Беседа в день Рождества Христова. (О смущениях в Иерусалиме по случаю пришествия волхвов на поклонение Рождшемуся Спасителю). Святого Григория Двоеслова, папы Римского

Dearest brethren! In the Gospel reading you heard that, after the birth of the Heavenly King, the king of the earth was confused: since the heights of the earth are also confused when the heights of heaven are revealed. But it is natural for us to ask why, after the birth of the Redeemer in Judea, an Angel appeared to the shepherds, but the Magi were brought from the east from the east, and not an angel, to worship him? - This is because the Jews, as having reason, had to be preached by a rational being, that is, an Angel; the pagans, as having no understanding, are brought to the knowledge of the Lord not by the voice, but by signs. That is why the Apostle Paul says: prophecy is not to the unbelievers, but to those who believe, and signs are not to the believers, but to the unbelievers (1 Cor. 14:22); Consequently, prophecies were given to these, as to the faithful, but not believers, and to these, signs, as to those who did not believe, but not to the faithful. And it is noteworthy that when our Redeemer was already of full age, the apostles preached Him to the same pagans, and when he was a minor and, according to the structure of the human body, did not yet speak, then a star proclaimed him to the pagans: the rational order demanded precisely that the preachers of the Lord who was already speaking should also be known to us as speaking, and that the still unspeaking should be preached by the silent elements. However, with all the signs revealed during the birth of the Lord and His death, the Jews did not recognize Him either by the gift of prophecy or by miracles. All the elements testified that their Creator had come: the heavens recognized Him as God, because they immediately sent a star; The sea recognized Him, for it became passable under His feet; the earth recognized Him, since it was shaken at the time of His death; the sun recognized Him, because it hid the rays of its light; The rocks and walls recognized Him, because they fell apart at the time of His death; Hell recognized Him because it had destroyed the dead it contained. Despite this, the hearts of hitherto unbelieving Jews do not recognize Him as Lord, about whom all the insensible elements have testified, and, being harder than rocks, they do not want to disintegrate to repentance, they refuse to confess Him, about whom all the elements cried out with signs or disintegrations that He is God. To increase their condemnation, they knew long in advance that He Whom they despised by birth would be born - and not only knew that He would be born, but also where He would be born: for, at the request of Herod, they point to the place of birth of the Redeemer and provide evidence showing that Bethlehem receives honor from the birth of a new Leader in it, so that this very knowledge of theirs serves for them as evidence of condemnation, and for us as an aid to верованию. Isaac well represented the Jews when he blessed his son Jacob (Gen. 27:28): being blind with his eyes and prophesying, he does not see his son before him, for whom he sees so much in the future; so the Jewish people, full of the prophetic spirit and blind, did not recognize in the present the One about whom they predicted much in the future. Upon learning of the birth of our King, Herod, in order not to lose his earthly kingdom, turns to cunning means: he demands that they tell him where the Child is; in order to kill him, he pretends that he wants to worship Him. But what does human malice mean before the counsel of God? For it is written: there is no wisdom, and there is no understanding, and there is no counsel - contrary to the Lord (Prov. 21:30). In fact, the appearing star brings the wise men, they find the born King, bring gifts and in a dream receive instructions not to return to Herod; and thus it happens that Herod cannot find Jesus, Whom he seeks... The person of Herod is designated by none other than the hypocrites, who, while pretending to seek, never deserve to find the Lord. Some people think that every person is born under the definitions of the stars, and in confirmation of their delusion they cite the fact that a new star appeared when the Lord appeared in the flesh, and they claim that it was His destiny. But if we weigh the words of the Gospel, which speak of this very star: until it came from above, where the Child was, we will see that it was not the Child who came to the star, but the star that flowed to the Child; The star was not the fate of the Child, but what appeared to the Child was, so to speak, the fate of the star. The hearts of believers should be alien to the idea that there is some kind of destiny: for the life of people is controlled by the One Creator who created it. It was not man created for the star, but the star for man, and if the star is called the destiny of man, then man is prohibited from fulfilling his very duties. As you know, Jacob, coming out of the womb, held his first brother’s heel with his hand (Gen. 25:26), and, despite the fact that the mother gave birth to both at the same time, at the same moment, the quality of life of both was not the same. The Magi brought gold, frankincense and myrrh. Gold was befitting a king, frankincense was used in sacrifices to God, and myrrh was used to embalm the bodies of the dead. Consequently, the Magi preach the One Whom they worship with mysterious gifts: gold - the king, frankincense - God, myrrh - the one who has to die. Some heretics, however, believe that this is God, but do not believe at all that He reigns everywhere: they bring Him Lebanon, but do not want to bring more gold. There are also those who recognize Him as King, but do not recognize Him as God; these bring Him gold, but do not want to bring Lebanon. And some recognize Him as God and King, but deny His acceptance of mortal flesh: such bring Him gold and frankincense, but do not want to bring myrrh for the mortal nature He assumed. So, let us bring gold to the born Lord in order to recognize Him as reigning everywhere: let us bring Lebanon, for we believe that God, who appeared in time, existed before time; Let us bring myrrh, because we believe that He who is not subject to suffering according to His Divinity was mortal in our flesh. However, something else may be meant by gold, frankincense and myrrh. Gold denotes wisdom, according to the testimony of Solomon, who says: a treasure rests in the mouth of a wise man (Prov. 21:20). Lebanon expresses that which ignites the power of prayer to God, according to the testimony of the Psalmist, who says: let my prayer be corrected like a censer before You (Ps. 141:2). And myrrh is depicted as the mortification of our flesh, which is why the Holy Church says about ascetics who fight for God to the point of death: “My hands have dipped myrrh” (Song of Songs 5:5). So, we bring gold to the born King if, in His light, we shine with the radiance of the highest wisdom; we offer Lebanon if through prayerful efforts we burn carnal thoughts on the altar of the heart, so that we can be fragrant with the godly desire of heavenly things; We bring myrrh if we mortify carnal vices through abstinence: for with myrrh, as we said, the rotting of mortal flesh is prevented. The Magi instill in us something great by the fact that they return to their country in a different way: for by the very fact that they do according to instructions, they truly instill in us what we should do. Our country is a paradise, the return to which, according to the knowledge of Jesus, is forbidden to us by the way we are going. We left our country through pride, disobedience, addiction to visible things, eating forbidden foods; and to return to it, humility, obedience, contempt for what is visible, and curbing carnal desires are necessary. Consequently, we return to our country in a different way: since, having departed from the joys of heaven through pleasures, we are called to them again through sorrows. Therefore, beloved brethren, we must always, with fear and prudence, present before the eyes of our hearts, on the one hand, the sinfulness of our actions, and on the other, the determination of the final decision of our fate. Let us think about how the righteous Judge will come, Who threatens judgment, but hides it, reveals horrors to sinners and, however, postpones a quick coming in order to find fewer of those who must be judged. Let us punish the guilt with tears and, in the voice of the Psalmist, let us precede His face in confession (Ps. 94:2). Let no lie of pleasure deceive us; Let no vain joy lead us astray; for the Judge is near, Who said: Woe to you who laugh now: for ye shall mourn and weep (Luke 6:25). It is not in vain that Solomon says: the last joys come to mourning (Prov. 14:13); and one more thing: it is laughter, sin, and joy that you should do this (why are you deceiving in vain)? The heart of the wise is in a house of mourning, and the heart of fools is in a house of joy (Eccles. 2:2; 7:5). Let us fear the commandments of God, if we truly glorify the triumph of God: for a sacrifice pleasing to God consists in contrition for sins, according to the testimony of the Psalmist, who said: the sacrifice to God is a broken spirit (Ps. 50:19). Our former sins were washed away when we were baptized, and yet we committed many of them after baptism, but we cannot be washed from them again by the water of baptism. So, since even after baptism we have defiled our lives, we will baptize our conscience with tears. Returning by another route to our country, we, having left it delighted with blessings, must enter it saddened by disasters, with the assistance of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom belongs honor and glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit, always now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen 74. Bibliot. part. concionator. tom. I, pag. 581–582; cp. Conversations on the Gospel of St. Grigory Dvoeslov, from Russian. translation 1860, book. 1, pp. 83–93; "Church Gazette", 1901, Nos. 51–52. You might be interested in: