Беседа на праздник Введения Пренепорочной Владычицы нашей Богородицы во Святое Святых. Святого Григория Паламы, архиепископа Фессалоникийского

If a tree is known by its fruit, and a good tree produces good fruit (Matthew 7:17; Luke 6:44): then how could the Mother of goodness itself and the Mother of eternal beauty not be incomparably more excellent than any good found in the natural and supernatural world? For the co-eternal and unchanging Image of the goodness of the Most High Father, the pre-eternal, pre-existent and all-good Word, out of indescribable love for mankind and compassion for us, having desired to take upon Himself our image, in order to recall our nature to Himself from the lowest hell, in order to renew this dilapidated nature and elevate it to the heavenly heights - for all this, finds the kindest Servant, this Ever-Virgin, Whom we glorify and whose miraculous Entry into the church - into the Holy of Holies we now celebrate. God destined her before the ages for the salvation and proclamation of our race; She is chosen from among those chosen from time immemorial and glorious both in their piety and prudence, and in their words and deeds pleasing to God. Once the culprit of evil, the serpent rose above us and drew us into his abyss. Many reasons prompted him to rebel against us and enslave our nature: envy, rivalry, hatred, injustice, deceit, cunning and, in addition to all this and the like, the deadly force in him, which he himself generated for himself, as the first apostate from true life. The culprit of evil envied Adam, seeing him rushing from earth to heaven, from where he himself was justly overthrown, and, envious, attacked Adam with terrible rage, even wanting to clothe him with death. After all, envy is the parent not only of hatred, but also of murder, which this truly misanthrope committed over us, cunningly coming to us, since he extremely unjustly wanted to be the ruler over earthly creatures for the destruction of a creature created in the image and likeness of God. And since he did not have enough courage to attack himself personally, he resorted to cunning and cunning and, taking the form of a sensual serpent, turning to the earth-born as a friend and useful adviser, this truly terrible enemy and attacker, imperceptibly moves into action and with his godless advice pours his own deadly force, like poison, into a person. If Adam had perhaps held fast to the Divine commandment, he would have been victorious over his enemy and would have risen above deadly defilement; but since, on the one hand, having voluntarily succumbed to sin, he was defeated and became a sinner, and, on the other hand, being the root of our race, he gave birth to us as deadly offspring; then, in order for us to destroy the deadly poison of soul and body in ourselves and again acquire eternal life for ourselves, it was absolutely necessary for our race to have a new root. We needed to have a new Adam, who would not only be sinless and completely invincible, but could forgive sins and deliver from punishment those subject to it - and would not only have life, but also the ability to give life, in order to make participants in the life of those who cleave to Him and belong to His family, and not only representatives of the generation following Him, but also those who had already died before Him. Therefore, Saint Paul, this great trumpet of the Holy Spirit, exclaims: the first man became the living soul, and the second man the life-giving spirit (1 Cor. 15:15). But, besides God, no one is sinless, does not give life and cannot forgive sins. Therefore, the new Adam had to be not only a man, but also God, so that in Himself he would be life, and wisdom, and truth, and love, and mercy, and in general every good thing in order to bring the old Adam into renewal and revitalization by mercy, wisdom, truth, the opposite of which means the author of evil caused us death. Thus, just as this primordial murderer exalted himself over us with envy and hatred, the Director of life was moved for us by His immeasurable love for mankind and His goodness. Truly, He strongly desired the salvation of His creation, which salvation consisted in subduing it again to Himself, just as the author of evil wanted the destruction of God’s creation, which consisted in putting man under his power, and tyrannizing himself over him. And just as he brought victory to himself and man’s fall through injustice, treachery, deception, and his cunning: so the Liberator secured for Himself the defeat of the author of evil and renewed His creation with righteousness, wisdom, and truth. It was a matter of perfect justice that our nature, which was voluntarily enslaved and defeated, itself again entered into the struggle for victory and overthrew voluntary slavery from itself. That is why God was pleased to take upon Himself our nature from us, miraculously uniting with it hypostatically. But the union of the highest nature, the purity of which is incomprehensible to our reason, with the sinful nature was impossible before it purified itself. Therefore, for the conception and birth of the Giver of purity, a completely immaculate and pure Virgin was required. Now we celebrate the memory of what once contributed to this incarnation. For He who is from God, God the Word and the Son, co-originating and co-eternal with the Most High Father, is made the son of man, the son of the Ever-Virgin. Jesus Christ yesterday and today, the same forever (Heb. 13:8), unchangeable in Divinity and blameless in humanity. He alone, as the prophet Isaiah foretold about Him, shall not commit iniquity, but flattery will be found in his mouth (Isa. 53:9), - He alone was not conceived in iniquities, and His birth was not in sins, contrary to what the prophet David testifies about himself and about every other person (Ps. 50:7). He alone was completely pure and did not even need purification for Himself: for our sake He took upon Himself suffering, death and resurrection. Carnal excitement for birth shows us signs of initial condemnation and in any case gives birth to corruption; and, like passionate excitement, it is characteristic of someone who has not preserved the honor given to our nature by God, but has become like the dumb. Therefore, God is born from the Immaculate and Holy Virgin, or, better, from the All-Pure and All-Holy: since this Virgin is not only above all carnal defilement, but even above all unclean thoughts, and Her conception was not determined by the generation of the flesh, but by the overshadowing of the Most Holy Spirit. For when the Virgin lived completely away from people and was in a prayerful mood and spiritual joy, She said to the angel who announced the news: Behold the handmaid of the Lord: wake me according to your word (Luke 1:38), and having conceived, she gave birth. So, in order to prove a Virgin worthy for this highest goal, God, before the ages, predestined and from among those chosen from the beginning of the century chose this Ever-Virgin, now praised by us. Pay attention also to where this election began. Of the sons of Adam, God chose the wonderful Seth, who, by the decency of his morals, by the splendor of his feelings, by the height of his virtues, showed himself to be animated by heaven, which is why he was awarded the election, from which the Virgin - the Divine chariot of the most heavenly God - was to be born and call earth-born to heavenly adoption. For this reason, the entire family of Seth was called “the sons of God”: for from this generation the Son of God was born, since the name Seth means rebellion or resurrection (from the dead), which, strictly speaking, is the Lord who promises and gives immortal life to those who believe in His name. And what strict accuracy of this prototype! Seth was born for Eve, as she herself said, instead of Abel, whom Cain killed out of envy (Gen. 4:25); and the Son of the Virgin, Christ, was born for us in place of Adam, whom the culprit and patron of evil killed out of envy. But Seth did not resurrect Abel: for he served (only) as a prototype of the resurrection, and our Lord Jesus Christ resurrected Adam, since He is life and resurrection for the earthly, for which the descendants of Seth, according to hope, were honored with Divine adoption, being called children of God. And that as a result of this hope they were called sons of God, this is shown by the first son of Seth, Enos, who was so named and received this election by succession, who, according to the testimony of Moses, was the first to hope to be called by the name of the Lord (Gen. 4:26). Thus, the election of the future Mother of God, starting from the very sons of Adam and passing through all generations of time, according to the foreknowledge of God, reaches the prophet-king David and the successors of his kingdom and family. When the time of election came, Joachim and Anna were chosen by God from the house and fatherland of David; although they were childless, in their virtuous life and good morals they were better than anyone else who came from the tribe of David. And when in prayer they asked God for permission for childlessness and promised to dedicate what was born, from His very childhood, to God, the Mother of God was announced to them and given from God as a child - so that from such many virtuous people the most virtuous and most pure Virgin would be conceived, so that, in this way, chastity in combination with prayer would be fertilized, and the Most Pure One would become the Mother of virginity, according to the flesh having incorruptibly given birth to Him who, according to Divinity before the ages, was born of God the Father. And so, when the righteous Joachim and Anna saw that they were worthy of their desire, and God’s promise to them was realized in practice, then they, as true lovers of God, for their part hastened to fulfill their vow given to God: now they brought this truly holy and Divine Child of the Mother of God - the Virgin - to the church of God, as soon as She stopped feeding on milk. And She, despite such a small age, was full of Divine gifts and understood more than others what was happening to Her, and with all Her qualities she showed that they were not bringing Her into the church, but that She Herself, of her own urge, came to serve God, as if on self-born wings striving for sacred and Divine love, being convinced that Her introduction into the church - into the Holy of Holies and stay in it was a thing desired by Her. That is why the high priest, seeing that Divine grace abided on the Young Lady above all others, wished to infuse Her into the Holy of Holies and convinced everyone to willingly agree with this. And God assisted the Virgin and sent Her through His angel mysterious food, thanks to which She strengthened by nature and became purer than the angels, while having heavenly spirits in her service. And not only once was She introduced into the Holy of Holies, but was accepted by God as if to cohabit with Him for many years: for through Her in due time the heavenly abodes were opened and were granted for eternal residence to those who believed in Her miraculous birth. This, then, is why the chosen one from the beginning of the century among the elect turned out to be the saint of saints. She had Her own body purer than the spirits themselves, purified by virtue, so that it could receive the very Hypostatic Word of the Pre-Eternal Father. – The Ever-Virgin Mary, as the treasure of God, according to her heritage, was now placed in the Holy of Holies, so that in due time, as it was, she could serve for enrichment and for worldly adornment. Therefore, Christ God glorifies His Mother, both before birth and after birth. We, thinking about the salvation accomplished for us through the Most Holy Virgin, will give Her all our strength thanks and praise. And truly, if the grateful wife (about whom the Gospel tells us), who heard a few saving words of the Lord, gave thanks to His Mother, raising her voice from the crowd and saying to Christ: blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and the breast that thou didst piss (Luke 11:27): then how much more do we, Christians, who have inscribed in our hearts the words of eternal life and not only words, but also miracles and suffering, and through them the restoration of our nature from the dead, and the ascension from earth to heaven, and the immortal life promised to us, and immutable salvation - all the more, after all this, we cannot help but glorify and tirelessly please the Mother of the Chief of Salvation and the Giver of Life, celebrating Her conception and birth and now Her Entry into the Church - into the Holy of Holies. Let us move ourselves, brothers, from the earth of grief, let us be transferred from the flesh to the spirit, let us prefer the desire for the permanent rather than the temporary. Let us give due contempt to carnal pleasures, which serve as bait against the soul and soon pass away. Let us desire spiritual gifts as incorruptible. Let us distract our minds and our attention from earthly concerns and raise it into the heavenly depths - into that holy of holies where the Mother of God now dwells. For in this way, our hymns and prayers with God-pleasing boldness and benefit will reach Her, and we, thanks to Her intercession, together with present blessings will become heirs of future, endless blessings, by grace and love for us for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, born of Her, and to Him belongs glory, power, honor and worship with His beginningless Father and with His eternal and life-giving One By the Spirit now, and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen 34. In short. See manuscript. Moscow Synod. Library (69 – XX), l. l. 192 rpm -195. You might be interested in: