Слово на Святую Пасху. Святого Григория Богослова, архиепископа Константинопольского 3

I will stand on my watch, says the wonderful Habakkuk (Hab. 2:1). I will stand with him now, according to the power and power of contemplation given to me by the Spirit; I will look and understand what will be revealed to me and what will be spoken. “Now is salvation for the world, the visible world and the invisible world! Christ has risen from the dead - arise with Him too; Christ in His Glory, you too ascend; Christ from the grave - free yourself from the bonds of sin! The gates of hell are opened, death is overthrown, the old Adam is put aside, the new is made: if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). Update yourself!.. Easter! The Lord's Easter! and I will also say in honor of the Trinity: Easter! For us it is a celebration of holidays and a celebration of celebrations; it surpasses all celebrations, not only human and earthly, but even those of Christ and for Christ, as much as the sun surpasses the stars. The great and venerable Passover is called by the Jews “Pascha” in their language (where the word means: passing): in the historical sense, this name is given because of the flight and migration (of the Israelites) from Egypt to the land of Canaan, and in the spiritual it means our passing and ascent from below to above and to the Promised Land. Let us partake of Easter, now in a representative way, although more openly than in the Old Testament: because the legal Passover (I dare say, and I say it) was an even more obscure prototype of the foreshadowing. And later and soon we will partake more perfectly and purer, when the Word drinks with us this new thing in the kingdom of the Father (Matthew 26:29), revealing and teaching what has now been revealed by Him to some extent (for what is now known is always new). What does this drinking and this eating consist of? – For us it is to learn, and for Him to teach and communicate the word to His disciples: since teaching is food for the One who Nourishes. But come, and we will partake of the law, according to the Gospel, and not according to writing, completely, and not imperfectly, eternally, and not temporarily. Let us make our head not the city below, but the mother of cities, in heaven, glorified by the angels. Let us not sacrifice young bulls and lambs with horns and cloven hooves (Ps. 69:32), in which there is much that is dead and senseless. But let us devour the sacrifice of praise to God (Ps. 49:14) on the altar on high, with the faces on high. Let us pass through the first veil, proceed to the second veil, and enter into the Holy of Holies. I will say even more: let us sacrifice ourselves to God, and, moreover, we will offer them daily with every movement. Let us offer everything for the sake of the Word, in our suffering we will imitate Passion, we will honor the Blood with our blood, we will willingly ascend to the cross. Nails are desirable, although they are very painful: for to suffer with Christ and for Christ is more desirable than to be comforted with others. If you are Simon of Cyrene: then take up the cross and follow (Christ). If you are crucified with Christ as a thief, then, as one who is grateful, recognize God in Him. If He is imputed with the lawless (Mark 15:28) for you and for your sin: then you be for Him a doer of the law, and, having been crucified yourself, worship the Crucified One for you, benefit even from evil itself, buy salvation through death, enter with Jesus into paradise (to find out where you fell from), contemplate the beauties there, and let the murmurer with his blasphemy dies outside of it (paradise). If you are Joseph of Arimathea, ask for the body of the crucifier, and learn for yourself the purification of the world. If you are Nicodemus, the nightly worshiper of God, place Him in a coffin with fragrant ointments. If you are one or the other of Mary, or Salome, or John, mourn Him at dawn, try first of all to see the rolled away stone, and perhaps the angels, and Jesus Himself; say something, listen to the voice. If you hear: do not touch Me (John 20:17), stand far away, listen to this word and do not be sad: for He knows who will appear before others. Renew the resurrection; Help Eve, who fell first, to be the first to kiss Christ and tell the disciples. Be Peter and John, hasten to the tomb, flowing now quickly, now together (John 20:4), competing with good competition. If they surpass you in speed, then overcome with zeal, not only enter the tomb, but go inside. If, like Thomas, you will not be with the gathered disciples, who is Christ: then do not be unfaithful, not seeing Him. If you don’t believe them, believe those who tell you; if you don’t believe them, be convinced by the wounds of the nails. If He descends into hell, you too descend with Him, and learn the mysteries of Christ there: what is the economy and what is the reason for the double condescension? Does He save everyone by His appearance, or only believers there? If He ascends into heaven, ascend with Him and you, be among the angels accompanying or meeting Him, command the gates to be taken (Ps. 23:7), to rise higher, in order to receive the Exalted One through suffering. Those who doubt, seeing the body and signs of suffering, without which He (the Savior) descended, and with which He ascends to heaven, and therefore ask: Who is this King of glory? - you answer: the Lord is strong and strong - strong, both in everything that He has always created and is creating, and in the current battle and victory for humanity - and give a double answer to a double question. If they marvel, and in the picturesque language of Isaiah (the prophet) they say: who is this who came from Edom, from the earth, and why does the Bloodless and Bodiless have scarlet robes, like a winemaker who has trodden out a full winepress (Isa. 63: 1–3)? - you say that the splendid clothing of the suffering body has been adorned by suffering and shines with the Divinity, Whose there is nothing more lovable and beautiful. We received being in order to prosper, and we prospered after we received being. We were entrusted with paradise to enjoy; we were given a commandment so that, by keeping it, we would earn glory - given not because God did not know the future, but because He gifted us with free will. We were deceived because we aroused envy; we fell because we transgressed the commandment; we fasted because we did not keep the fast, having been overcome by the tree of knowledge: for that ancient commandment, contemporary to us, was like a mentor for our soul and a prudent measure for pleasures; and it was prescribed so that what we lost by not observing it, we could receive again for observing it. It was necessary for God to become incarnate and die for us in order for us to live. We died with Him that we might be cleansed; we rose with Him: inasmuch as we died with Him; we are glorified with Him because we were raised with Him. There were many miracles at that time: God crucified, the sun darkened and the sun lit up again (for it was necessary for creatures to have compassion for the Creator), a curtain torn, blood and water poured out from a rib (one because He was a man, the other because He was higher than a man), the earth shook, the stones were torn apart for the sake of the Stone, the dead rose up in the assurance that there would be a last and general resurrection - signs at the grave and beyond the grave. And who can praise all this worthily? But none of the miracles can be compared with the miracle of my salvation. A few drops of blood recreate the whole world, and for all people they become the same as leaven for milk, collecting and connecting us together. But a great and holy Easter, and the cleansing of the whole world! I will talk with you as with something animate. The Word of God, and light, and life, and wisdom, and power! all your names produce joy in me. The generation, origin and imprint of the great Mind! The intelligible Word, and the intelligible Man, Who bears all things by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3)! Father, Holy Word and Soul! All glory, honor and power are due to you forever. Amen 4. In short. Gregor. Nazianz, cognom. Theolog. Opera Lispae, 1690. vol. I, pag. 676–697; cf.: Words of St. Gregory the Theologian - manuscript Moscow. Synod, bib. VIII–IX centuries (57/LVIII), l. l. 143–155; Created, St. Grigor. Theologian in Russian transl., ed. 1889, part IV, pp. 123–149; Christian Read 1822, VI, 3–49 pp.; Church Led. 1888 No. 17–20. You might be interested in: