, they indulged in shameful fury, inflamed with love for the chaste. But I, seeing the difference in this identity, perhaps recognized by many, find it necessary to make a distinction in what, by imaginary similarity, seems to be identical, not so that women do not dare to boast about the same things that men boast about, but so that everyone who reads the Divine Scriptures, barely being able to reach the truth with great observation and attentiveness, does not lose attention to the apparent the similarity of hidden differences. Indeed, who of those who do not fully understand the matter and do not carefully search for the reasons for it will not say that Susanna labored in the same way as Joseph, although, if we judge the matter without taking into account the intention, her feat was not the same as Joseph’s, but much lower? For the intention in both can be the same in relation to chastity, even if the act does not have the same dignity, being deprived of equal value due to random circumstances, and not according to the moral mood of the soul; so it cannot be considered a slander against chaste virtue if we say that in the reward for her feat, in the assumption of great rewards, she lost something compared to others. For, perhaps, she had the strength for more perfect successes, although we see that the feat set before her and accomplished by her was less in comparison with what was revealed to Joseph. What is the same in this, when the elders want to dishonor the young and when the young forces the young to fall? What is equal between the venerable in their gray hair and the blossoming in beauty? Between those who inspire modesty and respect with their appearance, and between those who inflame passion with their sight? Between strangers and between the one who always spends time together? Between those who appear unexpectedly and between the one who attacks every day, attracting both words and adulterous body movements, threatening death and promising freedom? Between those who could terrify with their attack, and between the one who had enough strength to charm with caresses and soften with obligingness even a heart not inclined to consent? Between those that outrage with confusion, fear and, rather, weaken the irritability of lust than encourage one to remain in peace, and between that which, with prayers, attracts even a thought that is not at all disposed to passion? What is most powerful in inspiring inclination or aversion is the similarity and dissimilarity of age. Susanna did not submit to the old men, in whom there was nothing pleasant, and young Joseph rejected his young wife, who could satisfy what she forced. In such cases, as is natural, nothing produces so much mutual agreement as the same age and habit of each other. Age convinces a man and woman who have been the same age for years to trust each other; The habit of long-term acquaintance with each other softens extremely harsh morals and encourages mutually alienating people to become friends. But what is outdated and has lost the charm of freshness does not amuse the shining one with beauty, although it itself is amused by this, because what is not liked has nothing attractive that it could catch. You will find that many others, for the sake of virtue, endured trials in very many circumstances: some made efforts to be pious and to holyly serve God; others learned reverence, modesty, and generally strived for their moral education; others, to those who, out of ignorance, began to judge what was good, explained what remained hidden to them and provided them with useful advice so that their lives could be improved for the benefit. According to Pavlov, “all those who want to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). For the lawless, the very fact that they act justly is hard, the very sight of them is unbearable, and for this they are persecuted, because they silently denounce wickedness, in contrast to their lives, exposing to everyone the bad life of vicious people. And the Lord, predicting to the Apostles what would happen to them, says: “If you cast Me out, they will cast you out too” (John 15:20); and: “You are cut off from the congregation” (John 16:2); and: “They will carry your name as evil” (Luke 6:22), so that, having prepared with zeal for the foreshadowed sorrows, they can easily endure them, and by thinking about suffering, making the experience of suffering easy for themselves. And indeed, soon followed a host of Pharisees, bonds, prisons, slander, insults, insults, beatings, mortal dangers; and nothing embarrassed them, nothing made them diminish their boldness. For they meant to experience suffering even greater than what they were threatened with. And the readiness of the will made it possible to ignore every calamity. Therefore, although there were twelve of them in number, they freely addressed the whole frantic people, saying: “For we cannot speak without speaking what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20), then: “If it is righteous before God to listen to you rather than to God, judge” (Acts 4:19). Sometimes even the just reached the point of reproaching those who opposed the truth; the few to the many; the weak, in the opinion of the people, spoke to the strong like this: “You always resist the Holy Spirit with stiff necks and uncircumcised hearts and ears, just as your fathers did, so do you” (Acts 7:51). For this is just zeal: it does not look at the multitude of those who have the power to do injustice, does not reason about the rage and power of opponents, does not heed threats, does not know danger. She diligently strives for one thing: to speak the truth, to make a lie obvious to everyone, so that it does not secretly take possession of any of the simple-hearted people. Therefore, to the one who acts justly, what harm will be caused by sorrows, flooding him from everywhere, terribly rising and easily crushing, striking hard and rushing past with great desire, brazenly invading and boldly repelled, suddenly finding and not causing destruction, kindling gold and making it more solid? Thus, in the Song of Songs, the perfect soul, firmly relying on patience, tested in temptations, calls on the winds, saying: “Arise, O north, and come, O south, and blow through my mountain city, and let the fragrances flow” (Song. 4, 16), for it is convinced that the fragrance of virtue then becomes greater when it is set in motion by many temptations that arouse what has hitherto rested. disposition towards activity and through the discovery of those who make it more glorious. Thus, the virtue of each of the saints shone, which could have been hidden if it had not been revealed by the test, and would have been hidden under a bushel if it had not been placed on the “candlestick”, shining in deeds with the brilliant light of inner disposition. Who would have recognized the piety of the great Abraham if obedience to the command to slay his son had not proclaimed his courage, with which he armed his fatherly hand against his only begotten, extending it to his beloved son and not even showing the bitter suffering of his soul with a sad look, but remaining with the same cheerful spirit with which he would have been in grateful prayers sacrificing a goat, or a calf, or a lamb to God? Who would recognize Job’s wisdom when his property was taken away from him in various ways, if his gratitude at each loss did not clearly cry out about his generosity? The evil enemy plundered everything from him more than once, so that, having plunged him into disaster with one blow, he would not cause a simultaneous and shortened illness, which could take on many forms from the news received one after another and cause the most severe sorrow to the one listening to it. Not first of all, he overthrows the house in which Job’s dearest feasted, by this destruction turning the building into a tomb, dissolving blood with food, mixing together both flesh and stones, so that greater suffering does not dull the senses for lesser suffering. But in everything it extends gradually from one to another, from the less important ascending to the more precious and after one message preparing another, more sorrowful both in quantity and quality of loss, so that the disaster, increasing little by little, causes a great and cruel ulcer of sadness. This is how he maintained order from the beginning until he dealt the final blow, which showed his husband’s wisdom. As Job soon learned about the fall of the house and the death of the children, having already received news of the loss of everything else, “he tore his garments in pieces and shorn the hair of his head” (Job 1:20), who took the rest, giving back what he could not take, and naturally anticipating the gospel advice with wisdom. For it is said: “Whoever wants... to take your robe, let him also have the swearing” (Matthew 5:40). And Job first fulfilled this advice, by voluntarily accepting disasters, proving that he was not sad, having undergone them apparently involuntarily, and by what became visible, he discovered the hitherto hidden strength of spirit. Whoever forcibly gives back to the one who took what was not taken from him, he, with a second generosity, makes it clear that the first, although taken out of need, he gave up not out of need, without violence of his will, although those who used violence apparently acted arbitrarily, taking what he could not give back, but gave at will, freely giving up what was apparently recognized as being taken from him against his will. Joseph, Susanna, and Jephah, who acquired fame for themselves, would remain unknown - the former for chastity, the latter for faithfulness to their word. For Jephaah, having made a vow for his valiant success in battle, if he overcomes his enemies, who were famous both for their numbers and military experience, to offer as a burnt offering whatever else he came across from his property, when by chance he met his only-begotten and immensely beloved daughter, he did not change his vow, preferring piety to nature and sacrificing fatherly love, so as not to break the covenant with God, although death daughter caused him unbearable suffering. And if the merits of others, being known to everyone during the action itself, acquired obvious and open praise, then for Joseph and Susanna their labor and valiant feat were followed by shameful condemnation, which not only hid the wonderful height of their virtue, but even imposed on them the reproach of lewdness. And this causes great sorrow to the wise, when they dishonor him for the very thing for which he should be glorified. But he acquires great and incomparable glory and honor from God for the fact that in a good deed he took great labor and humbly endured a bad opinion of himself, and, moreover, an unjust one, as truly just. Therefore, alleviating the difficulty of such generosity, the Lord said: “Blessed are you, when they reproach you and destroy you and say every evil verb” (Matthew 5:11) and so on, assigning a special reward for extreme virtue and offering a reward corresponding to the work as a consolation for joyless work. For when the humble in wisdom is reproached for pride, the generous for theft, 3 the chaste for lust, the temperate for gluttony, the humble for insolence, the sedate for cowardice, the contrite in spirit for hypocrisy, then a severe retribution is very appropriate, and one of them crowns the ascetic for the deed itself, and the other for slander. Such was the great Job; and he knows his own virtues, and when friends reproached them for vices opposite to them, he does not try to refute these false and untimely reproaches, but readily agrees to them and confirms them. For he says: “Truly we know that it is so” - and tries to prove that this is really so, saying further: “How will a person be righteous with the Lord?” (cf. Job 9:2) “or is a man without blemish in his deeds?” (Job 4:17). So he made the apparently common guilt of the whole family his own, so as not to give the idea that he was free from the vices attributed to him. Why did he take everything purely and justly, the other because he was robbed by a predator, and the other as a reward for his wisdom in the event of losses. Thus, sorrows not only do not cause harm, but even bring very great benefit, making the insulted person glorious if he is patient. But the Ruler of our life and sorrows does not allow them to continue to the point of extreme danger, and the feat does not allow it to exceed the strength of the ascetic. If he sometimes deigns to do this, arranging something extraordinary, then he performs a great miracle, himself, with the assistance of grace, replenishing the nature that is impoverished due to weakness, just as those who teach inexperienced people to swim, floating nearby, support the weakened, helping first with one hand, then with the other, until the exhausted strength is restored, and through this, just as they teach art, they do not allow them to drown when necessary. So Paul says in one place: “God is faithful, who will not leave you to be tempted more than you can, but will create with temptation also an abundance, so that you are able to bear it” (1 Cor. 10:13), and in another: “I do not want you, brethren, not to know about the tribulation ... that happened ... in Asia, for we were burdened with great and greater strength, because we did not let us hope and live” (cf. 2 Cor. 1:8). With the words “abundance” and “more than strength,” the Apostle expresses that God’s assistance gives strength, so that the continuation of 4 temptations is tolerable, and salvation in the most desperate dangers is extraordinary and almost incredible. Sarah, a foreigner and newcomer, having fallen into the hands of a lustful king, did not hope for any other help from anywhere except from God from above. The husband who was with her, who was supposed to provide this help, was so powerless for this that he hid the marriage, and exposed one relationship, fearing death, called his wife a sister who shared the bed with him - half-blood, for he knew that those driven into a frenzy by the beauty of another man's wife consider those suspected of seeking love to be irreconcilable enemies and try to do so, even deciding to kill, so as not to have a person who would think He attracted his beloved to himself and could disturb their calm cohabitation with caring jealousy. When everything that justly and in all rights could have served to protect Sarah came to a complete standstill, then from her very bed she escaped unscathed, because the king’s internal illness kept him from fornicating and excessive suffering cooled his frantic desire. On the royal bed, after the embrace, what, other than reproach, could Sarah finally expect for herself, when the passion in the barbarian, due to great intemperance, was indomitable, beauty irritated lust, lust aroused a frantic desire for lawless pleasure, and the one who inflamed all this was in her hands, although she wanted to avoid violence, but to resist it she lacked neither the strength of her body nor the persuasiveness of her words: therefore that once the passion aroused in a sensualist is inferior to nothing, he has no reason capable of listening to the words and being convinced by them. But the virtue of this wife, even in such difficult circumstances, found a way to keep herself undefiled, stopping the wicked man with his own suffering and excruciating pain in the insides, extinguishing the secret fire of lust that ignited him. About David and Gideon. How did the meekest and most gentle David, who was repeatedly caught by the bloodthirsty Saul, beyond all hope, come out of his hands without suffering anything, being saved at different times in different ways and not being able to give himself a true account of his salvation, because each time this miracle defeated every imagination of reason and reason? How was the parricide Absalom condemned for the lawless usurpation of power without being caught by human hands? The oak, taking him by the hair, delighted him as he fled and hung him in sight of everyone on high, to anyone who wanted to take revenge for the insult of his tenderly loving father, handing him over to be killed, ready and in no way able to defend himself, and for his reckless undertaking suffered this worthy punishment, so that he was handed over to death by an unreasonable and inanimate plant. How did Gideon, with three hundred foot soldiers, put to death the entire people of Midian, who were as numerous as sand and strong in strength, without even having any plausible reason for entering into battle? It was completely natural, due to the large number of enemies, not to dare to think about this enterprise if the story about the dream had not encouraged him. Was it not with fear and reluctance, when God commanded, that he went to listen to the enemy camp, where he was given firmness of spirit, when, as he had not experienced the cooperation of God, he had no conviction of faith? For from one retelling he heard that the rolling dough of barley loaves overthrew the Midian tabernacles (see Judges 7:13), and the other wisely made another application and said that this was the sword of Gideon and the army that came with him; and Gideon, having heard this, was inspired by good hope, mentally realizing the insignificance of his army under the barley loaves, which, rolling, would easily throw the enemy camp into confusion, not overthrowing the enemy with their own hands, but receiving the strength from God’s power, rotating and rolling them. For what rolls apparently presses and overcomes what is trampled, but the reason for this is in the force of what rolls and pushes with force. About Samson and Hezekiah. How did Samson kill a thousand armed men with one donkey's jaw, and from fatigue in this massacre, feeling thirsty, when there was neither a source nor a stream anywhere, from one tooth in his jaw he received abundantly flowing moisture, in the same thing he found a weapon against the foreigners, and found a source to quench the thirst that was tormenting after the victory? Like Hezekiah, who could not patiently see that the whole land was devastated by the Assyrian army suddenly covering it in great numbers, having prayed at home, he saw the enemies dead the next morning, without moving a spear, without protecting himself with a shield, without drawing a bow, without taking up a sword, without performing any military action; because one Angel, with one wave, silently accomplished such a defeat and did not destroy everyone solely because the intention was not to destroy an entire people, but such a number that it was enough to bring others into fear and horror and induce them to flee? Who, instead of arrows, unhinderedly sent down a hail of stones from the clouds onto the enemy ranks and threw them into confusion, so that they rebelled against each other, as if against unexpectedly advancing enemies, and in the thought that they were killing their opponents, they massacred their own, thereby delivering victory to the then pious people without battle? About Elisha and the Israelites. How the prophet Elisha hid from the enemies who were looking for him, walked among them and was not seen by them, brought them to his land and was not recognized by them, was a guide to the evil and could rather harm them than suffer from them; because their vision was darkened and naturally they erred in searching for him? How did the Israelites not fall into the power of the pursuing Egyptians, when they had the Egyptians encamped behind them, and opposite them a great sea, washing impenetrable deserts on both sides, unclimbable mountains, with the impossibility of escaping, like fish caught in a deep sea, they were everywhere in the hands of enemies? How did the sea part? How did the water become from land to land, leaving the deep sand dry for a convenient procession of horses and chariots? How did the waves harden stronger than cast copper? How did the watery nature, which was accustomed to flow down the slope, become like a wall, rising to such a height, and gave an extraordinary path to the persecuted, for some, without any obstacle on either side, holding separate parts of the sea, and covering others with water when their flow resumed, and for all of them together, both animals and people, hastily arranging a deep coffin? How did the sky in the desert rain down for them the prepared food without cultivating the land, sending down either manna or quails - this comfortable meal that did not require preparation? How did a solid and moisture-deprived rock from barren loins, in quenching a long-term thirst, spew out streams of water, bringing such a tribute as it had never given before? How did the Jordan, imitating the sea, divide its current, which opposed the barrier to travelers, allowing one part of the waters to flow to the sea, and stopping the other (it is difficult to say), forcing it to flow back, or stopping the flow at the very sources? For no one is able to interpret God’s miracle, which, as a rule, completely goes beyond the limits of any natural order and triumphs over the plausible speculations of cunning talkers. How, having sharpened their natural weapons - stings, the hornets fought for the people, so that, having taken the country from the seven nations that owned it (see Ex. 23, 28), they gave the pacified land to the possession of those led by God and, on the one hand, did not leave the vanquished a plausible excuse to explain the reason for their defeat by the fact that they were defeated by a multitude of troops and heavy force, and on the other hand, to protect those who inherited the property of the exiled from arrogance, because they took possession of the cities by mercy, not deserved by labor, and not as a reward for valor - like those conquered by arms. About the three youths: Daniel, Jonah and Aaron. How the all-consuming power of fire did not extend its scorching effectiveness to the three youths, not allowing the heat to approach their mortal bodies; outside the cave it showed its power, but inside the cave it remained in an unusual way inactive? How did the lions before Daniel prevail over two equally natural passions: brutality and hunger, surpassing people in this part of wisdom and maintaining a seven-day abstinence from food, even when offered food, while those gifted with reason, if something edible is ready and there is an opportunity to taste unrestrainedly, do not tolerate even a one-day fast? Like the belly of a whale, which digests stones and decomposes everything that falls into it faster than a word is uttered, Jonah was kept unharmed in a place so humid and hot for three days and the same number of nights, making those who live on land like those of the sea, and those that are easily destroyed - indestructible, and turning the nature that was accustomed to sustain its life by inhaling air into the nature of fish, contrary to custom, instead an ordinary and familiar element - air - drawing in water through its nostrils? Like Aaron’s rod, devoid of bark, moisture, dry, long ago lost the power of vegetation, when the need demanded to confirm with a sign the priesthood, which was doubted, in an extraordinary way suddenly took on everything: the bark, and the color, and the branches, and the leaves, and the fruits, and the vital force (rather than in an instant, pouring it onto all this) - and that rod, which not long before had been seen in the hands of the one leaning on it, made a blossoming branch laden with fruits? About the Apostles and the Mother of God. How did the carefully locked dungeons provide the Apostles with an unhindered exit, throwing away the door locks and opening the doors? How did the bonds on the hands and feet loosen and expand so much that both the hands and feet were able to free themselves from them? And what is greater than all miracles and exceeds every word - how did God the Word, who cannot contain anything and embraces everything with the greatness of his power, deign to be contained in a virgin’s womb? How did the womb form within itself and give birth to what was conceived without seed, and it, keeping the signs of virginity intact, according to Job, passed through “the gates of the womb” (cf. Job 3:10), without leaving even a sign of passing? For just as at another time he entered the disciples with closed doors, so then he left, leaving the generative church of nature the same as he found it, and without in the least damaging the mysterious connections of these doors, so that these signs would show a truly miraculous and Divine Birth. All this, and even more than this, happened, and is accepted by faith, and the proof is the undoubted faithfulness of God who did this, and is inexplicable for the mind, which lacks the strength to interpret these extraordinary deeds and which becomes exhausted at the inconceivability of such miracles. Therefore, if virtue (although it is attacked), however, it wins a victory not acquired by our worries, because the Angels, and other Divine Powers, and the Lord Himself protect the righteous (it is said: “The Angel of the Lord will encamp around those who fear Him and will deliver them” (Ps. 33:8); and God Himself said to Abraham: “Do not be afraid, Abram: I will protect you” ( Gen. 15:1); and Jeremiah said: “Behold, I have built you this day like a strong city, ... and like a wall of copper, strong to all the king of Judah and his princes, ... and they will fight against you and will not prevail, for I am with you, that I will deliver you” (cf. Jer. 1:18-19), then why are you coming to Excitement, are you indignant at the sweat shed by the ascetics, envying, as if out of ignorance, their crowns? Do you lose heart, looking at your labors, and do you not encourage yourself with the hope of reward? Do you lament the present sorrows and do not rejoice more than in future rewards? makes the difficulty of the matter easy, with greater benefits without presenting inconvenience in less. Haven’t you heard how the nurturer Paul addresses those who are struggling with real sorrows and those who are expected to arouse weakening zeal from many misfortunes when he says: “The passions of this present time are unworthy of the glory that would be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18)? Haven’t you heard how, to console those who suffer, he talks about his own sufferings, so that those who think only about themselves do not weaken in their feat, because they suffer excessively, as no one has endured? For, not desiring his own glory, the one who describes his exploits is the one who says: “Even if he had pleased men, he would not have been a servant of Christ” (Gal. 1:10); and he is not tormented, like those who are sick with the tongue, with the desire to say what he cannot cover with silence. On the contrary, knowing that those who suffer are comforted by hearing about those who have already suffered (and, having learned that the same thing has happened to others before that is now happening to them, they learn to endure it patiently as those who are convinced that others have endured it courageously), the Apostle decides to announce what he tried to hide, and announces his successes, and does not puff up the mind with visible praises, but he means the only benefit of many, he strives to make everyone zealots of goodness and achieve this, so that in troubles one competes with another for piety. That’s why Paul, as if he were an eloquent and glory-loving man, boasting, describes his exploits with great freedom, saying: “In labor they multiplied, ... in death they were abundant, ... in hunger and thirst, ... in winter and nakedness,” repeatedly in troubles, “they hit with clubs, they lashed with a single stone, they thrice the ship.” being denied... I created night and day in the depths” (cf. 2 Cor. 11:23, 27, 25). Thus, zealous for the truth, he tries to show his great successes, so that hard workers will be zealous to imitate him, and, not achieving the measure of this virtue and remaining behind in many ways, moderate their thoughts about themselves. For if he himself says about those for whom it was the duty to compete with Paul in good deeds that he labored “more than all of them” (1 Cor. 15:10), then will anyone living today dare to boast with him of equality of honor, when for many it is difficult not only to do this, but also to believe that this was done? “I was in Antioch, [and] in Iconium, ... I received Jacob in exile, and the Lord delivered me from them all” (cf. 2 Tim. 3:11); He used the expression “delivered” as a bait to go boldly into danger, so that everyone, encouraged by the hope that he would not suffer in temptations, would meet them complacently and would not weaken in action, in the Apostle, already delivered from troubles, seeing a sufficient guarantee that he himself would be similarly delivered. And again, attacking those who deny the resurrection and say that the suffering here is in vain, because there is no time for those who strive to enjoy the labor they have endured, the Apostle says this: “Even if we fought against the beast against man in Ephesus, what good is it for us, if the dead do not rise?” (1 Cor. 15:32). With this reminder of the rebirth of the dead, he showed that he did not labor in vain, did not endure so much sorrow in vain, but in the hope and aspiration of reward after the resurrection, he suffered and endured not without a good reason, expecting endless joy for temporary sorrows. Why does he give everyone after himself a wonderful command, saying: “Let us do good, let us not be discouraged: in our season we will reap, without failing” (Gal. 6:9), and with the hope of gathering the handles, he encourages them to do the labors necessary when sowing. And everywhere the passion of conceit does not cease to pursue, so that good things are accomplished and so that arrogance, which always likes to be grafted onto the successes achieved, does not find nourishment in good things, if those who are zealous about this work are not sober. For the Apostle (how by his trick to induce those listening to imitate), being forced to talk about his own advantages, called such praise for himself “madness” (cf. 2 Cor. 11:17) and by talking about himself he showed how worthy of competition the deeds are, and by the fact that he reproachfully called this praise “madness”, forbidding pompous talk about deeds, so saying that “the one behind forgets, and in the front... extends” (cf. Phil. 3:13), gives the same instruction in a different way. He who looks at what has already been accomplished usually becomes arrogant to the point of recklessness. And whoever looks at what remains to be accomplished must necessarily be humble and modest, having the strongest impulse for humility in the uncertainty of whether he will achieve what he is striving for. Therefore, in order for those who succeed in good to always have modest and unpretentious thoughts about themselves, the Apostle advises to look not at what has been done, but at how much remains to be done, because the mind, directed towards this and crushed by concern for what is the object of its jealousy, will not have time to think about its successes and fall into the ensuing madness. And those who are in such a state of spirit are always served by Angels, saving them from all shame; with them, the Master God is the guardian of everything they need, so that their feat is accomplished successfully and without difficulty they strive “for the honor of the highest calling” (Phil. 3:14), not prohibited by entertainment in caring for bodily needs. About Jacob. For this is what the great Jacob said from many experiences: “God, Who has nourished me from childhood. ...An angel like him delivers me from all evils” (cf. Gen. 48, 15-16), having experienced both in Mesopotamia, where he went with one rod and from where he returned home with great possessions, delivered “from all evils,” as he himself says, by the contribution of God’s power. When, fearing the threats of Esau, Jacob found salvation in flight and returned again, fearing a still hard-hearted enemy, then, as it turns out, God did not encourage him with a word to be firm in spirit, as he appeared to Abraham and Jeremiah, but in reality inspired him with his deeds that he would surpass in strength anyone who intended to plot against him; and arranges that before the morning a Divine vision in the form of a man fights with him, when he was in a waking state, apparently overcome in the struggle and giving him an imaginary victory after the struggle, so that, convinced by the victory of the Power that appeared to him and fought with him, he would complacently go against people, in the firm confidence that he will overcome all evil intentions. And so that in this sense he understands the economy of the vision, when moving away he says to him: “Thou art strengthened with God and will be strong with men” (Gen. 32:28), expressing this: go, boldly hoping for this strength; for which of the people will stand against the power that has strengthened itself to fight against God? That is why David, strong in hope, when Absalom was pursuing him with the chosen soldiers of an entire people, said with confidence: “I will not be afraid of the people around them who attack me” (Ps. 3:7), knowing that the protection of God’s power is more powerful than the surrounding enemies; and he also says: “In peace together I will sleep and rest, for you, O Lord, alone have given me hope” (Ps. 4:9). For we were so strengthened by the hope of the best that one was not afraid of such a multitude of enemies and lay down carefree and fell asleep, while the enemies were awake and worried about how they, many of them, could defeat one. And quite fair. For if, as has been said, “the Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear” (Ps. 33:8), then why bother those around a righteous man who does not benefit from anything from the outside, when he is internally surrounded by reliable guards who forbid external attacks? How is poverty burdensome for the wise and ascetic, who has no concern for storing vain things and who, when he wants, has what he needs, because all creation serves him, as the Lord of everything, and diligently brings him as a gift what he wants, while those who are most proud of wealth lack even the most necessary things for necessary food? What riches were not depleted during the famines described in the Divine Scriptures? What granaries were not depleted of earthly products when the prophetic lips brought the sky and clouds into solidification, and together the whole earth? The veins of the springs dried up in their very recesses, neither rain nor dew fell from above to the ground; the fields turned to stone from a long-term drought, no longer growing grain, grass, or spring flowers, when the mountains and abysses were filled with the dead bodies of livestock, animals and birds. The death of gradually fading people, young and old, was pitiful and disastrous; the sight of those who had already died was unpleasant and unbearable, because the corpses were rotting in the streets, exuding drops of blood and making life worse than death for the living, who not only saw this, but also the suffering of the dying, mothers mourning their loved ones, in their arms struggling with death, children sitting next to their fathers, and fathers next to children dying from lack of food, friends at their last breath, raising their motionless gaze to their upcoming friends and not receiving no mercy for themselves, when, perhaps, one piece could bring back to life the interrupted breath! So much need during hunger forces everyone to care more about themselves than about others, and if someone touched by suffering and still having a few food items shows the pitiful death of the end, then he sighs out of compassion for the dying, and imagines his own inevitable need, and reasons that it is more necessary to take care of himself than of his neighbor. To those who had a lot of gold, how did treasuries with money help them when there was no bread for sale anywhere? What were the accounts for the many talents of silver, abandoned due to lack of supplies, useful for? For all this did not satisfy hunger, could not heal poverty. The art of the cooks remained idle; The cupbearers had nothing to show their experience on, the fussiness of the other servants stopped, the bakers had nothing to do, those who prepared honey sweets had nothing to do, the faces of those singing with the pipe and harp were no longer in business. They all grieved about one thing together, the lack, and sighed about one thing, the scarcity of food. And at the same time, what harm did the voluntary deprivation of valuable substances cause to the righteous, who found a ready-made and comfortable meal wherever they wanted! There was then King Ahab, and there were also the prophets Elijah and Elisha. The first owned a large expanse of land, in his treasuries, like in the royal ones, there was a lot of money; the latter had nothing at all, no shelter, no money. The first dressed in scarlet, and around him was all the royal decoration, but the latter covered themselves with a mantle and did not have a single servant. And the first walked through the mountains and valleys, looking for grains, in order to satisfy his hunger with grass - the latter, where the time of eating caught them, found decent food in abundance: they ordered the widow to bring them food, and the widow, having one handful of flour in the house, despite many hungry children, baked unleavened bread from a handful and brought it to them. There was no harvest, but their waterpot became a threshing floor. The field was not sown, but it gave them flour; the land is barren, but the field has blossomed in the water-pot; the granaries full of bread became scarce, but the handful of flour did not become scarce. While on the road, they fell asleep, and after sleep the Angels offered them the necessary food: bread and water; it would be better to say, having fallen asleep, they were awakened by the Holy Powers, like gentlemen, ministers assigned to such needs and invited to a prepared feast. They moved into the desert, and the crows brought them bread from inhabited places in the morning, and meat in the evening. Where did they get the Orons from? Such food is always, especially during famine, not easy to obtain for birds, who are usually content with eating corpses and barely have enough to satisfy their needs. And what is most surprising is that, when there was a shortage of what they needed, they so generously treated others, not only caring about themselves at a time when it would soon become difficult or even impossible to obtain food, if what was still left was destroyed by others; but they generously extended the gift to many others, being confident that as long as the righteous live, the gifts of grace will never become scarce, which is skillful in supplying such things and deems it a duty, like a dues or tribute, to give those who are worthy what they need for the body. For the Lord teaches: “Do not worry about this, saying: what are the pits, or what do we drink, or what do we wear? ...for your Heavenly Father knows that you require all these things” (Matthew 6:31-32) - and to the one who does good he gives it as a duty, and not a gift. For he adds to what has been said: “For he who labors his own food is worthy” (Matthew 10:10). The prophets once fed a hundred men, having ten 6 (2 Kings 4:42). Only loaves, which, according to calculations, were not enough to satisfy such a number and which, however, were satisfied, testifying to the saturation with the leftovers. For when the servant was told: “Offer, offer the people bread, so that they may eat,” and he, paying attention more to the probability of the matter than to the authenticity of the orderer, said: “What will I give this to so many people?” And eat, and remain according to the word of the Lord” (cf. 2 Kings 4:42–44), so that the slave’s miracle precedes and pave the way for the acceptance of the Lord’s miracle. For images of the truth always precede, blocking the lips of ungrateful Jews, so that when they set out to slander the miracles of the Lord, that they are incredible or impossible, they will be forced by the miracles that happened before to stop their untimely persistence and will be embarrassed to shamelessly rebel against the Lord’s miracle, after their predecessors without contradiction accepted the prototypes of it, which were performed on slaves. About the Son of the Ever-Virgin. Thus, the Jews, who are ready to object and weave somewhat plausible speculations against the Birth of the Virgin, as if nature cannot bring into being the embryo of a fruit without the investment of fertilizing seeds, the earth does not allow this, which in the beginning produced seedless fruits of all kinds: because in both cases the seed was God’s Word. It is said to the earth: “Let the earth sprout the former grass, sowing seed according to its kind” (Gen. 1:11); and she turned the command into nature for herself: immediately, without any other previous cause other than the Word, producing the fruits that the command produced. And the Virgin, saying: “How will this be for me, even if I have no husband,” she heard: “The Holy Spirit will come upon You, and the power of the Most High will overshadow You” (Luke 1:34–35); and without difficulty it happened that “the Word became flesh” (cf. John 1:14) and with the verb the church of God was created. Likewise, Jonah, after a three-day stay in the whale, came out unharmed, stops the lips of the Jews when they want to assert that the Lord’s Resurrection after three days is impossible, assuring them of similar things, and not allowing those who like to argue to shamelessly rebel against a new miracle, forbidding such obvious shamelessness with an ancient miracle. So that the Jews would not say that the miracle of five loaves, with which five thousand were fed, was impossible, the slaves first fed a hundred men with ten loaves, while by a small miracle they vouched for the larger and showed that what had once become possible in a small form was also possible in a larger one, because when it was necessary to feed both a small number with a large one and a larger number with a smaller one, the substance was equally obedient to the multiplying grace, which reveals its effectiveness to everyone not by quantity, but by power. But enough about the Jewish controversy. The prophets, who then fed a hundred men with ten loaves, at another time, when the famine was still strong, ordered the servants to boil many potions in a cauldron. And how later the brew turned out to have an extremely bitter taste, no doubt from the poisonous potion mixed into the brew, which was implied by the one who said: “Death in Konoba, man of God” (2 Kings 4:40), - they command to put one handful of flour into everything, and what shortly before for those who were weary seemed unfit for food due to bitterness, they make it convenient and very useful for satisfying hunger exhausted from poverty. The hymn writer David beautifully cried out about them, saying: “Those who are rich are poor and hungry; but those who seek the Lord will not be deprived of any good” (Ps. 33:11); and what was said before this serves as undoubted evidence and confirmation of the truth of this word. And the Lord said, sealing this: “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. And why are you worrying about clothes? See how the villagers grow: they neither toil nor spin: but I say unto you, that Solomon was clothed with all his glory, as one of these” (Matthew 6:26, 28-29). Thus, from what is visible every day, it makes it clear that it is possible to lead a carefree and comfortable life. For he says: “Seek the Kingdom... and all these things will be added to you” (cf. Luke 12:31). And so that no one thinks that there is just empty thunder of words and something similar to vanity in what is said: “Do not worry... what you eat, or what you drink, or what you put on” (cf. Matt. 6:25), the Lord confirms His advice with the example of lilies and birds (which from the providence of the All-Perfect receive: some - the splendor of clothing, and others - food obtained without labor and care), and at the same time reminds us of the life promised to Adam before disobedience, so that no one, looking at the real suffering in obtaining the necessary and not paying attention to the animals that feed without labor, to the life of reptiles and birds, which teach us the untruthfulness of the One who legitimized the life of that time, did not dare not believe the possibility of the promise that he would have food without cultivating the land, as now, without toiling and comfortably. Therefore, plants cultivated by human hands, annually sown and irrigated by the farmer, but with great care barely achieving the desired perfection, are weaker than the wild ones of old, which, having once grown, by God’s command, vegetate from their former roots, nourish tall and always green stems as irrefutable proof that our plantings for those who disobeyed God can flourish in the same way in such a way and by themselves to give us unrestrained pleasure. Therefore, the Lord, introducing those who wish to this carefree life, exhorts them to do good and not worry about bodily needs, saying: “For your Heavenly Father knows that you require all these” (Matthew 6:32); and: “For he who labors his food is worthy” (Matthew 10:10); and this does not leave any pretext for unbelief that he who does God’s work will need anything necessary. As an ascetic who has entered into the feat of piety and labors lawfully every day, as a rent for the present age he receives from the Ascetic the food for life in the flesh and expects crowns upon completion field in the Future Age, expecting that the head would be adorned not with olive, ivy and laurel branches, but with a diadem of splendor and a beautifully woven crown of glory and honor, as David says: “You crowned him with glory and honor” (Ps. 8:6). And as a reward for all this, he will receive Eternal Life and the enjoyment of heavenly pleasures, “which no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has the heart of man sighed” (1 Cor. 2:9). For this is what God has prepared for those who love Him, according to the abundance of His lordship, truly ineffable, invisible and beyond all thought. For whatever great and wonderful thing anyone might try to invent for pleasure, without a doubt it will seem smaller and much lower in comparison with the saint prepared for pleasure, because the mind is in the habit of forming in itself the likeness of what is known through the senses. Wanting to imagine something for which he did not receive images from the senses, he creates vague images, presenting vanishing and unfulfilled thoughts in the void, so that sometimes a new image appears and destroys the previous one, because there is no clear model that could stop this wandering image. If the manna given in the desert, both tangible and visible, left room for doubt as to what it was, as it was incomparable in appearance and quality to anything known in experience and produced a sensation new and different from all ordinary ones, then can anyone rightly guess and determine what is incomparably superior to manna and above any sensory comprehension, which those who are waiting for this will now know when experience teaches the advantage of this pleasure will clearly show how small the labor is compared to the greatness of the fruit, and how much higher is the bliss encountered than the hoped-for rewards? And let no one who has not hitherto cared about goodness present to me as an excuse that the time has already passed for him, and let him not be deterred from doing this because, as a beginner, it is too late, difficult, or even impossible for him to achieve the perfection of virtue. True, I will say this too, the field is great and the distance of the path leading to this perfection is long. But with unremitting diligence, you can accomplish it quickly, even get ahead of those who have entered this path from a young age and are moving slowly, and leave them behind as much as diligence hastens to move forward, so that, while they have had little time to go or have not even gone at all from the place where these very slowly and quietly moving feet were overtaken, the one striving for what was supposed to happen with the speed of birds is necessarily either close to the goal, or completely reaches it is like a ship that rushes straight to the pier and rushes on full sails, while other ships, having set off from the same place, due to the negligence of the helmsmen, wander through the sea, and the bowels of the sails are often empty from indirect turns here and there: because when a favorable wind blows directly from the stern along the ship, if the helmsman does not always keep the sails full and does not keep the same direction with the blowing of the wind, then a boat is necessary slows down, constantly dodging and running away from gusts of driving wind. Therefore, it is admirable for Paul to proclaim to those who are making progress in the field, crying out: “Be so zealous, that ye may comprehend” (1 Cor. 9:24), and hereby commands us to intensify the speed and constraint of time to overcome with the most intense striving, so that the path, which requires a long time, with the unremitting and constant diligence of the runner, is accomplished as quickly as possible. Seeing this longness of the path, fleeting David, who said: “The path of Your commandments is the same” (Ps. 119:32), asked and begged God to make it known to him how much time remained for him to live and whether it was enough for him to achieve what he wanted. For he says: “Tell me, Lord, my end and the number of my days, which is, so that I understand that I am deprived” (Ps. 38:5). Then, realizing that he was left far behind and the remaining time of his life was disproportionate to what was ahead 7 , at least from the first obstacle to the end of the race, without taking a breath he rushed through the air, and, despairing of the speed of his legs, entered into a competition with birds and high-flying nature, and said: “Who will give me a krill like a dove? and I will fly and rest” (Ps. 54:7). So, as much as one could guess, measuring time with distance, David knew that there was only one way to achieve his goal: having risen high to the height of a good life and inspired by diligence, fly over the dividing space and thus touch the desired limit of perfection. According to the list of the Synodal Library for No. 338, the words are not readable: ίνα καί της δεδομένης άποστερήση τιμης. These words are supplemented by the manuscript, which reads: καί ό μέγα δοτικός αρπαγήν. Instead of: τήν λύσιν according to the manuscript it reads: τήν ύμην. Instead of πότε, the manuscript reads τότε. According to ordinary reading: “twenty”_ Instead of: πρός τό φθάσαν according to the manuscript it reads: πρός τό φθάσαι. You might be interested in: