Слово в неделю Ваий. Святейшего Афанасия II, патриарха Иерусалимского (XIII в.)

Yesterday, death, truly, received the pledge of its destruction, and creation accepted the pledge of resurrection, and Christ’s friend Lazarus was resurrected, and we greatly rejoiced with his sisters Mary and Martha; but hell began to diminish and drink its cup, as Isaiah prophesied about this, saying: drink, hell, this first cup. Today we, the faithful, celebrate a holiday among two holidays, that is, among the resurrection of Lazarus and the resurrection of the Lord Christ, who died for us and received a three-day burial to revive us. Therefore come; Let us see the greatness of this sacrament and understand well: how the Lord Christ yesterday arranged and showed us the holy resurrection. Just as the tangible sun in the east first sends out its rays to dispel the darkness of the night, and the entire eastern part turns red, then the sun rises and illuminates all the ends of the earth: so the imaginable Sun, our Lord Jesus Christ, before His glorious resurrection, raised Lazarus. By the way, we will find out exactly the number of those dead whom the Lord resurrected before His uprising. Firstly, He resurrected the centurion’s daughter, secondly, the son of a widow in the city of Naan, and then the righteous Lazarus, and He resurrected the first (the centurion’s daughter and the widow’s son) before their burial, and Lazarus after a four-day burial, as his sisters Mary and Martha testified when they said to the Master: “Lord, it already stinks: for he has been lying in the grave for four days.” So, the Lord raised these three dead men before His uprising and sent them (to their homes), as the sun sends its rays before itself; when the eternal Light of our Lord Jesus Christ shone from the tomb, then He raised with Him many bodies of the departed saints, and they went to the holy city and appeared to many, as Matthew testifies to this. Thus, the rebellion of the Master was confirmed, and the universal resurrection was proven, which is to take place at the end of the ages, as the teacher of the universe, the great Paul, testifies to this. Therefore, we must keep this resurrection in mind and prepare our good deeds for the day of our exodus, as the wise Solomon commands us - and what do I say: Solomon? The eternal Wisdom of God itself says: be ready, for you know neither the day nor the hour, when the Son of Man will come (Matthew 25:13). – Today we will listen to what the Holy Gospel tells us. It tells: after the resurrection of Lazarus, the Lord sent two of His disciples, saying to them: “Go to the village that is in front of us: there you immediately find a donkey tied and a colt with her: having untied them, bring them to Me.” The disciples went and did what Jesus commanded them, they brought a donkey and a lot, and they put their clothes on it, and they sat Jesus on it. He went to Jerusalem; and the people came out of this city to meet Him, taking with them tree branches and branches of dates, and spread their clothes before Him, and infants and suckling milk began to glorify and praise God, exclaiming: blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, hosanna in the highest. Oh, strange and amazing mystery! He who sits on the shoulder of the cherubim with the Father and the Holy Spirit, who has heaven for a throne and the earth for his footstool, and is sung by ten thousand angels and thousands of thousands of archangels, today sat on a donkey, and received praise from the mouth of babes and those who suck milk, as He prophesied about them, saying: from the mouth of a baby and of those who wet, you brought praise (Ps. 8:3). And what is strangest of all is that the scribes and Pharisees, the teachers of the law, did not understand why these exclamators, gentle children, came to glorify Him and confess Him as the Creator of creation. However, the prophet Isaiah predicted about these children, saying: “Thus says the Lord: on that day tongues that cannot explain their words will be able to speak peace and glorify God.” And if someone asks: why did Christ sit on a donkey only this time, when he did not do this when going to cities and villages to preach the kingdom of heaven, but entered Jerusalem many times, and why did the evangelists mention this only this time? We answer: since His saving suffering was approaching, He wanted to fulfill the predictions of the prophets about Him, which He Himself testified in the Holy Gospel, saying: All this happened, that what was spoken by the prophet might be fulfilled, saying: To the daughter of Zion: Behold, Thy King cometh to thee, meek, having ascended upon an ass, and upon the foal of the son of a bullock. This prophecy was spoken by the prophet Zechariah. Why are these two animals mentioned in the sacred books? - Because they designate two peoples, that is, Jews and pagans; the donkey represented the Jews, and the colt the pagans. In the teachings of the Holy Fathers it is mentioned that Christ first sat on a donkey, and then on a colt, in order to show by this that first the Jews and then the pagans would obey Him. This is exactly what happened. For the twelve apostles and with them seventy disciples were Jews, and so were three thousand and five thousand and very many others; and the apostles first taught the Jews, among whom were the above-mentioned thousands, and, having taught them, founded churches for them; after this, having gone to all the ends of the universe, they preached the word of the Gospel to the pagans, who believed their teaching. Patriarch Jacob prophesied about Christ in this way, saying: a prince from Judah will not fail, nor a leader from his feet, until that which is set aside for Him will come: and He is the hope of the tongues (Gen. 49:10). “You see, brothers, how the prophets predicted all the deeds of Christ. They, as the Lord Himself told His disciples, even wanted to see what these disciples saw, but did not see. Only Abraham saw this day and rejoiced. Therefore, we must read the Divine books with great attention and reasoning, and thus be confirmed in the holy faith in Jesus Christ, and establish His Divinity, and honor His humanity, in which He put on for our salvation, and through which He accomplished everything that was written about Him, and revealed it to us. Yes, we must confess Him as one Hypostasis in two natures with two wills, and keep all His commandments, and become like the infants now remembered: “let us also be infants unto evil,” as the Divine Apostle commanded us (1 Cor. 14:20). And let us also hold in our hands the branches of justice and the branches of alms, and other virtues, according to the word of the prophet David: the righteous will flourish like a phoenix; and again: just as the olive tree is fruitful in the house of God. And let us go up to meet our Lord, but where will we come from? - from our passions and bad morals. Let us spread out our garments before our Master, not corruptible and soulless, but all our members, and let us humble ourselves under His strong hand, and He will exalt us, as Lord Peter taught us (1 Peter 5:6); and let us cry with the little children: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, hosanna in the highest. Let us become like the holy myrrh-bearing women, let us mortify our earthly souls, prepare the ointment of good deeds, and become the aroma of Christ, as the Divine Apostle says (2 Cor. 2:15). And we will watch in prayers, psalmody and spiritual songs, with great zeal, love and peace. Thus, our prayer will be favorable to Him, like a fragrant censer, according to the word of the Prophet Tsar, and so may He make us worthy to see His glorious resurrection and partake of His holy Body and venerable Blood; and we will be worthy to hear a joyful voice saying: “Faithful servants, enter into the joy of your Lord, and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” To Him belongs glory, power, honor and worship with His beginningless Father and His all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen 174. See The First Journey of the Reverend. Porfiria, bishop. Chigirinsky to Athos monasteries and monasteries. Part 2. Appendix to the second section of this part. Moscow. 1881, 220–223 countries. You might be interested in: