Слово на Святую Пасху. Святого Кирилла, епископа Туровского 65

Now there is pure joy for all Christians and indescribable joy for the world because of the coming holiday, instead of the sorrow of the former sacrament. What was the sorrow of the preceding sacrament? Before yesterday, our Lord Jesus Christ, as a man, was crucified, and as God darkened the sun and turned the moon into blood, and darkness was over the whole earth; how a man cried out and gave up the ghost, and how God shook the earth and the stones fell apart; how a man was pierced in the ribs, and how God tore the veil of the ancient law; how the Lamb shed His blood instead of the lambs slain in the wilderness for sacrifice, and offered Himself a sacrifice to God the Father for the salvation of the whole world; how a man was laid in a coffin, and how God consecrated the altar of a pagan church; how the king was guarded by guards and sealed lay in the tomb, and how God, through the angelic armies, spoke to the demonic forces in the stronghold of hell: take the gates of your princes, and take the eternal gates and the King of glory will come in (Ps. 23:7). By His word the gates of hell were broken and his faith was broken to the ground. The Lord Himself descended into hell and trampled the demonic kingdom with the cross and killed death, and those sitting in darkness saw the light, and bound by poverty and iron were freed; He has captured the treasures of hell and has now emerged from it in the power of God and in the glory of the holy angels. Enslaved human souls are freed and introduced into heaven, glorifying the name of Christ. Christ has risen, leaving the seals of the tomb unharmed, and the Church receives inscrutable joy; the prophets rejoice joyfully, exclaiming: Our Passover was quickly devoured for us, Christ (1 Cor. 5:7). Where is the sting, death? where is the victory (1 Cor. 15:55)? For the sake of our salvation, Christ rose from the dead and gave life to those in the tombs, and the souls of the saints were enriched beyond their nature and moved from hell to heaven. Therefore, a real holiday bears a double and triple name. It is called Passover, for the sake of the lambs slain by Moses in Egypt, with whose blood, by anointing the door lintels and doorposts of the houses, the Israelites escaped death from the angels killing the Egyptians. The real (New Testament) Easter has the same meaning: now the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, was slain by the priests for the salvation of the whole world, and He brought the universal ancestor Adam out of hell (because He did not come to earth for the sake of the righteous alone, but for the sake of the whole world, which had fallen through crimes): He took upon Himself the sins of all people and carried them to the cross. Therefore, with faith we will be partakers of the Divine Pascha; Let us anoint our lips with God’s Blood, the doors of our spiritual home, so that demons who want to kill us with sin will not approach us. The Israelites slain the lamb, and the pagans ate it - and now the Prophet calls all the faithful to the Lord's table, saying: Receive the Body of Christ, taste the immortal source. With this Body the head of hell was crushed, and its sting was dulled; with this Body the power and power of hell was trampled; with this Body the womb of hell was pierced, because Christ did not come back through the mouth (i.e., the doors) of hell, but by tearing apart the womb of hell, he brought human souls out of it (for at the time when the Body of Christ was laid in the tomb, the copper gates were broken and the iron ropes were broken, the gatekeepers trembled, the prison disintegrated, and the dead were resurrected). And so, the Body of Christ put death to death and renewed all the decayed creation. Christians who eat this Body with faith are sanctified and receive eternal life. So, brothers, let us taste this life-giving meat 66 and kiss each other with love, mutually forgiving sins with all our hearts. – Secondly, the Resurrection of Christ is called a great day. Truly, this day is great - not because it had more hours, but because of the great miracles performed by our Savior Jesus Christ. Now the angels rejoice with people, and people are sanctified by the Lord, receiving the Holy Spirit. For the Evangelist Luke narrates that on one Sabbath, very early, the women, carrying prepared spices, came to the tomb of Jesus to anoint His Body, but found the stone rolled away from the tomb. And when they entered they did not find the Lord Jesus. When they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in shining clothes appeared before them and said to them: Why are you looking for the living with the dead? Not here, but here. Remember how He told you about His resurrection on the third day (Luke 24:1–7). Now go to His disciples and say: Christ is risen! For the Prophet wrote about you even before: come from the vision of the woman who brought good news, and cry to Zion: receive from us the joy of the gospel. Go to the apostles and say: “Hide yourselves no more, for the word that Jesus spoke to you has been fulfilled: For a little while you do not see Me, and again for a little while you will see Me and rejoice” (John 16:16). Remember the Prophet, who wrote about Christ and about you: “I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered, but not much later, I will stretch out my hand and gather them and give them a shepherd” (Zech. 13:7). Go and tell the disciples so that they understand this time, foreshadowed by the prophet Hosea, who announced: “He was beaten by the wicked, and in two days He healed the world, and on the third day He will rise, and we will live before Him” (Hos. 6:3); and also by the prophet Zephaniah, who said: “Be patient with Me, says the Lord, on the day of My resurrection, for My testimony, for My mercy has already descended upon the nations (Zeph. 3:8). Go and tell the apostles: this is the day about which David said: You, O Lord, have risen, have shown mercy on Zion: for the time has come to show mercy to it, for the time has come (Ps. 101:14); I am not talking about that Zion, which is trampled by soldiers, but about the church of the pagans, redeemed by the honest Blood of the Savior - a church that no one can overcome. Do not think that you can be deceived like Eve: she took advice from the serpent, but you hear the speech of the angels. So we proclaim joy to you, but you preach salvation to the world.” Then the women, returning from the tomb, announced all this to the eleven apostles; but they did not believe them, because they had not yet received the Holy Spirit and therefore were fickle, cowardly, and unsure. But Peter and John stood up and ran to the tomb. However, John came to the tomb sooner than Peter, but did not enter it until the arrival of Peter, who was the first to enter the tomb and saw only the linens lying there. John, who was the first to come to the tomb, did not enter it out of fear, but in obedience to God’s decree and Divine Scripture, for these two apostles prefigured the old and the new law: John formed the old law, and Peter the new. The old law, which preceded the new, although it preceded Christ with its expectation, but, after His coming, did not enter into His faith; the new law, although it came later, believed in Christ first, seeing how vain was the hope in the old law, which could no longer save those who held it. On the same day, two of Christ’s disciples went to a village located in the vicinity of Jerusalem and talked among themselves about all these events, and then Jesus Himself overtook them on the way. For He was like a shepherd who, after lying down to sleep for a while, gets up and sees his flock scattered, and quickly walks everywhere with the goal of gathering it. Jesus said to the disciples: “What are you talking about among yourself, and why are you sad?” They answered that they were talking about Jesus of Nazareth, crucified by the Jewish priests, and about the women who heard from the Angel about His resurrection. They did not recognize Him, for their eyes were still carnal, and Christ did not breathe on them, saying: Receive the Holy Spirit, and He had not yet opened their minds. However, they knew the prophecies about Christ. Therefore He said to them: “O foolish ones of heart”! and he began to explain to them from all the Consecrated Books what was said about His passion and resurrection. Isn’t this what Moses said, “and your life will be hanging before your eyes” (Deut. 28:66)? David also wrote about His crucifixion: I have dug my hands and my noses (Ps. 21:17); and again: and she gave me my gall when I was thirsty and gave me something to drink when I was thirsty (Ps. 68:22); about His tomb: I laid Me in the pit of the grave. in the dark and the shadow of death (Ps. 87:7); and also His resurrection: may God rise again, and His enemies be scattered (Ps. 67:2), and also: rise, O God, judge of the earth (Ps. 81:8). And Isaiah said about His disciples: “Rising up, I will gather My brethren, and they will see My glory, and they will proclaim My glory in the countries, and they will be unto Me, many people from the Gentiles” (Is. 66:19-20). While talking, they approached the village they were going to. The disciples began to restrain Jesus, saying: “stay with us, because the day is already approaching evening.” And when He was reclining with them, He took bread, blessed it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, they saw the marks from the nails in His hands and knew that it was Christ Himself. But He became invisible to them. They returned to Jerusalem and told the Apostles about everything, claiming that Christ had truly risen, that He had appeared to them, and they recognized Him by the wounds from the nails. And we, brothers, seeing the resurrection of Christ, will worship Him and exclaim: You are our God and don’t we know anything else (besides) You. Visible to man and understood by God! Let the whole earth bow down and sing to You: have mercy on us, O Lord, who believe in You! We pray to You and we are touched: cleanse our sins, forgive the debts of our souls who glorify You! Now You, who suffered and accepted death for us, we servilely serve! Yesterday we, together with the robber, were crucified with You, and now we have been resurrected with You! Yesterday they cried out with Loggin: “Truly you are the Son of God”; and now we say with the Angels: “Truly, Christ is risen”! Yesterday with Nicodemus we took You down from the cross, now with Magdalene we see You risen! Yesterday they laid You in the tomb with Joseph; Now, like Mary, we hear joyful words from You: “Go, tell my brothers and Peter to go to Galilee; “And there they will see Me.” And now, as in Galilee, having gathered in this holy church, we rejoice, and we say: this is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad. For Thine is the kingdom, O Christ, and the glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen 67. Food, dishes, dishes. Encyclopedic Dictionary. Note electronic edition Creations of St. our father Cyril, Bishop of Turov, with a preliminary, essay, history of Turov.. Ed. Eminence Eugene, Bishop of Minsk. Kyiv. 1880, pp. 7–13; Wed Monuments of ancient Russian church teaching literature, ed. magazine "The Wanderer", vol. 1, pp. 131–135. You might be interested in: