Слово на Святое Богоявление. Святого Священномученика Ипполита, епископа Римского 88

Everything that God and our Savior created, everything that the eye sees, and that the soul thinks about, that the mind explores and the hand touches, that the thought embraces and human nature contains - all this is good and very good. Indeed, what could be more beautiful than the firmament? What could be more colorful than the earth's surface? What could be faster than the current of the sun? What can compare with the pleasantness of the moonlight? What could be more amazing than the complex harmony of the heavenly bodies? What will be more fruitful than the timely winds? What could be more transparent than daylight? Which animal could be more perfect than man? - So, everything that God and our Savior created is very good. If we also turn to the substance of water, then in this case what gift could be more necessary than it? After all, everything is washed and nourished, cleansed and irrigated by water. Water contains the earth, produces dew, fattens the grapes, ripens the ears, destroys the bitterness of the grapes, softens the olive, makes the palm fruit sweet, decorates the rose, speckles the violet with flowers, nourishes the lily in its beautiful shell. But why talk a lot? Without the substance of water, none of everything we see can exist: water is so necessary that while all other elements have their home under the vaults of heaven, it has received a container for itself above the heavens. The Prophet himself testifies to this, crying: Praise the Lord, the heavens of heavens, and the waters that are above the heavens (Psalm 149:4). But not only this proves the importance of water, but most of all by the fact that the Creator of all things - Christ descended like rain (Hos. 6:3), - was known as a source (John 4:14), - spread like a river (John 7:38), and was baptized in the Jordan. For now we have heard that Jesus came to John and was baptized by him in the Jordan (Matthew 3:13). Wonderful thing! The endless River, gladdening the city of God (Psalm 45:5), is washed in a small amount of water. The immense Source, which grows life for all people, the Source, which has no limits, is covered with scanty, soon drying up waters. The One who is present everywhere and fills everything. He who is incomprehensible to angels and invisible to men comes to baptism according to his own good will. When you hear these words, beloved, do not understand them with your natural understanding, but accept them in the sense that the mystery of redemption is offered here. That is why the watery nature did not hide what the Lord, in His humane condescension, did in secret: for when he saw the waters, he was slain (Psalm 76:17). They almost came out and fled from their shores. In view of this, the Prophet, contemplating this event for a long time, asks: What is the sea that you ran away? and to you, Jordan, how have you returned back (Psalm 113:5)? And the waters said in response: “We saw the Creator of all things in the form of a slave, and, not understanding this mysterious economy, we were moved by fear.” And now, when we have already become aware of this economy of the Lord, we glorify His mercy for the fact that He came to save and not to judge the world. After all, John, the Forerunner of the Lord, who had not previously known this sacrament, but who later knew that Jesus truly is Lord, cried out to those who came to him to be baptized: “The birth of vipers (Matthew 3:7)! Why are you looking at me so closely? I am not Christ (John 1:20). I am a minister, not the Lord; I am a private man, and not a king; I am a sheep, and not I am a shepherd; I am a man, and not God. By my birth I resolved the infertility of my mother, but I did not leave virginity to the barren. I am the work of the lower ones, and did not come down from above. I bound the tongue of my father (Luke 1:20), but I was not recognized by my mother in the womb, but was not foreshadowed by a star (Matthew 2:2). before me (John 1:27); for me in relation to time, but before me in relation to the unapproachable and unspeakable light of the Divine. He who comes after me is mighty, but he is not worthy to carry his boots: he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matthew 3:11). I am under authority, and He Himself has authority. I am guilty of sins, but He is the destroyer of sins (John 1:29). I preach the law, and He brings the light of grace. I teach as a slave, and He judges as the Lord. The earth serves as my bed, but He owns the sky. I baptize with the baptism of repentance, and He bestows the grace of adoption; He baptizes you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Why are you fixing your eyes on me? I am not Christ! When in this way John spoke to the people, when the latter was impatiently expecting to see with his bodily eyes some amazing sight, when the devil trembled at such an important testimony of John: behold, the Lord Himself appears, in a simple form, alone, without ornaments and without companions, clothed in human flesh and hiding under it the dignity of the Divine, in order to thereby hide it from the wiles of the spiritual dragon. He not only approached John as the Lord, who had laid aside his royal majesty, but also, as a simple man guilty of sin, bowed his head before him in order to receive baptism from him. That is why John, seeing such great humility, was amazed and began to restrain Him, saying: I demand to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me (Matthew 3:14)? "What are You doing, Lord! You teach incorrectly. I proclaimed one thing about You, and You do another; the devil heard one thing, but sees another. You baptize me with Divine fire: what do You expect from water? You enlighten me with the Spirit: but what do You expect from creatures? Baptize me, the baptizer, so that they may know Your dignity. I, Lord, baptize with the baptism of repentance, and I cannot at all baptize those who come to me if they do not first confess their sins. Even if I baptized You, what will You confess before me? Are you a destroyer of sins, and yet you want to be baptized with the baptism of repentance? Suppose, despite this, I dare to baptize You, but Jordan does not dare to approach You. I demand to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me? What does the Lord answer him? - Leave it now, for it is fitting for us to fulfill every right (Matthew 3:15). "Leave it, John; you are no wiser than Me. You look like a man, but I see like God. First, I myself must do it and then teach. I do nothing unseemly: for I am clothed with splendor. Are you surprised, John, that I did not appear in the splendor of My dignity? True, just as royal purple is not befitting for a simple man, so, on the contrary, warlike clothes are not fitting for a king." equipment: but did I come to an enemy, and not to a friend? Leave now: for it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. I am the doer of the law, and I do not want to leave anything unfulfilled, so that after Me Paul can say: Christ is the end of the law to everyone who believes (Rom. 10:4). - servant I am baptized, so that none of the kings or princes would be disdained to receive baptism from a humble priest. Allow Me to descend into Jordan, so that they may hear the testimony of the Father and know the power of the Son. Leave it now: for it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then, finally, John admits Him: and Jesus, having been baptized, went up from the water: and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and in the sight of the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and coming upon Him. And behold a voice from heaven, saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Matthew 3:16–17). You see, beloved, how many and how great blessings we would have lost if the Lord, yielding to John’s convictions, had renounced baptism! Indeed, hitherto the heavens were closed; the upper region remained impregnable. We descended to the lower regions, but did not ascend to the highest. And so, as soon as the Lord was baptized, at the same time He renewed the old man, and returned to him the royal right of adoption: after all, the heavens were immediately opened to Him (Matthew 3:16). Reconciliation between the visible and the invisible followed: the heavenly faces rejoiced, earthly infirmities were healed, the hidden was revealed, and enmity was destroyed. You heard the Evangelist saying: The heavens were opened to Him. The heavens opened for three wonderful things. For at the time when the Bridegroom - Christ was baptized, the heavenly palaces had to open their brilliant gates. In the same way, it was necessary for the gates of heaven to lift up their heads (Psalm 23:7), when the Holy Spirit descended like a dove, and the voice of the Father thundered. And behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and behold a voice from heaven, saying: This is My beloved Son, in Him I am well pleased. The Beloved gives birth to Love, and the immaterial Light gives birth to the unapproachable Light. This is My beloved Son, the Son Who appeared on earth without leaving the bosom of the Father: He appeared and did not appear. For He was not what He seemed: otherwise, if we judge only because He appeared, then the one who baptizes has an advantage over the One who is baptized. This is why the Father sent down the Holy Spirit from heaven onto the person being baptized. Moreover, as in Noah’s ark, God’s love for mankind was depicted through a dove; so here the Spirit, descending in the form of a dove, and as if bearing olive fruit, rested on Him of Whom it was testified. Why is this so? - in order for them to know the power of the Father’s voice, and to believe the prophetic prediction that followed for a long time. What is the prediction? – The voice of the Lord on the waters: The God of glory will roar, the Lord on many waters (Psalm 28:3). What voice? This is My beloved Son, in Him I am well pleased. This one, called the son of Joseph, is My only begotten Son, according to the Divine essence. This is My beloved Son. Although He hungers, He feeds thousands; although he labors, he gives rest to those who labor; although he does not have where to lay his head (Matthew 8:20), he contains everything in His right hand; although he suffers, he at the same time heals infirmities; although he suffers blows (Matthew 26:67), he gives freedom to the world, although he is pierced by a spear in the side (John 19:34), but he corrects the side of Adam. But I ask you to pay more attention: for I want to contemplate the Source that flows healing. The Immortal Father sent into the world the immortal Son and Word - the Son who came to men in order to wash them with water and the Spirit, and, having regenerated us to spiritual and physical incorruptibility, breathe into us the Spirit of life, and thus clothe us with the incorruptible armor. So, if a person has become immortal, then he will also become a partaker of the Divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). But if, after being reborn by water and the Holy Spirit, which he received in the font, he becomes a partaker of the Divine nature: then even after the resurrection from the dead he is found to be a joint heir with Christ (Rom. 8:17). So, with the voice of a preacher, I cry: come, all tribes of languages, to the immortality bestowed in baptism. I bring good news of life to you who sit in the darkness of ignorance. Come from slavery to freedom, from tyranny to kingdom, from corruption to incorruption. But how do you say we will arrive? How? - Water and the Holy Spirit. This water, united with the Spirit, is the same water with which paradise is irrigated, the earth is fattened, plants vegetate, animals give birth - in a word, with which a reborn man is revived, in which Christ was baptized, on which the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove. This is the same Spirit who originally hovered over the waters (Gen. 1:2), by which the world moves, creation is preserved and everything is enlivened, - who acted in the prophets (Acts 10:43), descended on Christ (Matthew 3:16). This is the Spirit who was given to the apostles in the form of tongues of fire (Acts 2:3). This is the Spirit that David desired when he said: Take not thy Holy Spirit from me (Psalm 50:13). Gabriel also announced this Spirit to the Blessed Virgin: The Holy Spirit will come upon You, and the power of the Most High will overshadow You (Luke 1:35). By this Spirit, Saint Peter spoke this blessed word: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16). By this Spirit the stone of the Church was established (Matthew 16:18). This Comforter Spirit (John 14:26) is sent to you for the purpose of showing you that you are a child of God. So come on, man; be reborn so that you may be adopted as sons by God. But you say: “how”? – If you do not commit adultery, commit murder, or serve idols; if you are not overcome by pleasures, if the passion of pride does not dominate you; if you destroy the uncleanness in yourself and cast off the burden of sin; if you put off all the armor of the devil and put on the armor of faith, as Isaiah says: wash yourself,... seek judgment, deliver the wronged, judge the orphan, and justify the widow. And come, and let us be exhausted, says the Lord. And though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them as white as snow; but if they are as scarlet, I will make them as white as wool. And if you are willing and listen to Me, you will destroy the goodness of the earth (Isa. 1:16). “You see, beloved, how the Prophet predicted the cleansing power of baptism. He who enters with faith into this bath of regeneration, denies Satan and is united with Christ, rejects the enemy, and confesses Christ as his God, is put off from slavery and put on as sons. He returns from the baptismal font - bright as the sun, shining with the rays of truth, and what is most important - he returns as a son of God and a joint heir of Christ. To Him be glory and power with His All-Holy, good and life-giving Spirit, now and ever and to all ages of ages. Amen 89. Curs. Compl. Patrolog. Migne, series graeca. tom X; compare created St. Hippolyta, bishop. Rimsky, in Russian. translation Ed. Kazansk Spirits. Academician 1899 Kazan. Vol. II, pp. 123–130; Christ. Read 1835, part 1, pp. 8–22. You might be interested in: