Слово 33

(1) To those who partake of the Divine Mysteries. - And who receives communion unworthily. 1. As if some noble and rich man, leaving the well-worn and ordinary road and deviating towards a deserted and difficult terrain, fell into the hands of robbers, who, seizing him, took off from him the good clothes that he wore, and dressed him in rags soaked in blood and all kinds of uncleanness, and then, leaving him with them, forced him with them to overeat, drink and do shameful deeds, as well as robbery, like them, and he would find pleasure in overeating, whatever he came across, in heavy drinking and unclean deeds, and over time, having become accustomed to their banditry customs, he completely remained with them, forgetting all his kinship, and his former noble and honest life, for the reason that the love that he had before for honest and pious morals and customs had completely cooled - that The same and even worse suffering is suffered by a Christian who, leaving the path that Christians should follow, deviates into the crossroads of the devil, when that is, say, for example, leaving an honest and hard-working life in order to live his own and be content with a little, he will love life with worldly pleasures, and for this he will begin to use untruth, insult and theft, and then he will reach the unclean and shameful deeds of prodigals. Isn’t it obvious that such a one has fallen into the hands of demons and is naked by them from the grace of holy Baptism? A clear sign that he is naked from the grace of holy Baptism is his own recognition that he cannot in any way stop and cut off his shameful lust and cannot refrain from satisfying it with shameful deeds. And how many such unfortunates do we have, who are all the more unhappy because they do not recognize and do not feel their plight?! Meanwhile, we see that some of them reach such madness that they dare to partake of the most pure Body and priceless Blood of Christ. What shamelessness and self-forgetfulness! Woe to the priest who teaches him the Divine Mysteries, and woe to him who partakes of them. Woe to the one who receives communion, because, receiving communion after shameful deeds not purified by repentance and penances, he falls more and more under the power of the devil, and finally is completely taken over by him; and God completely abandons such a one for his shamelessness and uncleanness, and especially for his shamelessness and insolence, as the Holy Gospel writes about Judas, that as soon as he partook of the bread given to him by Christ the Lord, this divine supper, immediately Satan went down through the bread (John 13:27). Woe to the priest who administers communion to him, who honors the unworthy with communion and gives the most pure Body and the precious Blood of Christ the Savior to one who is not worthy even to cross the threshold of the church of God, with whom it is forbidden for every Christian to eat simple food, as the holy Apostle Paul laid down, saying: if a certain brother is called a fornicator, or a covetous, or an idolater, or a troublemaker, or a drunkard, or a predator, with such is below food (1 Cor. 5:11). You see that truly such a person is not even a brother to Christians, but only calls himself that. He who teaches such a Mystery is righteously subject to condemnation, and for the fact that through this he makes a person who sins by deviating from the right thought and by frivolous negligence, a perfect enemy of God. A priest or spiritual father should not teach such a person the Mysteries, but should move him to repentance with meek and touching words, reminding him of the terrible torments of hell that sinners are sure to experience; I must admonish him and guide him as if he were blind, and take care of him, as if he had gone out of his mind and was suffering from temptation and the violence of the devil, and pray to the Lord to open the ears of his soul and help him at least a little to come to his senses and recognize his wickedness, and again through repentance to return to the midst of the faithful, because such is the unfaithful wickedness. If he had reverence and faith for Christ and confessed in his heart that He is God, not wanting iniquity, in Whom the evil one will not abide, the wicked will abide below His eyes (Ps. 5:5-6), then he would be afraid and beware of partaking of His Most Pure Mysteries with such frivolity, lest the angelic sword invisibly strike him for this. There are many in the world who, for the sake of human shame, so as not to reveal that they are unworthy, dare to approach the Most Pure Mysteries, realizing that they are unworthy; and if someone began to restrain them from such insolence, they would be angry with him and scold him as a difficult person, but they would not come to their senses, they would not be ashamed and do not recognize their evilness, but they would resist in every possible way those who forbid them Holy Communion, and at all costs they would want to receive communion, or, better said, they would want to plunge themselves into ultimate destruction, into hopelessness and God’s rejection. They should listen to the one who forbids them to receive unworthy communion, and thank him, because he delivers them from the greatest misfortune, greater than which there is no and never was, since those who partake unworthily are guilty of the blood of Christ the Lord, that is, they will be condemned along with Judas and the crucifiers of the Lord. And what could be worse and more painful than to fall under the same condemnation as those who crucified the Lord? For such a sinner, it would behoove all the brethren to gather together and with tears pray to God, that He might hand him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, and that his spirit might be saved on the day of the Lord, as the divine Paul says (1 Cor. 5:5). Surrender to Satan for the destruction of the flesh also means that the sinner is punished with various bodily ailments, suffering, wounds and incurable diseases, so that he becomes wise, comes to his senses and repents, and reluctantly, being forced by the suffering of the body, and what he did not want to do, being healthy, he did because of illness and torment of the flesh. For God, when the soul sins, punishes the body so that when it comes to its senses, it repents and is saved. When such a one, having repented and corrected himself, partakes of the Holy Mysteries, then the great shrine of divine communion will reveal in him strength and power, crush sin and cleanse his soul from the inclination and lust that he has towards sin. For just as it is impossible for fire and water to be together in the same vessel, so it is impossible for both the most pure Body of Christ and the abomination of sin to be together in the same Christian. If someone who loves sin and unworthily partakes of the Most Pure Mysteries of the Body and Blood of the Savior is not immediately subjected to intelligible torment, then in every possible way he will not escape eternal torment where there is an everlasting worm and an unquenchable fire. So, if one is not afraid of eternal burning and unbearable torment along with the devil forever and ever, then let him fearlessly receive communion. If he is afraid, then it is better for him, having abstained for some time from communion of the Most Pure Mysteries, to repent, cry before God, work with his strength to change his will and stop his evil sinful habit, and then take communion, without danger to his soul - and Satan will be removed from him, who, living in him, forcibly moved him to debauchery and all uncleanness. For he who loves shameful and placeless deeds, loves them not on his own, but according to the action of Satan, who deceives at first, opening only the door of voluptuous striving for him, so that he puts only his head there, that is, only lays the beginning of sin, but then little by little, with the strengthening of the sinful habit, he enters into it completely, takes possession of all the powers of the soul, rests in his heart, as on a bed, and with his action kindles he has a love for shameful deeds, so that he indulges in them with pleasure, just as those possessed by demons often eat their feces with pleasure and enjoyment. This should be kept in mind by those who, through God’s great love for mankind, through the action of God’s presence, receive some rest from Satan’s desires for sin, in order to come to their senses and resort to Christ, Who alone is able to cast out demons and heal every mental and physical illness. It behooves us to know that there are five classes of people who are forbidden by the Holy Fathers to approach Holy Communion: the first - the catechumens, as not yet baptized; the second - those who were baptized, but who loved shameful and unrighteous deeds, as apostates from the holy life for which they were baptized, such as: fornicators, murderers, covetous people, predators, offenders, proud people, envious people, vindictive people, who, being such, do not feel that they are enemies of God and are in distress, why they do not lament, cry about their sins and do not repent; the third is the possessed, if they blaspheme and defame this divine sacrament; fourth - those who came to their senses and repented, stopped their sinful deeds and confessed, but bear the penance imposed on them to stand outside the church for a certain time; and the fifth - those who have not yet ripened the fruit of repentance, that is, who have not yet reached the decision to devote their whole lives to God and live a pure and impeccable life in Christ. These five classes are obviously unworthy of Holy Communion. He is worthy to partake of the Most Pure Mysteries who is pure and not involved in the sins about which we have spoken. But when one of these worthy people is defiled by some kind of desecration, like a person, then, of course, he too will receive communion unworthily, if he does not wash away with repentance what he has defiled himself with. Thus, he too is poisoned and drinks unworthily, who, being worthy, has not worthily approached the Holy Mysteries. May we be worthy to be and worthily to partake of the Most Pure Mysteries, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory unto the endless ages of ages. Amen. You might be interested in: