Слово в день Вознесения Господня. Блаженного Августина

Beloved brethren! Who will worthily pronounce the temporal word about the eternal Word? Is it enough for our insignificance to praise His greatness? Let the heavens praise, let the Powers praise, let the powers of the mountains praise, let the heavenly bodies praise, let the stars praise, let the earth praise as much as it can, not in order to praise worthily, but in order not to condemn oneself for ingratitude. Who will explain, who will express, who will even understand the One who reaches from the end even to the end firmly, and controls all good (Wis. 8:1), how He will rejoice in His mother-in-law's path, how His departure from the end of heaven, and the meeting of Him to the end of heaven (Ps. 18:6, 7)? If He reaches everywhere, then where does He come from? If He reaches everywhere he goes? It does not spread by space, does not change by time, has neither entry nor exit; but, being in Himself, it embraces everything completely. What space does not have the Almighty, what space does not contain the Immeasurable, what space does not perceive the Coming One? Judging by the word, we said nothing. But in order to teach the humble to say something about Him, the Lord humbled Himself and took on the form of a servant (Phil. 2:7, 8). In this form He descended; in this vision, according to the Gospel, he excelled in wisdom (Luke 2:52), in this vision he suffered, labored mightily, died, defeated death and was resurrected; in this form He returned to heaven, He who never departed from heaven. Blessed is He in the firmament of heaven, who, according to the Apostle, was cursed for us (Gal. 3:13, 14), so that Abraham may be blessed among the nations. – I rejoiced like a giant (Ps. 18:6). What kind of giant is this? - The One who conquered death. What giant? - He who crushed the gates of hell, descended and ascended, Who is the King of glory, for whom it was said to certain princes: take away your gates, princes, and take away the eternal gate (Ps. 23:7). Take hold: He is great; take hold: you are cramped, you cannot contain Him. Take hold, let the King of glory come in. But they are horrified: who is this King of glory? He is not known. He is not only God, but also man; not only man, but also God? He suffers: is He really God? He is resurrected: is he really a man? And God is He and man: for He truly suffers, and truly rises. This is said twice in the same psalm. Take up the gates, your princes, and take up the everlasting gates: and the King of glory will come in. Repeating this after the same words seems redundant and unnecessary. But note the end of the repetition of these words - understand why they were said twice. To him, who once touches everything and once ascends, the double gates of hell and heaven are opened. God appears in hell! Man is perceived as heaven! In both cases, in both places, the princes are horrified. Who is this King of glory? Pay attention to what corresponds to both. One of their questions says: The Lord is strong and strong, the Lord is strong in battle. In what kind of battle? - in the one in which he suffers death for mortals - one suffers for all, the omnipotent does not resist, but the dying one wins. Great is this King of glory, great also for the powers of hell. But it is also repeated to the heavenly authorities: take the gates, your princes, take the eternal gates. Are there really no eternal gates there when Peter received the keys from them? But since the Ascended One lifts up man with Him, He is spoken of as unrecognized: who is this King of glory? And since here He appears no longer as a warrior, but as a winner; since He does not fight, but triumphs: then the answer is not: the Lord is mighty in battle, but the Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory. Amen 89. See Sunday. Read XII (1848–49), pp. 53–54. You might be interested in: