Слово на день Сретения Господня. Святого Димитрия, митрополита Ростовского

There was a man in Jerusalem, and his name was Simeon: and this man was righteous and pious, seeking the joy of Israel: and the Holy Spirit was in him (Luke 2:25). What is better, what is more glorious than this praise? This praise was prophesied by the Holy Spirit, the Evangelist wrote, the Church preaches throughout the universe: Simeon was a righteous and pious man, the joy of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was in Him. Gather together from the entire universe, sages and heroes, and compose from your wisdom praises of some person highest in earthly glory. If the one whom you praise is displeasing to God and does not have praise from Him, if he is not righteous and pious, if he does not have the aspirations of the joy of Israel, if the Holy Spirit does not live in him, then all your praises are in vain. He who pleases God with truth and piety is worthy of the highest praise in heaven and on earth; He is worthy of immortal Glory in whom there is the aspiration of eternal joy and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Simeon was a righteous man: this title is more honorable than the most honorable titles, since God Himself is honored with that title in the Holy Scripture, as Moses hangs in Deuteronomy: Righteous and holy is the Lord (Deuteronomy 32:4); and David says: The Lord is righteous in all His ways (Ps. 145:17). Righteous honor is higher than the highest, royal honor: in royal honor it is not yet known whether (a person) will be saved; Christians had many kings, but not all received salvation; and in righteousness salvation is known: I have not seen the righteous forsaken, says the Psalmist (Psalm 37:25). If God does not leave the righteous in temporary life, then much less will He leave him in eternal life, but will grant him salvation. He who is righteous has an undoubted hope of receiving the crown of the heavenly kingdom. David once asked the Lord: Lord, who dwells in Your habitation? or who will dwell in Your holy mountain? and he heard the answer of the Holy Spirit, speaking in his heart: walk blameless, and do righteousness, speak the truth in your heart: do not deceive with your tongue, and do not do evil to your sincere (Ps. 14: 1-3), and so on, which is written in the fourteenth Psalm. It is clear who has access to the kingdom of heaven: he who does and speaks the truth, who does not flatter with his tongue, and who does not harm his sincere, who lives his life in righteousness. We are surprised at the holy righteous forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that the Holy Scripture calls them not only righteous but also without sin: bring repentance to your righteous Abraham. To Isaac and Jacob, who have not sinned before You. How did they please God so much that they became friends with Him, the sinless One? We would say that they built churches of God and decorated them with great expenditures: but then there were no churches of God. We would say that they mortified their bodies with fasts, vigils, and prostrations: but then no one had yet heard of fasting and other spiritual deeds. We would say that they kept all the commandments of the Lord, but at that time there was no law given on the tablets, and they had no other law except that natural one: let men do whatever you want, and do likewise to them (Luke 6:31). How did they please God so much that they, as sinless people, were not entitled to repentance? because they, with their faith in God, did not do, did not say, and did not even think of lies. They had many households, had neighbors around, had many estates, and never offended anyone, did not slander, and did not at all do any untruth either in deed or word, furthermore, they never thought about untruth: and with such a righteous life they pleased God so much that hardly any of the great saints can compare with them. Do not the souls of other saints go to Abraham’s bosom? What do our fasts, our deeds, our donations for the construction of the churches of the Lord mean? What do our labors mean in comparison with their righteousness, which each of us can acquire without labor? For what kind of work is it - not to offend anyone, not to slander, not to flatter, not to lie? we, apparently, work hard to obtain salvation, and in vain. We fast and eat people: is this righteousness? We strive for virtue, but do evil to our neighbor: is this righteousness? We build churches of the Lord, but we rob and steal other people’s property: what kind of righteousness is this? We have mercy on the poor, giving them alms, but we hate our brother: what kind of righteousness is this? We ask for forgiveness, but we ourselves are angry: what is our righteousness? This is not how the holy forefathers performed their truth: they had no trace of untruth; all their words, deeds and thoughts were truthful, and for their truthfulness they were honored to become friends of the Lord and to be called sinless. Oh, what a great honor is righteousness! Oh, what great bliss this is! Who is counted among the sinless? - righteous. Who enters the kingdom of heaven without much labor? - righteous. Who is God's dear friend? - righteous. The Lord loves the righteous (Ps. 145:8). Having named St. Simeon to the righteous, the Gospel thereby revealed his high honor, great bliss; for if he is righteous, then he is dear to God; if he is righteous, then he is the heir of the kingdom of heaven. The Holy Gospel says that he was righteous, and moreover, pious: this man is righteous and pious. For a righteous person, righteousness alone is not enough; in addition to it, he also needs to have piety, because righteousness is expressed in relationships with others, and piety - in relationships with God. Righteousness commands not to offend anyone, not to lie; Piety teaches us to serve God with zeal. Righteousness is love for others, piety is love for God. Both are as necessary for a person as two eyes, two hands, two legs, or two wings for a bird. And just as one eye sees less without the other, and one hand cannot do well without the other, and one leg cannot walk correctly without the other, and a bird cannot fly on one wing: so righteousness without piety cannot be perfect; righteousness is perfect if it is with godliness. Many of those of other faiths observe the truth; but since they do not have piety, the truth will not justify them before God. And Cornelius the centurion, mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, was a man of reverence and fear of God (Acts. 10:1–2), but until he accepted Christian piety, he could not have a lot among the saints and righteous; when he accepted piety, he became holy and completely righteous. Piety is the top and crown of righteousness. What is piety? Piety, as its very name shows, is good, that is, good reverence for the Lord God; the word: "piety" is made up of two words - good and honest, but in fact piety is expressed in good, true, unfalse, unhypocritical reverence for God. There are many of us who are Christians, but not all of us honor Christ well (truly), but rather we honor Him evil; we only honor Him with our lips, but are far from Him in our hearts - we only have the appearance of piety, but we do not have the spirit and power of it - we only carry the name of a Christian, but we act like infidels - we are called true believers, but we take the example of infidels: what kind of piety is this? With our lips we confess the true faith, but with our lawless life we turn away from God in whom we believe: what kind of reverence is this? We worship Christ, but through our deeds we crucify Him a second time and mock Him: what kind of Christianity is this? To each such person the Lord says in the Apocalypse: we know your deeds, as if you were in the name of Imashi, you are alive, but you are dead (Apoc. 3:1), - you are alive in body, but dead in soul, - you bear the name of a Christian, but you do demonic deeds, - you pray to Christ, but you please the demon, and you constantly anger Christ: what kind of piety is this? True piety is recognized in the very deeds: whoever is truly pious and reveres God, tries to live piously. Life of St. Simeon the Receiver of God testifies to his righteousness and piety, because in relation to people he was righteous in all his deeds and words - he did not offend anyone, did not lie, did not slander, did not condemn, did not quarrel: so in relation to God he was always pious - he revered the Lord, diligently kept His commandments, carefully guarded himself from any unpleasing deed, and did not even allow himself to think something evil. That is why he is honored and praised by the Holy Gospel, especially by God Himself, with the special title of righteous and pious: Simeon is a righteous and pious man. Living righteously and piously, the saint of God expected the joy of Israel. What kind of joy is this? The coming of our Savior into the world: for he was not promised by the Holy Spirit not to see death, before he did not even see Christ the Lord. Let us think that every person who lives righteously and piously, and now longs for the joy of Israel, that is, the pleasure of seeing the Lord in the future life: for all the joy, all the joy and joy for the new Israel, that is, for the Church triumphant in heaven, will be in constantly seeing God face to face. And who among those living on earth hopes to be worthy of seeing the Lord there? the one who is righteous and pious here: in him is the hope of that joy. What is the hope in an unrighteous and dishonest person who worships God? what is the expectation of joy? Is it the hope of weeping and gnashing of teeth? Whoever lives according to God, fulfills the commandments of the Lord, keeps church traditions from the holy fathers - in truth, this is the hope of the joy of Israel, that is, the joy of the saints in heaven. But whoever does not live his life according to God, who neglects the commandments of the Lord, who regards church traditions as nothing, what will he expect? perhaps eternal sadness? Whoever leads a temperate, sober life, who fasts, strives, loves God, this is the hope of the joy of Israel: on the contrary, whoever is intemperate, gets drunk, rejects fasting, spends his days in laziness and negligence, does not care about pleasing God, who can say about such a person that he has the hope of salvation? Then, whoever is merciful, meek, merciful and generous to everyone, we say without a doubt that in him is the hope of the joy of eternal deliverance; on the contrary, is it possible to be sure that in the merciless, cruel, furious, evil, there is an expectation of eternal blessings? From a righteous and pious life, adorned with virtues, the hope of the kingdom of heaven, filled with eternal joy, is recognized in a person, as was clearly revealed in Saint Simeon the God-Receiver: for if he had not been righteous and pious, then that aspiration would not have been granted to him, and the very receipt of aspiration, which is Christ the Savior of the world, reclining in the arms of His righteous ones. Oh, people enlightened by holy faith in Christ! Whoever of you desires in the future life to receive that joy of seeing Christ face to face in the kingdom of heaven, be righteous and pious in this life: for the hope of the righteous will not perish, and the reward of the pious will not pass away, which is Christ our Savior Himself, the inheritance of those who love Him, as He Himself says about Himself in the Holy Scripture: I am your portion, and your inheritance among the children of Israel (Num. 18:20). But let us turn our minds again to Saint Simeon the Receiver of God. The praise of this great saint of God, written in the Holy Gospel before the story of the meeting of the Lord, ascending to the heights of the steps of the ladder, ascended to the highest level of communion of the Holy Spirit: for first of all is his righteousness, then piety, then the aspiration of the joy of Israel, and finally, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in him: and the Spirit, it is said, is Holy in him. And so, Simeon was the holy temple of the Holy Spirit. What is more, what is more honest and more glorious than this praise? And truly, where the Holy Spirit lives, all His gifts are placed there, as Scripture says: the Spirit of God will rest on him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and piety, and the Spirit of the fear of God (Is. 11:2-3). The Holy Spirit was in Saint Simeon: therefore, all the gifts of the Holy Spirit had their abiding in him, and his holy soul was a treasure of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. O great bliss! O priceless wealth! Blessed and blessed is he who strives to have the Holy Spirit in him: for he is filled with many gifts; the damned and the most damned is the one who does not care to have the Holy Spirit in himself, but even, on the contrary, drives Him away from himself with stingy deeds. For such a one comes to that final poverty, which the Lord Himself mentioned in the Apocalypse of John, speaking to a certain person: You say that you are rich, and have become rich, and require nothing, and do not weigh, because you are cursed and poor, and poor, and blind, and naked (Apoc. 3:17). Those who have the Holy Spirit in themselves are rich without gold and silver, wealthy without possessions, high without high honors: for in the Holy Spirit he has everything, and needs nothing more than the Spirit of God living in him; he who does not have the Holy Spirit in himself, even if he has an innumerable treasure of gold and silver, will be a beggar; even though everyone praised and glorified him, he is inglorious; even if he was awarded with all the honors that can only be found on earth, he is dishonorable: even if he owned the entire universe, he is still poor. What good is it to a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul (Matthew 16:26)? without the Holy Spirit, and having gained the whole world, man is wretched, and poor, and poor, and blind and naked. The holy and righteous Simeon had the Holy Spirit within him, and what was he worthy of? what wealth? what honor? what bliss? He was worthy to receive Christ his Lord in his arms; and this is wealth greater than all wealth, honor above all honors, the highest bliss. He accepted Christ, and with Him he accepted the heavenly, incorruptible riches; accepted Christ and together with Him accepted the royal honor in order to reign with Christ forever; the elder accepted Christ, and with Him accepted endless bliss; Having received Christ in his arms, he accepted the ageless life that exists in heaven. He was worthy of all this because from his earliest youth he tried to have the Holy Spirit in himself: and the Holy Spirit was in him. Let us, beloved ones, imitate that great saint of God, although in part, as far as our weak strength can, imitate his righteousness - we will not offend anyone, nor slander, nor lie, nor think evilly. Let us imitate his piety, honor God not only with true faith, but also with good deeds; Avoid evil and unpleasing deeds with all your might. Let us imitate him and firmly hope to receive future bliss, placing all our hope in God. By living a pure life, we strive to have the Holy Spirit within us: for the Holy Spirit dwells only in those who lead a pure, chaste, undefiled life. The Holy Spirit dwells where there is unfeigned love for others, meekness and peaceful presence with everyone. You, holy and righteous God-Receiver Simeon, do to us yourself so that we will be your imitators and accomplices of your bliss. You will arrange this when you pray for us to the Lord of all: for your prayers are favorable to Him. Pray, we beseech you with humility! the hands on which you bore Christ, now stretch out to Him for us; the lips with which you blessed God and the Mother of God, lift up those lips to pray for us to God and the Mother of God; the eyes with which you saw salvation embodied on earth, lift those eyes to our Savior, before Whom you now stand, and implore His mercy, that He may be merciful and merciful to us now and in the age to come. Amen 129. See the Works of Saint Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov. Part 3. Kyiv 1881, countries. 24–34. You might be interested in: