Беседа на слова: „Аз на сие родихся, и на сие приидох в мир, да свидетельствую истину: и всяк, иже есть от истины, послушает гласа Моего“ (Ин. 18:37). Св. Иоанна Златоустого, архиепископа Константинопольского

A wonderful thing is patience! It puts the soul, as it were, in a quiet refuge, saving it from waves and harmful winds. Christ has always taught us patience, but especially now, when He is being judged and taken to different places. So, when He was brought to Anna, He answered with great meekness, and to the servant who hit Him on the cheek, He said such words that could destroy all pride. From here He went to Caiaphas, then to Pilate and, having spent the whole night in this way, He showed great meekness everywhere and in everything. While they said about Him that He was a villain, although they could not prove it, He stood silently: and when he was asked about the kingdom, then he answered Pilate in order to teach him and raise him to higher concepts. But why does Pilate carry out the interrogation not in the presence of the Jews, but in private, having entered the praetorium? He had a rather high concept about Christ, and therefore wanted, far from the confusion of the Jews, to find out everything exactly. When he asked: what have you done, Christ said nothing about this in His answer; and what Pilate primarily wanted to hear about, namely about His kingdom, said the following: My kingdom is not of this world, i.e., “I am indeed a King, but not as you imagine, but much more glorious." With these and further words He already makes it clear that He has not done any evil. In fact, whoever says about Himself: For this I was born, and for this I came, that I bear witness truth. - He shows that He has done no evil. Then, having said: “Everyone who is of the truth will listen to My voice,” He attracts the attention of Pilate and persuades him to become a listener of His words: “If anyone, he says, is true and loves the truth, he will certainly listen to Me.” And with these few words, He really captivated Pilate so much that he said: “What is truth?” (Pilate) continued to deal with the matter, which did not tolerate delay: he understood that this issue required time (for its resolution); meanwhile, he wanted to save Jesus from the fury of the Jews. That’s why he came out and – what did he say? I find not a single guilt in Him. Look, what prudence! Pilate did not say: “since He sinned and is worthy of death, forgive Him for the sake of the holiday"; but first he acquitted Him of all guilt, and then with full right asks that if they do not want to release Him as innocent, they would at least spare Him as a guilty one, for the sake of the holiday. Therefore, Pilate added: it is a custom for you, that I will release one thing to you for Easter, and then, wanting to bow them down, he continued: Do you want to let me free you of the king of the Jews? And I cried out to you: not this one, but Barabbas (John 18:39, 40). What a vile desire! (Then) Pilate beat him (John 19:1), perhaps wishing thereby to calm and tame the rage of the Jews. In fact, since he could not free Christ by previous means, then, wanting to at least limit the evil by this, he ordered to beat Him and allowed them to do everything that was done to Him - to place a scarlet robe and a crown on Him, just to appease their anger. For this reason, Pilate brought Him out to them wearing a crown, so that when they saw the shame they subjected Him to, they would calm down somewhat from passion and spew out the poison from themselves. Meanwhile, Christ stood silently even during so many and such great reproaches, as he did during interrogation, and did not answer anything. And you not only listen to this, but also constantly keep it in your mind; and when you see that the Lord of the universe and all Angels, being abused by soldiers in words and deeds, endures everything in silence, do the same yourself. Pilate called Christ the king of the Jews; therefore (the soldiers) lay on Him the robe of mockery. Then he brought Him out and said: I find not a single guilt in Him. And Jesus came out wearing a crown, but this did not extinguish the rage of the Jews: they shouted: crucify, crucify Him. Then Pilate, seeing that all his efforts were in vain, says: Capture Him and crucify Him. From this it is clear that he allowed the previous (reproaches) to tame their fury: for, he says, I find no guilt in Him (John 19:2-6). Look how many means the judge uses to defend Him, constantly declaring Him innocent: but nothing could bend those dogs. For these words: capture and crucify - show that Pilate renounces and does not want to take part in a lawless deed with them. Thus, they brought Christ (to Pilate) in order to kill Him according to the verdict of the commander; but the opposite happened: according to the commander’s verdict, He should have been released sooner. Having been put to shame by this, they say: we are imams of the law, and according to our law we must die, because we have created for ourselves the Son of God. But how, when the judge said to you: catch Him, and judge Him according to your law, you said: it is not worthy for us to kill anyone, and now you resort to (your) law? And note the accusation: create for yourself the Son of God! Tell me, is it really a crime when someone who performs deeds characteristic of the Son of God calls himself the Son of God?... What is Christ? And at this time, when they were talking to each other like this, He was silent, fulfilling the prophetic saying: He does not open His mouth: in His humility His judgment is taken away (Ps. 54:7. 8). Meanwhile, Pilate, having heard from them that He had created for Himself the Son of God, was frightened, fearing that what they said would in fact not be fair, and that he might appear to be a criminal. And they, although they knew this both from words and from deeds, are not horrified, but kill Him for the very thing for which it would be proper to worship Him. For this reason, Pilate no longer asks Him: “What have you done?” but, wavered by fear, he again first interrogates him, saying: “Are you the Christ?” (Jesus) did not answer, because Pilate had already heard: For this I was born, and for this I came, and: My kingdom is not of this world, and therefore he should have resisted the Jews and freed Christ, but he did not do this, but, on the contrary, gave in to the fury of the Jews. Then the Jews, refuted in everything (that they claimed), turn to the accusation of a state crime and say: everyone who creates a king for himself resists Caesar. So, it would be necessary to carefully examine whether He really sought power and plotted to overthrow Caesar from the kingdom; but Pilate does not make such a thorough study. Therefore, Christ did not answer him, because he knew that he was asking everything in vain. On the other hand, deeds testified about Christ, and therefore He did not want to refute and defend himself with words, showing that He voluntarily went to death. And since He was silent, Pilate said: Do you not think that the Imam has the power to crucify You? Do you see how Pilate already condemned himself in advance? And truly, if everything depends on you, then why don’t you, not finding any guilt in Him, let Him go? When in this way Pilate pronounced condemnation on himself, (Jesus) said: He who betrayed Me to you has incurred a great sin, showing that he is also guilty of sin. With these words He frightened Pilate and presented Himself with a clear justification for why Pilate sought to let Him in. But the Jews again began to shout: if you let this go, bring it to the Caesars, friend. Since, having presented accusations from their own law, they did not have any time (to accuse Him): now they maliciously turn to foreign laws, saying: everyone who makes a king for himself resists Caesar. But where did He appear as the thief of royal power? And how can you prove this? purple? a tiara? robe? warriors? Didn’t He always walk alone with the twelve disciples, using everything simple - food, clothing, and shelter?.. And what cowardice! what inappropriate timidity! Pilate, thinking that he would really be in danger if he neglected this, goes out as if with the intention of investigating the matter (for this means the expression: sit before the trial); and meanwhile, without making any research, he betrays Him, thinking thereby to bow them down. And why he did this with such intention, listen to what he says: behold your king. When they said: crucify him, he again added the following words: will I crucify your king? But they cried out: not the imams of the king, only of Caesar (John 19:7-15), and thus voluntarily subjected themselves to punishment. That is why God betrayed them because they themselves had already rejected His providence and protection from themselves; and since they unanimously renounced His kingdom, He allowed them to undergo their own judgment. What was said, of course, could have already tamed their anger; but they were afraid that Christ, having been released, would gather the people around Him again, and therefore they tried in every possible way to prevent this. A truly great evil is the lust for power, a great evil that can destroy the soul. That's why they never listened to Him. Pilate, as a result of His words alone, wanted to let Him go; but they never stop saying: crucify! But why do they insist on subjecting Him to this kind of death? Because it was the most shameful death. Fearing that subsequently there would be no memory of Him left, they try to subject Him to a shameful execution, not realizing that the truth is elevated by obstacles. And we will not only read about it, but we will also contain all this in our minds - the crown of thorns, clothing, the cane, beatings, blows to the cheeks, spitting, ridicule. Constantly remembering this can destroy all anger. Whether they ridicule us, or whether we suffer something unjustly, we will constantly begin to say: the slave of his master is not a slave (John 15:20), and we will imagine the words of the Jews, which they frantically spoke to Christ: you have demons, you are a Samaritan (John 8:48); about Beelzebub will cast out demons (Matthew 12:24). This is why Christ suffered all this, so that we would follow in His footsteps and patiently endure ridicule. Ridicule irritates incomparably more than curses, and yet He not only endured them, but also did everything in order to deliver those who mocked Him and free them from the punishment set before them. Let us also imitate this: for nothing appeases God more than love for our enemies and doing good to those who offend us. When someone offends you, look not at him, but at the devil, who encourages him to do so: pour out all your anger on the devil, and even feel sorry for him, since he is under the influence of the devil: for if a lie is from the devil (John 8:44), then much more is reckless anger from him. Likewise, when you see someone mocking you, think that it is the devil who is prompting him, because mockery is not a Christian thing. And if the one who is commanded to weep (Matthew 5:4), who has heard the words: woe to those who laugh (Luke 6:25), if he reviles others, ridicules and gets irritated: then he deserves not censure from us, but tears. After all, Christ was troubled in spirit when he thought about Judas. So, we will try to implement all this in practice. If we do not do this, then we have come into this world in vain and without benefit, or, better said, to harm ourselves. Faith alone cannot lead us into the kingdom of heaven; on the contrary, because of it, those who lead a vicious life will be especially condemned. For he who knows the will of his master, and does not do it, will be beaten many times (Lk. 12:47), and again: if he had not come and spoken to them, they had no sin (John 15:22). Therefore, what justification will we have when we are inside the royal palaces, have been honored to enter the very sanctuary, have become partakers of the cleansing sacraments, and yet we live worse than the pagans who have not been granted any of these gifts!? If they, for the sake of vain glory, discovered so much wisdom, then all the more should we, in order to please God, practice every virtue. We do not try to receive medicine from Holy Scripture and listen to it not with tenderness, sorrow and groaning, but without any attention, when we have free time. That is why, when the dirty stream of everyday affairs finds itself, it drowns everything and destroys any benefit that may have been acquired. After all, if someone, having a wound, applied medicine to it, but did not tie it carefully, but allowed it to fall off and allowed water and dust, heat and countless other things that could poison his wound to get into his ulcer, then, of course, he would not receive any benefit, however, not from the weakness of medical remedies, but from his own carelessness. This usually happens to us when we pay little attention to Divine words, and indulge ourselves completely and continuously in everyday worries: in this case, every seed is suppressed and everything becomes fruitless. So, to prevent this from happening, let us open our eyes, at least a little, look at the sky, look at the tombs and the graves of departed people. And the same end awaits us, and this need for relocation often comes to us before evening. Let us begin to prepare for this departure. We need to store a lot for this path, because there is great heat, great heat, complete desert. You can no longer stay in a hotel there, you can’t buy anything; but you need to take everything with you from here. Listen to what the (Gospel) virgins say: go to those who sell (Matthew 25:9); however, those who went did not gain anything. Listen to what Abraham says: the gulf is great between us and you (Luke 16:26). Listen to what Ezekiel says about that day: Noah, and Job, and Daniel will not deliver their sons (Ezekiel 14:14, 18). But God forbid we hear these words! God grant, on the contrary, that we stock up here with everything necessary for eternal life and with boldness behold our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, honor, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen 4. In short. See Conversations of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John the Evangelist, in Russian. transl., 1862, St. Petersburg, part 2, pp. 481 – 493: compare. Full collection created St. John Chrysostom, in Russian. transl., vol. 8, ed. 1902, 84 demons. on evang. John, pp. 566–572. You might be interested in: