Беседа в неделю Ваий. Святого Евлогия, архиепископа Александрийского 169

Faithful! As we now celebrate the Royal Coming, let us greet the Tsar in a magnificent manner. It's time to stop sleeping. Let us raise our minds to God, let us not quench our spirit, let us light our lamps brightly, change the garment of our souls, let us hold our branches like victors; let us shout with the people as the people; with children we will praise like children: Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord (Matthew 21:9)! Here he came, here he appeared, here the King appeared! Again He enters Jerusalem, again the cross is prepared, again Adam's handwriting is torn, again paradise is opened, again the thief is installed, again the Church rejoices, again the evil synagogue is widowed, again the demons are put to shame, again the Jews go on a rampage, again the faithful are saved. Everything participates in the holiday, everything glorifies the Lord. The heavens rejoice, the mountains play. Rivers, burst forth (Ps. 97:8), flow in, cry out, seeing how prophetic words become deeds. Hills, respond; little children, sing; disciples, proclaim; priests, speak up; theologians, glorify; you who live in Zion, go out to the meeting; peoples, gather together. Let everything in heaven, on earth, in the underworld, of every rank and age, come together: for He is coming who wants to bless everyone; The One who wants to have mercy on everyone has appeared; He who gives joy to everyone, being God, became a man, both appearing on earth and living with men (Baruch 3:38). With slaves - the Master, with debtors - the satisfaction of debts, with the lost - the Savior, with the condemned - the liberator, with the desperate - hope, with those lying down - rebellion, with the cruel - the merciful, with the fugitives - the righteous, with the guilty - the innocent, with sinners - the sinless, with the ungrateful - abundantly giving to everyone! Do you see, beloved, the secret of true celebration? Do you see the miracles of this day? Yesterday Bethany celebrated: now the whole Church enjoyed the Divine Coming. Yesterday the Lord gave life to another: now He Himself is coming to death. Yesterday the four-day one arose: now the three-day one appears. He raised Lazarus on four days in order to foreshadow the general resurrection of our nature, consisting of four elements. But Martha is having fun there, representing the image of legal service; and here Mary sits at the feet of the Lord, representing the love and commitment of the Church to Him. And the One who, six days before Easter, having given the sisters the only brother of their two, who died with all five senses, the four-day-old Lazarus, commands that his bonds be loosed, He Himself is now coming to be bound. And He comes not with pride, not with noise, not visibly surrounded by powers, principalities and authorities, not sitting on a high and exalted throne (Isa. 6), not hiding behind any wings and fiery and many-eyed wheels, not striking everyone with trumpets, signs and wonders, but hiding in human nature: for this is the coming of philanthropy, and not justice, - leniency, and not punishment. He appears not in the glory of the Father, but in the humiliation of the Mother, which the wonderful Zechariah predicted to us from afar, and, inviting creation to joy, he called out to Jerusalem like this: Rejoice greatly, daughters of Zion (Zechariah 9:9). Gabriel also used the same voice, saying to the Virgin: Rejoice, full of grace: the Lord is with you (Luke 1:28). And the Savior Himself, after resurrecting from the dead, said to the wives: rejoice (Matthew 28:9), so that you understand the ancient voice heard by Eve: in sickness give birth to children (Gen. 3:16); The Lord cried out to the women: rejoice, just as Zechariah preached, saying: Rejoice greatly, daughters of Zion; preach, daughters of Jerusalem (Zechariah 9:9). What does Zion say? Behold your King is coming to you. How? You spoke about the coming, tell us about the image. Is it with chariots, or with an army on foot and horse, and with other royal pomp? No, he does. How? vsed on the yoke and the young stallion. What are you saying? Does the king sit on a donkey and thus dishonor Himself? Exactly, he answers! for He does not come with pomp like others, but how? in the form of a servant, quiet as a bridegroom, meek as a lamb. Like a quiet drop to the fleece, like a sheep to the slaughter, and like a gentle lamb led to sacrifice: so He comes, carrying on Himself not only rational, but also dumb human nature, and sitting on the dumb, teaching people not to be arrogant, deposing the mighty from their thrones and lifting up the humble, fulfilling the hungry with blessings, and letting go of the rich. with what (Luke 1:52, 53), - having only twelve people as companions, and then the poor, and through them calling the nations to Him. He is the rod that grew from the root of Jesse - He, Whom, having come out to meet today, Jewish children offer olive branches as to the merciful one, and glorify them with branches as the conqueror of death, saying: Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! For what does the Evangelist say? And when Jesus drew near to Bethsphagia and Bethany, to the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying: go straight to the opposite village; And if anyone asks: why does she refuse? The Lord cried out to him that the Lord required him (Luke 19:29–31). The disciples put the Word into action: they brought a donkey and a colt, covered them with their clothes, and Jesus sat on top of them (Matthew 21:6, 7). The opposite village is an image of real life: for this life was against God and far from Him. So, when God had already approached this village, when, having become incarnate, He became “God with us”: then He sends two disciples, that is, two covenants, to bring two people to Him - an old donkey, an old synagogue, and a new colt, an as yet unexplored people - the pagans. The words: direct all mean that the Lord sent to free from punishment and call to heaven also that (Adam) who was settled opposite the paradise of sweetness, and whom, seeing finally saved, the ancient prophets, apostles and preachers, sacredly go to meet from the heights on high the One who descended to free suffering in Zion, and with their God-speaking voices, as if animated olive branches, express a song of praise: blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! -What are you saying? You see him sitting on a pitiful donkey, and you exclaim: Hosanna in the highest!? you see the image of a servant, and say: in the name of the Lord, God the Lord?! - Exactly, he answers. He sits on a donkey, and is not separated from the bosom of the Father; praised by children, and grief - theologized by the seraphim; to enter Jerusalem, but did not leave the Jerusalem above. And John also sees Him, and takes him off, and cries out: Behold, the Lamb of God, take away the sins of the world (John 1:29). And another: behold our God, behold the Lord Himself will come and save us (Isa. 35:4); - through whom the eyes of the blind were opened today. One calls to the east to the Lord: behold the man. East is His name (Zechariah 6:12); and the other addresses the command to the west: make a way for him who ascended to the west: the Lord is his name (Ps. 67:5). One says: Arise, north (Song of Songs 4:16), and the other cries: Arise, south (Psalm 77:26). Having put all this together, and clearly pointing to the cross, David convenes preachers from the east, and the west, and the north, and the sea. Jeremiah sings, as if pointing the pagans with a finger to the Coming One: This God is ours, it will not be counted among him. Invent every way of cunning. Therefore, he appeared on earth and lived with men (Baruch 3:36, 3n). One says to Jerusalem: Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Zion (Zechariah 9:9); and the other commands the children: praise the Lord (Ps. 113:1), and the children answer: Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! The hymnologist, having heard them, calls out to the Lord: from the mouth of a baby and of those who piss, you have brought praise (Ps. 8:3). The Lord commands the nations: leave the little children to come to Me (Mark 10:14). The children followed Elizabeth’s voice perfectly; this said to the Virgin and Mother of God: blessed is the fruit of your womb (Luke 1:42); and the children exclaim to the One born of Her (the Virgin): Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, O God the Lord! coming from where? - from heaven or from the Virgin, coming and happening. going where? - to suffering. In the name of the Lord, that is, in the name of the Father, as Christ Himself said: I have departed from the Father, and I am going to the Father (John 16:28). Do you hear theological dogma from the lips of children inexperienced in the word? The children, by their very nature, recognized the Lord of creation, and their fathers turned out to be ignorant; those glorified as God, and these crucified as an enemy; those sing: Hosanna, and these shout: let him be crucified (Matthew 27:22). A young and still uneducated age becomes wise, but those who say to themselves to be wise, become fools (Rom. 1:22), the children spread their clothes, and the fathers divided His clothes. They take off their clothes, transforming the nakedness of the synagogue, and at the same time inspiring us to put off the old man and submit to Christ; and these cast lots for His clothing. Children receive Christ with vaiyi, and their fathers go to Him with weapons and drekolmi; these bless, and these blaspheme; those received the shepherd like sheep, but these tore the lamb to pieces like wolves. It was strange and unnatural to see the sight of infants sucking milk in the arms of their mothers, and pronouncing the Master’s teaching to the God born of the Virgin, proclaiming the first word to God the Word, and saying: Hosanna, that is, save, who art in the highest! Who taught you, children? who made it wise? who instructed you in the word, when the time for the word had not yet come? Let the ungrateful Jew come here, let the unfaithful synagogue appear. Tell me, Jew, didn’t all the prophets tell us about the coming Christ? - “Exactly, he answers. The only doubt is whether He has come or not yet"? But let us see the dignity of the Coming One, and then we will know whether He has come or not. Do you call the Coming One God, or a simple man? - a simple man. Like David, or David himself? - like David. O sage of malice! Oh, foolish at heart! Why does David himself call the Coming One Lord from the Lord? as you just heard from your own children singing: blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, God the Lord, and He has appeared to us (Ps. 117:26, 27; Matt. 21:9, 15); and again: the Lord said to My Lord: sit at My right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool (Ps. 109:1); tongues (Ps. 46:9); and: shout among the nations, for the Lord reigns (Ps. 95:10). Who is this King? - Listen to what Isaiah says about you: and they will be burned with fire. Why is this, Prophet? For from a child was born unto us a Son, and was given unto us, whose rulership was upon His frame: and His name is called: Great of counsel, Angel, Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Ruler, Prince of Peace, Father of the age to come (Isa. 9:5, 6). What do you say, Jew? Behold, the prophets have clearly declared Him who is coming to be God! The heretic seizes the word and says: “Behold, you clearly confess Him who was incarnate of the Virgin to be God; why do you not confess God as suffering and crucified? Or perhaps you are calling one and the same one who was born, who appeared, and who suffered?” The consubstantial word of the Father, uniting on earth with the essence of the mother, wanting to restore the ancient image, darkened by sin, became man, preserving the height of the Divinity, in the humiliation of humanity, without turning the impassive Divinity into passion, and without taking away sin from the sinned nature, so that our salvation would not become His dishonor and our exaltation would not turn out to be His fall. Cursed, says Scripture, everyone hangs on. tree (Gal. 3:13), and everyone who has hope in a simple man did not have the power to save us, in which case Moses or one of the prophets would have to die for us, but all were under sin; Therefore, we had a need for a sinless God, who became incarnate and suffered death in the flesh for us: therefore, the incorporeal became incarnate, so that what He had as impossible in Divinity, He could achieve in humanity. The Word was present, but did not sympathize: It was hanged together, but did not take nails into His nature; it was buried, but did not die; the soul was separated, but the Word was not at all separated from the body. Hence, hell was amazed by the descent of the Divine soul there: descending into hell, He announced to the souls in hell; in the tomb the Divine body did not see corruption: for the Word was not separate from His own flesh, leaving Him nowhere undivine, or with such a body as each of us. However, although our rational nature was united with the Hypostasis of the Word, it was not equalized: how will the eternal be equalized with the temporal? or how will the subordinate be likened to the beginningless? That is why you see Him on the donkey now, however, as a man: for He grew up and was raised, shed tears and bowed his knees according to the law of our nature. The incarnate God the Word did not renounce the immutable passions of our nature: otherwise He would have previously renounced it itself. God the Word does not sleep on the ship: He will not slumber, the guardian of Israel will sleep below (Ps. 120:4); but our flesh sleeps, in which the Word of God is clothed. The Divine nature does not hunger and is not weary from the path, as Isaiah says: The eternal God, the God who built the ends of the earth, will not hunger, nor will He become weary (Isaiah 40:28). So how does He hunger? - our flesh. How does he suffer? - our flesh. How does she shed tears? - our flesh. How was he killed? - flesh, but came alive in spirit. How does the earth shake? - Deity of the Father. How does hell trample? - Not our deity. How does He say: I and the Father are one (John 10:30)? - the highest, pre-eternal birth. How: My Father is sick (John 14:28)? - earthly birth from a Virgin. How: seeing Me, seeing the Father (John 14:9)? – in the uncreated nature of the Word. How: I cannot do anything for Myself (John 5:30)? What then? Is the Father's Word powerless? avoid Arian madness. What does the saying mean: glorify me, Father (John 17:5)? - the body of the Word. Who says: I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me (John 14:10)? – He Who is the Word in the body. Who is this: before even Abraham did not exist, I am (John 8:58)? – He who is in the flesh is the Word of God. What does it mean: the Lord speaks to Me: You are My Son: I have given birth to You today (Psalm 2:7)? - the temporary incarnation of the Word: for there was not one who was born before the morning from the Father, and another who was Incarnate from the Mother in Bethlehem. Although Paul of Samosata neglects this, Paul of Tarsus convinces of this. When he denotes the image of God in the form of a servant, the Apostle Paul calls out: who is the radiance of glory (Heb. 1:3); and when he denotes the difference between the flesh united in the Word, he says: God and the Lord raised up (1 Cor. 6:14) in order to, by showing the difference between both images in the body, strike both Manes the dreamer and Paul (Samosata) the man-worshipper. What are you saying, new Manichaean and champion of his fury? do you not allow bodies to be called nature? But there I was afraid of fear, where there was no fear (Psalm 13:5). You did not put the Master to shame, who said during the passion: the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41). If he is vigorous, then what image of Christ is weak? What flesh is weak? - of course, weak Adam. How, on bended knees, does He pray? and how, being God, does one pray to God? If He is equal to the Father (as indeed He is equal), then He prays not according to the Divine, but as a man. The region of the imam has laid down my soul, and the region of the imam has received it again (John 10:18). How does one who has power pray to another for help? He says: Destroy this church, that is, My flesh, and in three days I will raise it up (John 2:19); How then is he who builds up His Church to be restored to the Church? if He saved Himself, then He does not need a stimulus at all. Hear about some suffering of the body of God. You are apparently afraid to bow down and commune with a simple creature; I shudder not to say that the Divinity suffered and died, and to dishonor the entire mystery of the Trinity. If the Word suffered, and the Father is of an impassive nature, then is not the essence of the Word completely different, and another of God the Father? If there is one essence - the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God suffered in the flesh, then the Father and the Holy Spirit are a completely passionate and mortal essence. If the Word also had compassion with the flesh, then it died completely; and if it died, how did it destroy hell? how did he raise the dead? He will also turn out to be completely separated dead from the living Father. And if so, then it is no longer the Trinity in heaven during the passion, but a duo waiting for the Word to be resurrected by the Father and ascend into heaven. Oh, unspeakable audacity! What serpent seduced those who fight against God, who make the Creator weaker than the creature, to declare the Impassive One passionate? Are you not ashamed, heretic, to say that the Sun of Truth became passionate in his own body?... But the shameless Jew says: “We killed not God, but man." From the first word, by the way, say to this Jew: be silent, cease (Mark 4:39), put a stop to your lips. You rejected the law, beat the prophets: do you not blush before David, who speaks of Christ: from the womb before the star, the Father on high gave birth to me (Ps. 109:3); and again: The Lord speaks to Me: You are My Son, who today gave birth to You (Ps. 2:7)? The same Christ has two births - one from a Father without time, and the other from a mother without seed. To the Jews for beating and strangling: but what He has by nature, like God, man will not see and live (Ex. 33:20). However, the Jew again objects with the words of the Prophet: “I have seen Him, and not in appearance or kindness” (Is. 53:2). But, foolish one, do you see again what is written about Him: handsome in kindness than the sons of men (Ps. 44:3)? If you ask: “What kind of God can be recent”? I, too, will ask you: what kind of man’s name will remain with the sun, and before the moon of the generation of generations, and will fall like rain on the fleece, and like a drop dripping on the ground (Ps. 71:5, 6) 7 perhaps you will ask again: “what kind of God is sold for thirty pieces of silver?” I will also ask you: what kind of man’s blood has redeemed and sanctified the whole world? If you are tempted by the fact that you see Him today to those sitting on a donkey: why, foolish one, do you not speak at the same time about how the children, without being taught, recognized Him and exclaimed: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! The God-honored one is that David who, as it were, stands against the colt and says: You, who sit on the throne above and on the earthly lot, O Lord our Lord, how wonderful is your name throughout the whole earth, how your splendor was taken above the heavens! You, sitting on the yoke like a man, are the true God; and we will see the heavens of the work of Your finger. You, who sit on a donkey, founded the moon and stars; Thou hast made man a little less than an angel; having raised man up and exalted him above all beginning and power, you crowned him with glory and honor (Ps. 8:2, 4, 6). Visible on the yoke, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness, a scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and thou hast hated iniquity: therefore, for the sake of anointing thee, O God thy God, because Thou hast taken the form of a servant, has anointed Thee not with anointing oil, but with the Holy Spirit, which is the oil of joy (Ps. 44:7, 8). That is why the Virgin who gave birth to You said: My spirit rejoiced in My God the Savior, when the Holy Spirit overshadowed Her (Luke 1:47). And you, believing listener, look how the Most Holy Virgin greeted Her Son and God. "So,” She says, My God is according to His Divine essence; My Son is according to the essence He received from Me. For I gave birth to the world not an ordinary man, but God incarnate: and the reliable witness of this is the seal of My virginity. Do not dishonor, O man, the garment that God received from Me, lest you offend Him who is clothed with it. Do not defame the tabernacle, because it is, truly, sewn without hands, created for the One who dwelt in her. Do not separate the light from My bodily lamp, lest you maliciously extinguish the Sun that shone to the world, and without man became man.” Here is to you, most faithful and sacred flock of Christ, the praise of this feast: rejoice! Here is the militant and pure teaching of the Church: have fun! Spiritual weapons have been given to you: fight the wolves of the herd; teach not to blaspheme; instruct us to fight for the truth; show that the field of our Church of Christ is clean from all chaff. If you, having been bound by the bonds of errors or contrary teachings, are like a certain Lazarus, now hear from the Word the command to you: “Come out (John 11:43), be released, arise!” If you are a student and are able to teach: go. release and bring to Christ the colt and the donkeys, many bound by error and located in a country opposite to the village of faith. If some contradict and try to prevent the liberation of those brought up in evil, saying: “Why are you casting lots?” and like those who even forbade the blind to shout (Matthew 20:31); then say also: for the Lord demands him (Luke 19:31). The Lord decides the chained, the Lord makes wise the blind (Ps. 145:7), for when (the blind) learned about the approach of the Sun-righteousness, they voluntarily began to shout to Him: have mercy on us, O Lord, son of David (Matthew 20:32). Marvelous and glorious miracles! The blind see, and the seeing Jews go blind; those confess (Jesus Christ) as Lord, but these ask: who is this? For the Evangelist narrates: the people who came before Him and followed the call, saying: Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And when He entered Jerusalem, the whole city shook, saying: Who is this? (Matt. 21:9, 10). Have you seen the strange secret of the Tsar? He who sits on a donkey shakes the city, and he who is nailed to the cross shakes the universe, so that you may know that He came to shake and crush the polytheistic delusion of idols. Look at the unknown mystery of the economy accomplished through Him. When He shook the imprisonment there in hell, and the powers on high exclaimed to those below: Take away your gates, O princes (Ps. 23:9), then in response to this appeal the opposing powers exclaimed with horror: Who is this King of glory? Those who are in earthly Jerusalem ask: who is this King of glory? - And seeing Him ascending to the heavenly Jerusalem with a body, the intelligent powers, which had never seen Him, due to incorporeality, marveling at the strange image of the ascension, asked each other in bewilderment: “Who is this One who came (Isa. 63:1) in body to incorporeal countries?” It is worthy of wonder how they ask: “Who is He who is to come,” those royal powers who, at His earthly birth, exclaimed and praised: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men (Luke 2:14)! From which powers the Jewish children learned to theologize well, who now cry, according to the legend of the Evangelist Luke: Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven and glory in the highest (Luke 19-38). And in Zion a kind of mutual greeting was seen between those in heaven and on earth. Those on high say: Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth; those below answer: peace in heaven and glory in the highest. The angels said: peace on earth; the people exclaimed: there is peace in heaven. Why? - because He appeared who cries out to everyone: peace to you (Luke 24:36), for which the Prophet prayed: Lord our God, give us peace (Isaiah 26:12), that is, send Your only begotten Son, so that through Him You may be reconciled with us, seeing that our nature through Him has been united with You. Contemplating this world, the heavenly Powers cried out: glory to God in the highest and peace on earth, that is, complete reconciliation of God with his enemies; what reconciliation the children also knew, exclaiming: Hosanna, peace in heaven and glory in the highest! For what was once hostile has now become fraternal: those in heaven and earth bring to the heavenly and earthly Christ a single confession of God and worship. That is why those on high command those below to offer such worship: let all the tongues of the fatherland worship Him (Ps. 21:28); and those below respond to those above: worship Him like His angels (Ps. 97:7). David calls out to both: let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth rejoice (Ps. 95:11). The children answered: Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! With them, today we will sing and celebrate, not with pomp, but with God, wearing the fronds not only in our hands, but also in our souls: and, having made our soul whiter than snow, we will drive out from it all the deadness of the ancient tunic, we will reject all pride and exaltation. Behold, the King of the disembodied comes not in chariots and not with an army, but sitting on a poor and small lot, teaching you to ascend not on a horse and a horse, which has no understanding (Ps. 31:9). So, let us also unite in humility in order to gather with Christ; with the angels we will praise, with the children we will glorify, with Bethany we will leap, with Lazarus we will rise from dead works; with the inhabitants of Zion we will make faces, with the blind who have received their sight we will cry out; with infants and elders we will praise, with disciples we will proclaim. Like children, let us wisely scatter olive trees along the path of life, through alms and mercy we spread ourselves along the Path that says: I am the way (John 14:5), so that through Him we too may receive mercy from Him and together with Him enter into the heavenly Jerusalem - in order to enter into that great sanctuary all together, both those who pass and those who follow - those who pass, i.e. at the third hour, and then at the eleventh hour; the previous through deeds, and the subsequent through intentions; to all, both those who follow and follow Christ, reigning with Him and enjoying eternal blessings, to send glory and honor to Him, together with the Father and the all-holy and life-giving Spirit, now and always, and to all ages of ages. Amen 170. See Curs. Compl. Patrolog. Migne, tom. LXXXVI, r. II. col. 2913–2918. Comp. with this word placed now (811–820) the word of St. Cyril, Archbishop of Alexandria. You might be interested in: