Слово на Рождество Христово. Блаженного Августина, епископа Иппонийского

Today Truth has risen from the earth, Christ has been born according to the flesh. Rejoice and triumph, and according to the instructions of the present day, think about the eternal, with true hope desire eternal gifts; and by the right given to you, consider yourself children of God. For you the Creator of times subjugated Himself to time, for you the Creator of the world appeared in the flesh. Why, mortals, do you still find pleasure in mortal things? Why are you trying to hold back the fleeing life? Now an incomparably better hope has dawned on earth, heavenly life has been promised to those on earth. And in order for us to believe this, it precedes what seemed most incredible. In order to deify men, God became man; without abandoning what he was, he wanted to become what he himself had created. I myself created what He was to be, I added humanity to the Divinity, without losing the Divinity in humanity. We marvel at the birth of the Virgin, and try to assure non-believers of the truth of a new, extraordinary Christmas - how the fetus was conceived in the womb without a seed, - how the womb, pure from carnal mixture, produced the Son of Man, without having a human father - how virginity remained intact, contained in conception and intact at birth. This action of Omnipotence is marvelous, but even more marvelous is the mercy by which he who could be born in such a way desired to be born. For He was already the only begotten of the Father who was born the only begotten of the Mother; He Himself was created in the Mother, Who created the Mother for Himself; eternal with the Father, in time from the Mother; after the Mother, created from the Mother, before all things from the Father, existing, uncreated. Without Him the Father would never have existed, without Him the Mother would never have existed. Rejoice, virgins of Christ: your accomplice is the Mother of Christ. You could not give birth to Christ, but you did not want to give birth for the sake of Christ; The Lord was not born of you, but was born for you. However, if you remember His words, as you should remember, you too are the mothers of Christ, because you do the will of His Father, for He Himself said: “Whoever does the will of My Father, whoever is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and My mother” (Matthew 12:49). Rejoice, widows of Christ: to the One who created fruitful virginity, you have dedicated venerable abstinence. Rejoice and marital purity, rejoice all you faithfully cohabiting spouses; What you have lost in your body, keep in your heart. When it is no longer possible to have bodily integrity, then let conscience be a virgin in faith, just as the whole Church is deeds. In Mary, pious virginity gave birth to Christ; in Anna, long-term widowhood knew the infant Christ; in Elizabeth, marital purity and senile childbearing fought for Christ. All degrees of faithful members brought to the Head what, by Her grace, they could bring. Therefore, having Christ as truth, peace and righteousness, conceive Him by faith, bring Him forth by works: let your heart be for the law of Christ what the womb of Mary was for the flesh of Christ. Are you not of the virgin birth, when you are members of Christ? Mary gave birth to your Head, and the Church to you, for the Church is both mother and virgin, mother in the womb of love, virgin in integrity of faith and piety. She gives birth to nations, but these are members of the one One, whose body and spouse she is: she is similar to a virgin in that in many she is the mother of unity. So, all unanimously, in pure thoughts and holy feelings, let us celebrate the day of the Nativity of the Lord - the day on which, as we said at the beginning, the Truth rose from the earth. Behold, what follows in the same psalm also happened: He who shone forth from the earth, that is, was born according to the flesh, as one who came from heaven and was above all, when he ascended to the Father, then, without a doubt, like truth came from heaven. For He Himself remembers this truth when He promises the Holy Spirit: He, He says, will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and judgment. About sin, because they do not believe in Me: about righteousness, because I go to My Father, and you do not see Me (John 16:8-10). This is the truth that comes from heaven. From the ends of the heavens His departure, and His meeting to the ends of the heavens (Ps. 18:7). So that no one despises the truth because it came from the earth, when the Bridegroom came out from his palace, i.e. from the virgin's womb, in which the word of God, by some ineffable union, was united with human nature - so that, I say, whoever did not despise this, and so that Christ, although miraculously born, wonderful in doctrine and deeds, for the likeness of the flesh of sin, would think no more than about man - for that, after the words: like a bridegroom who departs from his palace, he will rejoice as the giant mother-in-law's path, is immediately added: from the edge of heaven His departure. This means that if truth originated from the earth, this is indulgence, and not a necessary position, goodness, and not poverty. Truth, in order to come from the earth, came down from heaven; The Bridegroom, in order to come out from His palace, comes from the edge of heaven. Therefore, He was born on this day, the least of the earthly days, from which, however, the increase of days begins. Thus, He who bowed down to us and exalted us chose the least day, but one from which the increase of light begins. With this very coming, without words, but as if with a trumpet voice, the Lord awakens us, so that in Him, who became poor for us, we find our wealth, - in Him, who took on the form of a servant for us, we receive freedom, - in Him, who for us came from the earth, we inherit heaven. Amen 58. In the collection of words of the blessed. Augustine is the real word 192nd. See Sunday. Read XII (-1849), pp. 373–374. You might be interested in: