Слово 25

(1) About a passionate, unfaithful and crafty or evil mood. – (2) What is the union of God with the sons of light, and how does it happen? 1. Darkness, my brothers, never has any communication with light, but they are opposite. In the beginning, when God said: let there be light, then as soon as the light appeared, the darkness immediately disappeared; and again, as soon as the light disappears, darkness immediately appears. Likewise, unbelief is the opposite of faith, ignorance is the opposite of knowledge, hatred is the opposite of love. Adam all the time, as he kept the faith that he had in God, was in paradise and in immortal life. But when he was corrupted by the charms of the enemy of the human race - the devil and fell into unbelief, he was condemned to death and expelled from paradise - and instead of divine and spiritual knowledge, he accepted carnal and passionate knowledge. For when the intelligent eyes of his soul, which are the mind and thought, were darkened, then he began to see with his fleshly eyes and began to look passionately at what was visible. If he had not fallen away from the knowledge and contemplation of God, he would not have fallen into this passionate knowledge, which is complete ignorance of true good. Those who are in the ancestral darkness with which they were born, that is, in this carnal and passionate knowledge, and do not want to ascend in God-given ways to the vision of the intelligent Light, that is, to the divine knowledge from which Adam fell, consider as enemies and enemies those who are again born spiritually from this intelligent Light and conduct conversations about the affairs of the world, because such speeches greatly offend them and hurt. Just as a ray of the sun, entering through some opening into a dark house, somehow strikes that darkness as if with an arrow and disperses it, so the words of a God-enlightened spiritual and reverend man are like a two-edged sword for the heart of a carnal man, causing him pain and torment and inciting him to contradiction and hatred towards the one who speaks them, due to the ignorance and unbelief of the one who hears them. If one of these still has a high opinion of himself and considers himself to be knowledgeable, although he truly does not know anything properly, then he will drive away the Angel, even if he came down to him from heaven. Even if he sees an Apostle, even a prophet, he turns away from him as someone who is mistaken and misleading others. Oh, what madness! A blind man considers the one who sees to be blind, and truly a false speaker considers the words of a spiritual and divine man to be false. A blind man, when someone tells him at night that the sun is not shining now, or in the middle of the day that it is not night now, does not believe him, but thinks that he is being deceived or is laughing at him, and no matter how much you explain to him that the day is light and the night is dark, as it really is, he cannot understand him, because he is blind and sees nothing. Likewise, those who are in the darkness of passions, whose minds are darkened by ignorance of spiritual things - or, frankly speaking, those who do not have the mind of Christ (and I call the mind of Christ the Spirit of Christ, that is, the grace of the All-Holy Spirit, enlightening and giving spiritual divine knowledge), consider the one who has the mind of Christ foolish, and the one who does not have the mind of Christ, that is, the divine knowledge and hidden wisdom, is considered sane, because he has human knowledge and external wisdom. The prophet David speaks well of such people: together the foolish and the foolish will perish (Ps. 48:11). Such people distort and misinterpret all Divine Scripture according to their lusts and in some way corrupt it with their passions, although in this case it is not the Divine Scripture that is corrupted, but they themselves, the misinterpreters of it, are corrupted. So, these, who do not have a right judgment about things, but are clouded by passions and, out of pride, do not accept instructions from others, how is it possible, tell me, so that they themselves comprehend and understand the divine and spiritual? Just as a blind person who does not see the light of the sun cannot read writings illuminated by the light, so one who is blind in mind and does not have the mind of Christ cannot in any way understand and understand the things that are in the light of Christ, and even if he re-read what is written about them in the Divine Scriptures many times, it is impossible, as I think, for him to see anything and understand anything in the spiritual, immaterial and luminous, being himself reified and darkened. - And don’t let any of them deceive you! 2. God is light and communicates His lordship to those with whom He unites as they are purified. And then the extinguished lamp of the soul, that is, the darkened mind, recognizes that it has been lit and illuminated because the divine fire has embraced it. Oh miracle! Man is united with God spiritually and physically, because his soul is not separated from his mind, nor his body from his soul. Since God enters into unity with the whole person, that is, with his soul and body, then this one too becomes threefold, as if trinitarian by grace, from body, soul and the Divine Spirit, from Whom he received grace. Then what was said by the prophet king David is fulfilled: Az reh: you are gods by nature and sons of the Most High (Ps. 82:6). Sons of the Most High, in the image, that is, of the Most High and in the likeness, since they were honored to be the offspring of God from the Divine Spirit. To such, Christ appropriately said and always says: “Be in Me, that you may bear much fruit” (John 15:4–5), calling many people many fruits, through whom they find salvation. And he also says: “If the rod is not on the vine, it dries up and is thrown into the fire. Be ye therefore in Me, and I in you” (John 15:6,4). And that Christ abides in us and we in Him, this He Himself teaches when He says: As You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us (John 17:21). And, wanting to present this more fully, he again takes the floor and says: I am in them, and You are in Me, that they may be perfect in one (John 17:23). To further convince those who listened, he also says this: And I have given the glory that you have given to me, that you may give them one: that they may be one, as we are one... that the world may understand that... you have loved them, as you have loved me (John 17:22,23). It is now obvious that just as the Father by nature abides in the Son and the Son in the Father, so those who, having truly believed, were born again of the Holy Spirit and became brothers of Christ and God by His gift and sons of God, abide in God and God in them, by grace. Those who have not become such and have not been completely changed in action, in mind and in contemplation, such as these, are not ashamed to say that they are Christians? How dare they open their mouths and proclaim the hidden secrets of God without shame? How are they not ashamed to put themselves among the true Christians and spirit-bearing men, having nothing spiritual in themselves, and not only zeal, but also having no thought about it? How do some of these not tremble to enter the ranks of diaconate and priesthood and minister the most pure Body and Blood of the Lord? I'm truly perplexed. - Of course, blindness of mind and the accompanying insensibility and ignorance, and the conceit born from them, cause such people to trample underfoot, like dust, true gold and a valuable stone, our Lord Jesus Christ. But woe to them for this terrible audacity of theirs, by which they dare to ascend to such levels, with such great fear of God and neglect of divine things, as if small and insignificant - and this only in order to appear superior to others. And who will call them Christians after this? We said this for those who say that they know all this, and think about themselves that they mean something, when they mean nothing, and, as in the picture, we presented to them in a real word what true Christians are, so that they compare themselves with this prototype and know how far they are from true Christians. - As for you, servants of Christ, who love to learn and always have an ear for what is prepared, so that you may hear, then the Lord of all Christ Himself in the Holy Gospel calls to you, saying: until you have light, flow towards the light, so that the darkness does not have you (John 12:35), flow in repentance, flow in the paths of the commandments of Christ, flow while the time of shining lasts of this light, before the night of death overtakes you and you are sent into eternal darkness. Flow, seek, push, so that the door of the kingdom of heaven will be opened for you, and you will enter into it, having found it within yourself, as the Lord says: the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21). For those who die before they acquire the kingdom of heaven, where and when will they find it, when they go to where there is eternal darkness? - So, here, in this life, we are commanded to seek him and find him, pushing him through the doors through repentance and tears. And if we do this, Christ promises to grant us this kingdom, and if we do not do this, we do not listen to our Lord Christ and do not strive, while we are still in this life, to receive from Him the kingdom of heaven within ourselves, then when we go there, we will hear from Christ such words that He will righteously tell us: why are you looking here for what you did not want to take when I gave it to you in my time and in my place? Have I not begged you many times: work a little, and I will give you the kingdom of heaven, but you did not want it and despised it, preferring earthly and corruptible things to it? - Now what are you looking for? By what deeds can you acquire it here, from this hour onwards, when now is not the time of doing, but the time of reward? For this reason, I ask you, my brethren, let us keep the commandments of Christ with all readiness and with all diligence, so that we may be worthy of both life and the eternal kingdom and not hear instead, here in this life, such a sentence: whoever does not believe in the Son will not see the life, but the wrath of God abides on him (John 3:36), and in the future such a sentence: we do not know you from where you are, depart from Me (Luke 13:27); but hear a comforting voice: come, blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34). By fulfilling My commandments you nourished, gave drink and gave rest to Me, who hungered, thirsted and sought your salvation, and you came to Me, cleansing your hearts from all filthiness and impurity of sin. Now enjoy My blessings, the inexpressible pleasure in which is eternal and immortal life, which may we all receive through the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory and power with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. You might be interested in: