Беседа в день Рождества Спасителя нашего Иисуса Христа. Св. Феодота, епископа Анкирского 61

Joyful and wonderful is the reason for this celebration. Joyful, for she has granted salvation to all people; miraculous, because it defeated the law of nature. It is alien to nature for a woman giving birth to remain a virgin; but grace preserved the Virgin who gave birth - she made her a Mother, and did not damage virginity. The power of grace preserved chastity. Oh, unsown land, which has brought forth saving fruit! O Virgin, who surpassed the paradise of Eden! Paradise abounded in unsown plants of all kinds: they came from virgin soil. But the Virgin appeared as the best of the paradise land: She did not bring forth a fruitful tree, but the rod of Jesse, which bore the fruit of salvation for people. The land of paradise was virgin: and here is the Virgin. But God commanded the paradise earth to grow trees; and from this Virgin the Creator Himself grew according to the flesh. And that earth did not open its bosom to receive seed for the growth of trees; and this one retained her virginity unharmed at birth, but appeared on the most glorious land of paradise. Paradise is planted by God; and this Virgin increased in the flesh God Himself, who deigned to unite with human nature. Do you see how a wonderful mystery took place, defeating the laws of nature? Do you see a supernatural event accomplished by the sole power of God? Do you see the Word born more than the word? And that the one who is born is the Word of God, this is evident from the fact that He did not destroy virginity. Simple flesh that gives birth does not retain virginity; but the Word of God, being born according to the flesh, preserved the virginity of the one who gave birth, showing that He is the Word. When you hear about the Word, understand the essential and hypostatic Word, and not the word spoken by the mouth. So, the Only Begotten Son of God is born. He is called the Word, not beginning to be the Word from birth, but at birth beginning to be a man. God the Word is co-eternal with Him who begat Him before the ages. But since It wanted to become human for the sake of humans, not through a change in the Divine nature, but in an incomprehensible way and by Divine desire, it chose birth as the beginning of becoming human. Therefore, It is both how a person is born, and how God the Word preserves the virginity of the one who gave birth. And our word, being born, does not damage the mind: so the Word of God, essential and hypostatic, being born, did not damage virginity. This event is above the forces of nature: and therefore do not turn to its laws. I announce a miracle to you: stop researching! I preach to you God who became incarnate, who wanted to be born, but who did not begin to be God at birth. He assimilated His birth as God (and not His birth made Him God) - He became a man, without changing His nature and without changing the properties of the Divine being. You are the same, and Your years will not fail, declares the Holy Scripture (Psalm. 101:28); You remain forever (Baruch 3:3). Here Scripture shows the unchangeability of the Divine nature, just as in another place God says: I am the Lord your God, and I do not change (Malach. 3:6). So, God made man, without changing the Divine nature, and without transforming it into another nature. Otherwise, what happened would not have been a miracle if He, having changed His nature, accepted a different nature. We see many such changes in nature; but this is where the miraculous power of God is revealed, that God, being what he was, became what he was not. The great Apostle points to this, saying: Who is in the image of God... Who is, says the Apostle, wanting to show the immutability of nature, and not having to ever be. Whoever is in the image of God does not need to be equal to God by admiration: to be equal to God, it is said, and not to become such someday; then added: but He made Himself a little, taking on the form of a servant (Phil. 2:6, 7). Do you see how He remains what He was, and humbles Himself with the image of a slave? He remained God and became man, miraculously, without changing His nature, according to His will, and not out of necessity or because of a change in nature. For what God says, He does, even if His words were above the laws of nature: in His right hand is a power that can perform miracles, and does not expect the assistance of the forces of nature. Therefore, He remains God, and humbles Himself by taking on the image of a slave, - remains equal to God, and becomes a man, - remains pre-eternal, and is subject to birth: that is, it produces a miracle, inexplicable according to the laws of nature. That is why the Greeks consider the sacrament of Christ foolishness, and the Jews call the word of salvation a stumbling block, as Paul testifies, saying: we preach Christ crucified; to the Jews it was a stumbling block, but to the Greeks it was foolishness (1 Cor. 1:23). Why is this madness for the Greeks? - because a spiritual person does not accept even the Spirit of God: for he has foolishness. (1 Cor. 2:14). The spiritual man, clinging to earthly things and testing everything with the thoughts of the mind, considers the miracles of God to be madness, because they are inexplicable according to the laws of nature. The pagan, hearing that the Savior passed through the closed doors, turns to the body, and, seeing that in its rudeness it demands space for itself, laughs, does not believe the miracle, and wants to know what images it could be; also, hearing that the Virgin remains a Virgin after Christmas, he considers such a sermon to be madness: for he has not learned to believe in the miracles of God: or hearing that God became man without changing, he considers this event impossible, demanding here a change in nature. But this is not what Paul taught when he said that he became equal to God and became a man, and made himself humble, not leaving the fullness of the Divinity. This is what Paul taught; That’s why he said: we preach Christ crucified, for the Jews it was a temptation, and for the Greeks it was madness. Why, you ask again, is madness for the Greeks? “If just a man had been crucified, it would not have seemed crazy to anyone, as it was a natural thing; if something that by its nature can suffer suffered, then why would such a preaching be considered insane? since we preach Christ crucified - by God's power and God's wisdom (1 Cor. 1:24): then, according to the Greeks, we speak foolishly. They have not learned to believe in the miracles of God, judging the properties of every thing by its nature, and they think that we insult God when we say that God endured suffering in order to save what was subjected to suffering. They do not look at the fact that through this the goal of salvation and the goodness of God is achieved; but they only repeat that God suffered, regardless of the salvation of people accomplished through that. No means of salvation for a person can serve as an insult to God: they reveal His love for mankind, and not suffering. “But I, you say, cannot attribute human suffering to God." Therefore, you cannot say that He saved man through suffering, that He put to shame the power of the devil on the cross, that He nailed our sins to the tree, that He healed human ailments with His illnesses, that He abolished death by death. For if God did not endure suffering, then how were so many works accomplished through the sufferings of Christ? How were such miracles created? like death was destroyed by death, if God did not appropriate it to Himself? So, the sufferings received by God received power from the Divine to accomplish these blessings: for they became God’s own, but they did not damage the Divine nature, since it is not subject to suffering. How is the handwriting of sin nailed to the tree, which is on us (Colossians 2:14), if a simple person suffered on the cross? How did the cross crucify death? destroyed the dominion of death, if suffering did not receive power from God, who perceived our suffering, but did not suffer with his being? Pointing to this, the great Apostle said that none of the princes of this age understood the mystery of the sufferings of the Lord: if, he says, they understood, they would not crucify the Lord of glory (1 Cor. 2:8). That is why we say that He remained what He was and became what He was not. Being in the being what He was, He accepted suffering, having attached to Himself a nature capable of suffering. He became obedient (Phil. 2:8), without ceasing to be a King, - he became a man, remaining God and the Word; The incorporeal one essentially became flesh without changing. How is this? how? If this does not agree with the way of your judgment, then it does not contradict the power of God’s miracles. When I announce a miracle to you, then leave your reasoning; signs and wonders are accepted by the faith of God, and not tested by the mind. Behold, other miracles are not comprehended by the mind; however, they really happened, although our mind cannot explain how they happened. The Magi confessed a miracle by believing the star, rather than exploring the unsearchable; But you, a believer, why don’t you believe, being carried away by human thoughts? Those who came from Chaldea, as the Evangelist now narrates, with their very gifts indicate the sacrament to those who carefully look at their intention. They bring gifts of three kinds - gold, frankincense and myrrh: gold, because the one they honor is the King; Lebanon, for the one who was born is God (they usually brought Lebanon to their gods); They also bring myrrh, thereby denoting suffering and death. You see how even the Magi confessed that He remained God and became a man who accepted death. He became what we are in order to raise our nature to its dignity; and this is accomplished through a connection that mutually communicates to one what is in the other. Therefore, God, being God, became man, so that man also became God, and through such a union rose to Divine glory, so that one and the same suffers as man and is glorified as God. And those who accept this together with us confess both Divinity and humanity: for that which has been united is no longer called dual, but singular. If you make a division even in thought, looking at both separately, you will already destroy the unity: since it is impossible to maintain unity, looking at both separately. What is united invariably remains singular and is in no way dual. You will say: “I separate only in my thoughts,” but even with your thoughts you are already breaking the unity: by separating one from the other, you are cutting the union. Why do you destroy the economy of salvation, imagining two in your mind and rejecting unity? The Great Apostle says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, the same and forever (Heb. 13:8), - he calls the same one both the eternal God and the man who began being in time - God from eternity, and man in the last days. You ask: “How did the Only Begotten become a slave, remaining what he was and becoming what he was not?” If you want to know this, then know that you are done; how it was done, only the Miracle Worker knows. Now, you cannot tell me how the Egyptian river turned to blood, while the property of the water did not change: for the Jews used water from the same river; and for the Egyptians the same Nile turned to blood, and became what it was not, remaining what it was. Tell me: how is this? But you won’t say, because it was a Divine miracle, incomprehensible to our minds. Also, how did the light in Egypt become darkness, without losing its properties, but remaining what it was? For to the Israelites it was day, and the light shone clearly: but to the Egyptians that same light was darkness. It was one and the same, but at the same time it was both light and darkness, however, not so that one property changed into another: for darkness became, and the light was not destroyed. Here God worked miracles without following the law of nature. How did the water in the Nile, while remaining water, become blood? Or how did light, while retaining its properties, become darkness? For the light was not hidden to give way to darkness: the property of the water did not change either. The Jews who used water for drinking testify to this: it retained its properties unharmed, and became blood, what it was not; - Isn’t this a Divine miracle, surpassing our mind? And how did the Babylonian flame become dew for the three youths? He was both flame and became dew; both are revealed from experience itself: that the flame became dew, this is shown by the three youths cooled by it; that the flame remained a flame - this is proven by the Babylonians who were devoured by it. You see how the fire remained fire and turned into dew: there were not two substances, and not two properties, but they were one and the same; the flame became dew: the righteous testify. So, ask me no more: how does God perform signs? I will tell you again: I see that miracles really happened; but I leave it to God to know exactly how miracles are performed. Now answer me. God shows such miracles - he makes the flame dew, without changing the properties of the flame, and turns it into dew, in order to thereby destroy the definition of the tyrant, protect the innocent, and destroy the guilty barbarians - such miracles are shown by God, preserving the property of fire unharmed, and showing it as dew in order to save the three youths - such, I say, God shows miracles; and do you doubt that He, in order to save the world, being God, became man? He had no need to change the property of the flame in order to make dew out of it: but He Himself, having desired to become a man for the salvation of people, had the need to change His nature? – Fire, having been fire, became dew; and you ask: how does God, being God, become man? God, desiring to save our nature, arranged our salvation not through any creature, but through Himself: since no creature was able to save us, who were in a state of sin and error. Long-term sinful habits were converted into a new nature of man, and the ancient one was driven out. The prophets foretold: but their broadcasts turned out to be powerless, being overcome by sin. Angels were the ministers of our salvation, - the great Paul testifies, speaking about angels: are not all servant souls sent into service for those who want to inherit salvation (Heb. 1:14)? Angels, better than us by nature, served our salvation: but man lay in sins and was deprived of salvation. Nothing could overcome human weakness. Sin and the slaves of sin triumphed over virtue and the zeal of the virtuous, not because God could not prevail, but because He leaves virtue to free choice; - does not force you to perform feats, does not force you against your will towards virtue, so that you, bowing to virtue arbitrarily, make it your feat. So what? When the prophets did not win, and the teachers did not have time, and the law remained powerless, and the zealous service of the angels did not achieve the goal, because the human will did not follow the lessons of virtue: after that the Creator of nature Himself comes to correct the damaged nature of man; but he does not come in greatness, like God, not striking the ears with thunder, not girded with clouds spewing terrible fire, not terrifying people with the sound of a trumpet, as He once appeared to the Jews and made them tremble, not oppressing the slave, but calling him more with love and goodness. He does not surround Himself with angels, and is not armed with hosts of archangels, for He does not want to intimidate the fugitive who disobeyed His laws. The Lord of all comes in the form of a servant, accompanied by humble misery, so as not to alarm or drive away the prey, - he is born in an unknown land, having chosen the humble whole for His birth, - he is born from a poor Virgin, and surrounds Himself with complete silence and obscurity, in order in silence to catch a person in the net of salvation. If He had been born in glory and appeared in splendor and wealth, then the unbelievers would have said that victory over the universe was achieved through the generous distribution of treasures. If He had chosen noble Rome, again the transformation of the universe would have been attributed to the power of its inhabitants; if He were the son of an earthly King, then success would be attributed to the strength of royal power. If He were the son of a worldly legislator, then all honor would be given to decrees and laws. What is the Lord doing? He chooses for Himself everything that is poor and despicable, humble and low in the eyes of men, so that everyone would know that God Himself transformed the universe. He chooses the poor mother, the poorest fatherland, and alienates all wealth from Himself, as the manger somehow proves to you: for there was no monastery where the Lord could bow down, and He reclined in the manger, needing the most necessary things, and representing a direct indication of the prophecy. By reclining in a manger, He shows that He will be food for the dumb. For the Word of God, reclining in a poor manger, drew to Himself both the rich and the poor, both eloquent and unskilled in words. Do you see how the need of poverty fulfilled the prophecy, and how the poverty of Him who became poor showed Him to us as approachable to all? No one lost confidence, fearing the enormous riches of Christ; no one was prevented by the high rank of the King from coming to Him; He was visible and accessible to everyone, offering Himself for everyone as a sacrifice of salvation. The Word of God reveals Himself lying in a manger, on the bed of animals, so that everyone, rational and foolish, may have the courage to eat the saving food. Perhaps this is what the Prophet once proclaimed when he proclaimed the mystery of the manger. The ox and the ass knew his master's manger: but Israel did not know Me, and My people did not understand (Isa. 1:3). Although this place has a literal meaning, closer and more spacious, representing the Jews as the most ungrateful of animals, it may also contain another, deeper meaning, namely, to mean the manger of the Lord, in which He lay down, offering Himself for food and the dumb. We have shown that he who was rich in the Divine became poor for our sake, in order to make salvation accessible to all, which is what the great Apostle affirms, saying: for our poverty this man is rich, so that through his poverty we may become rich (2 Cor. 8:9). Who's the rich one? how is He rich? and how did He become poor for our sake? Let those who separate the Word of God from man tell us, and, speaking of natures, separate what is united, finding some kind of duality in Christ, and justifying themselves by the fact that they separate only mentally. Tell me: who is this rich man who accepted our poverty? Is it not a visible man whom you separate from the Divine? But he was never rich. He was poor, born of poor parents. Who is this rich man who has become poor for us? and what is his wealth? God, you say, is rich in His creation. Consequently, God also became poor, making the poverty of visible man His own: He is both rich in Divinity, and at the same time became poor for us. For you cannot call a man rich, who is poor both in nature and in earthly gifts, just as you cannot call him poor who is rich in the greatness of the Divine, if you do not assimilate human poverty to Him. Therefore, the Apostle, reconciling the Divine glory with human weaknesses, does not want to separate either with a thought or with a word what is united; but he calls the same one both rich in Divinity and poor in the poverty of human infirmities - rich in His essence, and accepting poverty for us. If He who was rich in Divinity accepted poverty for our sake, did He not also endure everything else, deigning, out of His love for mankind, to become a perfect man? But enough about this. Now, look at the wretched refuge of the one rich in heaven: look at the manger in which he who sits on the cherubim is laid; look at the shrouds with which the sand binds the sea; look at His earthly poverty, and think about His heavenly riches. Thus, all the greatness of goodness and love for mankind will appear to you if you turn your gaze to such condescension of God the Word; in poverty itself the wealth of His Divinity is revealed, for this poor man is shown to the Magi by a star. Behold, the Angels solemnly preach this poor shepherd, chanting the riches of His Divinity. Do you see that the Magi bring Lebanon to the Born One as to God, not separating nature from nature, and not mentally dividing what is united, but recognizing the Miraculously Born One and what they see as the true God, and, bringing Lebanon, they give Him Divine honor with this gift? Likewise, the Angels did not separate in their angelic mind the One who was born and God the Word, but preached the same gospel, visible and intelligible, proclaiming the song: glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men (Luke 2:14). They did not say one thing, imagining another in their minds: confessing with the lips of the one Christ Jesus, they did not even mentally separate the united one, but glorified the same God. So, God appears poor in the eyes of everyone, and receives worship from the Magi as a King and God, is wrapped in swaddling clothes, and is sung by the Angels, reclines in a manger, and is indicated by a star. It was not a star that went to the Magi, for stars do not change places; but since in the land of the Chaldeans many were engaged in observing the course of the stars, the highest power for the guidance of the Magi took the form of a star, so that the Chaldeans, through what they knew, would see what they did not know, and so that the stars themselves would teach those who practiced stargazing the mysteries of Christ. That the angelic power guided the barbarians to faith is shown by the Evangelist himself: for from his narrative it is clear that this star appeared during the day, and sometimes hid itself, showed the way to the wise men and went with them to Bethlehem (Matthew 2:2, 9). And what was said about the star, that it stood above where the Child was, clearly shows that it was a certain force that appeared in the form of a star, for not one of the stars established in the sky could stop above the place where the Child was, because the immense distance of the earth from the sky does not allow our eyes to definitely distinguish either the positions of the stars or their movements. One hundred, says the Evangelist, is the star above, where the Child was (Matthew 2:9); consequently, one of the visible stars, leaving the heights of heaven, descended to the earth in order to reveal the birth of the King by its standing. For the wise men looked for the King, asked about the place of birth of the King, and said to the Jews: where is the King of the Jews to be born? for we saw His star in the east, and when we came to our breath we worshiped Him (Matthew 2:2). You Magi are looking for the King: why do you bring Lebanon to him as to God? “But we,” you answer, magnifying Him as King, together recognize Him as God: therefore we bring Him gold and frankincense, affirming with our very gifts that He is both King and God. The One who, with ineffable power, then drew the Magi to faith, is the One who now composed this bright celebration, no longer placed in a manger, but offered at this saving meal. That manger became, as it were, the beginning of this meal. For this reason He was laid in a manger, to be eaten at the table, and to serve as saving food for the faithful. The manger made the glory of this meal; and the Virgin gathered these maiden choirs. The cramped dwelling in Bethlehem erected these majestic churches; The Bethlehem shrouds became medical duties for sinful ulcers. Do you see how glorious the consequences of the poverty of that time are now? Do you see what great wealth poverty has acquired? Did earthly poverty, short-lived, prevent the universe from being endowed with such a treasure? Why do you consider suffering unworthy of God, when it has brought such precious benefits? Why are you depriving the Only Begotten of the plagues that brought such abundant salvation to people? Why do you dwell on suffering and not now look at the comforting consequences of this suffering? Why do you impute poverty to God as dishonor, through which the world has been enriched with piety? Why do you consider death, by which God killed death, indecent for God? Why do you not recognize the cross as fitting for God, when God triumphed over demonic evil with it? Why don’t you assimilate only the cross to God, when He nailed our sins to the tree? Do not disparage the suffering that has given you freedom from suffering; do not call the blows that freed a person from sin disgraceful to God; do not call the bonds that have been released from the bonds of sin shameful for God; do not say that poverty is not fitting for God, when the devil, rich in lies, became poor with it. Do not dishonor the cross that destroyed the church; do not take away the value of the nails with which Christ fastened the universe to the one wisdom of piety. Do not limit yourself to what seems despicable: but fix your gaze on the glory that the Sufferer acquired at the price of the despicable. If you have reason and believe in reality, then you cannot say that such things could be produced by the suffering of a simple person. Why call what God chose for the salvation of people despicable? If such a remedy consists in suffering, and if what is called suffering has healed our suffering: then no longer call such a remedy suffering, but rather, a cure for our suffering. Also, do not consider virgin members dishonorable to God: for their nature is not dishonorable, although the dishonorable passions that have invaded the body have deprived them of their nobility. The members of the body are not dishonorable by nature, but are dishonored by sinful lusts: if they were dishonorable by nature, then God would not have created them with His own hands. Everything God has created is extremely good (Gen. 1:31): nothing created by God is inherently bad, and God did not create anything dishonorable; but we, having fallen away from the original perfection, have dishonored our nature with dishonest lusts. So, if God cannot be blamed for creating a woman, then God cannot be blamed for the fact that He moved into the womb of a woman. It cannot be indecent for God to dwell in His creation. If you are curious: “how God left heaven and moved into the womb,” then I will tell you: as God, He became man for the sake of men, remaining God, and without changing His essence. Therefore I confess Him to be both God and man: God from eternity and co-eternal with the Father, and man from birth. I confess not two, but one - not so that I speak of Him as one, but think as dual: the thought should not contradict the word. So, in our minds we do not imagine Him as dual, while with our lips we confess Him as one. What is united in an incomprehensible way for us because of the economy of salvation cannot be separated either by word or thought. When a thought in any way separates what is united, then it is already dissolved mentally, and a false idea emerges in which that which is forever united is divided. One must confess in agreement both in word and in thought: confessing in word the one Christ, God and man, one must also fulfill it in thought. When you mentally imagine the one whom you confess as one with your lips as dual, then your thought does not agree with the word. So, do not recognize a duality that has any difference, and what you unite with a word, do not separate it with a thought: for by dissolving it, you reject unity. Do not mention the difference of natures: they are united by God inseparably and inexplicably. Believe in a miracle, and do not test the untestable with your mind; Do not overthrow the miracle by seeking an explanation. If a miracle is explicable, then it is no longer a miracle or a sign; and if it remains a miracle and a sign, then abandon inquisitiveness and accept faith, confessing the one Lord Jesus Christ, God and together man, undivided by word or thought, so that, mentally sharing unity, you do not reject the saving economy. For if the union of God with man is known from the economy of salvation, then he who divides the unity already rejects this economy. So, let us believe in the miracle of the economy, so that Christ, in whom we believe, will grant the kingdom of heaven to all who confess such a beneficial miracle. May we all be worthy to achieve this kingdom by the grace of Christ, to whom be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen 62. This conversation was said on the feast of the Nativity of Christ; it was also pronounced at the third ecumenical (Ephesian) council against Nestorius. See “Christian Reading” 1839, Part IV, pages 303–334; compare “Acts of the Ecumenical Councils”, ed. in Russian translation at the Kazan Theological Academy. 2nd edition. 1893, vol. II, countries. 87–96. You might be interested in: