Беседа в неделю Ваий. Святейшего Фотия, патриарха Константинопольского

When the Church proclaims the cry of the children: Hosanna in the highest (Matthew 21:9), and the sound of this loud and godly greeting reaches my ears, I am completely imbued with a joyful disposition of spirit (for joy can renew nature, and sadness, under favorable conditions, disappears) and with pious trepidation I approach Bethany with my godly thoughts (Mark 11:1), joyfully applauding and I rejoice with the little ones, shouting with them to the Lord: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest. And again, when I contemplate those who took the branches and came out to meet Christ (John 12:13), standing in a multitude and spreading their clothes (Matthew 21:8), on the one hand, I also rejoice, seeing how the children freely, consciously and successfully arrange a solemn meeting for the King (Matthew 21:15), and on the other hand, I begin to be more indignant at the Jews and hate them malice, because the children are just, and the fathers are plotting the destruction of Christ (Luke 19:47), - the infants are theologizing, and the elders are at enmity against God. Then I contemplate the destruction of the wisdom of their scribes, who, having reached, through their false proposal and opinion, the heights of knowledge, were deprived of true and Divine life and wisdom. Then I mourn the hardness of the hearts of their teachers (John 12:40), who, although they received the right to teach others, were not worthy to gather disciples around themselves, whom they should have harmed with their teaching: called to heal the spiritual ailments of others, they themselves suffered from complete ignorance, agitated their soul to the extreme with the passion of self-conceit and in truth suffered from a double illness, since, firstly, they were in a painful state, and, secondly, while suffering an extremely dangerous illness, they did not realize that they were sick. And of course, if they had accepted the Doctor who appeared to them and lived among them, then, although they were stricken with illness, they could easily and without material deprivation draw from the sources of healing that flowed before them and, thus, would be cleansed from the filth of passions. But they, having voluntarily closed their feelings and minds to their own depravity, turned away from their healing and did not want to know their Father and Creator. If they had understood, the Divine Paul testifies, the Lord of glory had not been crucified (1 Cor. 2:8). They did not understand because they did not want to understand; and where the will resists, there the thought becomes the prey of the dominant passion, and the freedom of the mind, having been subjected to enslavement, no longer leads to the correct assimilation of the truth. They did not understand the One whom the angels guard (1 Peter 3:22) and the prophets foretold (Acts 3:24). They did not understand the One who sits at the right hand of the Father (Coloss. 3:1), who was carried in the arms of the Virgin and established everything with His Word (Psalm 32:6). They did not understand the One who comes on the throne of the cherubim (Psalm 79:2) and sits on the yoke (Zechariah 9:9). Who performed praise from the mouth of a child (Psalm 8:3), and voluntarily came to suffer (Matthew 26:2). They did not understand and did not even want to understand, but they became wise, foolish and futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened (Rom. 1:21-22). This is what the Prophet predicted long ago, saying: with hearing you will hear, but you will not understand; and with seeing, you will see, but you will not see: for the heart of this people is clothed, and their ears are heavy with hearing, and their eyes are closed, lest they see with their eyes, and with their ears hear, and understand with their hearts, and be converted, and I will heal (Is. 6:9-10). Tell me, Jew, why do you praise the prophets, but blame Him about whom they predicted? How do you adhere to the Scripture and at the same time turn your mind away from this Scripture? Why do you gather the leaves of the law, but leave the ripe fruit of the law to others to pick? Why do you search in vain for the ore of Scripture, but do not dig up what is hidden in it, namely gold, and store it as a treasure? While others, having carefully collected flowers from lawful meadows and magnificently decorated themselves with a luxurious wreath, rejoice around the church palace and are fragrant with the piety of grace: you completely focused your gaze on the leaves of flowering plants, not at all embarrassed by the severity of the view and not paying your attention to the flowers. You, unfortunately, highly value the very shells with pearls in which they are located; and the people of Christ, having skillfully opened them, actually extract from there the brilliant light of truth. You sat long and stubbornly near the bridal chamber, but did not accept the Bridegroom when He appeared, and gave yourself over to prodigal love. Verily, these people are foolish and not wise (Deuteronomy. 32:6): being placed at the head of the law, they were not, however, written down in the last place of the knowledge of God. Haven’t you heard how the divinely inspired King David sang, saying: from the mouth of a child and of those who piss, you have brought praise, for your enemy’s sake, to destroy the enemy and the local (Psalm 8:3)? Don't you believe him as a prophet? - Believe me, at least as a relative, if you only recognize this relationship at least in words, because in reality, as we know, you have long ago abandoned it. Don't you honor him as a shepherd? - fear like a king: for he knew how to threaten like a king when he noticed those who were careless or stubborn; he had his shining weapon (Psalm 7:13), shepherded with a rod of iron and crushed like the vessels of the poor (Psalm 2:9) those who resisted him out of their foolishness. Say to him loudly: from the mouth of a child and of those who piss, you have brought praise. For your punishment the Savior appeared and for your condemnation he performed praise from the mouth of a child. Why are you jealous of your own salvation? why are you so evil in repaying mercy? Of course, this is vicious, but it is better than your malice. Don't you believe what you heard? - believe what you saw. Do you really not believe the prophet Isaiah, who exclaimed, saying: the silent nations will soon learn to speak peace (Isaiah 32:4)? Are not the silent pagans clearly speaking the truth? Haven't babies learned to sing peace? For Christ is our peace, destroying the mediastinum (Eph. 2:14), and through Him we, having once retreated as a result of sin, were reconciled with the Father and Creator (Rom. 5:10). Was it not Zechariah who, by inspiration, prophesied joy to Zion: Rejoice greatly, daughters of Zion, preach, daughters of Jerusalem, behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and saving, he is meek and always on the yoke and the young stallion (Zechariah 9:9)? Were not your eyes witnesses to what was foretold? Have you not heard this prophecy and seen it come true? Do actions not agree with words? Isn't He meek? is he not righteous and saving? Didn't He sit on the yoke? Do not the silent pagans loudly proclaim peace? Do not wise children bring Him praise? Children bring praise as a gift - so that reason can prove the complete unfoundedness of the malicious opinion that someone, wanting to distort the meaning of the story, can express, saying that the praisers sang the praises of the Lord for some cunning intention and under the influence of their passion - because the nature of children does not know insidious ingenuity, does not serve the passion of flattery, but as the grace of the Holy Spirit inspires them, so they proclaim miracles. Children bring praise as a gift, in order to actually teach everyone that the grace of the sacrament is not communicated to those who have an inventive mind and shamelessly devote themselves to their deeds, but the knowledge of piety is revealed to those who approach with unfeigned thought and gentle intention: for whoever is forced to investigate what is above the test, and does not follow the Divine decrees, will sharply violate the reasons of nature, to which he proudly points out - he will completely deviate from the laws of theology, against which he arrogantly fights, and will not achieve the goal of the research undertaken. Children bring praise as a gift in order to expose the iniquity of their parents and renew the knowledge of God of believers: for that which conquers the mind and cannot be comprehended by the judgment of reason needs Divine inspiration, which, instilled in the hearts of the pure and simple, through them reveals the knowledge of the truth to others. But you do not even look at Lazarus, who rose from the grave, at the dead man who found himself among the living and reclined with Christ at supper (John 12:1-2). You untie the burial shrouds of the deceased (John 11:44), but you do not resolve your unbelief. You take away the stone from the tomb (John 11:41), but you do not reject the envy of your soul, which has produced a very harmful ulcer in you. After all, you see that hell, by the Lord’s command, returned the four-day-old (John 11:39), and meanwhile you arm your hands, having beaten the prophets (Matthew 23:31), to kill both the Risen One and the Resurrected One. Oh, lawlessness! Oh, the cruelty of incurable thoughts! They (the Jews) have plunged their souls into such wickedness that they do not believe what they ought to believe (Jn. 12:37, 39), - they blaspheme what should be praised, - they are ungrateful for what should be glorified and magnified, - they slander and rebel against God for what should be deeply honored and glorified. Such is the morbid power of conceit: having intoxicated the minds with the seduction of false dreams, it does not allow the eye of the mind to look through the darkness surrounding it and notice the rays of truth. This is the malaise of the Pharisees and scribes, who are much concerned about reclining at suppers (Matthew 23:6), are very proud of the title of teacher, and excessively boast of preserving the law by widening their garments (Matthew 23:5), but do not care at all about the truth and do not perform a single act of piety. Such is the sting of envy: as soon as it pierces the soul, it affects the whole person; Envy weakens the power of thinking about good, it extremely distorts feelings, the use of which is a means to knowledge, and does not allow one to think about what is useful, strengthen one’s hearing with memory, and correctly contemplate what is visible. Let us, beloved, avoid these soul-harming passions. Let us shun vanity (Phil. 2:3), because of which the first of the incorporeal fell the first fall (Isa. 14:12). Let us avoid envy (1 Peter 2:1), and especially because for the one who has it, it is destruction, causing little or no sadness to the one who is envied. Let us avoid self-conceit and ambition, which drive away the understanding of the truth. Let us avoid ingratitude (2 Timothy 3:2) and blasphemy (Colossians 3:8). For all this cast down the bishops and scribes of the Jews into the abyss of destruction (Matthew 23:13), led them into the frenzy of Christ-killing (Mark 11:18) and made infants more foolish (Matthew 21:15–16). Let us not imitate the foolishness of the Jews, but let us be jealous of the thanksgiving of the children. Let us not follow the god-fighting of the elders, but the theology of infants - not the blindness of those who envy, but the knowledge of God who glorify - not the malice of those who kill, but the kindness of those who are infants. We too will be like children, for the Lord says: unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3). Let us be children out of kindness, not writing down anything bad or evil in our souls, but having freed ourselves from the images of wickedness and having accepted and inscribed pious faith in our souls, (let us strive) to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:20). Let us offer the Lord the gift of compassion and love for mankind, so that we may enter into the eternal joy of the righteous (Matthew 25:46). Let us go out to meet Him, who is coming on the foal of a donkey (John 12:15), who has put to shame the foolishness of the Jews and who has arrogated to Himself the adoption of the nations (John 12:20–23). Let us begin to cover Him by spreading our clothes (Mark 11:8). How are we going to lay it? - Precisely, let us begin to distribute them to the poor, for He takes upon Himself their poverty and exclaims: “Because you alone made these least of these brothers of mine, you made them for me” (Matthew 25:40). Oh, humane and Divine voice! “For me,” he says, “you spread clothes when you clothe the poor with them, “You warm me when you deliver them from severe suffering, from cold.” Let us begin to spread clothes for Him, so that we may have the boldness to exclaim with the children: Hosanna in the highest, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord (Matthew 21:9). Blessed is He who comes to stretch out His hands on the cross and gather all nations to Himself (1 Timothy 3:16). Blessed is the one who comes to show hell bound, to loose Adam from his bonds and to raise him from his fall (Heb. 2:15). Blessed is the one who comes to destroy the power of the tormentor and grant freedom to those who endured the greatest suffering. Blessed is He who is coming to abolish the dwellings of hell and fill the heavenly abodes with a numerous host of those being saved. Blessed is He who comes to sacrifice Himself for us (Eph. 5:2), to cleanse all sins (Heb. 2:17) and to reconcile us to the Father (2 Cor. 5:18). Blessed is He who comes to destroy death (2 Timothy 1:10), give us resurrection (1 Peter 1:13), deliver us from slavery (Heb. 2:15) and bestow adoption as sons as an inheritance (Eph. 1:5). For it belongs to You, Creator, to create us from nothingness and create, and in Your power to restore and recreate us, fallen and broken, Your love for mankind is characteristic of seeking the lost (Matthew 18:12), turning us away from the false path (James 5:20) and worthy of the ancient heritage. For we are Your people and the sheep of Your pasture (Ps. 78:13), and we are all under Your authority, and we send up glory and thanksgiving to You together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, the consubstantial, life-giving and all-powerful Trinity, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen 173. This conversation has been translated into Russian from the Greek text published by Mr. S. Aristarhas in the official organ of the Patriarchate of Constantinople Ἐκκλησιαστικη Ἀλἡϑεια (1883, No. 34, pp. 328–331); According to the publisher, this conversation was delivered by Patriarch Photius on March 27, 880. Comp. “Church Gazette” 1899, No. 15, countries. 609–614. You might be interested in: