Слово 7

(1) God, out of His excessive love for people, subjected them to various hardships in this life. – (2) Poverty is a blessing from a Holy God. – (3) Whoever blasphemes poverty denies Christianity and does not want to be a Christian. – (4) The necessity will insist that Christians have sorrows and troubles. 1. The man-loving God deigned to have such an order that a person who had fallen from His grace would be surrounded by many fears, various troubles, sorrows and misfortunes. He left him to be burdened with all this, worried and struggling on all sides, even from himself. The reason why He arranged it this way is wonderful, full of love and goodness. Like some rich, very rich man, having a beloved son, out of his great love for him, does not want him to look elsewhere or from someone else to receive what he needs, food, drink, clothing, shoes or any other consolation and repose, but wants him to receive all this from him alone, his father, so that through this he will always be near him and rest on his knees; and if somehow it happens that this son runs away from him and wants to get what he needs from someone else, then the father arranges everything so that the son either does not find anything anywhere at all, or finds it with great difficulty and then; Moreover, he also tells everyone under his authority that if they see his son staggering here and there away from him, they should drive him away and cause him all sorts of trouble, so that he would reluctantly, involuntarily return to him, his father who loves him a lot, not finding peace for himself anywhere; In the same way, God dealt with fallen man, arranging for him to find no peace in this present life in the things of this world, and through this he was forced to return again to the all-good God, Lord and Master of all, Father, Provider, Peacemaker, Redeemer and Savior, and to always be with Him, so that in this way man would find peace, and God, his Father, having his son with Him, would rejoice over him. Before the crime, man was in complete happiness, had every consolation and lived in constant joy in paradise, without sorrow and sadness, not even knowing what sadness is. But having forgotten himself because of this very great happiness, he came to lust for that which was beyond his measure and beyond his strength, he wanted to be a god, at the suggestion of the devil. For this, immediately, as soon as he attempted in deed what was impossible for him to obtain, he lost the great happiness and peace that he had, became poor and fell into the same great poverty as he had previously had great wealth, thus accepting the punishment for the pride with which he dared to encroach on that great and brave attempt - as if he was satiated with the happiness that God had given him, and, disdaining them, desired the highest. Having become so poor, he began, due to needs and shortcomings, to undertake all sorts of labors and troubles, but, despite all this, not finding as much as he needed as he would have liked, he was either suppressed by grief, sadness and despondency, or he strained himself to great efforts in order to achieve contentment and abundance, throwing off the burden of poverty that tormented him. For the same reason, another became a thief, openly or secretly, another a robber, forcibly taking away someone else’s property, another a covetous person, an unrighteous deceiver; hence envy, betrayal, slander, enmity, disputes, trials, slander, lies, perjury, murder. And they forgot God Himself, Who determined for present life in the form of a temporary punishment the poverty deserved by the human race through Adam’s crime. By acting this way, they can be said to go against God, when they strive at all costs to become rich and abounding in everything, despite God’s judgment of us being poor for real life. Having become rich, they are proud and vain. What will happen next? Here's what: God opposes the proud, and they are seen in the same place where the apostate from God - the devil - ended up. 2. So, we must know regarding poverty in everything that God righteously imposed it on us as a temporary punishment, and therefore endure it with thanksgiving, so that we may attract upon ourselves the goodness, mercy and care of God. For the Lord loves him, punishes him, let him humble himself with punitive poverty and be far from pride, but beats every son who accepts him (Heb. 12:6), with illnesses and sorrows, in order to attract him to himself and have him always with him, and for his labors and exploits, endured with gratitude, to crown him with the crown of patience and make him a pleasant son. Adam’s crime resulted from no other reason than the fact that he had all the blessings in abundance without labor. Why did God, for our crime, ordain that by the sweat of our brow we should eat our bread until we die? If, for real life, poverty is imposed on all people as a natural temporary punishment, then by all means, whoever tries to escape from under it will fall under eternal punishment. Because it is hardly possible to avoid poverty in real life without theft, untruth and extortion; Moreover, happiness and wealth naturally give rise to pride, the source of all sin, and the proud, having rushed headlong to the bottom, is taken into its power by shame, that is, carnal passions begin to dominate over them - the product of his unreason and the corruption of common sense in him. 3. Therefore, a Christian who strives in every possible way and strives to get rid of poverty, obviously does not want to be a true Christian, because a true Christian cannot be without deprivation and needs. The Son of God and God, who became man for the restoration of human nature, did not deign to immediately cancel the first punitive definition, that is, the need for everything and death imposed on Adam and our race for breaking the commandment, for both that we should eat our bread in the sweat of our brow, and that: you are earth and you will go to earth, abide and will forever abide in our race, until the end of the age. But what did our Lord Jesus Christ do and is doing? - That which makes those who believe in His incarnate economy partakers of His power, as the God of powers, and of His wisdom, as the God of wisdom, and through this, without canceling the first definition, cancels it by taking away its power, inspiring believers to graciously endure all kinds of hardships and sorrows, Himself the first to raise them to an inglorious death on the cross and becoming for us in this example and example. As a result of this, we see that both the Apostles and all true Christians, receiving power from the grace of Christ, joyfully endure all sorrows and temptations and bring worthy fruits to God with great patience. Why neither the martyrs asked Christ to deliver them from torment and torment, nor the ascetics sought liberation from the labors and sweats of asceticism, but both of them begged only to be granted patience, and with this patience they fought the feat of martyrdom and asceticism, so that in the future life they would receive the reward for their labor. 4. So, for everyone who is pious, sorrow, hardship and hardship are inevitable, and this does not damage, but strengthens and enhances his piety. Until someone experiences temptations, he cannot understand and know the sweetness and strength hidden in them for life according to God. When he tests them and recognizes this, he cannot help but thank the Lord who tests him. And when he is freed from them, he thanks the Deliverer not only for the fact that he freed him, but also for the fact that he granted him to experience through them. He who has not experienced temptations is inexperienced in life and is not so diligent in pleasing God. And he who has experienced them and is freed from them burns in spirit towards God and thanks Him with all his might. Of course, there are those who are zealous for God and grateful and who do not experience temptations, but not with such fervor as those who experience them and get rid of them. Therefore, it is extremely necessary and salutary for a Christian to fall under temptations, sorrows, hardships and deprivations, so that he may experience the many-helping power of God and thank God with all his soul, with all his thoughts and with all his strength. He who lives calmly and has no temptations is subject to two disadvantages: the first is that he is not so zealous for God and does not thank Him with all his heart, and the second is that his mind inevitably indulges in vain cares and worries. Perhaps Adam would not have been so easily deceived, would not have listened to the evil advice of the devil and would not have wanted to be god if he had thanked God more diligently when he was surrounded by the greatest peace and indescribable joy. Just as much as we need to breathe air, we need to thank God in the very temptations, sorrows and hardships that we are exposed to while walking the path of pleasing God. Let us, my brothers, thank God in everything and endure every temptation and sorrow without complaint, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever. Amen. You might be interested in: