Слово на Вознесение Господне. Святого Кирилла, епископа Туровского

Come now in spirit, holy Prophet 3axapie! Give the firstfruits to our word from your prophecies about the ascension into heaven of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ. For you, not in a parable, but clearly showed this to us, saying: And the Lord will go out and encamp, and all His saints with Him, on the day on the Mount of Olives, which is directly east of Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:3, 4). We wish to see other things from you, and we know about the battle against the common enemy the devil from Isaiah, who saw the Seraphim (Isa. 6:2–5). Our Lord Jesus Christ himself alone took up arms against all demonic forces and overthrew the powers of darkness. “I trampled them,” it is said, “in My wrath, and burnt them to ashes in My wrath, and I bled all My garments, I overcame them, and I went down to where My captives were hidden, and delivered them all with My mighty arm, and said: “Are these not My people and My children?” All this was said about the suffering of the Lord and about His descent into hell. There, with the cross, He defeated the dark forces and destroyed the universal Adam with all tribes and peoples. The Lord calls all pagans who were sent to hell for their sins as people, and He calls those who died while under the law as children. Sin reigned over everyone and ruled through death from Adam even to Christ, and, having taken them out of this life, planted people in the depths of hell, bound by poverty and iron: for they humbled themselves iniquity for the sake of their own (Ps. 107:10, 17). But Christ, having crushed the gates of hell, delivered them from troubles, dissolved their bonds, brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and within forty days divided His joyful spoils: “Rejoice with Me,” He said, “for I have found the lost coin, that is, the souls of all men, all tribes and peoples.” And the Lord brought the delivered souls into different places of His abodes: some with the thief into paradise, others with Adam into Eden of sweets, others with Abraham into eternal life, and the souls of all the pagans settled in His light on the waters of rest (Ps. 22:2). For for all those who fell in body through the deception of the serpent, Jesus Himself suffered in the same body, and will reward each according to his deeds on the last day, when he comes to judge the whole world. This is what the angels said to the apostles on the Mount of Olives. “Men of Galilee,” said the angels, “why do you stand with your eyes on heaven?.. He will also come in the glory of His Divinity to judge the whole world and reward everyone according to their deeds” (Acts 1:11; Matt. 16:27). And Christ raises the holy prophets and venerable righteous people with Him to heaven in the holy city - and we will speak about their ascension from divinely inspired books. For we ourselves are not the creators of the word, but we will follow the words of the prophets and apostles, who testified about the living God, as the Holy Spirit commanded them to write - for those who believe to be saved, and for those who do not believe to be destroyed. Let us also go now, brethren, with our thoughts to the Mount of Olives and mentally look at the glorious events that took place there. Our Lord God Himself has now come to that mountain, and there gathered the ranks of all the saints: councils of the forefathers, many patriarchs, regiments of prophecies, apostolic figures and crowds of the faithful with seventy disciples of Christ; all those about whom Paul said: “Christ appeared to more than five hundred brethren” (1 Cor. 15:6). (Apostle) Paul means those who were on the Mount of Olives, before whom the Lord was exalted; and about those whom Christ raised into heaven into the heavenly Jerusalem, listen to the words (evangel.) of Matthew: many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep arose: and, after His resurrection, they descended into the holy city (Matthew 27:52–53), that is, into the heavenly Zion. Paul was their witness when he was caught up into the third heaven. But, leaving them, let’s talk about the Ascension of Christ and what happened on the Mount of Olives. There are now angelic Forces and Archangelic armies: some on the wings of the wind bring clouds to take Christ our God from the earth, others are preparing the Cherubic throne. God the Father is waiting for Him whom He has had in His bosom from all eternity; The Holy Spirit commands all the angels: “Take the gates of heaven, so that the King of glory may come in!” The heavens rejoice, decorating their luminaries, may they receive blessings from their Creator, carried with flesh on the clouds through the heavenly gates; the earth rejoices, seeing God clearly walking on itself - and all creation flaunts, being enlightened from the Mount of Olives, where the angels gathered together with the apostles, at the command of God the Father, awaiting the Son's coming. Therefore, this holiday is more honorable for us than others, and this mountain is holier than Mount Sinai. God invisibly descended on Mount Sinai, but on Mount Olivet he openly appeared: on Sinai, he brought everyone into fear, for the whole mountain was burning with fire, and lightning and thunder killed those approaching the mountain, but God spoke with only Moses; and Christ ascended to the Mount of Olives with tens of saints, and comforts everyone, sanctifies everyone. Therefore, Olivet shines like the sun, having on itself, together with Christ, the faces of the saints, and instead of the Sinai thunders and lightnings, voices of prophecy are heard, joyfully exulting and proclaiming: exalted in Thy power, O God, let us sing, let us sing of Thy power! The angels call on everyone, saying: shout to the Lord, all the earth, sing to His name (Ps. 65, i). The patriarchs begin the song: “Behold our God ascends, uniting both into one, the earthly with the heavenly.” The monks proclaim: Ascend into heaven, O God, and Thy glory is throughout all the earth (Ps. 57:6). The righteous women cry out loudly: Be exalted, judge of the earth (Ps. 93:2), so that we too may walk in the light of Your face. David, as the elder of the choirs, understanding the song voices, calls out: all the nations clasp your hands, shout to God with a voice of joy, let God arise with shouting, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet (Ps. 46:2, 6). The general voice concludes Paul with the words: who will ascend into heaven? that is, bring Christ together. Or who will go down into the abyss? that is, to raise Christ from the dead. But He is the One who descended and again ascended above all the heavens (Rom. 10:7; Eph. 4:10). There was also a pagan church there that was ignorant of Christ; Seeing Him now ascended to heaven, she grieves and, groaning from the heart, cries out along with Solomon: “I am wounded by love (Song. 2:5) by Your love, O Heavenly Bridegroom, I have not followed You and have not loved the days of rest,” and, as if seeing off a loved one, cries out: Let him kiss me with the kisses of his lips ( Song 1:1). Together with her, the face of the apostles, looking at their Teacher and Lord, like children of the church, pitifully said: “Master! do not leave us orphans, whom you loved according to your merciful will; but send, as you promised us, Your Most Holy Spirit! And Jesus answered them, mercifully comforting them: “Sit in Jerusalem (Luke 24:49), for I ascend to My Father and your God and will send you, as I promised, another Comforter, My Spirit and the Father.” And He lifted up His hands, and blessed them. And, this river, ascending to heaven. And they worshiped Him, and a bright cloud was lifted from their sight (Luke 24:51; Acts 1:9). It is said that you will mount on the cherubim, and fly on the wing of the wind (Ps. 17:11). The Lord also had human souls with Him, which He lifted into heaven as a gift to His Father and settled in the city on high. Understand this from the words of Jeremiah: those souls that the enemy brought down to the underworld, the Lord raised to heaven, saying: arise, and ascend to the highest Zion (Jer. 31:6), that is, to the heavenly Jerusalem. Angelic Forces walked ahead with fear and joy, wanting to open the gates of heaven, but the heavenly goalkeepers forbade them, saying: “This is the gate of heaven; The Lord commanded us to observe that none of the earthly creatures should come here, but now we are amazed when we see a man. sitting on the cherubim throne, and trying to pass through these gates before the seraphim.” The angels told the power and dignity of the Son of God, clothed in a human body, and convinced the goalkeepers not to resist the will of God, who creates everything with wisdom. “The Son of God,” they said, “descended to earth, and no one knew it; and behold, now He ascendeth, bearing the form of a servant.” And the goalkeepers answered: “We will not obey until we hear the word of God.” Then Christ exclaimed: “Open for Me the gates of righteousness, and having entered into them, I will proclaim to My Father that I committed on earth and suffered.” And, recognizing the voice of the Lord, all the powers of heaven fell and bowed, saying: “We have not seen, Master, Your descent from heaven, but we all worship You, ascending in glory.” And the Holy Spirit, having gone to the meeting, introduces the Son of God equal to Himself and, honoring Him, says: and let all the angels of God worship Him (Heb. 1:6). God the Father Himself proclaimed to Him who would come in the flesh: Thou art My Son. Sit at the right hand of Me. Behold Your throne, O God, for ever and ever. The heavens are Yours and the earth is Yours (Ps. 2:7; 109:1; 44:7; 88:12), and You founded its borders. And, having seated the Son on the throne, the Father crowned Him with His right hand while the Seraphim sang: You placed on His head a crown of honorable stone, You crowned Him with glory and honor, You placed glory and splendor on Him (Ps. 20:4,6; 8:6). And in conclusion, he anoints Him with the anointing of God’s being, as David testifies: for this reason for the anointing of You, O God, Your God, with the oil of joy He is more than Your partaker (Ps. 44:8). Truly, this holiday is full of joy and joy; joy in heaven, for Christ ascended to the Father, and joy on earth, for all creation was renewed from corruption. Therefore, we, brethren, come - let us rejoice in the Lord who has ascended to the heavens to the east (Ps. 67:34), let us worship Him who sits at the right hand of the Father, let us pray to Him who has received all power in heaven and on earth, let us offer faith as a gift to Him who reigns with the Father: we will not appear before Him as carcass on the day of the feast, so that we may receive God’s grace. For now Christ distributes His gifts to everyone: He gives the flesh He sacrificed to the Father, He sends the Holy Spirit to the apostles, He introduces the souls of the holy prophets into the heavenly kingdom, He divides the abodes of the mountain city for His saints, He opens paradise to the righteous, He crowns the martyrs who suffered for Him, He sends the grace of miracles to the sufferers, He forgives sinners, He has mercy on everyone. those who do His will and keep His commandments..., blesses all Christians: small and great, poor and rich, slaves and free, old men and young men, wives and virgins, mothers and babies, orphans and widows. We too, brothers, will come and glorify Christ our God, who gave us life and promised after it the kingdom of heaven; Let us lift up His name together, and may He also send down His Most Holy Spirit to us: for we are His servants and we send up glory, honor and worship to Him with the Father and the Most Holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen 97. See Sobornik, ed. 1830, part III, pp. 87–89; compare Creations of St. Kirill, bishop. Turovsky, ed. Rev. Eugene, Bishop of Minsk. Kyiv. 1880, pp. 53–59; Monuments of ancient Russian church teaching literature, ed. magazine "Wanderer", 1894, issue. and, pp. 162–167. You might be interested in: