Слово 61

(1) Theological second. Against those who attempt to theologize without the grace of the Holy Spirit. 1. He who has received from God the grace to have the praise of God in his mouth and who opens his mouth and attracts - receives - the Spirit of life, strives every hour to do this in greater and greater quantities, so that he may more abundantly receive the word of life, which is the living bread that comes down from heaven, and about which God said through David: enlarge your mouth and I will fulfill it (Ps. 80:11). Whoever has been vouchsafed by God to be such and to always be nourished and strengthened by animal bread can have in the sovereign (mind) of the soul a well-imagined and in some way imprinted thought of God, so that it always abides in the soul, can, as Blessed Paul says, always rejoice, pray unceasingly, and give thanks to God in everything (1 Thess. 5:16-18). Whether he eats or drinks, he does everything for the glory of God, being always nourished and strengthened by animal bread. Such a person’s heart is vigilant when he sleeps, and when he is awake, his heart does not for a single moment move away from God. Saint Paul testifies to this, where he says: cleave unto the Lord; you are one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17). For the Spirit is God: and whoever worships Him is worthy to worship in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24). Whoever has thus united with God and become one with Him can no longer sin, being always with God. This is what Saint John the Theologian says: we know that He (the Son of God) has appeared and will take away our sins; and there is no sin in it. Everyone who abides in Him does not sin; everyone who sins does not see Him nor know Him (1 John 3:5-6). And one more thing: everyone born of God does not commit sin (1 John 3:9), being His child. Why am I surprised by those numerous people who, before being born from God and before entering into His childhood, do not tremble to theologize and talk about God. When I hear how many, not understanding divine things, philosophize about them and, being filled with sins, theologize about God and everything that concerns Him - without the grace of the Holy Spirit, which gives meaning and reason, my spirit trembles, is horrified, and in some way loses its temper, thinking that, while the Divinity is incomprehensible to everyone, we, who know neither ourselves nor what is before our eyes, with insolence and With the fearlessness of God we begin to philosophize about what is incomprehensible to us, especially since we are empty of the grace of the Holy Spirit, who enlightens and teaches everything. We sin even by allowing, in this situation, the desire to say something about God. For if it is difficult to know oneself, and at the present time, in this generation, very, very few know themselves and can therefore philosophize, - since the love for true philosophy has dried up due to the negligence that has taken possession of us, and because of the worldly worries that dominate us, preferring the earthly, temporary and insignificant, and even not existing at all, that is, sins, to the heavenly and eternal - if, I say, it is difficult to know oneself, isn’t that How difficult is it to know God? It is not only difficult, but even completely unreasonable and pointless to torture and explore the nature and being of God. Why, O people, do you not care more about seeing yourself in a better state, but, neglecting your correction, torture what concerns God and divine things? We must first pass from death into the belly, receive into ourselves from above the seed of the living God, be born spiritually from Him, become His children, receive into our souls the grace of the Holy Spirit - and then, under the influence of enlightenment from the Holy Spirit, begin to talk about what concerns God, how much is available to us and how much we will be enlightened by God Himself. Meanwhile, you, who want to theologize in this very way, believe with all your soul in the one God, who did not receive existence from another, because before Him there was nothing, nor did He create Himself, as some extremely foolish people thought, because it is impossible for something that does not exist to come from itself. Believe in God, one in three hypostases, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who was without beginning before all ages, always is and will be forever and ever. Whoever is Orthodox and truly wise cannot say about the hypostatic and trinitarian God that He is not hypostatic, that is, He exists without hypostases. But being both from what he sees in himself, we teach, and from what is above him, we admonish, he honors with worship and glorifies the one Divinity in three consubstantial persons. For whoever has not darkened or upset within himself with passions the hedgehog in the image given to him by God, he, first of all, knows and understands himself, namely, that from God the Creator he received a living and hypostatic soul, and that it is three-part in him, that is, soul, mind and word, and thus concluding from himself, with his wise and bright mind he thinks about what concerns God. In addition, from the Holy Spirit, who enlightens from above, he is enlightened and learns that God the Father, who created everything from the non-existent with His Word and contains the power of His Spirit, timelessly and without beginning gives birth to His Son, who is consubstantial with Him and in no way separate from Him, together with Whom comes the Holy Spirit, who is consubstantial with the Son from the consubstantial Father. Thus, by wisely thinking and confessing about God, he shows that he truly is in the image of the God who created him, since he has a rational, mental and immortal soul, gifted with mind and word. Whoever does not philosophize in this way probably exposes himself that he is insane and dumb, that is, has neither mind nor words. For if he deviates from the confession of those divine characteristics, then in what other characters will he be in the image of the God who created him? If he confesses and claims that these three - soul, mind and word - are in him, but wordlessly and insanely deprives his Creator God of what we said about Him, then, it seems to me, in this case he is no different from a pagan and an idolater. I believe that just as the soul was not and is not before the mind, nor the mind before the word born from it, but at one moment all three have existence from God, and the mind gives birth to the word, and through it brings out and manifests outward the desire of the soul - in the same way, God the Father was not before the Son and the Holy Spirit, but just as the mind is in the soul and has the word near it, so God the Father is in the whole Holy Spirit and has in himself the whole God the Word, born from Him. And just as it is impossible for a person to have a word or a mind without a soul, so it is impossible to posit the Son with the Father without the Holy Spirit. For how is it possible for a living God to be without life? The Holy Spirit is life. So, you must confess about God the Father that He begets the Son, but was not before the Son; and about the Son, that He is born from the Father, but not in such a way as to appear after the Father; and about the Holy Spirit, that He comes from the Father, but He Himself is co-eternal and consubstantial with the Father and the Son. And worship the whole Holy Spirit in all the co-original Father, and the whole Father in all the co-eternal Son, and the whole Son in all the consubstantial Spirit, the one, trinitarian, co-eternal and co-existent, indivisible and unmerged being and nature, as the one beginning of all things and the one God, the Creator of all things, so that you may learn the knowledge of that which is above you, from that what is in you, and do not forget the image that you were honored to receive from God. For your own spirit, or your whole soul, is in all your mind, and your whole mind is in all your word, and all your word is in all your spirit, inseparable and unmerged. This is the image of God and in this we are enriched from above, that is, to be like God and the Father and to have in us the image of Him who created us. Therefore, when we bow to any person, we show one respect to him, as having a mind, a soul and a word, without separating them and not preferring one of these three with preferential respect, but since he has these three in himself inseparably and unmerged, then we bow to him and pay respect, not as the existence of these three, but as one person, in the general image of the Creator God. In the same way, you should treat God, who gave you these properties, and piously worship the Holy, consubstantial and co-eternal Trinity, as one God, thinking about what blessings God, who created you in His image, has honored you with. We confess the equal honour, equal power and consubstantiality of the Father with the Son and the Spirit, the Holy Trinity, as a single principle, power and dominion, just as our own mind is equal in honour, equal power and consubstantiality with the word and soul, since we have one nature and being with it. This is an honor given to us by God, so that we may know God and reverently honor Him as the Father and Creator by whom we are born and created. Now, if a person loses one of the three accessories shown, then he can no longer be a person. If you take away a person’s mind, you take away the word along with the mind, and you will end up with a mad and dumb man. Take away his soul, and you will take away his mind and word along with it. Also, if you take away one inner word, you will upset the entire human nature. A mind that does not give birth to words cannot from now on (from another place - Ed.) accept words, for how is it possible from now on to hear a word to someone who himself has become deaf and wordless, and has stepped out of the order of his nature? Just as we naturally have a breathing spirit within us, by which we breathe and live, so that if we stop breathing, we will immediately die, so our mind naturally has within itself the power of words, which gives birth to the word, and if it is deprived of the natural generation of the word, as if it were divided and cut with the word that naturally exists in it, then by this it will be killed and become useless for anything. Thus, our mind received from God its natural ability to always give birth to words, which it has inseparably and is always united with itself. If you take away the word, then along with the word you will take away the mind, the originator of the word. Now think about your prototype, and from this example you will understand with precision that whoever denies the Son of God also denies the Father who begat Him. Whoever denies the Father and the Son, is it possible for him not to deny the Holy Spirit, even if he did not want to? So, whoever calls one of the three persons greater or lesser than the others, has not yet extracted his mind from the depths of passions in order to be able to see and know himself with intelligent eyes, and to understand from himself that just as in himself the mind is no more and no less than the soul, the soul is the mind, the word is the mind and soul, in the same way the Father is no more and no less than the Son, the Son is the Father, the Holy Spirit is the Father and the Son, but their essence is co-originating and equal in honor. No one should accept anything more or less in relation to the Holy and Equal Trinity. O man! You are honored by God more than all other creatures with the dignity of reason, which you rule and reign over them; why should you understand what is higher than you from what is actually in you, from the fact that there is in you the image of God with which you were honored. Just as the human mind is known through the medium of the word (it is good to repeat the same thing in order to strengthen your thoughts and goodness, to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven hidden in you), and the soul is again known through the medium of mind and words, so God the Father is known and is known to us, the faithful, through His Only Begotten Son, and the Holy Spirit through His co-essential Father and Son. Just as when the mind gives birth to a word, then at the same time it becomes clear to those who hear - through the living word or through writing, and the desire of the soul, as common to both, the mind and the word - and these three - mind, word and soul - do not merge into one and are not cut into three, but all three together and each is especially seen in a single essence, so one must think piously in relation to the Holy, consubstantial and indivisible Trinity and confess that the Father inexpressibly and inconceivably gives birth to the Son and the Word, Whom He had in the beginning in Himself and Whom He has inseparably at birth - that the Son is born from the Father, with Whom He is always inseparably and coessentially, and is never separated from Him - and that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and is united and fused (connatural. - Ed.) with His consubstantial Father and Son, with whom we worship and glorify from all creation, and also that these three persons of the Most Holy Trinity have one will. This is how the Most Holy Trinity is known and revealed by the grace of the Holy Spirit, by the grace of the Father, through the Son, to all who are enlightened from above. At the same time, one must believe that the essential essence of the one Divinity of these three persons (I repeat the same thing again: to sanctify oneself with such a remembrance and word) is trinitarian, and, believing so, clearly confess with us that its three hypostases, being naturally united, do not merge into one, nor are they divided into three. In each of these three faces the other two are mentally contemplated, in one being, nature and glory - and these three faces are one God, the Creator and Almighty of everything visible and invisible. Whoever believes that God is the Creator of all creatures, who created everything from the non-existent, heavenly, earthly and underworld, he, knowing his Creator, remains within his own limits and, from the beauty of creatures, ascending with his mind to the Creator, glorifies and glorifies Him as the Creator of all things, and does not try to comprehend the incomprehensible nature of God. He knows about himself that he is His creation, similar to all others, as we said, about the very Creator of all God knows that he is uncreated, without beginning, incomprehensible, inexplicable, unsearchable, always present and first of all present, for there was no time in which there was no God, because He created times and ages and was before all beginnings; in relation to Him, neither the beginning is thought of, nor the end is perceived, but He is beginningless and the beginning of all things, and is destined to be everlasting and endless ages. He is unapproachable, invisible, unspeakable, unthinkable for all creatures created by Him, heavenly and earthly. Neither did we, who previously erred and believed in many gods, served creatures and worshiped idols. But He, as a man-loving and abundantly merciful, took pity on our ignorance and condescended to our weakness as much as was required for us to know that the Holy Trinity is one perfect God, Whom it is fitting to piously worship in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. But what the glorified Divinity is in essence in the Trinity, what it is in appearance, in what place it is, what it is in greatness and how it is in unity, this not only could not be imagined by people, but even the Angels themselves could not comprehend the incomprehensible and essential nature. Do not point me to our theologies, because in them, on the basis of the Word of God, the theologians of our Church have expounded only that which serves to expose heretical absurdities, and not that which would explain the Divine nature. Why should you keep in mind that which, since the Divine nature is unapproachable, is finite and incomprehensible, and what is incomprehensible is ineffable. How many times does it happen that we cannot express what we understand in words as it should? The same thing that all Divine Scripture testifies to, that It is invisible and inconceivable, what person or what Angel can explain and describe clearly? Of course none. It is in no way possible for the human mind to understand and qualify with any name something that is not something that exists. And all of Divine Scripture, with all the thoughts and sayings it contains about God, represents only that God exists, and not that He is. And then it clearly reveals about God that He always exists - and that this and ever-present God is trinitarian, omnipotent, Almighty, All-Seer, Creator and Provider of all, all-satisfied, supernatural - and that He is known to us as much as anyone can see the boundless sea, standing on its edge at night with a small lit candle in his hands. How much, do you think, will this one see from all that boundless sea? Of course, a little, or almost nothing. Despite all this, he sees that water well, and knows that in front of him is the sea, that the sea is boundless and that he cannot embrace it all with his gaze. The same is true in relation to our knowledge of God. I will give you another example to clarify this subject. Suppose that there is some person who has never seen water or drunk it, and therefore does not know what water is, and you tell him about water, painting him springs, rivers and seas. Listening to this, he will, of course, ask you to tell him what is the nature of the water, what is its type, what is its quality and quantity, where does it come from, how does it flow and how, constantly flowing, it never runs out. Tell me now, what would you answer him? I think that, even if you are of a very high mind and very knowledgeable, you cannot in any way explain and make it clear to someone who has never seen or drank water what water is, where it comes from and how it flows. If we cannot say anything definite about the flowing nature of water, which we see, and drink, and touch, and we cannot explain to those who question us what the nature of water is, where it comes from, what elements it is composed of, then what Angel or what saint can teach those who do not know God and His properties - what is this God who created all things, what is His being and glory? No one can explain this, absolutely no one. However, the one who has been honored in some way (in some way - Ed.) to see God in the way that we spoke about before has no need for teaching from another, because he has the whole of God, who dwells, moves and speaks inside him and teaches him his ineffable mysteries, according to the holy word of God Himself, who says: “My secret is to Me and Mine.” Yes, there can be no other way for God to reveal himself in someone other than the exact fulfillment of His commandments, if, that is, someone does not neglect them and despise them in any matter at all, but keeps them, observes and fulfills them with all zeal and zeal. And those who live in this way will not be far from the kingdom of God, but according to the degree of zeal and zeal that they show in fulfilling the commandments, they will receive the reward of contemplating God, greater or lesser, faster or slower, according to the achievements they achieve, and will become sons of God and gods by grace in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever. Amen. You might be interested in: