Слово 55

(1) About those who participate in the grace of the Holy Spirit. - (2) And that he who loves human glory will not receive any benefit from other virtues, even if he corrects them all. 1. If those who stand before the earthly king are happy about this, and just as they themselves regard it as great glory and honor and boast about it, so they are praised and pleased by others for this, then how much more do we, who have become warriors of the Heavenly King and have taken upon ourselves to serve Him, have a duty to rejoice and be glad that we have been counted worthy to be numbered among His servants and are called to work for the glory of His name! If we are ever worthy to behold His face and become one of those standing before Him, then what praise and what satisfaction does this not exceed? But if anyone else becomes His faithful friend and is honored to hear His conversation and the voice of His rulers, then what human mind and what language can depict the greatness of such glory and such dignity? If the blessings prepared by God for those who love Him, which the eye has not seen, which the ear has not heard of, and which have not entered the heart of man, are impossible for the human mind to understand, because they are above all visible blessings, then it is even more inconceivable that above them there is God, who prepared them. But those who were worthy to see Him, stand before Him and converse with Him, and became fellows and partakers of His Divinity and glory, are, of course, above those blessings that were prepared for them from God, since they received into themselves the Lord Himself, who prepared such blessings. That such people have existed and exist to this day, I do not say after death, but also in this present life, is confirmed by all Divine Scripture, all the saints testify to this, confirming this with their own lives, and among them is blessed Simeon the Studite (whom we commemorate today). Those who glorify the saints in words of praise about them also testify to this. This reverend father of ours, Simeon, shone so much with a godly life that in the height of his virtues and his super-powerful deeds he surpassed not only those who lived in his time, but also many of our ancient and God-bearing fathers. Therefore, he became worthy of many praises and greatness, and is glorified and pleased by us, as much as we can. The praise and blessing of the saints consist of two things - the Orthodox faith and virtuous life, and the third - the gifts of the All-Holy Spirit. The first two - faith and works - will be followed by the third - gifts. When someone lives godly with Orthodox wisdom and is blessed and glorified by God with the grace of the Holy Spirit, then he receives praise and satisfaction from the entire Church of the faithful and from all its teachers. But if someone does not have infallible faith and good deeds, it is in no way possible for the grace of the Holy and worshiped Spirit to descend upon him. If the grace of the Holy Spirit does not enter into any person so as to dwell in him clearly and knowingly, then such a person should in no way be called a spiritual person. How can one who has not become spiritual be a saint? And whoever did not become a saint, for what other cause or for what feat should he become blessed? Blessed is God alone, and the one who does not partake of God, or, better said, who does not have God in himself, how will he be blessed? It seems to me that this cannot possibly happen. How can the sun without light be called the sun? And a person who does not have the Holy Spirit, how can he be called a saint? The Lord said: Be holy, for I am holy (Lev.19:2). By this He encourages us, existing sinners, to imitate Him as much as possible through good deeds and in some way says to us: flee all evil and do all good, practice all virtue and be holy as much as possible if you want to have fellowship with Me. For I am holy, that is, pure and immaculate, and this, that is, purity and immaculateness, is natural in Me. And you will become saints if, by fulfilling My commandments, you cleanse yourself from the filth of your sins and receive from Me the grace of the All-Holy Spirit. This is exactly what the words mean: be holy. A person then becomes holy when he shuns evil and does good, not because he is sanctified by good deeds, for not a single soul will be justified by the works of the law, but because through doing good deeds he is appropriated and made like the Holy God. The words: Be holy, for I am holy, I believe that the Lord said especially to those who have received the grace of the All-Holy Spirit. With them He warns them so that, hoping for the grace of the Holy Spirit, they do not indulge in carelessness and, because of carelessness, do not return again to bad deeds, as if saying: you, a spiritual person, who has received the grace of the Holy Spirit and through this grace accepted Me, do not indulge in inaction and carelessness, for inaction gives rise to wickedness (self-indulgence), and from wickedness all kinds of evil are born. So, remain holy through the unceasing fulfillment of My commandments, if you want Me to always be in you and with you, and you in Me and with Me. Since our mind is ever-moving and cannot remain completely inactive, it must be brought into care and zeal for the fulfillment of the commandments of Christ. Human life is surrounded by worries and cares, and there is no way to completely escape from all of them, although many have strived with all their might to succeed in this. Man was created this way in the beginning, as it seems, for Adam in Paradise received the commandment to do and keep. Consequently, it is natural for us to do good deeds, and those who indulge in inaction and laziness, no matter how spiritual and holy they may have been, plunge themselves into unnatural passion (self-indulgence). 2. Just as a source from which water flows, if it stops flowing water, is no longer a source, but a dry hole or ditch, so the one who always cleanses himself by doing the commandments of Christ, if, after he has been cleansed and sanctified by God, he diminishes a little in doing the commandments, he will immediately diminish in proportion to this in his conscience. Whoever, as a result, consciously enslaves himself to any sin, even just one, completely loses his very purity, just as a vessel full of clean water becomes completely defiled even from a small amount of feces. Sin here I mean not that which is committed by the body, but any passionate attraction that occurs invisibly in the soul, with which the soul is associated. And do not allow yourself, my brothers, not to believe my word, but know that even if we corrected every virtue and did not leave a single commandment of Christ, neither great nor small, even if we performed miracles, but if then we love only one human glory and seek it, then we will destroy the reward of all our other virtues. For, seeking human glory and preferring it to the glory of God, we are subject to judgment as idolaters, since we serve the creature more than the Creator. But the one who does not seek, but only accepts with joy and self-gratification the glory of this world and, when it is given to him, his heart rejoices over it, will be condemned as a fornicator. Such a person is like a man who, wanting to preserve his virginity, shuns women, does not go to them and does not make acquaintances with them, but when a woman comes to him, he accepts her with joy and is satisfied with the sweetness of mixing. The same thing happens with any other lust and passion. Whether someone indulges in envy, or love of money, or hatred, or any other evil, it is impossible for him to receive the crown of righteousness. For God is righteous and does not allow the unrighteous to have company with them, He is dispassionate and does not draw close to the passionate, He is holy and does not enter into a defiled and evil soul. Evil is everyone who receives into his soul the seed of the evil devil, the thorns and thistles of sin bearing fruit in him, these pre-burnings of the eternal fire of hell. Such are envy, hatred, rancor, anger, conceit, vanity, pride, deceit, suspicion, slander and every other shameful and base passion that defiles the soul, as Christ the Lord says. Let us, brethren, never, through our negligence, accept into our hearts the seed of the evil devil, which bears such tares, but let us always bring to Christ the Lord the fruits of what is sown and cultivated in us by the grace of the Holy Spirit, let us bring sometimes thirty, sometimes sixty, sometimes a hundred, such as: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, mercy, faith, meekness, abstinence. And at the same time, may we feed ourselves with the bread of knowledge and may we grow in virtues, striving to become a perfect man, according to the measure of the age of the fulfillment of Christ, to whom be all glory, honor and worship forever and ever. Amen. You might be interested in: