Слово на Святую Пасху. Св. Иоанна Златоустого

The intended meaning of the types in the law is confirmed by the truth itself. So, for example, an agnep is blameless, as predicted by the law on the Passover sacrifice, a male, one-year-old, taken on the tenth day of the month, is sacrificed on the fourteenth in the evening, and the counting of months begins from the time when Passover was celebrated. Namely, all this relates to Christ and His suffering, and in Him it receives justification for its truth and necessity; taken by itself it cannot have any meaning. Those who do not know Christ would not find a justification for these demands of the law and could not explain why God gave such commands about the veterinarians. Easter. And in fact, there is no other basis for establishing a sacrifice for the salvation of the firstborn and for performing the anointing with blood at the entrances. What, in fact, is the power of slaughtering sacrificial animals to save the firstborn? What is the need for anointing blood as a sign on houses? Without a doubt, God knew the houses of the Jews even without signs, so that the expression: I will see blood, and I will cover you (Ex. 12:13) would only be surprising. But by elevating these commands to the truth, you will recognize their inherent meaning, which can be shown with several examples. When, precisely, the immaculate Sacrifice suffered for us, death, which began from the primordial man, is destroyed, and the primordial man living in all of us is saved, quickened by the resurrection of Christ. And, in fairness, for all those who participate in that sacrifice, life, resolving the bonds of sin and death, becomes a sign of salvation. Looking at her, God saves those anointed by Him with faith, who can only escape the justly punishing angel except for the sake of the blood shed for us out of love for mankind. Do you see what meaning the type has when viewed in accordance with the truth? Thus, if any of the Jews decides to say: “Why did Christ suffer in order to save the world, as if he could not be saved without this,” then he should answer this: why was the Passover brought to save the Jewish firstborn, as if they could not be saved without this? And he will not be able to answer anything (because God, of course, did not need either a sacrifice or a sign to recognize the houses). This case speaks in our favor and once again confirms the truth of the holy faith, showing how our unrighteousness is destroyed by the righteousness of Christ - there were no other means to resolve it (just as darkness is dispelled only by light) - and how our death is destroyed by the life of Christ, like darkness by light. That is why that sacrifice is sacred, because it was a prototype of the true one. And this true one, - given over by the ignorance of the wicked to death and burial, but by the council of God accepted as a sacred sacrifice and made of one’s own free will as an offering for the Father, is sacred in essence, like a true sacrifice. - they say - the Father gave up the Son for us, and Christ gave up to the Father for the Church an offering and a sacrificial aroma (Eph. 5:2). And for some who sought the death of Christ, this advice brought destruction, but for others who sought salvation for the sake of the death of Christ, their faith served to salvation. Revenge and death pass by them, because death loses its destructive power over them, in accordance with the words of the Savior: if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death forever (John 8:51). Because of the blood shed for us, we receive the Holy Spirit. If both blood and Spirit are united together, then this is so that we can receive, through the blood that is homogeneous with ours, the Holy Spirit that is not homogeneous with us, and through this we can block death’s access to us. The access of death is twofold, which is why the sign of blood is also made in two ways: on both, it is said, on the rootstock, and on the blades (Ex. 12:7). Death enters through sin, as the Apostle says. Sin in us is either a consequence of passion (and it is twofold: either it consists of a sensual disposition of the soul towards tenderness, or cruel rudeness), or the fruit of thought, when it takes a wrong and abnormal direction. Reason, just like the lintel or the upper crossbar in the door, lies above both pillars of passion, being the main and highest in nature. Passion can be likened to pillars, it is located below reason, just as pillars stand under the lintel. What passions lead to effeminacy? Binge eating, drunkenness and passion for carnal intercourse. What are the raw passions of the soul? - Anger and various types of selfishness, listing which Paul said: not cowardice and drunkenness, not fornication and adultery, not zeal and envy: but put on your Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 13:13, 14). The ancient anointing is similar to this very endowment, when we, accepting the image of the suffering of Christ, are clothed with the holiness of Christ - without indulging in pleasures, and without being hardened by anger. And if we speak properly and with reasoning, then the anointing is precisely the very clothing in which we put on - the wisdom not of the flesh, but of Christ, so that according to the carnal mind we are mortified, we become as if dead, but with a spiritual mind we are adorned. When we are clothed in this way, then neither through unreasonable passions nor through senseless thoughts can sin approach us and death cannot prevail over us. This, no doubt, is the secret meaning of the anointing. Following the anointing comes eating, infusing us with the divine body and leading to unity with it. They eat, they say, the meat in that night was baked by fire (Ex. 12:8). Night is a real century. The night has passed away (Rom. 13:12), says Paul. Eating the holy body through fire indicates hot and seething jealousy. “Burning in spirit,” they say; and also: fire came to the earth, and what do I want, even if it was already on fire (Luke 12:49)? Just as fire, when talking about eating meat, indicates hot haste, so unleavened bread denotes simplicity, and bitter herbs further torment. And unleavened bread, it is said, is eaten with bitter potion (Ex. 12:8). A person’s disposition becomes simple and gentle, having freed himself, as it were, from leaven, from everything old and evil, and having accepted the new and simple, so that it can leaven. Because our Easter, - they say, - was quickly devoured, Christ, let us celebrate it in the same way, not in the leaven of evil, nor in the leaven of malice and wickedness, but in the unleavened purity and truth (1 Cor. 5:7, 8). And bitter things are tribulations: but we also boast, - it is said, - in tribulations, knowing that tribulation makes endurance work; patience is a skill, but skill is hope; but hope does not disgrace (Rom. 5:3-5). Through many tribulations it is fitting for us to enter into the kingdom (Acts 14:22). Thus, we take sorrow as a seasoning, in the hope of receiving the kingdom through this. It was forbidden to eat meat raw. With a literal, carnal understanding, it remains completely incomprehensible. why does God forbid something that never happens, because no one will eat raw; in relation to us, this prohibition has the greatest significance - not to begin to accept the Divine Body without preparation, because it remains unaccepted by those who carelessly accept it, without preparing for such communication with good deeds. Faith, they say, without works is dead (James 2:20). And as a result of this, tribulations are sent to the careless for their benefit, so that they may be, as Paul says, partakers of his holiness. Love for carnal pleasures gives rise to inactivity regarding spiritual matters. Therefore, denoting this with another symbol, the legislator prohibits eating meat boiled in water, because meat is cooked so that it tastes more pleasant, but when eating Divine food one cannot think about pleasure: spiritual strength is not combined with carnal disposition. Therefore, says the law, cook sacred meat with various seasonings, but eat it simply baked over a fire, with intense effort, alien to pleasure. The love of pleasure is incompatible with the love of God, as Paul says: and for those whose belly is God (Phil. 3:19), God is not God. And the Apostle does not approve of those who turn sanctifying forgiveness into a reason for abundant food and varied drink. To them Paul says: there is no eating the Lord's supper: for each one prepares his own supper to eat, and one hungers, and one gets drunk. Do you not have food at home, in eating and drinking? Or are you neglectful of the Church of God, and are you disgracing the poor? Shall I give you a river? Will you praise me about this? I will not praise (1 Cor. 2:20–22). The Apostle explains the temptations that befell them with such a careless attitude towards holy food, because they approached the holy thing in uncleanness. For this reason, in you,” he says, “many are weak and sickly, and sleep contentedly. Even if they had reasoned with themselves, they would not have been condemned (1 Cor. 2:30,31). You are guilty of wickedness against the Lord when, without sufficient readiness of the body, we begin to unite with His body, which He gave to us so that we, united with it, could unite with the Holy Spirit. For this purpose, the Word of God completely gave Himself to the body and became flesh, according to the Gospel voice, so that we, not being able to have communion with Him as the Word, would commune with Him, who took on flesh, making, if possible, akin to our flesh with spiritual flesh and spirit to the Holy Spirit, in order to become like Christ, becoming a church of the Spirit, as the Apostle says: the churches of God are natural, and also: or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit living in you, and it comes from God (1 Cor. 3:16, 6:19)? And through union with the Spirit we touch the body of Christ, and, remaining in holiness, we become members of Christ. Do you not know, he says, how your bodies are the delight of Christ? Shall I take the ouds of Christ, and make ouds, harlots? Let it not be (1 Cor. 6:15). These are the details of the law of preparing sacred food! These are the symbols that direct the prototypes of that time to our benefit! The head, it is said, with feet and womb (Exod. 12:9): the head indicates the beginning of the appearance to people, the first coming, and the legs point to the end, the second coming, without which the first cannot be trusted, since not everything predicted by the prophets was fulfilled. That is why the Jews do not believe (the coming of Christ), thinking that he who came like this is not Christ, because that which relates to the glorious coming was not fulfilled. Therefore, having joined together, the law said: head with feet, that is, the first coming with the second, so that even in shame you would accept the Lamb brought to the slaughter as Lord, and in him you could see the King appearing with glory. The prophet Isaiah predicted both; and therefore do not demand the deliverance of Jerusalem now; but expect him later: the Redeemer will come for the sake of Zion, and will turn away wickedness from Jacob (Is. 59:20), when He Himself will save the remnant of the people who must turn to Him. At His first coming, as you can see, the opposite was fulfilled: I left my house: I squandered my inheritance, and also: I will give the wicked instead of his burial, and the rich instead of his death (Is. 53:9). So, the head with feet - this warned the Jews against the inglorious coming of the Lord from the glorious one, and so that through unbelief they would not be separated from fellowship with Him. But also with the womb, it is said. What does it mean? So that you are not tempted by what will be visible, but also notice what is hidden: do not consider Him a man on a par with yourself, because He is a man in body; but know Him spiritually, and you will recognize Him as the Father. Until you see what is inside and do not have internal communication with it, you have not yet seen Christ, thinking that He is a man and not God. And He Himself says: he who has seen Me, has seen the Father (John 14:9). We must also consider this expression: do not leave him until morning (Ex. 12:10). And Paul explains it to us, saying that the remembrance of the Lord’s suffering will continue until He comes (1 Cor. 11:26). It lasts for so long and saves those who do it until the present night passes and the morning comes, and the living Christ shines out from heaven for us, saving us with His life, as now He saves us with death: if, it is said, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we will be saved in His life (Rom. 5:10). So, we are already saved by the death of Christ, and then we will be saved by His life. This is the symbolic meaning of the prohibition to leave any of the sacrificial meat until the morning. And we will also be alive then, and our present death will pass away; whereas now we are saved only through death, then we will have life-saving salvation. Do not philosophize on earth, he says, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ appears, your life, then you also will appear with him in glory (Col. 3:2–4). Therefore, if any of the sacrificial meat remains, it is burned with fire, so that we may know that in the present age Christ died for sin once, and death no longer rules over Him, but is destroyed by the power of the Spirit, as if by fire, life took possession of the banner of death. But you will not break any bones from it (Ex. 12:46). Blessed John refers to this as the body of Christ, which was preserved because His legs were not broken; but this also has a spiritual meaning - because His hardness remained invincible, and therefore corruption did not touch His body, since it had the most solid and indestructible foundation, being built not in a bodily, but in a Divine way, having a Divine origin, not subject to human corruption. Nor His flesh in the form of corruption (Acts 2:31). After such a study about the saving use of sacred food, we will now stop speaking, leaving the rest until another time, and ask the Lord what David asks: open my eyes, and I will understand the wonders of Your law (Ps. 119:18), so that our reading of the law will not be as unreasonable as that of the Jews, who stopped at some images, but so that, thinking about the Divine symbols Divinely, we We have reached the most holy truth in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom and with whom be glory to the Father with the Holy Spirit forever. Amen 213. Full Collection created, St. Chrysostom, in Russian. transl., ed. 1902, vol. VIII, pp. 929–934. In the Migne edition, Chrysostom's real word is classified as spuria. You might be interested in: