Поучение на Воздвижение честного и животворящего Креста Господня. Св. Димитрия, митрополита Ростовского

Let me not boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians 6:14). Whoever loves to boast in this life, let him boast about whatever he wants; But we, pious listeners, with the Apostle, do not want to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let him boast, if he wishes, if he is wise in his wisdom, strong in his strength, rich in his wealth (1 Samuel 2:10); For us, the only praise is the cross of Christ: only the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let this vain world be lifted up in its pride, let it be vainglorious in its happiness, let it delight in the temporary sweetness of sin; For us, glory and delight are one cross of the Lord: let me not boast except about the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And for our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the cross is glory and praise: for He was not so much glorified by working miracles, enlightening the blind, cleansing the lepers, raising the dead, as He was glorified by enduring the cross. It is not in vain that Saint Chrysostom calls the cross the glory of the Son of God, saying: “Glory to the Son is the cross, just as glory to the Father is the Son; the Father is glorified in the Son, the Son is glorified in His cross.” Let us consider, with God’s help, for our own benefit, more particularly, what praise there is for the Apostle and for every true Christian in the cross of Christ. Rightly we boast in the cross of the Lord, since in the cross of the Lord we find the reward of our crosses, according to what is written: if we suffer with Him, we will also be glorified with Him (Rom. 8:17). We are fellow-partners with our Head, Christ, as His souls, according to the word of the Apostle: you are the body of Christ and share in part (1 Cor. 12:27); our crosses also partake of the cross of the Lord, and what the cross of the Lord has prepared for us, our crosses receive in it. Do not think, listener, that the cross of the Lord, in which the Apostle boasts, is only a material cross, made of wood; but understand in particular the suffering of the Lord, which He endured, leaving us an image that we might follow His footsteps (1 Peter 2:21). And when I talk about our crosses, then also do not think that these are wooden or silver crosses, or made from any other thing; these are the sorrows, troubles, sorrows, illnesses and any suffering that befall us, by God’s permission, with which our Lord tempts us in this life, like gold in a furnace, so that we may become worthy of His glory. Scripture says: As silver and gold are tempted in the furnace, so is the chosen heart of the Lord (Prov. 17:3); and again: test them like gold in a furnace, and you will find them worthy for yourself (Wis. Sol. 3:5-6). These are our crosses: we must wear them, thanking God, communicating with the sufferings of Christ. Our Lord does not force us to wear His cross, that is, to suffer the kind of suffering that He suffered for us. He does not say: “If anyone wants to come after Me, take up My cross,” but: “Everyone take up his cross.” Our Lord knows that we are not able to bear His cross, but according to our strength we can bear our crosses, with His help. Each person has his own cross, that is, his own misfortune, sinful lusts, carnal struggles against the spirit, temptations from the invisible enemy, persecution from the visible, bitterness, resentment, slander, condemnation, loss of a close friend, loss of children or property, bodily ailments and any other suffering: all these are our crosses. When a person, for the sake of God’s love, patiently endures them, he is communed with the Lord’s suffering, and becomes conformed to His cross: and our Lord counts our sufferings as His own sufferings. The Lord suffers in us as in His true members; and we, the suffering, seem to collect the leftovers from the meal, we collect certain remains from the suffering of the Lord, as the Apostle says: I fulfill the deprivation of the sorrows of Christ in my flesh (Colossians 1:24). And when the Apostle boasts of the cross of the Lord, he boasts at the same time of his own; but he who boasts in his cross boasts together in Christ. Christ began to suffer, and we finish and complete, we make up for the lack of Christ’s sorrows in our body. And that the cross of the Lord (i.e., the suffering of the Lord) did great and glorious, just as our crosses, that is, our suffering, by grace and with the help of Christ who suffered for us, do great and glorious, we will now see. Because of Adam's crime, paradise was concluded for the human race, and no one could open it for five and a half thousand years. Everyone, even the holy saints of God, at the end of this temporary life went not to heaven, but to hell, as Saint James said, lamenting for his son: I went down to hell (Gen. 37:35). Who opened the door of heaven? – Christ, the new Adam. What key? – with a cross. The cross is the key to the castle of heaven, as St. Chrysostom says. And didn’t the thief enter heaven by suffering on the cross? Although he was crucified for his evil deeds, he began to sympathize with Christ in his heart, saying: “We have received righteousness according to our deeds: this one has not done a single evil, and immediately I heard from the Lord: Amen, I say to you, today you will be with Me in heaven (Luke 23:41-43), - at the same hour he went from the cross to heaven. Reasoning about this, St. Chrysostom says: “there is nothing in between the cross and paradise: the cross and immediately paradise, i.e. between the cross of Christian suffering and paradise in the middle there are no obstacles or barriers, but immediately at the cross there is paradise, so that anyone who suffers something for the love of God with thanksgiving undoubtedly already stands at the doors of paradise: the cross and immediately paradise. So, what the cross of Christ did, it received the cross of the thief: the suffering of Christ opened paradise, and the suffering of the thief entered paradise: the action of both is great and glorious. And Christ our Savior Himself, apparently, boasts in His cross: for when He went to free death for us, He said: Now is the Son of Man glorified (John 13:31). At what hour does the Lord say about Himself that He is glorified? Our Lord became famous not at the time when he frightened Herod, called the wise men from the east with a star, shook the idols of Egypt - not at the time when he turned water into wine in Cana of Galilee, when he filled the fishermen's tanks with many fish, when he fed five thousand people with five loaves. It was not at that time that He said about Himself that He was glorified when He walked on the sea, rebuked the winds, calmed the troubled sea - not at the time when He was transfigured on Tabor, raised the widow’s son and Jairus’ daughter from the dead, and called Lazarus four days old from the tomb. Not then did He say: Now is the Son of Man glorified; and when? - when he was already approaching the cross and had to climb it; being at the gates of His suffering He said: Now is the Son of Man glorified. Someone would have said to Him at that time: “Lord!” You are going to suffer, to be mocked, to be spat on, to be strangled, to eat bile and otst, and to the most bitter death: how can you say of yourself that you are glorified?" However, the Lord says: Now the Son of Man has been glorified. "Because," He says, I go to suffering, to the cross, then I am glorified. Suffering itself is glory for Me: for, When I am lifted up on the cross, I will draw everything to Me (John 12:32). When I die, I will terrify the world, I will extinguish the heavenly lights, I will shake the earth, I will open the graves, I will bring out the dead alive, and those who do not believe that I am the Son of God will then say: This is truly the Son of God (Matthew 27:54); cross, I will sit at the right hand of God the Father; when I suffer, I will enter into My glory, as it is fitting for Christ to suffer and enter into His glory” (Luke 24:26). Let us remember here also about the cross that the Apostle Paul boasts about: in labor multiplied, in wounds exceedingly painful, in prisons abundant, in deaths much (2 Cor. 11:23): isn’t this the cross of Paul? he was beaten with clubs, he was beaten with stones, when the ship was overthrown in the sea, he created night and day in the depths (2 Cor. 11:25): wasn’t all this a cross for Paul? And let us hear how he boasts about him: I boast sweetly in my weaknesses (2 Cor. 12:9), that is, in the labors, in the sufferings that he endured until the body was exhausted. And again he says: I will take pleasure in weaknesses, in annoyances, in troubles, in exiles, in tribulations according to Christ (2 Cor. 12:10). And after everything he says? - all man was caught up into the third heaven (2 Cor. 12:2). From here we see what the suffering cross does: it lifts up those still in the flesh to heaven and delights him with hearing sweet angelic songs. Looking at the material cross of the Lord, I see the royal inscription inscribed on it: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews (John 19:19). The anger of the people was amazing: they initially did not want not only to write, but even to hear that anyone would call Christ king. Even at His birth, when in Jerusalem the wise men who came from the east asked: where is the King to be born (Matthew 2:1, 3), all Jerusalem became alarmed. Then, when the Lord entered Jerusalem on a donkey's foal for free passion, when the babies, and with them the disciples, began to call: “Blessed is the King who comes,” this was so unpleasant for the evil people that some Pharisees from among the people said to Jesus: “Forbid Thy disciples (Luke 19:38, 39), commanded them to stop calling You King.” Also, when Pilate, having beaten Jesus and crowned Him with a crown of thorns, brought Him out from the praetor to the people and said: Shall I crucify your king, they all cried out with one voice, saying: The imams are not the king, only Caesar (John 19:15). They really did not want to hear anyone call Christ King, and when our Lord ascended to the cross, they no longer called Him King in word, but in deed, writing on top of the cross: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. And although some objected to Pilate: “Do not write: King of the Jews,” however, when Pilate said: write, write, they immediately fell silent and looked at that inscription without murmur or indignation and, reading it, called Christ King (John 19:20-22). Why did the hearts of evil people change so much that He, Whom they previously did not even want to hear called King, was later honored with the inscription King? Truly, this was done through the sacrament of the cross. With that royal inscription, our Lord wanted to show the honor of the cross and the reward of suffering in the kingdom of heaven. The honor of the cross: for since the time of the Lord’s suffering, the cross had already been worn at the top of royal crowns, which is why Saint Cyril of Jerusalem called it a crown, saying: “The cross is a crown, and not dishonor; it was dishonor in ancient times, when it was an execution for evildoers, but it became an honorable crown when the King of glory suffered on it willingly.” With the royal inscription on the cross, the Lord also showed the reward for suffering, the royal reward, so that everyone who bears his cross in this life patiently, with thanksgiving, for the sake of the love of Christ, will receive the royal inscription and a crown in the heavenly kingdom. This was prescribed in the Old Testament, in the beautiful Joseph, and then fulfilled in Christ Himself. Wanting to elevate the beautiful Joseph in Egypt to the royal throne and crown his head with the royal diadem, what step did the Lord set for him to that high honor and glory? Isn’t it a godmother, that is, a suffering one? - an unexpected attack from an adulteress, a dark prison, tight bonds, nakedness, hunger. It was a heavy cross, a long-term prisoner: his nose was humbled in chains, his soul passed through iron (Psalm 104:18). What followed after all this? Isn't this a royal inscription? Joseph became famous in Egypt, from prison he ascended to the royal throne, from rags to purple, from slavery to dominion: make him master of his house, and prince of all his wealth (Psalm 104:21). In a word: his cross became for him a royal crown, and his suffering became glory and honor to him. And if the suffering cross, patiently borne for the sake of the love of God, is thus rewarded on earth: is it not much more so in the next century, in heaven? Who reigns in heaven? Isn’t it He who suffered on earth, Who endured the cross, carelessly for its shame (Heb. 12:2)? A certain rumor is heard in heaven, like the voice of many people, like the voice of mighty thunder, and the voice of many angels around the throne. What are they saying? - They command every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea to render slavish worship to a certain royal person sitting on the throne of God. Who reigned on the throne of God? The Holy Theologian sees a Lamb there, but a slain Lamb: he saw, he says, and behold, in the middle of the throne, and four living creatures, and in the middle was an old man, a lamb standing as if it had been slain (Apoc. 5:6). Isn't this the One who was slain with a copy on the cross? One of the soldiers pierced His side with a copy (John 19:34). Truly, this is our Lord Jesus Christ, about whom Isaiah foretold: like a sheep led to the slaughter, and like a Lamb before its shearers is silent (Ps. 53:7). This is truly the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). To Him every creature above and below servilely worships and cries out loudly: the Lamb who was slain is worthy to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing (Apoc. 5:12). In the Holy Scriptures there are other similarities of the Lord and names of His omnipotent power. He was called “lion” because he conquered the world and the devil: behold, the lion who was from the tribe of Judah conquered (Apoc. 5:5). He was called “eagle” because, having taken the souls of the saints on His wings, like chicks He carried them out of hell, according to what is written: as an eagle covered its nest, and laid out its desire for its young: it spread out its wings, and He received them and lifted them up on His frame (Deut. 32:11). He was called “the Lamb” because He was slain for all, and when He wanted to show His royal glory in heaven to His beloved disciple, He showed it not in the face of a lion, not in the face of an eagle, but in the face of a Lamb who had been slain (Apoc. 5:6), showing that to the crown. the kingdom of heaven and to glory there is no other path, but only slaughter, suffering and death on the cross. The Apostle said well: we see Jesus, crowned with glory and honor for accepting death (Heb. 2:9). Here let us remember all the holy prophets, apostles, martyrs, saints from time immemorial, already in part worthy of the kingdom of heaven, whom the earth did not hide, but heaven received, and to whom the doors of heaven were opened. How did they all merit the crown of the heavenly kingdom? not by wearing your cross? that is, by enduring troubles and sorrows on earth, by walking a narrow path in one’s labors and exploits? Each of them says to the Apostle: I have fought the good fight, for this reason my crown is kept (2 Tim. 4:7–8). Truly, the cross of suffering, by the power of the cross of the Lord, does great and glorious things: for it glorifies those who endure anything for the sake of the love of Christ with Christ in the kingdom on high. The true bearers of their cross, fellow sufferers of Christ, accomplices of His suffering, have something to boast about about the cross of the Lord, since in it lies all the glory and honor, all the riches of the eternal kingdom and all the hope of salvation. At the end of our conversation, it is appropriate to remember a little about the cross of this world. The Apostle says: Peace has been crucified to me (Galatians 6:14). If the world has been crucified, then the world also has its own special cross. Truly, lovers of peace, who have been enslaved to the vanity of this world, who have loved temporal life more than eternal life, have their crosses, that is, their own sufferings, their own exploits, although useless, of which they sometimes boast, according to what is written: we praise the sinner in the lusts of his soul (Psalm 9:24). In fact, to be enslaved to some sinful passion and to work for it is not a feat? to go out at night to steal, to commit crime, to not let your eyes sleep all night - isn’t it a feat? to go on a robbery and endure hunger and thirst, heat, frost, rain - isn’t it a feat? to be angry, to rage, to seek revenge on one’s neighbor is not internal suffering of the heart? And the very gratification of the flesh, gluttony, is not without a cross: to be immensely satiated even to the point of damaging one’s health is not a cross? How many have fallen into serious illnesses from the satiety of their bellies! to revel even to the point of self-forgetfulness, and then to get sick and moan - isn’t this a cross? Isn't this suffering? How many have lost this life from too much drinking! But what is the use of such vain, worldly crosses? from such exploits and suffering? Let us hearken to the Apostle, who says: many people walk, of whom I have spoken to you many times, even now even in weeping I say, the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose belly is God, and whose glory is in their cold, who are wise on earth (Phil. 3:18-19). This is the benefit of worldly crosses: their death is their death and their glory is in their cold! Let us not boast except about the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; to Him be glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever. Amen 24. See the Works of Saint Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov. Kyiv. Published. 1881, part 3, countries. 211–221. 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