Беседа на Святую Пасху (О явлении воскресшего Спасителя мира женам Мироносицам). Святого Григория Двоеслова, папы Римского 53

The holy myrrh-bearing wives, followers of the Lord, came to the tomb of Christ with perfumes and, out of love for mankind, serve even the dead One whom they loved while alive. This event indicates something that needs to be done in the holy Church. So we need to listen to what has been done in order to think about what, in imitation of them (the Holy Myrrh-Bearers), we should also do. If we, believing in the One who died, and being filled with the fragrance of virtues, with the desire for good deeds, seek the Lord, then we truly come to His tomb with aromas. The myrrh-bearing women who came with aromas see angels: because, precisely, those souls who, with the incense of virtues, go to the Lord through holy desires, contemplate the inhabitants of heaven. It should be noted here, what does it mean that they see the Angel sitting on the right side? The left side denotes real life, and the right side denotes unceasing life; therefore it is written: His soul is under my head, and His right hand will embrace me (Song. 2:6). So, since our Redeemer had already passed through the damage of this life, it is right that the Angel who came to announce His unceasing life sat on the right side. He appeared dressed in white clothes because he announced the joys of our triumph (precisely, white clothes announce the splendor of the triumph) - shall we say ours or his? In order to tell the truth, let’s say: both ours and ours, since the resurrection of our Redeemer was both our triumph, since it returned us to immortality, and the Angels’, since it, calling us to the heavenly, supplemented the number of them (Angels). Let us heed what is said to the coming wives (Myrrh-Bearers). Don't be horrified! Obviously, St. The Apostle seems to say this: “Let those who do not like the coming of the inhabitants of the mountains be horrified; let those who, being overwhelmed by carnal desires, despair of the possibility of achieving community with them, be horrified. But you have nothing to fear, since you see your fellow citizens.” Therefore, describing the appearance of the Angel, (the evangelist) Matthew says: his shadow is like lightning, and his robe is white like snow (Matthew 28:3), for terror is expressed in lightning, and the coolness of whiteness in snow. Since Almighty God is both terrible for sinners and merciful for the righteous: then the Angel, the witness of His resurrection, rightly appears both in a lightning-like visage and in a white robe, in order to frighten the wicked with his very appearance, and to rejoice the pious. Therefore, it is also true that the people who wandered in the desert were preceded by a pillar of fire at night, and a pillar of cloud by day (Ex. 13:21,22). The pillar was shown during the day through a cloud, and at night through fire, because the almighty God will appear both merciful to the righteous and terrible to the unjust: the first He, appearing in judgment, will comfort the meekness of love, and the latter He will frighten the latter with the determination of justice. Let's listen to what the Angel adds. Looking for Jesus the Nazarene. (Name) Jesus means "Savior". But since at that time many could be called Jesus (not in essence, but by name), then in order to clearly say which Jesus he was talking about, it is added: Nazarene, and then the reason is immediately added: crucified. Then (the Angel) added: Vosta, not here (speaking here not at all about the presence of the Divine, but about the presence of the flesh). But go, shout as His disciple and Petrov, as you cook in Galilee. The question arises for us: why, after the general name of the disciples, Peter is called by name. But if the Angel had not called by name the one who denied the Teacher, then he (Peter) would not have dared to appear among the apostles. So, up. Peter is called by name so that he does not despair for his renunciation. Almighty God allowed him to be afraid of the servant’s question and to deny the one whom he had ordained to be an Apostle of the Church. This (by order of supreme love) was done so that he who would be a shepherd of the Church in his guilt would learn how mercifully he should endure the infirmities of others... It is well said about our Savior: you are cooking in Galilee, there you see Him, just as He told you. Galilee means “migration made.” Our Redeemer made the transition from suffering to resurrection, from death to life, from execution to glory, from damage to soundness. And after the resurrection, the disciples see Him for the first time in Galilee, because we will joyfully see the glory of the resurrection after we have moved from vices to the heights of virtues. This, beloved brothers, we said as an explanation of the Gospel reading. But, for the sake of the solemnity of (the current) day, I would like to say something more sublime. There were two lives, of which we knew one and did not know the other: since one was mortal, the other was immortal. But the Mediator of God and men – the Man Christ Jesus – comes and perceives one and reveals the other. He ended one with death, and showed the other with resurrection. So, if He promised us, who know mortal life, the resurrection of the flesh, and, however, apparently did not reveal this resurrection, then who would believe His promises? Therefore, having become a man, He appeared in the flesh, was pleased to die by will, was resurrected with power, and showed by example what He promised us as a reward. But to enlighten our ignorance, to strengthen our weakness, our Lord deigned to show us the example of the resurrection not only of His own, but of many. For He alone died on the cross, but not only He rose again, but many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep rose up (Matthew 27:52). Now all pretexts of unbelief have been taken away. Lest anyone say: “man cannot expect for himself what God has revealed in his flesh,” those are resurrected with the God-man, about whom we cannot doubt that they were men similar to us. So, if we are members of our Redeemer, then we can expect the same thing that was truly accomplished in the Head - we should at least expect the same thing that happened in the other members who were before us. But now it comes to mind that the mocking Jews said to the Crucified Son of God: if there is a king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we believe in Him (Matthew 27:42). If He had then descended from the cross, yielding to the fury (of the Jews), He would not have shown us the virtue of patience. But He endured dishonor, endured ridicule, remained patient, and He who did not want to come down from the cross rose from the grave. So, to rise from the grave meant more than to come down from the cross; to trample death by resurrection meant more than to preserve life by descending from the cross. When the Jews did not see Him descending from the cross to satisfy their riot, when they saw Him dying, then they thought that they had defeated Him - they rejoiced as if they had destroyed His name. But now His name swept across the universe from that death with which this unbelieving crowd thought to destroy Him - and, rejoicing at His murder, it (the crowd) grieves for the Dead Man, because it knows that through execution He entered into His glory. The exploits of Him (the Savior) are well depicted by Sampson, who, having entered Gaza (the city of the Philistines), immediately rejoiced the Philistines, who learned of his arrival. They suddenly surrounded the city with ambushes, posted guards and were already rejoicing as if they had caught the courageous Sampson. But we know what Sampson did: at midnight he took the city gate and carried it to the top of the mountain (Judges 16:1–3). In this matter, dearest brethren, who is this Sampson representing, if not our Redeemer? What is the city of Gaza if not hell? What does the Philistines indicate if not the treachery of the Jews? These, when they saw the Lord dead and His Body placed in the tomb, they placed guards there and rejoiced as if they had captured the Author of Life detained in the rivets of hell (like Sampson, who was in Gaza). But Sampson not only left at midnight, but also took out the gate. And our Redeemer, having risen before the light, not only came out of hell, but also destroyed the very gates of hell, took away the gates and ascended to the top of the mountain: since by resurrection he destroyed the rivets of hell, and by ascension he penetrated into the kingdom of heaven. So, beloved brothers, let us love with all our souls the glory of the resurrection of Christ, which was first shown in a sign, and later revealed in an event, and we will die with love for it. So in the resurrection of our culprit we recognized His servants - the angels, our fellow citizens. Let us hasten to the endless triumph of these fellow citizens. Let us unite with them by desire and mind, while we cannot yet (unite) by vision. Let us move from vices to virtues in order to be worthy of the vision (in Galilee) of our Redeemer. May Almighty God help our desire, who for us gave up His Only Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to death, who lives and reigns with Him, in unity with the Holy Spirit to all ages of ages. Amen 54. Bibliot. Patr. Concionator., vol. IV, p. p. 102–103; Wed Conversations like the saints of our father Gregory Dvoeslov, in two books, translated from Latin into Russian, Archimander. Clement. Book two. St. Petersburg. I860, pp. 2–11. You might be interested in: