Беседа на Сретение Господа Бога и Спаса нашего Иисуса Христа (о целомудрии и о противоположном ему пороке). Святого Григория Паламы, архиепископа Фессалоникийского

Before Christ, we were all burdened by the ancestral oath and universal condemnation, which spread from one ancestor. But Christ came and turned the universal oath into a universal blessing: He took our sinful nature from the immaculate Virgin, and made it innocent, so that all those born of Him in the Spirit could be saved from the ancestral oath and condemnation. He delivered perfect redemption not only to the nature He received from us (by indissoluble connection), but also to each of the believers. Having reconciled us through Himself with the Father, He returned each of us to obedience and turned us away from all disobedience. Therefore, He commanded Divine baptism, laid down saving commandments, preached repentance to everyone, and established the communion of His Body and Blood. By these means Christ justified us and brought us to obedience to the Most High Father; and he renewed, sanctified and made the very nature, received from us, submissive to the Father in everything through the fact that He Himself united and suffered with it (nature). This is confirmed by our currently celebrated ascension (of the Infant Jesus) to the ancient church, the meeting of the God-Receiver Simeon and the glorification by Anna, who spent her entire life in the church. In accordance with the law of eight-day circumcision, after the birth of the Savior from the Virgin, when the days of purification by her were fulfilled, according to the law of Moses, He ascended to Jerusalem and set Him before the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord (Luke 2:22-23). Christ the Lord is circumcised according to the law, he is offered according to the law, he is presented according to what is written in the law of the Lord, the sacrifice is made in accordance with what is written in the law of the Lord. Do you see that the Creator and Lord of the law becomes obedient to the law? What does He do with this? – He makes our nature obedient in everything to the Father, corrects our disobedience and transforms the oath that occurred through disobedience into a blessing. For just as our whole nature was in Adam, so it is in Christ; and just as through earthly Adam all of us, who received existence from him, return to the earth, so through heavenly Adam, according to the Apostle (1 Cor. 15:48-49), we are all called to heaven and there we will receive glory - now, however, mysteriously, since, according to the Apostle, “our life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ appears at His second appearing and coming, then all will appear with Him in glory" (Colossians 3:3-4). Who are all? - those who have been adopted as sons of Christ in the Spirit and through their works demonstrate His spiritual children. So, "when the days of their purification were fulfilled, they offered Him to present Him before the Lord." Who – them? The word of the law applies to both parents and those born from intercourse, as those in need of cleansing, for the Psalmist says: I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins did my mother give birth to me (Ps. 50:7). But since there was only one She Who gave birth, and not the parents, and, moreover, the Mother of the seedlessly conceived Child was the Virgin, there was absolutely no need for purification; however, it was a matter of obedience, restoring the disobedient nature and paying the debt for disobedience. He ascended, says the Evangelist, to give a sacrifice, according to what is said in the law of the Lord, two turtle doves or two chicks of a dove (Luke 2:24). Two turtle doves signified the chastity of parents and had some significance in relation to legally married people; and two dove chicks, unrelated by marriage, clearly represented the Virgin, born of this Virgin and remaining a Virgin to the end. And look at the accuracy of the law: the Evangelist spoke about two turtle doves as signifying those who were married, and regarding the pigeon chicks he noted the above: for both the One Who Gave Birth and the One Who were Born were not artificial. But the law, foreshadowing the virgin birth from afar, precisely prophesies about Him; and that is why the Holy Spirit prepared other turtle doves and other dove chicks for this one who was miraculously born and now brought into the church. Which ones are they? - Simeon and Anna, who can be called pigeon chicks for their completely infantile ignorance of vice, or turtle doves for their highest degree of chastity. Simeon, a righteous and pious man, filled with the Holy Spirit, now came to the church and, having met, embraced the Heavenly and Earthly Child, offering Him, as to God, a song and a prayer, asking to be released from the body in peace, proclaiming that He is the saving Light for everyone, and that He stands for the fall of those who do not believe in Him and for the uprising of those who believe in Him. Then he told the Virgin, the Mother of the Child, that as a result of grief, among the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, the Mother of this God-Infant would be revealed (after all, Solomon also recognized the true mother of the baby, precisely because of the strong grief who gave birth to the child’s suffering). And the prophetess Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, who was about eighty-four years old, served God with fasting and prayer and did not leave the church, at that time especially inspired by the Holy Spirit, glorified God and preached the good news about this Child to all who were waiting for deliverance. The Holy Spirit sent these verbal turtledoves to meet Christ ascended in the church and thereby showed us what those who perceive Christ should be like and what those who left life with their husbands should be like. For this Anna was a widow, and at the same time a prophetess: leaving worldly and everyday worries, she did not leave the church; spending days and nights in fasting, vigils, prayers and chants, she led an immaculate life; therefore, naturally, she knew the coming of the Lord, Whom she served, just as the Psalmist Prophet says to Him: I sing and understand in the way without blame, when will you come to me (Ps. 100:2)? This should be the case for those who, through venerable widowhood, moving away from marriage, approach virgin life, as well as for those who prefer marriage. If you completely shy away from a second marriage, then follow in the footsteps of those who are completely celibate. Ap. Peter had a mother-in-law, but he did not get ahead of the virgin John, who ran to the life-giving tomb; Despite this, he was restored and therefore made by the Lord the highest of the highest: love, transferred from the flesh to the spirit, reached such a height. Just be careful that, by abstaining from what is common and striving for what is difficult to achieve, you do not fall secretly, finding yourself (not having fulfilled the law and that which is above the law, but) a transgressor of the law. If we consider those who are widowed when they are not celibate to be worthy of condemnation, and when they enter into second marriages legally, then we do not consider them such (1 Tim. 5:12–14); then all the more worthy are those who prefer illegal pleasures to legal cohabitation, and even more so those who, living with their wives, do not abstain from adultery, which caused the worldwide flood of those who were once called the sons of God, brought burning from heaven to the Sodomites, and defeat to the Israelites from the Moabites and a large extermination. Scripture calls the first descendants of Enosh the sons of God, who first trusted to call on the name of the Lord (Gen. 4:26); he was the son of Seth, whose family, being separated from the family of Cain, lived in chastity, and for his sake the world still stood then, until, as it is written, he saw the daughters of men, that is, those descended from the family of Cain, as being good, and, having been overcome by adulterous beauty, girded for himself wives from all those he had chosen (Gen. 6:2), and, having learned their deeds, they spread evil throughout the earth. The flood came and destroyed everyone; and if Noah and the sons of Noah, who lived chastely, had not then found themselves on earth (and this was certain: for each one entered the ark with one wife), then there would have been no root left for the emergence of a new world. Do you see that because of fornication of old, this world would have perished if it had not stood firm only for the sake of those who lived chastely? And those who produce this outrage and are not worthy of the present world, will they really not be deprived of the life of the next century by consigning them to the fire of Gehenna, just as they could not resist the fire of carnal pleasures, if they do not now hasten to extinguish it and wash it with tears? Yes, they also know that if they do not hasten to resist passion with repentance, but continue to indulge in iniquities, which are the products of adulterous lust, then they are drawn here by the fire of Gehenna, in order to subsequently kidnap those hitherto unpunished for eternal punishment. Who does not know the Sodomites and the most lawless ignition of their lustful passion, as well as the miraculous rain of fire on them and their destruction (Gen. 19:24–25)? Often an entire city perished because of one dissolute husband, as was the case with the Shechemites, who were completely destroyed by the sons of Jacob because of Shechem, who defiled Jacob’s daughter Dinah (Gen. 34:25). Doesn’t the law itself command that an unmarried woman be stoned if virginity is not achieved, and that the priest’s daughter who commits fornication be burned with fire (Lev. 21:9)? does he not forbid bringing the gift of a harlot to the church of the Lord (Deuteronomy 23:18)? And about the Israelites who committed fornication with the Moabites, does not the great Paul tell us: let us commit fornication, as none have committed fornication from them, and fell in one day twenty-three thousand (1 Cor. 10:8; cf. Numbers 25:1, 9)? These were the punishments of fornication before the law, during the law, and according to the law. What about us, who are called to crucify our flesh with passions and lusts (Galatians 5:24) and yet submit to them (for this the wrath of God comes on the sons of disobedience!), hanged to slay the earthly evils, fornication, uncleanness, shameful passion and lust, and not paying attention to admonitions? Will we ever fear later, if not something else, then the wrath of God, terrible and eternal, befalling both above and below? Shall we not be ashamed of the appearance in the flesh of the Sun of Truth? Shall we not act honorably, as in the day? Shall we not be afraid of the apostolic reproofs, reproaches, and exhortations? Do you not know that you are the church of God, and the Spirit of God lives in you? If anyone corrupts God's church, God will corrupt him (1 Cor. 3:16). The essence of the deeds of the flesh has been revealed, the essence of which is: adultery, uncleanness, adultery... and things similar to these, which I tell you just as I also predicted, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19, 21), and again: this is the natural will of God, your holiness, keep yourself from fornication. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but to holiness. Likewise, when you sweep away, you do not sweep away a person, but God who gave His Holy Spirit in us (1 Thessalonians 4:3, 7, 8); Yes, you know that every fornicator, or unclean, or covetous person, who is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God (Eph. 5:5). But is it possible to list all the apostolic and prophetic sayings in order? And what does the Apostle proclaim to those who are chaste and through this are perfected into members of Christ? I wrote to you in a message, do not become a fornicator (1 Cor. 5:9). And if they do not convert out of their own impulse, then the Apostle convinces others to withdraw and avoid them, saying this: if a certain brother is called a fornicator, with such he is beneath eating (1 Cor. 5:11). Do you see that one who indulges in fornication is a common defilement for the Church, and therefore everyone should avoid him and drive him out? The apostle himself. Paul betrayed the one who had gone astray in Corinth to Satan and did not return his love and did not accept him into fellowship until he showed sufficient repentance (1 Cor. 5:5; 2 Cor. 2:6–8). By saving, save, man, your soul from such serious disasters - present and future. The race of Esau was rejected because he lived fornication and wickedness; and Rehoboam lost his kingdom most of all because he was a woman-lover, although the same woman-lover, his father Solomon, did not experience this, but this was only for the sake of David, who with streams of tears and other acts of repentance sufficiently made amends for the crime once committed. Flee fornication (1 Cor. 6:18), the Apostle again inspires. If Sampson had avoided him, he would not have been deprived of his strength by removing the hair from his head, captured by the hands of Delilah; his eyes would not have been gouged out, and he would not have ended his life in misery with foreigners (Judges 16:14). If those led by the leader and legislator Moses had avoided him, they would not have made sacrifices to Baal Peor, would not have tasted the sacrifices of death, and they would not have fallen as many as they died (Num. 25:5). If Solomon had avoided him, he would not have retreated from God, who reigned and made him wise, and would not have erected churches to idols. Do you see that the passion for fornication leads a person to godlessness? And in Babylon, the seductive beauty of Susanna would not have destroyed the elder judges and would not have subjected them to stoning if they had avoided passion in advance and had not shamelessly lay in wait for it every day (Dan. 13:12). And Holofernes would have remained unharmed if Judith’s sandal, as it is written, had not previously delighted his gaze, and its beauty had not captivated his soul (Judith. 16:9). That is why Job says: I have made a covenant before my eyes, that I will not think against a maiden (Job 31:1), much less against a dissolute woman. Either strive in godly solitude, or in God-given marriage. Drink water from your wells and, moreover, chastely, but completely abstain from illegal drinking: this disgusting water, which is the stream of the Acheron River, is full of deadly poison, has destructive power, since it usually brings those who drink it down to the depths of hell. Beware of the honey of prodigal lips: for it is skilled in bringing prodigal death, which is separation from God; David says about her: You have consumed every fornicator from You (Ps. 72:27). The one whose body through the Holy Spirit has become the church of God, and in whom the Spirit of God lives (1 Cor. 6:19), needs to be clean, or at least cleansed, and so constantly remain unsullied, moving away from exciting pleasures. It is necessary to strive to acquire purity and chastity, to avoid fornication and all uncleanness, in order to eternally abide in pure churches with the incorruptible Bridegroom, at the same time sending praises in virginity to the One who gave birth to Him for our salvation, the Ever-Virgin, the All-immaculate and glorified Mother, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen 124. In a slight reduction. See Curs. Compl. Patrolog. Migne, series grace. tom. CLI, col. 63–76. You might be interested in: