Поучение на Благовещение Пресвятой Богородицы и Светлый понедельник Воскресения Христова 70 . Святого Димитрия, митрополита Ростовского

Christ is risen from the dead... And the word became flesh and dwelt in us (John 1:14). Beloved listeners! We now collectively have two bright holidays: the Resurrection of Christ and the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos - two bright holidays, discordant and concordant, discordant in name, concordant in strength, discordant in time, in agreement in the accomplishment of salvation, discordant in church singing, in agreement in the creation of joy: for in both festivals the Holy Church excites her children to joy. In the Annunciation she sings: Bring great joy to the earth, praise the heavens of God's glory! On the Resurrection she says: this day, the Lord has made it, we will rejoice and be glad on it (Ps. 118:24)! So, you know, beloved, how can we call this celebration in one word? Let anyone call it what he wants; and I will call it the belt with which the bride of Christ, the Holy Church, is now girded. And truly, just as a belt has two ends, far apart from one another, and when someone girds himself with it, both ends converge in one place and are tied into one union: so in the sacrament of our salvation there are two ends - those two holidays. At the Annunciation, our salvation began, as the troparion reads: The day of our salvation is the main (beginning) and the sacrament (eternal mystery) manifestation from time immemorial; In the Resurrection, our salvation received its prosperous end, when Christ said on the cross: “It is accomplished” (John 19:30). That belt is long (of course, the mystery of our salvation): for from its beginning to its completion, i.e. That is, from the Annunciation to the Resurrection, thirty-four years passed, and when the bride of Christ, the Holy Church, redeemed by His blood, girded herself with that belt of salvation: both those ends - both holidays, the Annunciation and the Resurrection, and the beginning of our salvation and its completion, came together in one place: since He who was first incarnated in the womb of the Most Pure Virgin, having suffered, rose from the dead - He incarnated to rise from the dead. And we, celebrating for one and the other, we sing: Christ is Risen, and glorify His incarnation: Christ is risen from the dead... And the Word became flesh, and dwelt in us! The disagreement between the church singing of both of those holidays brings into agreement the Markov chapters laid down in the Church Charter; May your love allow me to bring the actions of those holidays into harmony and show that the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos and the Resurrection of Christ have great similarities in their actions. Not only this year, the feast of the Resurrection of Christ coincided with the feast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos (on Easter Monday), but also the annual Resurrection of Christ is celebrated not without the Annunciation: for every year, when we celebrate Easter of Christ, on the very first week day of Easter, we hear that the Annunciation is preached in the Gospel, in these words: and the Word became flesh. What do these words tell us? Are they not preaching about the Annunciation, in which, with the voice of the Archangel overshadowing the Holy Spirit, God the Word became incarnate in the womb of the Most Pure Virgin Mary, and the Word became flesh? You see: Resurrection always occurs not without the Annunciation. In the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, the incarnation of God the Word was the favor of God the Father, the overshadowing and action of the Holy Spirit and the will of the Word Himself. The resurrection of Christ from the dead was the favor of God the Father, together with the Holy Spirit and the will of Christ Himself: for St. Peter [speaking to the chief priests and elders of the Jews: Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom God raised from the dead... (Acts. 4:10)] clearly shows that Christ was resurrected by the good will of God the Father, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, according to the following saying of the prophet Ezekiel: come upon me the Spirit and set me upon my foot (Ezek. 3:24), and by the will of Christ Himself, as having the authority to do so, for He said: the region (power) imam lay down my soul, and the region imam again receive yu (John 10:18). Just as, dying on the cross, He gave up His spirit to His Father, saying: Father, in Your hands I commit My spirit (Luke 24:46), so He received His spirit from the hands of the Father, rising from the grave, rising from the dead. At the Annunciation, the Angel Gabriel was the minister of a miracle: a representative angel was sent from heaven to say to the Mother of God: Rejoice. And the Resurrection of Christ is not without an angelic service: the angel of the Lord descended, rolled away the stone, and two angels were visible in the tomb. And that an Angel came to the Mother of God and announced the Resurrection of Christ to Her, St. The Church proclaims the song: “An angel crying with the Most Grace: Pure Virgin, rejoice. Your Son is risen three days from the grave.” At the Annunciation, the Blessed Virgin expressed to the Angel Her chaste innocence, her non-involvement with her husband: how will this be, even though I don’t know my husband (Luke 1:34), innocent of carnal marriage? In the Passion of the Lord, before the resurrection, Pilate testified to the insubordination of Jesus, saying: I find no guilt in this man (Luke 23:4), innocent of death! At the Annunciation, the Most Pure Virgin consented to the will of the Lord, and She answered the Angel: behold the handmaid of the Lord: be unto Me (now) according to Thy word (Luke 1:38). In accepting the cup of suffering, which would end in resurrection, there was Christ’s permission, for He said to the Father: If it be Thy will, let me drink (Matthew 26:42). At the Annunciation, God the Word, the Only Begotten Word of the Father, put on human flesh, as is preached in the Gospel: And the word became flesh, and dwelt in us (John 1:4). At the Resurrection, the flesh put on the Divinity. The Lord reigned in beauty, clothed in beauty, in the glory of the Divine: for He suffered as a man, but rose again as God, with glory; and His beloved disciple, the Evangelist John, testifies: We have seen His glory, the glory of the Only Begotten from the Father, filled with grace and truth (John 1:14). In the Annunciation, at the beginning, Christ God, incarnate in Her womb, was known only by the Mother, before the prophetess Elizabeth, carried in the womb by John, Joseph and others knew Him. And in the Resurrection, at the beginning, the Most Pure Virgin Himself recognized Christ, who had risen from the tomb: for He, first of all, appeared to His Most Blessed Mother, as the Church proclaims (on Great Saturday, in the canon at Compline). The Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos was followed by reproach and disgrace: for Joseph, having “within a storm of doubtful thoughts” and considering Her to have been robbed of marriage, reviled Her. The Resurrection of Christ was preceded by reproach and disgrace, when on the cross the Lord was imputed with the lawless, crucified among two thieves. Christ was tormented on the cross, the cross and torment, truly, was for the Most Pure Virgin Mary - it was innocent to endure reproach from Joseph and from others the opinion, as if She had been robbed. But for both, that reproach turned into glory: for Christ, having suffered, entered into His glory, and the Most Pure Mother of God, after the reproach, became glorified more honorably than the Cherubim and more glorious than the Seraphim. At the Annunciation, Christ betrothed human nature to Himself: in the Resurrection he glorified it, having clothed the corruptible with incorruptibility and the mortal with immortality. – At the Annunciation, the Most Pure Virgin crushed the head of the serpent, trampling down the poison of original sin; in the Resurrection, Her Son, our Lord, crushed hell, trampled the devil, destroyed his kingdom. – At the Annunciation, the death of sin was put to death; In the Resurrection, bodily death was trampled under foot: our Lord trampled down death by death and gave life to those in the tombs. At the Annunciation, a den was provided in which Christ was to be born: the same Christ, who was to rise from the dead, received a cave and a tomb; the nativity scene was at nativity, the nativity scene was also at resurrection. – The virginity of the Most Pure Mother of God was preserved intact at the Annunciation: the tomb seals were preserved intact at the Resurrection of Christ; (Christ) came out of the sealed tomb, as he was born from the Mother of God, sealed with purity and preserved by virginity. - In the Incarnation, Christ was like a lamb without blemish, fallen in the womb of Mary: in the Resurrection, that Lamb grew into a Lion [behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah has overcome (Rev. 5:5)] and triumphantly says to His: be of good cheer, for I have overcome (John 16:33). After the Annunciation, the Most Pure Virgin went to the mountain; After the Resurrection, Christ went to Galilee, to the mountain where He commanded His disciples to go: shout as disciples and Petrov, for you are cooking in Galilee (Mark 16:7). – At the Annunciation, the Most Pure Virgin, filled with great joy, sang: My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior (Luke 1:46–47). In the Resurrection of Her Son and God (oh, who can confess this!) with what joy was (the Mother of God) filled when she saw alive the One for whom She wept inconsolably when dead?! Her joy was remembered by the Holy Church, which rejoices with Her, singing: “But You, Pure One, rejoice, O Mother of God, at the rise of Your Nativity!” As you can see, listeners, the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Resurrection of Christ have great similarities in their actions - and now the feast of the Annunciation has fittingly coincided with the feast of the Resurrection of Christ. Let us celebrate, filled with deep spiritual joy. May our soul magnify the Lord, and may our spirit rejoice in God our Savior, who rose from the grave three days ago. And again, may our soul magnify the Lady Most Pure Virgin Mary, and may our spirit rejoice in the Mother of God, by whom we received salvation: for Christ our God saved the world through the Mother of God. Does your love know what these two bright holidays - the Resurrection of Christ that began yesterday and the now celebrated Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos - teach us? – They teach to rise from spiritual death into a virtuous life and unite with God in such a strong and inseparable union as God the Word united with the flesh of human nature in the womb of the Most Pure Virgin. The Resurrection of Christ teaches us to rise from spiritual death into a virtuous life. The soul, until it is separated from God by sins, is alive and active, but as soon as it is torn away from God by the Fall, it immediately becomes dead and ineffective. Isn’t such a dead soul, a soul that died in sins, due for resurrection?.. What is the resurrection of the soul? - Holy repentance. Indeed, just as sin is death for the soul, so holy repentance is resurrection for the soul; and about the prodigal son, when he turned to his father with repentance, it is said: this one was dead and alive (while he was away from his father in a sinful country, he was dead - and when he returned, having repented, he was immediately resurrected in soul: he was dead and alive). So, the real feast of the Resurrection of Christ teaches us to rise from spiritual death, that is, to repent from sins, and not just to rise, but in the image of Christ, as the Apostle says: Christ has risen from the dead to those who no longer die: death does not possess Him. Thus we too will begin to walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4,9). Just as Christ, after His resurrection, no longer dies, so, after our repentance, we will not return to our former mortal sins. For what is the use, having come out of the abyss, to again plunge oneself into the abyss? What is the benefit of being healed from ulcers and being wounded again? What is the benefit, having been resurrected by repentance from spiritual death, to again kill your soul with sins? The true resurrection of the soul consists in, having once risen with Christ, no longer returning to death, no longer dying. And another real holiday - the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos (in which God the Word was firmly and inseparably united with the flesh) teaches us to unite with God. It is not enough to rise from spiritual death, but we need to unite firmly with God, because if we do not unite with Him, we will again fall into death, again we will die in sins; and he who is firmly united with God will remain immortal and will not return to his former evil... How can we unite with God? - just as God in His incarnation united with human flesh. God has united with human flesh in such a way that he will never leave it, but will remain with it for endless centuries and reign in heaven. Likewise, a person resurrected from sins must unite with God, his Creator and Redeemer, so as never to leave Him, not only in deed, but also in thought, so as never to move away from Him, for the psalm says: those who remove themselves from You (Lord!) will perish (Ps. 72:27). But on these joyful holidays I no longer want to burden your love with long listening to the word. So, I greet you with a special celebration - the Resurrection with the Annunciation and the Annunciation with the Resurrection, and on both of these celebrations I wish you both spiritual benefit and physical health and say: Amen 71. The teaching was spoken in 1706, when the feast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos coincided with Monday of Bright Week. Works of the saint. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov. Kyiv. 1895, part II, pp. 135–147. You might be interested in: