Беседа на праздник Святого Богоявления. Св. Иоанна Златоустого, архиепископа Константинопольского

The source of the Gospel teachings has open streams, and if someone, experiencing thirst, drinks from this source, he receives life for himself - he receives life according to the spirit and the law of the commandments, experiencing joy more pleasant than wine. The sweetness of spiritual words knows no satiety, because it delights not the belly, but the heart, and leads the thoughts of the pious to Divine love. You just heard in the Gospel how John the Baptist called out to the Jewish people who had gathered from everywhere and were baptized: for I baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is strong unto me (Matthew 3:11). Coming for me: according to, that is, in relation to the time of birth. The one who comes for me is the one who is strong for me. He is not worthy to carry the boots. What kind of boots did the Lord wear that should have been worn, since John said: I am not worthy to carry boots? Here the boots speak of the sacraments of the economy, because the incarnation of the Lord is called boots. And the witness of this is the Lord, who proclaims through the Prophet: I will burn My boot on Idumea (Psalm 59:10). Therefore, the incarnation of the Lord was known as the footstool, since it appeared on earth and embraced the borders of the earth. Explaining this from both sides, the Prophet exclaimed: exalt the Lord our God, and worship His footstool (Psalm 99:5). For I baptize you with water for repentance: but he who comes after me, who is mighty for me, is not worthy to carry boots, he who baptizes you with the Holy Spirit and fire. He has a spade in His hand, and He will gather His wheat into the barn, and He will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire (Matthew 3:11–12). When John proclaimed this and preached loudly about the Lord, stronger than he, those who were baptized by him opposed John, saying: “Prophet, do you have anyone stronger than you? Why do you slander yourself? You are the son of the great Zechariah, you are both desirable to people and terrible to wild animals. Do you really have anyone stronger than you? What are you? you speak empty words? There is no one stronger than you. You were born according to the promise, you were revealed in the altar, you loosed the tongue of him who gave birth to you, you are called John, which signifies the grace of God. So, why do you slander yourself? John, as a servant who testified in favor of the Master, not allowing himself to be misappropriated, answered loudly to the opposing people, saying: “You say what you do not know; I testify to what I know. The mighty one comes to me.” I am for His sake, He is not for my sake; I am from the barren, He is from the Virgin; I am a warrior, He is a King; I am the forerunner, He is Heavenly; I received the Spirit on loan, He gives life to all people; I am the messenger of repentance, He is the Giver of sonhood; I baptize you with water, purifying you like vessels contaminated with sins - He will offer the ointment of grace. The one you baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire, not burning, but sanctifying. I set in motion the language of exhortation. He carries the shovel of justice and will carry the righteous like ripe bread into the heavenly granary, and will consign sinners and the unrepentant to unquenchable fire like chaff. The one coming for me is stronger than me. Expect this to come to you, receive perfect baptism from Him; I am the lamp in some part, and He is the Sun everywhere. The one coming for me is stronger than me. When John preached this and similar things, the crowds of people who had been baptized by him waited, reasoning with each other and saying: “Let us be patient and see the kingdom or splendor that is to come; John has burdened our ears with amazing words; he says that his mighty one will appear, bearing a shovel and fire and the Spirit.” At the same time, when crowds of people were impatiently awaiting the appearance of the worldly kingdom, John saw that the Lord of all and God was coming; and behold, the Lord in human form, alone, poor, in one tunic, like one of all people, having reached the Jordan, bowed his head before John, wanting to receive baptism from him. So, beyond strong expectation, noticing Christ coming in this humiliated form, John the Baptist was confused, perplexed and amazed; I looked around for a place to escape, wanting to hide from Him, but I did not find it, because I was restrained and stopped by an invisible hand; he cried out to the Lord who was holding him, saying: I demand to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me (Matt. 3:14)? "What are you doing, Lord? Why are you handing me over to the crowds of people to die? Now the crowds of people will stone me, as if I told a lie; I announced great things about you, and you appeared as a poor and stranger. What are you doing, Lord? And above is the Son of the King, and below is the Son of the King, and there is no royal scepter at all? Show your right hand; why did you appear alone and poor? Where is the multitude of Your angels? Where is the legion of archangels? Where are the six-winged cherubs? Where is the fire? You glorified Moses, showed a bright cloud, produced a pillar of fire so that it would go before him, illuminated his face with angelic glory, clothed the servant with such great glory; and You, Lord, appearing in the form of an ordinary person, bow Your head before me? Look up. You are the Head of all; show who you are; You have discovered the lowly, show also the high; baptize those present, and first of all, me. What will happen if I want to baptize You? The Jordan will not endure; he recognized You, the Creator, turned his waves back, does not flow forward with his usual run, rejects the usual order. The elements will recognize, and won’t I recognize? If you want to be baptized, then baptize yourself. I do not stretch out my hands: they refuse to unite, they become numb, they contract; What they have not learned to hold, they do not accept. I demand to be baptized by You, and are You coming to Me? I know You who You are, and You know that I know You. Why do you hide from me, who knows You? Being bound in my mother’s womb and not finding a way out before a certain time, I only contemplated You - carried by She Whom You carry; I recognized You, and, not being able to say anything myself, using the lips of my mother, I exclaimed through her, speaking my words: where do I get this from, so that the Mother of my Lord may come to me (Luke 1:43)? I wasn’t deceived there, and won’t I recognize it here? “I demand to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” The Lord, as soon as he heard, said to him: “Leave it now, for it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:15). Leave now: you do not know what you are saying; I know what I am doing. You want the glory of My Divinity to be revealed to you; the present time does not allow: everything is wonderful in its time. You speak the truth, but they do not believe you, because the Jewish people are unfaithful; did you not call the Jews are brood of vipers (Matthew 23:33)? Therefore, how do you want me to be open to them? They do not accept your testimony about me: because of their suspicion, they are suspicious of your words that you are the Forerunner. Leave them now, for it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. to him: “Just as I was circumcised to fulfill the law, so I am baptized to confirm grace.” If I fulfill part and leave part unattended, then I leave the economy incomplete; I must fulfill everything so that after this Paul writes: Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Rom. 10:4). Leave it now, for it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Leave, John, so that the nature of water receives sanctification: I must fulfill everything. If I do not receive baptism from you, then the Tsar will not want to be baptized by a poor priest. Leave now, leave so that the Father from above will exclaim: This is My beloved Son (Matthew 3:17), so that the Jews will not begin to call Me the son of a carpenter, but the Heavenly Father. Leave now; do not resist Adam: I am the second Adam, who wants to wash away the impurity of his sins; if I am baptized, how will that Adam be cleansed? After all, that’s why I was baptized for thirty years, having waited for the age of that Adam, so that through what was characteristic of him, I could establish Mine. Leave now, so that what was spoken by the mouth of the Prophet may be fulfilled: the voice of the Lord is upon the waters” (Psalm 28:3). And one could see a terrible sight. Trembling John touched the head of the Lord; and when the heavens opened from above, the angels looked at what had happened: the grace of the Spirit, descending in the form of a dove on the head of the Lord, pushed away the right hand of John. And there stood a multitude of people, very perplexed and saying to each other: “Who is this?” Then, as if answering the crowds of people who were inquiring from each other about who this was, the Father exclaimed, saying: This is My beloved Son, in Him I am well pleased (Matthew 3:17): Listen to Him. The Parent exclaims about His tender love for the Son, so that you understand the Creator's intentions regarding the world, since He gave such a Son for such slaves, the Tenderly Loved for the hated, the Sinless for sinners, the Glorious for the inglorious. So, let us glorify the Lord who appeared with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen 98. See the works of St. Chrysostom in Russian translation, volume II. St. Petersburg. 1896, countries. 871–875. In the publication Migne, this conversation is classified as spuria. You might be interested in: