Слово на Преображение Господа нашего Иисуса Христа. Святого Андрея, архиепиекопа Критского 151

Listen to me, all those who, through the exhaustion of the Word, have freed themselves from the veil of wordlessness, raised their minds from the earth and learned to think about things above, - for I offer you an abundant spiritual meal of words, and together with the Word we will now ascend to the high mountain of Transfiguration, having taken off the material and dark clothing of life and put on clothing, all worn from above (John 19:23) and shining rays of rational virtues. And Christ Himself, Who is the pure firstfruits of everything and the all-essential Word of the Father, Who for our sake came down from heaven and, out of His love for mankind, took on our weak flesh, wants us to make this ascent with Him, since we are already clothed in white robes both in life and in word and colored with the pure thoughts of the Spirit. And this is clear from the fact that He, taking with Him those chosen from the Apostles, as already closer to Him in their properties, led them up a high mountain. For what purpose does He do this and what does He want to teach? He intends to show the extraordinary glory and greatness of His Divine nature, into which, a little before - mysteriously, and now more clearly - through His transfiguration, He changed nature, which once heard: earth art, and for earth you have departed (Gen. 3:19). Today we celebrate this, that is, the deification of our nature, its transformation into a better being and the ascension from the natural state to the supernatural. The angels marvel at this and the archangels glorify this; All the worldly ranks rejoice in this, thereby demonstrating the most real and unfalse evidence of God’s love for mankind, the boundless and boundless sea of ​​which cannot even be grasped by speculation. Now we also want to glorify this, but we cannot fulfill it adequately. However, since God is pleased with what is done in accordance with our strength, we should not deviate from our intention and be cowardly. What does the Gospel say about this? For I, overcome both in word and in thought by the greatness of the sacrament, do not know what needs to be said, and I consider it the basis of contemplation and a spiritual feast. So, Saint Matthew narrates that the Lord said to His disciples: Amen, I say to you, for there are none of them who stand here, who have not tasted death, until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom. And after six days Jesus gave water to Peter, and James, and John his brother, and brought them up to a high mountain alone. And you were transformed before them, and His face shone like the sun, and His robe was white like light (Matthew 16:28; 17:1–2). What is the spiritual meaning of these words of the Evangelist? – About the number six, those knowledgeable in the science of numbers say that it is the only perfect number in the ten, since it is composed of its own parts and is completed by them. And Christ, God's power and God's wisdom (1 Cor. 1:24), the most good Word, the only begotten Son, who was in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18), in six days created everything visible, as well as man, consisting of an immaterial soul and a material body. The six types of love are also reasonably calculated, above which there is not a single virtue. From among these types, the Lord considers to Himself philanthropy towards those in need, for, rewarding the merciful for their virtue with mercy and rewarding, according to His generosity, with bliss in heaven, He says to those standing at His right hand: come, blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. You were hungry and gave Me food: you were thirsty and thirsty for Me: you were strange, and you knew Me: naked, and you clothed Me: I was sick, and you visited Me: you were in prison, and you came to Me (Matthew 25:34–36). These are the types of love, as Truth Itself calls them in the Gospel. If, through love for one's neighbor, love for God is kindled, and a person becomes worthy of future bliss; if the whole law and the prophets hang in this two commandments (Matthew 22:40): then it is clear that love contains all the virtues, is the highest truth of all that is proclaimed by the Holy Scriptures, and there is not a single virtue that brings a person closer to God and honors him with the highest glory and kingdom, which does not depend on love and is not contained in it. Therefore, the highest purity and perfection of a person striving for the Supreme Good, which is God, is produced only by love with its six separate types, and it is precisely this that ignites the fire of God-knowledge in a person. This means that if someone wants, together with the Word, as His disciple, to ascend the mountain of higher speculation, to contemplate the unapproachable glory of the Kingdom of Heaven and to be rewarded with the visible and spiritual Epiphany (this is the transfiguration!), when he hears the voice of the Word, he will not move away from His Kingdom, but will feed and water Christ, who hungers and thirsts for our salvation; and among those in need, who by faith have received Christ, who dwells in them, he, prompted by love for good, will welcome a stranger into his home, clothe the naked, serve the sick, and visit the prisoner in prison. Under the influence of the same love for doing good, he will not limit his love for mankind to only visible and external help, but, bearing in mind the words of Christ: Because you have made one of these least of my brethren, you have been made together with Me (Matt. 25:40), will also take care of the spiritual state of others and offer appropriate medicine, in the place of evil he will settle his flock intelligent and receptive to piety and will raise them in the water of peace (Ps. 23:2). He will joyfully return to his father's house the one who has retired from his fatherland and lives as a wanderer in a foreign land; with the word of truth he will heal the weak in faith, comfort anger and calm passions, break the shackles of ignorance and lead to the light of freedom and life in Christ. And in general, since we consist of soul and body and we all need double help (some more, others less, depending on our own will and on external circumstances), then we should all help each other, for by good deeds man imitates God, and imitation is the assimilation of oneself to God, and assimilation is likeness, and this, in relation to God, is the highest good. Do you see how great the fruit of philanthropy is! Thus, with the help of the self-sufficient six commandments, having rejected all slavish fear with the burden of disastrous passions, purifying himself as much as possible, and improving in love, a person can achieve rewards for virtues: he will first have access to knowledge of the visible world, created in six days, and then the invisible; when, together with Christ, he ascends the high mountain of speculation and activity and is inside the cloud: then, with the help of the garments of the Word, white as snow and shining like light, he will be even more clearly and more worthy of the mysterious vision, since then the images will already give way to the truth. The garments of the Word, in the spiritual sense, are that with which It is both covered and revealed. In the first sense, by clothes we must understand the words and deeds of the Savior during His pure and immaculate life on earth, for the sake of our salvation, free from all evil and serving as the basis of our purity and holiness. These words and deeds truly shine like light, as they are filled with perfect purity and high clarity. In the second sense, the garments of the Word mean the greatness and splendor of everything that He created and brought into being, as well as the Holy Scriptures. The first (the greatness of the world) reveals Him, the Invisible, the Incontainable, the Creator and Author of everything, containing Him in all integrity; the second, having the Word mysteriously dwelling within itself, inexpressibly reveals Him to those worthy of the Spirit. Both are purified and sanctified by the Holy Spirit and in this purity are communicated to those who love the Divine: for the Spirit tests all things, even the depths of God (1 Cor. 2:10). Thus the Word, contained within these garments, reveals Himself and spreads the light of knowledge to those who, like Peter, James and John, are perfected by the Spirit. Of these, some, firmly entrenched on the rock, take upon themselves the work of establishing the faith and building the Church through virtues; others, having, like the sons of thunder, a strong foundation in higher theology, are engaged in the mysterious contemplation of the Word. Both reveal the perfect depth, height and breadth of faith. – What does the unusually shining face mean? - the inexplicable, highest and most amazing beauty of the Word, which serves as the cause of continuous joy for those who contemplate it. What kind of mind can contemplate in full and explain the completely extraordinary, secret and Divine? If the garments of the Word shed such great and extraordinary light, what is His face, which surpasses all contemplation and knowledge? And who can understand this? There is no one in the visible world who is able to accommodate the abundance of this radiance. But to those who have partial access to this good, it spreads everywhere and passes through everything. Proof of this can be the blissful and much-glorified state that the Apostles experienced on the mountain of transfiguration, when the impregnable and eternal light illuminated the transformed flesh of the Word with its abundant brilliance. Unable to bear the radiance of His immaculate flesh, they fell on their faces. Oh, miracle! Raptured from their nature, engulfed in heavy sleep and fear, not in control of their senses and ceasing all rational movement and perception, they were in communion with God; completely unable to see, they, however, were awarded true contemplation and, not understanding their condition, they possessed the highest knowledge and mysteriously remained in such wakefulness that surpasses all rational observation. And a miraculous act happened: wakefulness turned into sleep, or, better yet, sleep into wakefulness. From afar, having seen this in spirit, the royal and prophetic body, David, with God-inspired lips cried out to God everyone, saying: Tabor and Hermon will rejoice in Your name (Ps. 89:13). What they will rejoice in, he predicted, and what the mystery of the Transfiguration will be, about which Tabor and Hermon will rejoice, David honored this, as unthinkable, with silence: for those worthy will know it in due time by experience itself, so to speak. The Apostle Peter, enjoying the contemplation of God and being completely in a state of spiritual delight, not being able to explain his state in words, but at the same time being unable to remain silent about the mercy bestowed, utters words worthy of that mysterious state: Lord, it is good for us to be here (Matthew 17:4). Why, Petre? “Of course, because we, having got rid of the restless crowd of people, from their worries and speeches, enjoy here Your ineffable Theophany, Lord.” Which is better? What is more desirable? What is sweeter than this for those who have feelings? Therefore, if you wish, let us make three canopies here, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah (Matthew 17:4). With these words, the Apostle expresses the desire that the Word incarnate and living among people be preached to the world as the source of all good, and that legal, spiritual and grace-filled life be established in the world, the heralds of which were, together with the Word, Moses and Elijah. Again I said to him, behold the cloud of the light of their autumn: and behold a voice from the cloud, saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: Hear him (Matthew 17:5). So, the cloud from which the voice of the Father loudly announced the One who is being transformed was light and it, in my understanding, means the same One who earlier, on the Jordan, appeared in the form of a dove: there the Holy Spirit descended from heaven in the form of a dove and remained on the One who was baptized and Himself had to baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matthew 3:11; John 1:33); and here, precisely, the Holy Spirit in the form of a cloud had a presence on the One who was transformed. So we are encouraged to think about the cloud based on the words of the Apostle Paul, who in his letter to the Corinthians writes: I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, for all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea: and all were baptized in Moses in the cloud and in the sea (1 Cor. 10:1–2). Here the image of a cloud means the Spirit, and the sea means water, through which the bath of baptism is formed, or better yet, the great and wonderful gift of Divine birth is bestowed. In addition, the Father is contemplated in the Son, and the Son is reflected in the Father, while the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, but also abides and rests in the Son, as one in essence and equal in honor. Thus, here, as on the Jordan, the mystery of the Trinity was revealed. Therefore, when the disciples heard the fall, they were greatly afraid (Matt. 17:6). But Jesus came and touched them and said: Arise, and do not be afraid. Lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus. And when they came down from the mountain, Jesus forbade them, saying: Show the vision to no one, until the Son of man rises from the dead (Matthew 17:7-9). So, you, beloved, understand the meaning of the sacrament. Ask for the highest and most mysterious things from the Word Himself, who for your sake bore the flesh and endured the cross, and keep what you received with all care, since the Word has entrusted you with the ineffable and unspeakable. Therefore, do not in any way prove yourself unworthy of the grace of the Word and do not, through your idle life, deserve to be deprived of a heavenly and blessed life. But, having rejected all laziness of the soul and your attachment to material things, strive entirely for the best and heavenly, prepare in the Spirit for yourself a pure and blissful life together with the Word, so that you achieve deification and enjoy ineffable blessings. May true virtue be established in you through your virtuous life, may the truth be revealed in you through untrue contemplation of existence, and through wisdom may you know Wisdom Itself, in which all things take place (Col. 1:17), and in general, may God, worshiped in the Trinity, be glorified in you through both virtue and contemplation, the main and final cause and goal of virtue and contemplation, for whose sake everything else exists. Great, then, are the gifts given to you, man, if you begin to strive for God, and the Divine sacraments that concern you conquer every mind and understanding. Therefore, do not fall, overcome by cowardice, strive to understand yourself and do not reject the gift. Heed the voice calling you, do not be ungrateful for the blessing and, having received salvation as a gift, do not express displeasure. Leave earthly things to the earth, for the Word commands: leave the dead to bury their dead (Matthew 8:22). The dead, obviously, is everything that is destroyed and destroyed and that kills those who care about it. The dead are buried by the dead, because, as a result of their handling of the corruptible, they are deprived of true life and, as a reward for their disposition towards the destroyed, they receive the name and really are dead. But what could be more miserable than such a state? But you, having got rid of everything that changes and passes, and having rejected everything that ceases along with this life and body, irrevocably follow Christ, Who for your sake humbled Himself and took on human form, so that He would accept you with your whole being, destroy your shortcomings in Himself and completely free you from sin. Accompany Christ, who for your sake makes his way in the world, do not lag behind Him and do not stop following Him by turning your attention to something else. Follow Them even when He ascends to heaven: and you have transferred your soul and life there. It is good for you to be with God: there is a magnificent gathering of saints, there is a majestic choir of all those celebrating. When performing a good deed in everything, have fear and love, so that you do not become proud under the influence of the greatness and beauty of virtues and do not acquire complacency under the influence of success in improvement, but always maintain in yourself, in purity and integrity, love for the Divine and the transcendental. For He to whom love attracts you is beginningless and endless, unlimited and limitless; Even now we can comprehend Him in a breath of thin cold, and when we move from here, we will be completely united with Him to whom we strive, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, honor, power, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen 152. In short. See Cursus Completus Patrolog. Migne, series graeca, vol. XCVII, col. 931–958; compare “Church. 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