Слово 23

(1) People are enslaved to three passions: the love of money, the love of fame and the love of voluptuousness. 1. Every person born into this world is a slave to three passions: the love of money, the love of fame and the love of voluptuousness. This is because he does not know or forgets that this world is a place of condemnation and righteous, but lenient punishment for the first crime of our ancestor Adam, and that death alone is repose from the painful hardships of the world. Why, not seeing death ahead and thinking that the only life there is is the real one, from the very beginning of this life he begins to collect money and things in order to live without poverty and sadness; Having managed to increase his property over time, he wants to be revered and glorified, and at the same time, as soon as he comes to age, he seeks the pleasures of pleasures, but as a sensual, he seeks the sensual, as a visible - visible, as a temporary - temporary. For he who confines himself to the visible will not look into the invisible, just as, on the contrary, he who lives in the invisible will not think of looking at the visible. But everyone born into this visible world, unless taught by someone else, does not know what else exists besides the visible and the invisible; and not only does he not know this invisible, but does not know the visible, does not know that he himself is transitory and temporary, and was not created to remain in this life forever, but is intended for another, future and eternal life, while he is in this world only to be educated, equipped and prepared for that life - the future. We should know that if someone happens to be captivated by these three passions, then, even if he wants to, he cannot free himself from them by himself, but he needs higher help and strength in order to get rid of them, just as a bird, caught in a strong net, cannot free itself from them, no matter how much it beats its wings. These three passions are precisely the nets and snares of the devil, entangled in which a person falls into his power, and if someone dies while enslaved by him, he will go straight to where the devil, who enslaved him through them, goes. For if anyone is overcome, he also has work to do (2 Pet. 2:19). These passions have such great power over us both because we always see their objects before our eyes, and because they seem extremely necessary in this world, and because they delight and with this sweetness attract the desires of a person and, arousing lusts in him, conquer them, and then convince him, defeated by them, to think that for this reason he was born into this world only to enjoy them alone. It happens that someone from the very beginning of life is not carried away by these three passions; however, until the end of his life he cannot maintain himself undefeated by them, but little by little over time he too is conquered, if he does not rush to occupy his heart with something higher and sweeter. For Christians, this is achieved by the fact that they put on in advance the whole armor of God, strong, varied and multi-application, which is Christ Himself, from whose fullness they receive a certain mental power, and thus partake of Him with a soul-giving communion. For those who are baptized into Christ put on Christ and begin to live by His power. He who preserves this grace is able to remain unenslaved by those three passions, for other true blessings for which he was born into this world are revealed to him, and not only are they manifest, but he also tastes them and enjoys them with such sweetness that the blessings of this world do not and cannot deliver. If any Christian happens to become carried away by these passions and become enslaved to them, he must again resort to Christ the Lord and beg Him; it is necessary to present intercessors for oneself, seeking not only that these sins be forgiven, but moreover, to get rid of slavery to these passions, since he himself, even if he wanted to, cannot free himself from them. At the same time, as soon as he is freed from these passions, he will be given confirmation that all his sins committed because of them have been forgiven him, and he will receive strength so as not to fall into such sins again. Such is the power of our faith, such is the law of life in Christ Jesus! And this is so immutable that the Council of Carthage, in its 125th canon, decreed: “Whoever says that the grace of God, by which one is justified in Jesus Christ our Lord, is valid only for the remission of sins already committed, and does not give help beyond that, so that no other sins are committed, let him be anathema.” What kind of slavery is this and what is the tyranny of these three passions? This is some kind of diabolical force, secretive, imperceptibly acting, which brings the soul into such a state that it suffers from these three passions, and meanwhile thinks that they are good, they calm it and make it happy, and save it from grief and sadness. She herself is not content to understand the devil’s deception hidden here unless she is enlightened from above by God. The same thing happens to her as to another pregnant woman who wants to eat some stinking and disgusting food, which she alone finds tasty and pleasant. For the devil tries in every possible way so that it will not be recognized that he does everything secretly and through these three he seduces and deceives a person who has become infected with them, but who does not know, however, the sacraments of Christianity. The sacrament of Christianity is this, that the mental power of the Divinity of Christ, or Divine grace, enters into the baptized souls, for the sake of faith, and not for good deeds, and produces such a change in them that they no longer have love for wealth, or for glory, or for pleasures, showing thereby that if they loved them before, it was not of themselves, but through the deception and action of the devil. In those souls that are enslaved to these passions after Baptism, it is impossible for such grace of God to enter again except through true repentance, sincere confession, many tears and sighs from the depths of the soul. All this again returns the grace of God to the souls from which it had withdrawn, as St. Gregory of Nyssa says: “a fallen tear is equivalent to a font, and painful sighing returns *** grace that has withdrawn for a while.” Then the evil and unclean demons, producing in souls this senseless and wordless love for those three passions, drawing them into it and holding it in it, unable to tolerate the mental grace of the All-Holy Spirit, again given to souls through the sacrament of repentance, flee, and the Christian in practice learns the freedom that Christ the Lord gives to those who run to Him and seek His help, and never ceases to give thanks. His Savior, who was pleased to fulfill His promise on him: if the Son frees you, you will be free indeed (John 8:36). Having received such freedom of Christ and having partaken of the Divine Mysteries of His Body and Blood, he then becomes one with the Lord; and having been sanctified in this way, if he has money, he has it as if he did not have it, because he will begin to regard it as what it is, that is, the dust of the earth, and if he has glory, then he has it as if he did not have it, and if he has a wife, he has it as if he did not have it, as the Apostle inspires: let those who have wives, as if they did not have... and those who demand this world, as if they do not require ( 1 Cor.7:29, 31). And one more thing: let me not boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom the world was crucified, and to the world (Gal. 6:14). Having said: to whom the world was crucified, the Apostle shows that if the Lord had not come, become man and sacrificed Himself for us, and if He had not deigned to arrange it in such a way that everyone who believes in Him, filled with sanctification through the acceptance of His grace, would be freed from the bonds of the world, then no one would ever be freed from them, that is, would not be freed from those three passions - for they are the bonds of the world - and all would they perished, for there is no other way to salvation and there cannot be. He who has not experienced what we have said, does not know it and does not want to know it, considers himself a believer in Christ in vain and bears the name of Christian in vain. Christ benefits him for nothing (Gal.5:2). For in this case he sins even worse and gives greater power over himself to the devil so that he can overcome him. His fast is in vain, because even during it sinful passions rise against him and even suppress him. And when he sings or prays, the devil, with greater impudence and violence, seizes his mind from standing before God, since he usually stands before God without due attention, without fear and reverence, and makes him think about empty, and often shameful things, and listen to them more than to the prayers pronounced by his lips. Again, if he gives alms, it goes to waste. Whoever gives alms, but at the same time does not see that his soul is allowed, has peace and freedom from the bonds of love of money, love of glory and lust, his alms are obviously fruitless, and he wastes what he gives out. He who truly gives alms receives from God great mercy for it, which is the health of the soul; What else is the health of the soul if not freedom and peace from those three plagues? And the kingdom of heaven from the souls departing from this life and moving there is only accepted by those who turn out to be healthy. The healing center for our weakened and painful nature is built here on earth, and the roots (medical) of the kingdom of heaven are located here on earth. But the physician, the doctor, and the medicine are all Christ the Lord. Why, if here, still in this life, Christ does not enter the soul and reign in it, then it will not recover, and there is no hope of salvation for it; the entrance to the kingdom of heaven is sealed for it. A person must here on earth be born again from Divine grace, and then he will be able to see the kingdom of God. He who does not see the kingdom of heaven in himself, that is, does not see that God reigns in him, has not yet been born again from Divine grace, and he must strive in every possible way to be born again, so that he may see the kingdom of God still here on earth. Look also at how different the manifestation of the dominion of these three tyrannical passions is: the love of money, the love of fame and the love of voluptuousness. For among people there are some who love money, some who love glory, and some who love voluptuousness, and no one can be found who alone has all these passions to a superlative degree, but usually everyone possesses predominantly one of them, while at the same time having a bit of the other two. But this does not prevent him, however, from gratifying one of his passions and sacrificing others to it. So a lover of money, for the sake of increasing his acquisitions, despises both fame and pleasure: he despises glory when, putting shame and disgrace at nothing, he does not hesitate to benefit from what is shameful and despised by everyone, and, moreover, in the most shameless way; he despises pleasures so as not to rely on them for money, over which he trembles. A lover of glory despises both money and pleasures for the sake of fame: he squanders money indiscriminately, only so that he can be glorified and praised, and again denies himself pleasures, so as not to be disgraced and not fall under condemnation and dishonor. A sensualist for pleasure despises both money and fame: he spends money fornicatingly on the joys and pleasures of voluptuousness; he willingly tramples on glory and honor, just to satisfy shameful lust and taste this base sweetness, no matter how dishonorable deeds this may be achieved. Note that not one of these three wants to turn away from the passion that possesses him, to repent and correct himself, whether you begin to admonish him with the fear of eternal torment, or present him with the consolation of the kingdom of heaven - he laughs at hell and despises the kingdom of heaven. And what else happens? The lover of money laughs at the lover of fame and the lover of sensibility: the lover of fame because he does not undertake to profit from low and dishonest things, the lover of sensibility because he squanders his property and wealth on empty and fleeting pleasures. The lover of glory makes fun of the lover of money and the lover of sensibility: the lover of money - for the fact that he indiscriminately undertakes to benefit from low and dishonorable things, the lover of sensibility - for the fact that he throws himself face down in the dirt because of momentary pleasure and covers himself with dishonor. The lover of voluptuousness makes fun of the lover of fame and the lover of money: the lover of glory - because, because of empty glory, so that the shadow of some dishonor does not fall on him, he denies himself pleasure and torments himself with chastity, the lover of money - because he torments himself with abstinence and is content with little, so as not to spend useless money. So everyone, being possessed by his own demon, mercilessly condemns others, not paying attention to his passion, in order to be condemned to greater torment for these two reasons - both for indulging in his passion, and for condemning others when he himself is guilty of the same. So, let us pray to Christ the Lord, our only hope, that He will deliver us from these three plagues and sanctify our feelings, so that, listening to divine words, we learn to look at things dispassionately and, gathering together, talk about what leads to repentance and contrition, and not to blasphemy of others and condemnation. For if we are not healed from these mental illnesses, then faith in us is in vain, piety is in vain, fasting, prayer and alms are in vain. All this happens for the health of our soul. If our soul remains unhealthy, then what is all this for? And what kind of faith do we have in Christ? For whoever believes in Christ as he should has eternal life within himself, which is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Whoever believes in Christ, but does not have eternal life within himself, his faith is vain and useless. May such a one seek to receive eternal life, that is, Divine grace, so that it may be known that he truly believes in Christ. He who does not have the grace of Christ is of part of the devil, as an infidel, because he is not of part of Christ. For just as eternal life, that is, Divine grace, is known from faith, so faith is known from the perception of eternal life. Which may we also be worthy to receive here - in this life, so that we may participate in it forever and ever, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom we believe. Amen. In Greek: draws in again, like a breather draws air. You might be interested in: