Беседа на Вознесение Господа нашего Иисуса Христа. Святейшего Фотия, патриарха Константинопольского

After the resurrection from the dead, the Savior appeared to the disciples for four to ten days (Acts 1:3). But He was available to see them only eleven times, and this is natural: there were eleven disciples, and He performed eleven appearances. Where is the proof that He was only visible eleven times? This can be seen from the following. The first time the Lord appeared to Mary at the tomb and to the rest of the wives (Mark 16:9; John 20:11, 14–17; Matt. 28:5), as Isaiah foretold, calling the wives and saying: come the women who are coming from the shame (Is. 27:11), tell us (Matthew 28:10). Then He appeared to Peter (1 Cor. 15:5), then to Cleopas and another disciple, when they were making their way to Emmaus, although they did not recognize Him, and in the breaking of bread, when He revealed Himself to them (Luke 24:13–35); then - ten, in the absence of Thomas, I am present later on that day (John 20:19); after - eleven, when Thomas was present and was among the disciples (- 20:26), then appearing to more than five hundred brethren alone, as Paul proclaims, adding that from them many have remained until now (1 Cor. 15:6); again - appeared to Jacob, as Paul teaches about this (- 15:7), then - seven by the Sea of ​​Tiberias, i.e. Peter and Thomas and Nathanael, James and John and two others or His disciples (John 21:1-2), after - to all the Apostles, that is, the seventy (1 Cor. 15:7), then - on the Mount of Galilee, as Jesus commanded them (Matthew 28:19), and finally on the Mount of Olives, where the ascension took place. Of the evangelists, only Luke alone spoke in detail about the ascension (Luke 24:36–52), and he again began to expound the Acts of the Holy Apostles from this event (1:2–12). For the Gospel of Matthew has the following ending: Ten disciples went into Galilee into a mountain, as Jesus commanded them. And seeing him, she bowed to him: but you began to doubt. And Jesus came and said to them: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. So go and teach all tongues, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them often to observe all the commandments given to you: and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:16-20). Thus, the Evangelist Matthew does not add anything about the ascension. Mark, although he mentions him, does so as if in passing, saying: The Lord, therefore, when He spoke to them, ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God (Mark 16:19). and does not report either the place, the method, or any other significant feature of such an important event. The Gospel of John at the end does not set out the story of the ascension, but only significantly adds: the essence of the many things that Jesus did, even if they were written one by one, I would not be able to contain the whole world of the books that were written (John 21:25). So, only one evangelist, Luke, as said, set out in more detail at the end of his Gospel the story of the ascension and placed the same event at the beginning of the Acts of the Holy Apostles. Christ commanded the Apostles not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father that they had heard from Me (Acts 1:4). What the Savior spoke to the Apostles about this is clear, for He said: I will ascend to My Father (John 20:17), and I will pray the Father, and He will send you a Comforter (John 14:16, 26). Where did the Father promise? The promise of the Father is not found in the Gospel. Of course, it is clear that the prophets have it, as the apostle testifies. Paul, saying: Paul, the servant of Jesus Christ, is called an apostle, chosen for the gospel of God, which the prophets first promised in the writings of the saints concerning his Son (Rom. 1:1-3). So, having first promised the gospel, the Father promised to give the Holy Spirit. And through the Prophet God said: In the last days, says the Lord Almighty (Acts 2:17), I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters and your old men will prophesy and see dreams, and your young men will see visions; for on My servants and on My handmaids in those days I will pour out My Spirit (Joel. 2:28–29). This is the promise, and the descent occurred when the Holy Spirit, in the form of tongues of fire, rested one on each of the disciples, and they began to glorify the greatness of God (Acts 2:2-12). That the Father says this, and not the Son, clearly follows from the following words: and I will give, it is said, miracles in heaven above and on earth below, blood and fire (Joel 2:30), - the blood that flowed from the side of the Lord after death (John 19:34), - and fire, which, as it is said, was divided among the Apostles (Acts 2:3). And the sun,” it goes on to say, “will turn into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and enlightened day of the Lord comes (Joel 2:31), that is, the day of the Son. And that this was said by the Father, and not by a prophet, this is evidenced by the beginning of the saying, which says: in the last days, says the Lord, I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh, and so on: it is clear that what is meant here is not a prophet, who is like us, but the Lord God and Father, who sent Him. We know that the Apostles received baptism before the suffering of Christ, namely the baptism of John. And the Savior, before His suffering, did not give another baptism, so as not to destroy the preaching of John and not to give the Jews a reason to object that He, out of arrogance before the Baptist, introduced His baptism. Christ makes up for what is lacking, but not by baptism with water, but by baptism with the Spirit, as He Himself says: you must not be baptized in the Holy Spirit after many of these days (Acts 1:5), that is, in ten days. These ten days were obviously appointed to strengthen the faith of the Apostles, for while grace rested and none of the promises were fulfilled, their faith was exercised, and hope was able to bear undoubted fruit. So, to be baptized with the Holy Spirit is equivalent to receiving the Holy Spirit. Before the suffering of the Lord, the apostles were baptized not with the Spirit, but with water, and this cleansing was for the remission of sins (Luke 3:3), but not for communion with the Holy Spirit. And that John also baptized the Apostles, the Lord makes it clear in his speech to Peter, who did not agree to wash his feet, saying: he who is washed does not require only to wash his nose, for he is all clean (John 13:10). With these words, the Lord showed that not only Peter, but also the rest of the Apostles, who only needed to wash their feet, were washed by the baptism of John. So, the Savior did not reject the baptism of repentance and for the remission of sins, performed by John (Luke 3:2-3), but perfected it by adding the receipt of the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). One can think and say that the baptism of the Forerunner brought remission of sins, but not all, just as legal rites and sacrifices did not provide it. For neither the law nor the baptism of John provided cleansing from intentional murder (Num. 35:20), nor from the case if someone upset someone else’s marriage, nor from the fact that the participants in the crime caused, as punishment, terrible fire and heavenly fire (Gen. 19:24-25), nor from many other shameful and similar cases, but for all these crimes the law appointed the sword as a judge; John's baptism led to fellowship and salvation, which was much higher than the power inherent in baptism (Luke 3:16). Therefore, our Savior, condemning the hardness of heart and stubbornness of the Pharisees, proclaiming that they had thoughts more bad and wrong than tax collectors and harlots, and at the same time teaching who can turn away from sin and from what kind of sins can be delivered, says: John the Baptist came to you in the righteous way, and you did not believe in him, but tax collectors and fornicators believed in him: but you Having seen it, you will not repent and believe him (Matthew 21:32). Thus, through baptism, John could cleanse those who sincerely repented from improper collection of taxes, from fornication and similar sins, but he did not deliver from the filth of crime either robbers or other secret sinners, who did not have the courage to appear and confess their sins (Matthew 3:6), because consciousness came to meet them, threatened them with the punishment of the laws and did not allow them to open up before others. If the Spirit were not God, and if He were not the source of Divine grace, then how can those who put on the Divine robe, Christ, also put on the private robe of the Spirit? And truly, if the Apostle writes: those who were baptized into Christ, put on Christ (Gal. 3:27), and the Savior says: but you sit in the city of Jerusalem, until you are clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49), the Holy Spirit came upon you (Acts 1:8), then how, during the Divine vestment, we also put on slavish? So, it is clear that both garments are equally honorable and bestow the same power of beneficence and grace. The Holy Spirit is called the endowment of the faithful, not as a garment, but in the sense that fire embraces iron and is all in all. So we put on Christ, as well as the Holy Spirit, not as a garment that is external to us, but in the sense that our heart and thoughts are filled with light and our face with grace. And the Apostles looked up to heaven and went to Him (Acts 1:10). It is not said when the Lord “ascended,” but when He “ascended,” for He ascended in the flesh (1:22), but ascended in power. The angels call the disciples Galileans (Acts 1:10–11), praising them, for “Galileans” means “revealed.” Christ performed the first miracle in Cana of Galilee (John 2:11) and there revealed and revealed His glory. Therefore, the prophet Isaiah foretold: the earth mourned, Lebanon was put to shame, and Saron was destroyed: Galilee and Hermel will be revealed (Is. 33:9). And Elijah, like a slave, was taken up into the air, but not into heaven, but as if into heaven (2 Kings 2:11). The Lord, as the Lord of all, did not ascend into heaven, but actually ascended into heaven. Elijah was taken by means of fiery horses (2 Kings 2:11), that is, angelic power clothed in this image; such an understanding of the event shows that the Prophet will make his aerial ascent no higher than the sky, but, having reached it, will stop in his extraordinary ascension, for fire cannot penetrate higher than the sky, and the weight of the horses will not allow the rider to travel the entire vault of heaven. Christ, the common Lord and our God, carried by the angels, makes a heavenly ascent that exceeds all mind and understanding; and the appearance of the angels shows that between the ascension of the Lord and the servant one must both think and see a great and many difference. So, it is enough for us only to hear the voice of the disembodied, who, while the host of the Apostles looked at our common Master and Lord ascending to heaven along with the human flesh he had assumed, were amazed and amazed - suddenly appeared before them and clearly said: why are you standing looking at heaven: This Jesus, who ascended from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you see him coming to heaven (Acts 1:11). The Lord ascended, obviously, in order to sit on the Father’s bosom, together with the human flesh He had assumed, as before on earth He was visible, wearing flesh in a garment (2 Cor. 5:16) and taking the form of a man (Phil. 2:7). So, again, Christ will appear in the same form and with the same nature, so that we can achieve knowledge of the universal Lord, as the sacred prediction states. And then to whom (will he appear)? - not ordinary people, and not those who are in a small degree superior to other people in Divine animation and in the height of contemplation, as well as other virtues, but only those who, from the entire human race, were intended by the Creator Himself to serve first as visionaries and servants of the Word (Luke 1:2). Amen 228. See also: λόγοι χαί δμιλίαι όγδοήκοντα τρεῐς, ἔκόίδοντος Σ. Αριστάρχου. Τόμος πρῶτος, σελ. 203–212. Κωνσταντίνούπόλις. 1901; compare “Church. Led." 1901, No. 18. According to the publisher, Mr. Aristarchis, the present conversation was delivered by the famous Vitius on May 12, 858. You might be interested in: