Похвальное слово на Вознесение Господа нашего Иисуса Христа. Святителя Илии Минития, Кефалонитского

Come, let us ascend to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, and we too will be eyewitnesses of the glorious Ascension of Christ. Let us raise our reverent gaze to the blessed Mount of Olives, where today a wonderful spectacle of divine glory is revealed, and the victoriously risen Jesus, the invincible Conqueror of hell, displays a brilliant triumph over death. There is the face of the Apostles, who see off the sweetest Teacher ascending to heaven; there are the ranks of intelligent Powers accompanying the King of Glory; there are many delivered souls of the righteous accompanying the Divine Deliverer. Here the earthly Mother releases the God-Man - the Son, who completed the difficult task of house-building about the incarnation; there the Heavenly Father meets Him and, having transferred authority over heaven and earth, places Him at His right hand in the heavenly ones. Indeed, zealous listeners, the present triumph is brilliant and bright. It is the head of all the holidays of the Church, the crown of all the mysteries of Christ, the completion of our salvation. Today, before the exiled children of Eve, the entrance to the desired fatherland of the heavenly Jerusalem is opening; today the restoration of the new Israel in the heavenly kingdom is taking place; today the fallen one rises above the Seraphim, and the corruptible nature is doubly awarded the highest honor: just as through the incarnation of God the Word it became a partaker of the Divine nature, so through His Ascension it becomes a partaker of the Divine glory. So, come, let us ascend the mountain of the Lord, so that, contemplating there the circumstances of this honorable holiday, we will understand the greatness of God’s blessings and the exaltation of our nature. Having loosed the bonds of death and risen from the dead, the Savior of the world remained on earth for another forty days, often appearing to His disciples and assuring them with many testimonies of His glorious resurrection. The very number of forty days was not without a mysterious meaning: at His first, seedless birth from the Virgin, after forty days, He was brought by his parents to the church and, like the holy firstborn, was dedicated to God according to the Law; and during His miraculous resurrection from the dead, which is again to be and, as it were, His second birth, He also, after forty days, ascends into the heavenly church and, becoming the firstborn from the dead, brings to God and the Father holy and pure human nature, the firstfruits of all our nature. When these days were over, He led the disciples to Bethany to the Mount of Olives (the place of olive trees, which serve as a symbol of peace, befits the Prince of Peace). Having separated from his disciples, He bequeaths to them His eternal peace. This was foreshadowed by the expression of the inspired Zechariah: these days of the Lord are coming, and they will stand before Him on the day of the Mount of Olives, which is right to Jerusalem (Zech. 14:1,4). Here, by the power of His Divine words, he opened the minds of the disciples to the understanding of the Scriptures, namely, everything that the Holy Spirit predicted about Him in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms, commanding them to proclaim the Gospel to all creation, that is, the most joyful news about the remission of sins and salvation, after having consoled them in their grief over separation from Him with the promise of the Father, commanding them to wait in Jerusalem until they are clothed with Him. by power from on high, as if in confirmation of His promises, by lifting up His hands. The Lord gave them the last Master's blessing. The disciples could not then take their eyes off this Divine face, when those who saw Him were taken and the cloud was lifted from their sight (Acts 1:9). In this cloud I see hidden the mystery, the image of which Elijah the Tishbite foresaw in that small cloud, which in the form of a man’s shadow rose from the sea to heaven. From it then poured abundant rain, watering the earth, which had been thirsty for three and a half years, and satisfying the hungry people with the fruits of abundance. This is that miraculous cloud, which, having carried the glorified Son of Man into heaven, then, during the days of Pentecost, poured out abundant rain of the Holy Spirit, and the waterless and barren land, generously watered by Him, produced fragrant flowers of Christian virtues, gave a hundredfold fruit to the true teaching and bore the abundance of Divine preaching, about which the King Prophet probably prophesied: the rain is free to turn away, O God, to Your heritage (Ps. 67:10); Thou hast visited the earth, and thou hast made it drunken: the river of God is filled with waters (Ps. 64:10). I would like to add that this mysterious cloud was the shadow of the Consubstantial Spirit, who sensually raised the Divine Sun from earthly residence to the heavenly regions, as in His dwelling, so that from there it would mentally enlighten everything heavenly and earthly with the non-evening light of Divine glory. The miraculous ascension of this mental Sun was prophetically foreseen by Ezekiah when, with warm tears praying for salvation from mortal danger, he saw on the sundial a joyful sign of healing, which God showed him through the prophet Isaiah: he saw that the sun had risen ten steps to which it had previously fallen. And the unsetting Sun of righteousness, the Son of God, descended from His Divine dignity by extreme condescension ten steps, when he bowed the heavens, crossed over nine, - nine ranks of the incorporeal: diminished by a small rank from the Angel, as the apostle says. Paul, taking on the form of a servant, became human in the likeness (Phil. 2:7), and stepped onto the tenth step - into the very rank of people, having resigned himself to free passion and death more than a man. But He, having descended into the lowlands of the earth, in His glorious ascension again ascended ten steps, becoming higher than both men and Angels, higher, according to the same Apostle: all principality and power (Eph. 1:21), exalted to the right hand of God the Father. “I departed from the Father,” He says Himself, “and came into the world: and again I leave the world and go to the Father (Jn. 16:28); and in this the Lord gave the sick and dead human race a joyful sign of salvation and eternal life. That’s why He said: “You have no choice, but I go; if I do not go, the Comforter will not come to you” (John 16:7). This was the purpose of God the Word becoming man, this is the end of the dispensation of the incarnation. Therefore, the Son of God became the Son of Man, the impassive one suffered; the immortal died and the firstborn rose from the dead to raise the fallen, glorify the condemned, and deify human nature. Look at the contrast between the hatred kindled by the devil against us, on the one hand, and, on the other, the love that the Son of God showed us. He envied the former bliss of human nature and expelled it from the paradise of sweetness; This same nature was raised above the sky and seated on the throne of Divine glory. He could not see that everything earthly was subordinate to her; This one brought even the heavenly things under her feet. He turned her into a prisoner of death and sin; This one made her an inhabitant of heaven, co-throne with the Divine, clothed her in the robe of blessed immortality, honored her with worship from the Seraphim, making up for the loss with infinite abundance, so that the flatterer-devil was deceived by his divine art. The glorious ascension of the Savior finally put to shame the god-hating and man-hating Dennitsa; he, like a cunning fisherman, spread a destructive net of death over the entire face of the earth, into which, like birds, the unfortunate descendants of the condemned Adam fell; and kept their captive souls in the bonds of an ancient curse. And the God-man Jesus wanted to surrender himself into these same networks by voluntary death; without breaking the nets with His Divine power and releasing the bonds, like a great eagle, He was the first to take off, resurrecting for three days; The liberated souls of the righteous also took off with Him, singing songs of victory with David: the net was broken, and we were delivered (Ps. 123:7). On the other hand, like an eagle, wanting to show his little ones, who cannot fly, chicks, to show an unusual (for them) air path, to guide them, stepping forward: in the same way, the ascended Lord enters the impassable path of heaven, where no traces of man were yet visible, walking ahead, guiding, like young chicks, the souls of the righteous: like an eagle, Moses foresaw this, stretched out His wings, and received His chicks (Deut. 32:11); and indeed, having ascended on high, he took captivity captive (Ps. 67:19). Thus, just as the fall of the first Adam opened our entrance to hell, so the ascension of the new Adam opened our ascent to heaven: imams and boldness, says the apostle. Paul, - enter into the holy way in a new and living way, which He renewed for us with the veil, that is, with His flesh (Heb. 10:19). The apostate enemy trembles and still cannot understand the miraculous rise to heaven of this mysterious Eagle in the flesh. If Solomon said that three things were incomprehensible to him: the way of a ship sailing on the sea, the way of a serpent crawling over stones, and the way of an eagle flying in the sky (Prov. 30:19): then even more appropriately that proud mind could say that in the economy of the incarnation of the Divine Word he completely does not understand three mysteries. Firstly, just as a ship sails on the waves of the sea and leaves no trace behind it, so the most blessed body of Christ passed through the unskilled womb of the Virgin and, at its seedless birth, did not leave even a sign of corruption. Secondly, he does not understand the path of the snake over the stones, that is, how the same body that was buried, was imprisoned in a new coffin, carved out of stone, covered with a great stone that lay on the door of the coffin, with all this came out and, like a snake, leaving behind the former robe of corruption, rose from the dead in a new robe of incorruptibility, leaving no sign. Thirdly, he does not understand the path of the eagle soaring in the heavens, that is, how this very body rises above the incorporeal, how the earthly passes through the heavens, how the human sits on the throne of Divine Majesty. But even the blessed Angels themselves do not understand the glorious ascension of the Savior in the flesh. Therefore, now, seeing the ascending King of glory, they go ahead to prepare His entrance, and say to the highest officials: lift up your gates, princes, and lift up the eternal gates (Ps. 23:7); but, on the other hand, seeing that He ascends, clothed in a human body, moreover, marked with signs of ulcers and stained with pure blood flowing from His side, they are perplexed by this strange vision and ask: who is this one who came from Edom? Why are Your garments scarlet (Isa. 63:1,2)? But this visible thing is provided for by the economy, for the humane-loving Lord wants to show in heaven the signs of His passions, indelible evidence of His love for us and complete victory over the ruler of the world. Or, better said, it is fitting for Christ to suffer and enter into His glory (Luke 24:29), so that we learn that we too must enter the heavenly kingdom along the narrow path of suffering and sorrow. And in any case, Christ had to ascend in the same flesh that He assumed. Firstly, to be an intercessor between God and people, and, by showing His Beginning Father the sinless body that He offered on the cross as a pure and undefiled sacrifice, to propitiate Him for our sins: not holy for being made with hands, says the apostle. Paul, - Christ is below, but in heaven itself, now let the face of God appear for us (Heb. 9:24); and John (says): If anyone sins, the imams will intercede with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous (1 John 2:1). Secondly, so that we, who have been baptized into Christ and lived according to the commandments of Christ, have an unshakable and lasting hope for the resurrection and eternal glory in the flesh: for if Christ, who is the Head of the faithful, was resurrected and glorified in the flesh, then it is also fitting for the faithful, who are members of Christ, to be resurrected and glorified in the flesh, so that the members correspond to the head. Therefore Paul (says): like one who is earthy, so also are rings: and one who is in heaven, like those who are in heaven, and as we have put on the image of the earthy one, let us also be clothed in the image of the one who is in heaven (1 Cor. 15:48); and one more thing: strong consolation for the imams who have resorted to the hope set before them. Like the Kotva of the Imams of the soul, it is firm and known, and entering into the innermost part of the veil: where Jesus the Forerunner for us appeared (Heb. 6:18,19). Oh, the incomprehensible greatness of God’s blessings! Oh, the greatness of our highest nature! But although our Divine Father and Teacher ascended from earth to heaven, he did not leave us orphans. Elijah the Tishbite, when he was taken on a chariot of fire to comfort his disciple, Elisha, left him a mantle. In the same way, the ascended, man-loving Lord will, as a consolation, leave us the robe of His Divinity, which He put on at His incarnation, that is, His most blessed flesh in the terrible sacrament of the Divine Eucharist, in order to be inseparable from us; therefore He comforts us, saying: Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). Immortal Marriage of our souls! From where You sat at the right hand of the Father as the King of the ages, bestow upon us the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit - an insoluble union of love, so that we may be inseparable with You and be honored here on earth to always be partakers of Your Divine grace, through worthy communion of Your most pure Body and Blood, and in heaven to always be participants in Your Divine glory through contemplation Your sweetest face. Amen 230. Sermons of Saint Elijah Minyaty of Cephalonite. Ed. St. Trinity. Serg. Laurel. 1902, countries. 391–396. You might be interested in: