11. Побуждение любить Господа, и чем свидетельствуется сия любовь

How wonderful these Myrrh-Bearing wives are! How strongly did they believe in Christ the Savior and how strongly did they cleave to Him? It was not enough for them to accompany Him in their country, in Galilee; They follow Him to Jerusalem, and here they do not leave Him, even carrying the cross, crucified and laid in the tomb. Let them see Him there, surrounded by the glory of miracles. He healed, resurrected, cast out demons and commanded the elements. It would be amazing if they did not strive to follow Him. Otherwise, here He is abandoned by everyone, humiliated, wounded, crucified, placed in a tomb; - but they all do not leave Him, and very early in the morning on Saturday, despising all fear, they go to the tomb and anoint the body of their beloved, like God, Jesus. Here is fidelity even to the grave and here is constancy, unshakable by any vicissitudes! Where did they, the weak, get such strength?! - In unfeigned love for the Lord. – Love is as strong as death. She always believes, always hopes, always remains devoted - and for no outside reason will she agree to break her union with her beloved. His fortified St. the wives did exactly that in advance. that later the Apostles inspired everyone: “Who will separate us from the love of God? Whether tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or trouble, or sword,” is nothing (Rom. 8:35). Last time in the words of the Lord: do not be unfaithful, but faithful, I invited you to be faithful to the Lord. Now, in such a striking example of fidelity, we are shown the most effective means of this in love. – So, if you want to be forever faithful to the Lord, love the Lord. - Once you love, there will be nothing for you to talk about fidelity: for the distinctive property of love is constancy in fidelity to the beloved. But, brothers, when I say to you: love the Lord, I myself hesitate in thought, fearing that you will confront me with reproach for my lack of trust in you; for you can ask anything: to whom are you saying this: “Love the Lord!” Don’t we know what our Lord is for us, and what we are without Him? Don’t we know that we were sheep of error, and He, like the good shepherd, sought us out and, taking us on His shoulder, brought us to His heavenly Father (Luke 15:5)? Don’t we know that we were travelers, turned into robbers, robbed and mortally wounded, but He, having become our neighbor, bowed down to us as we lay, and with the oil of His mercy healed our wounds (Luke 10:30-35)? Don’t we know that we were captives, bound by the bonds of our enemy, and He, strong in strength, bound our enemy, loosed our bonds and returned the captivity of our souls? Don’t we know that we were criminals and apostates, rejected from the face of God, and He interceded for us before the court of God and became a mediator, intercessor and reconciliator between us and God? Don’t we know that we were debtors who could not pay our debt, and had to pay it with eternal torment, but He took our debt upon Himself and paid everything in full for us with the truth of God? And He did all this for us not through anyone else, but by Himself. With His own face He wandered across the earth to seek us, the lost. He himself was bound, and with his own bonds he tore our bonds apart. He himself was wounded, and with his own wound he healed us who were wounded. He paid our debt not with silver and gold, but with His honest blood. For the sake of us who died, He Himself died on the tree of the cross, and by His death put to death our death and with His cross opened for us the door to eternal life and bliss. How can we not love such a Lord?! Righteous is your justification filled with zeal for the Lord, brothers! – And I will say with you: How can one not love our Lord and Savior, who is lovingly worshiped and glorified by the Angels and all the saints? How can one not love Christ Jesus - our justification, our hope, our life, our glory, our helper and intercessor, the conqueror of death, hell and all our enemies? How can we not love such a lofty Benefactor, whose good deeds cannot be adequately described by a man’s word! But, brothers, we do not love only in word, but in deed and truth. For the kingdom of God is not in words, but in power. How can we not love the Lord? this is one question that imposes upon us the obligations of love. But whether we love the Lord is another question, leading to self-examination and self-conscious reasoning. Let us now stand before the court of truth with our deeds in order to see whether there really is love in us, the absence of which in us should be so amazing. - That's how St. Tikhon teaches us to perform this self-examination! (Part 5, pp. 250–ff.). 1) A lover, he says, always wants to be together and inseparably with his beloved. So a friend always wants to be inseparable from his beloved friend, not only in happiness, but also in unhappiness. And if when friends are separated, they get sick, complain and cry; for love does not tolerate separation from the beloved. And although faithful and beloved friends are sometimes separated in body, they remain inseparable in spirit and hearts: for the love of two unites and binds into one. So, whoever loves Christ with his heart always wants to be inseparable with Christ, like Apostle. Paul, who testified that he had a desire to be resolved and be with Christ (Phil. 1:23), or like a bride who cried out in songs of songs: “I am wounded by love” (Song. 5:8). Is this so with us, brothers? 2) The lover always carries his beloved in his heart; for love has its place in the heart, and it is one with the beloved. So the son of his father, and a friend, a dear friend, although absent, embraces him in his heart: for this reason he often remembers him, thinks about him and conducts conversations with others. So, whoever loves Christ, the Son of God, always spiritually embraces and carries Him in his heart, and from here he often remembers Him, reflects and talks about His loving and saving look, birth, life on earth, patience, suffering, death, resurrection, ascension, sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and rejoices about this, and is surprised at this, and with zeal for Him for this with the Father and the Holy. Gives thanks in spirit. Is this so with us, brothers? 3) The lover will follow and imitate the character of his beloved. True friendship cannot exist as between the good and those of equal rights. There is no message for the humble with the proud, the sober with the drunkard, the chaste with the unclean, the merciful with the hard-hearted and predatory. So the one who loves Christ strives to follow His most good and Divine morals: he is humble and patient, and sincere, merciful and compassionate - for the sole sake of the fact that Christ is such - and has such morals and virtues. 4) A lover thinks the same about everything with his beloved, and not only thinks the same, but also his words and turns of speech assimilates, and considers it an honor and pleasure for himself to confirm his word with his word and to justify his thought with his thought: - so the one who loves Christ with the mind of Christ thinks about everything, and talks about everything in the word of the Gospel, and one firmly answers all questions: so Christ the Lord Himself said and so commanded us all to speak and think. - Ask Him: why do you think that God, one in essence, is threefold in persons, - he will answer: that’s what Christ the Lord said. – Why do you think that God created the world and provides for it? - That's what Christ said. – Why do you think that our only salvation is in faith in the crucified and risen Lord? That's what Christ said. – Why do you obey the Church so willingly? - So Christ commanded. Why do you accept the sacraments? This is how Christ legitimized. Why do you expect the resurrection and life of the next century? - So Christ assured, and so on. – And he who loves Christ does not allow himself to think about anything differently than as the Lord commanded to think. Is this so, brothers, with us? 5) The lover fulfills the will of his beloved. So the one who loves Christ agrees with His holy will in everything. “He who loves Me keeps My commandments,” says the Lord Himself. The lover of the beloved is careful not to offend. Thus, one who loves Christ the Lord avoids all sin for the sole reason that it offends Christ. A lover regrets when he offends his beloved in some way; So he who loves Christ, when he sins in any way against Him, laments, regrets, reproaches himself and with humility and ardent confession of his sin falls humbly before Him and considers himself worthy of any punishment. The lover loves the one whom the beloved loves. So a Christian who loves Christ loves every person for Christ's sake. – The lover does not love what the beloved does not love. Thus, a loving Christian does not love the world, nor those in the world, for the loves of the world are enmity to God. True love reaches such a degree that the lover does not refuse to die for his beloved. Likewise, it is more pleasant for a true lover of Christ to endure all sorrow and all death than to be separated from Christ and Christ’s love. Is this all true for us, brothers? These are the signs and manifestations of true love for our Lord Jesus Christ! Let's put them on one side, and our words, deeds, thoughts, feelings and dispositions on the other. And let's see if there is correspondence and similarity between the one and the other? Ah, brothers, we wouldn’t have to ask after this with bewilderment: how is it that we lack love, which, it seemed, could not but be in us? Instead of assurance: who will separate us from the love of Christ, we would not have to search with confusion and anxiety: who will teach and who will draw us to Christ the Lord?! Instead of self-justification: how can we not love the Lord, express a humble desire to learn how to love Him with true love! No matter how your conscience responds to this, I will tell you that if anyone really has a lack of love for the Lord, then it is due to nothing other than the presence of love for the world. You cannot love two opposites - the world and Christ. The more love of peace, the less love of Christ; and, conversely, the more love for Christ, the less love of peace. These are two weight parts, one pulling the other. – If you want to increase your love for the Lord, diminish your love for the pernicious world and for everything worldly. And at the same time, begin to walk more faithfully in the manifestations of the love of Christ. Where there is love, there it is manifested by the above actions. - And you can go back. – Even if there is no love yet, begin to walk in the actions of love, and you will acquire love. Start small, it will lead to more, and multiplying acts of love will increase love, for work heats up. - And St. The Myrrh-Bearing Wives did not suddenly become so inflamed with love; but they began with a small disposition, and through deeds of love for the Lord they increased their love for Him to such an extent that even in death they did not want to be separated from Him. And all the work is only until the time when the heart is worthy to taste love for the Lord, although it is not enough. When he tastes it, then he will give everything for this sweetness, sparing nothing and leaving nothing for himself. Taste and see that the Lord is good; you will see that all our good is in Him. And when we see this, where will we go, when in Him we find the source of eternal life! May the Lord grant this to all of us through the prayers of St. wives of the Myrrhbearers. Amen. You might be interested in: