Слово 56

(1) About faith, and to those who say that it is impossible for someone living in the world to achieve perfection in virtues. At the beginning of the word is a multi-useful story. 1. A good deed is to preach the mercy of God before everyone and proclaim to your brethren His great compassion and the ineffable grace that He has for us. I know a man who did not hold long or great fasts, did not perform vigils, did not sleep on the bare ground, nor did he impose other such particularly difficult feats on himself, but, bringing to memory his sins, he recognized his damnation and, having condemned himself, humbled himself - and for this alone the Lord of great compassion saved him, as the divine David says: humble yourself and save me (Ps. 114:5 ). In short, he believed the words of God, and for this faith the Lord accepted him. To acquire humility there are many obstacles that block the path to it, but to believe the words of God there is no obstacle that would put a barrier to this. As soon as we want with all our souls, we will immediately believe. For faith is a gift of the All-Good God, which (gift) He gave us to have naturally (put into our nature), subordinating its use to the autocracy of our will. Why both Scythians and barbarians naturally have faith and believe the words of each other. But in order to show you experimentally the effect of all-soul faith, listen, I will tell you a certain story to confirm what has been said. There lived in Constantinople someone named George, a young man about twenty years old. This is in our days, in our memory. He had a handsome face, and there was something ostentatious in his gait, in his manner of bearing himself and in his manner of address, so that for this reason those who look at one appearance and, not knowing what is hidden inside each one, make various unkind assumptions about him, make erroneous judgments about others. He met a certain monk who lived in one of the Constantinople monasteries, a holy man, and, revealing to him the secrets of his heart, he also said that he greatly longed for the salvation of his soul. The honest elder, having taught him as he should have and given him a small rule to follow, also gave him the book of St. Mark the Ascetic ****, where he writes about the spiritual law. The young man accepted this little book with such love and reverence, as if it had been sent to him from God Himself, and he had strong faith in it, hoping to receive great benefit and great fruit from it. Why did I read it with great diligence and attention and, having read it all, received great benefit from all its chapters. But of all the chapters, three were most imprinted on his heart: the first: “When seeking healing, take care of your conscience (listen to it); and what she tells you, do this, and you will benefit” (“On the Spiritual Law,” Chapter 69 Second: “He who seeks (hopes to receive) the effectiveness of the Holy Spirit before doing the commandments is like a slave bought with money, who, at the same time as he was just bought, is looking for his freedom to be signed along with the payment of money for him” (“About those who think to be justified by works,” Chapter 64 Third: “The one who prays) physically and not yet having a spiritual mind, he is like a blind man who cried out: Son of David, have mercy on me (Mark 10:48). Another one, previously blind, when he received his sight and saw the Lord, no longer called him the Son of David, but confessed Him as the Son of God (John 9:35, 38)” (“On the Spiritual Law,” ch. 13, 14 He liked these three chapters very much, and he believed that through attention to his conscience, as the first chapter inspires, he would receive healing (of spiritual infirmities); through the fulfillment of the commandments he will achieve the effectiveness of the Holy Spirit, as the second chapter teaches, and through the grace of the Holy Spirit he will see intelligently and see the indescribable beauty of the Lord, as the third chapter promises. And he was wounded by love for this beauty and, although he had not yet seen it, he greatly desired it and diligently sought it, in the hope of finally seeing it. Despite all this, however, he did nothing special (as he assured me with an oath), except that every evening he unfailingly corrected the small rule that the elder gave him, and only after correcting it did he go to bed and fall asleep. But over time, his conscience began to tell him: bow a few more times, read some other psalms, say as many times as you can: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me! He willingly obeyed his conscience and, whatever it inspired in him, he did everything without thinking, as if God Himself had commanded him, and he never went to bed so that his conscience denounced him, saying: why didn’t you do this and that? So he always obeyed his conscience, never leaving without doing what she inspired him to do. And every day she added more and more to his usual rule, and in a few days his evening prayer grew into a great succession. During the day he was in the chambers of Patricius alone, and he was in charge of everything necessary for the people who lived there. In the evening, every day he left there and no one knew what he was doing at home. He shed abundant tears from his eyes, and did many, many genuflections, falling face down on the ground; when standing in prayer, he kept his legs together, closely one to the other, and stood motionless; and I read prayers to the Most Holy Theotokos with heartache, sighs and tears; turning to Christ the Lord, he fell at His most pure feet, as if He were physically present in him, and begged Him to have mercy on him, as He once did on the blind, and to grant sight to his spiritual eyes. Since his prayer increased every evening, he finally stood still, praying, until midnight, and yet, during the entire time of prayer, he did not allow himself to be lazy, nor allowed himself to be careless, nor loosened the limbs of his body, nor did he turn his eyes to the sides or upwards to look at anything, but stood motionless, like some kind of pillar or like an incorporeal one. One day, as he stood thus in prayer and said with his mind more than with his lips: God, be merciful to me, a sinner, suddenly a divine illumination descended on him from above and filled the whole place. Then this young man already forgot that he was in the room and under the roof, because he saw one light in all directions, he did not even know whether he was trampling the ground with his feet; He no longer cared about anything worldly, and then nothing came to his mind that is usually on the minds of those who bear human flesh; but he was completely merged with the immaterial light, and it seemed to him that he himself had become light; He then forgot the whole world and was filled with tears and inexpressible joy. Then his mind ascended to heaven, and he saw there another light, brighter than the one that was around him. And it seemed to him, to his amazement, that the above-mentioned saint and equal-angelic elder was standing in front of the world, who gave him that small commandment about prayer and the book of St. Mark the Ascetic. Hearing this from the young man, I thought that the elder’s prayer helped him a lot and that God arranged such a vision to show the young man at what height of virtue the old man stood. When the vision passed and the young man came to his senses, he found himself (as he said afterwards) completely filled with joy and amazement, and cried with all his heart, which was filled with tears and great sweetness. Finally, he went to bed, but immediately the rooster crowed and showed that it was already midnight. A little later the church announced the morning service for Matins, and the young man stood up to read, according to his custom, the order of Matins. So he didn’t sleep at all that night, sleep didn’t even come to his mind. It happened how - the Lord knows, Who did this, according to the message of destinies. The young man did nothing special, except that with strong faith and undoubted hope he always faithfully followed the rule he heard from the elder and the instructions he read in the book. And no one can say that he did this for a test. It didn't even occur to him. He who tests does not have firm faith, but that young man, having put aside every passionate and self-indulgent thought, cared so much about the faithful execution of what his conscience inspired in him, that he no longer had any sympathy for the things of this world, he did not even taste food and drink in sweetness or in abundance. Have you heard, my brothers, what faith in God, evidenced by good deeds, can do? Have you realized that neither youth does any harm, nor does old age benefit when there is no reason and fear of God? Have you realized that neither the world nor everyday affairs interfere with fulfilling the commandments of God when there is zeal and attention? Are silence and withdrawal from the world of no use when laziness and negligence reign? All of us, hearing about David and marveling at him, say: there was one David, and there was no other like him; but look, in this young man something more appeared than in David. David received a testimony from God, was anointed king and prophet, received the Holy Spirit and had many certificates about God. Why, when he sinned and lost the grace of the Holy Spirit and the gift of prophecy, and was alienated from the usual conversation with God, what wonder if, remembering the grace from which he fell, he again sought from God the lost blessings? But this young man had nothing of the kind, but was bound by worldly affairs, cared only about the temporary, and did not have time to think about anything higher than the earth - and yet - marvelous are the destinies of the Lord! - as soon as I heard something small from this holy elder and read those three chapters from Abba Mark, he immediately undoubtedly believed what he heard and wrote and with unshakable hope put it into action - and with the little work that he did as a result, he was honored to raise his mind to heaven, moved to the mercy of the Mother of the Lord, with Her prayers he appeased God and attracted to himself the grace of the Holy Spirit, which with such power It dawned on him that he was worthy to see the light that many wish to see, but few are worthy of. This young man did not hold long fasts, did not sleep on the ground, did not wear a hair shirt, did not leave the world physically, but only spiritually - in his spiritual mood - and with a small vigil, which he performed, he appeared higher than the wondrous Lot who was in Sodom, or, better to say, he appeared as an angel in the human body - a man in appearance and an angel in his mental structure. For which he was honored to see the sweetest light of the mental Sun of Truth, our Lord Jesus Christ, which light certified him that he was able to perceive the future light. And righteously, for love and his heart’s attachment to God made him frantic, they tore his spirit away from this world, and from his own nature, and from all things, and made him all the light of the Holy Spirit, despite the fact that he lived in the middle of the city, and ruled the whole house, and cared for slaves and freemen, and did everything that was necessary for real life. This is enough to praise the young man and to encourage you to come to the same love, imitating him; or do you want me to tell you something else, something more, which perhaps even your hearing cannot accept? However, what could be greater and more perfect than the fear of God? Of course there is nothing. Saint Gregory the Theologian said: “The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. For where there is fear, there is observance of the commandments; where there is observance of the commandments, there is purification of the flesh - this cloud that envelops the soul and does not allow it to clearly see the divine light; where there is purification, there is illumination, and illumination is the fulfillment of the desire of the divine.” By saying this, he showed that sanctification by the Spirit is the never-ending end of all virtue, and whoever achieves such sanctification by the Spirit has finished with everything sensual and has begun to dwell with consciousness in only the spiritual. These, my brethren, are the essence of the wonders of God. And God brings His hidden servants into reality for this purpose, so that the philanthropic and good ones imitate them, and the evil ones remain unrequited. For even those who move among crowds and spend their lives in the troubles of the world, if they behave as they should, gain salvation and are awarded great blessings from God for the sake of the faith that they show to Him, so that on the day of judgment those who do not find salvation because of their laziness and negligence will have nothing to say in their justification. So true is He who promised to grant salvation for the sake of faith in Him! So, my beloved brothers, take care of yourselves and of me, who loves you and often sheds tears for you. For the gracious and merciful God commanded us to be gracious and merciful and to grieve both for ourselves and for each other. Believe with all your soul in the Lord, hate this world as it should be, and do not worry about its temporary and unfaithful blessings, but come to God and cleave to Him. For a little more time will pass, and the end of this world and this life will come, and woe to those who fall from the kingdom of God. Tears choke me, and I cry and grieve with all my heart when I think that, having such a generously gifted and philanthropic Master, Who, for one sincerely manifested faith in Him, gives us such great and wondrous blessings, and intelligence, and hearing, and surpassing aspirations, - we, without thinking, like dumb animals, prefer the earth and earthly things to all that, which, according to by the grace of God, it was given to us for the needs of our body, so that, while it would be nourished in moderation, the soul would unhindered its flow towards the worldly, being itself nourished by intelligent food that comes from the grace of the Holy Spirit as it is cleansed and renewed. For this is why we, people, were created by God as intelligent, so that we glorify Him, thank and love Him for the great blessings He has given for this life, and thus be honored to receive great and eternal blessings in the future life. But woe to us that, having absolutely no concern for the future, we remain ungrateful to God for the present, becoming like demons, or, better said, being worse than them. For this it is fair that we should be subjected to torment more than they. For we have been more favored than they: we have become Christians, received so many spiritual gifts, we believe in God, who became man for our sake and endured such suffering and death on the cross in order to deliver us from the delusion of delusion and sin. But what can I say to all this? Alas for us! In words we only believe in God, but in deeds we reject Him. Isn’t Christ named in every place - in cities, villages, cinnamonia and mountains? Aren't there Christians everywhere? But look, if it seems blessed to you, and investigate to the utmost precision, whether they fulfill the commandments of Christ, and truly, among so many thousands and myriads, you will find one who is a Christian in both deed and word. Did not Christ and our God say: Believe in Me, the works that I do, He will do the same, and greater works than these He will do (John 14:12)? But which of us will dare to say: I do the works of Christ and rightly believe in Christ? Do you not see, therefore, my brethren, how on the day of judgment we are likely to turn out to be unfaithful and be given over to greater torment than those who did not know Christ at all, that is, unfaithful? One of two things is necessary: ​​either we be punished more than the unfaithful, or Christ turns out to be unfaithful to His word, which is impossible. I wrote this not to prevent anyone from moving away from the world, and not because I prefer life in the world to silence, but to assure everyone who will read this legend that whoever wants to do good receives from God the power to do it in any place - both in the world and in silence. On the contrary, the subject of this legend is such that it should encourage one to become a hermit even more. For if the one who moved among the world and never thought about renouncing the world, nor about non-covetousness, nor about obedience, received such mercy from God for the one thing that he believed and called on God with all his soul, then what blessings should those who, leaving the whole world and all people, give up their very life to death for the commandment of God, as He commanded? However, whoever begins to do good deeds with undoubted faith and with great zeal and feels the benefit that comes from this, he himself will understand that worldly care, being and moving among the world serve as a great obstacle for those who want to live according to God. What happened to the young man, as we said, is something wonderful and extraordinary, and we have not heard of such a good incident happening to anyone else. But even if he was with a few people or will be thereafter, let them know that if they do not move away from the world, they will soon greatly lose the benefit they have received. I later learned the following from him about that young man. I met him when he had already become a monk and spent three or four years in the monastic life. He was then thirty-two years old. I knew him very well: we were friends from our youth and were brought up together. So he told me the following. “After this wondrous vision and change that took place in me, a few days passed before many worldly temptations happened to me, because of which, while I was performing those hidden deeds according to God, I saw in myself that little by little I was losing this benefit, and I had a strong desire to withdraw from the world and in solitude to seek Christ, who had appeared to me. For I believe, brother, that for this purpose He deigned to appear to me, in order to take me, unworthy, to Himself, separating me from the whole world. But since I could not fulfill this at the same time, little by little I forgot everything that I had told you before, and fell into complete darkness and insensibility, so that I no longer remembered anything that I told you, neither small nor large, even to the slightest movement of thought or feeling. Then I fell into even greater evil than before, and came to such a state as if I had never heard the words of Christ and did not understand them, but even at this saint, who was so merciful to me and gave me the little commandment and the book of St. Mark, I looked at him as if he were one of the random people, without even thinking about what I saw regarding him. “I am telling you this in detail,” he said further, “so that you know to what depths of destruction I, the accursed one, fell through my negligence, and marvel at the ineffable goodness of God that was revealed to me later. I can’t tell you how, without my knowledge, love and faith for that holy elder remained in my poor heart, but I think that for their sake, after so much time, the man-loving God, through his prayers, had mercy on me and again through him snatched me from delusion and plucked me from the depths of evil. I, unworthy, did not completely move away from this elder, but when I was in the city, I often went to his cell and confessed to him what happened to me, although I did not fulfill his commandments, being unscrupulous. Now, as you see, the merciful God despised my many, many sins and arranged for me to become a monk from that same elder and granted me, truly unworthy, to always be with him. After which, with great difficulty and with copious tears, with decisive alienation and separation from the world, perfect obedience and cutting off my will, many other deeds and methods of strict self-mortification and an uncontrollable desire for everything good, I was honored to see again, although in some way gloomily, a small ray of that sweetest and divine light. But such a vision as the one I saw then, even until now, I have not been vouchsafed to see again.” He told me this and much more with tears. But I, poor man, listening to such holy words of his, thought that he was completely filled with Divine grace and was wise, despite the fact that he was not taught external wisdom. Receiving knowledge from work and experience, he acquired the most accurate knowledge of spiritual things. Why did I ask him to tell me what kind of faith it is that can produce such wondrous phenomena, and to teach it to me in writing, using a teacher’s technique. He immediately began to talk to me about it, and what he said, he was not too lazy to write. What exactly, so as not to lengthen my present words beyond measure, I will write in other words, to the joy and delight of those who love to read this kind of writing with faith. So, I ask you, my brothers, let us diligently follow the commandments of Christ, and our faces will not be ashamed. But just as to the one who pushes with patience, the Lord opens the doors of His kingdom, according to His promise, and to the one who seeks, He gives the All-Holy Spirit, and it is impossible for one who seeks with all his soul not to find Him and not to be enriched by His gifts, so you will undoubtedly receive wondrous benefits from Him, which He has prepared for those who love Him - here in part, as spiritual wisdom will indicate, and in the next century entirely, with all the saints from the ages, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. "Moral and ascetic words." – Ed. You might be interested in: