Слово 80

(1) About what knowledge is true knowledge, and about the fact that the knowledge of God in the virtuous does not come from teaching, but from the purity of the soul and from Divine grace. – (2) That condemnation is a bad thing. – (3) Reproof of those who think that they know the secrets of the Spirit, without having the grace of the Spirit. – (4) On the holiness of the Spirit. – (5) If faith is good, what is its fruit and how it multiplies. – (6) Those who have the treasure of the Spirit in themselves recognize when it is in others, and know what the distinguishing marks of the saints are. – (7) Whoever has not been born again cannot see God and recognize the one who has achieved this by the grace of the Holy Spirit. 1. Now is the time in which it is fitting to say with the Prophet David: The Lord came from heaven upon the sons of men, see, if there is, understand or seek God. All have turned away, and together they were without keys: do not do goodness, not even one (Ps. 13: 2-3). Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the questioner of this century? Has not God shrouded the wisdom of this world (1 Cor. 1:20), so that through it no one could know the true wisdom, the only God who truly exists? – For if, brethren, we could be given the knowledge of true wisdom and knowledge of God through writing, teaching and external wisdom, then why would faith be required? or divine Baptism? or communion of the Holy Mysteries? Of course they wouldn't be required. But since the world did not understand the wisdom of God, God deigned to save those who believe by the violence of preaching (1 Cor. 1:21). And this is what the divine Paul says. I can rightly weep and weep over the contrition of my own members, that is, my carnal and spiritual brethren, - that we, who have put on Christ in divine Baptism, imputing the Mysteries of Christ for nothing, think that we can obtain knowledge of the truth of God through external wisdom and through one reading of the wise Scriptures of holy men, in which we practice and, being content with these means alone, we venerate themselves having comprehended Orthodoxy and having an accurate and firm knowledge of the Most Holy Trinity - and not only about this, but also that people who are more respectable than others foolishly believe that the thoughts that they form in their minds are contemplations of the same dignity as those that are given to those worthy only through the illumination of the Holy Spirit. Alas! what madness and what blindness! Others, again, without purity of heart, delving into the mysteries of God with their minds and theologically, when they hear about God that just as in the three suns there is one radiance of light, so in the Most Holy Trinity there is one radiance of the one Divinity, they immediately imagine in their minds three suns, united by light, that is, in essence, and divided by hypostases, and they believe it is unreasonable that they see thus the Divinity itself and that the Holy One, the consubstantial and indivisible Trinity is fully expressed by this likeness. But it is not so, brethren, it is not so. No one can well and fully comprehend with his mind and express in words the dogma of the Most Holy Trinity, no matter how much he reads the Divine Scriptures. A true believer does not undertake this, but, accepting with faith what is written, he remains in that alone, not torturing anything else, and besides what is written and what he has been taught, he can say absolutely nothing else to those who are inquisitive and arrogantly daring to explore the divine. That my word is true, listen to what Christ the Lord says: no one knows the Son but the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and whatsoever the Son wills may he be revealed (Matthew 11:27). With these words and others like them, the shameless and doorless lips of those who speak and think that they know the real truth, I say, God Himself, are blocked from external wisdom and from the writings studied, and that by these means they acquire knowledge of the hidden mysteries of God, which are revealed only by the Spirit. For if no one knows the Son except the Father, no one knows the Father except the Son, and if the Son wills, reveal these depths and these mysteries (for, he says, My mysteries are for Me and Mine); then which of the wise, or rhetoricians, or scientists (except those who have purified their minds with higher philosophy and asceticism, and have their spiritual feelings truly trained) can, without revelation from above from the Lord, by human wisdom alone, know the hidden secrets of God? They are revealed through mental contemplation, acted by the Divine Spirit in those to whom it is given and is always given to know them by divine grace. The knowledge of these mysteries is the property of those people whose minds are daily enlightened by the Holy Spirit for the sake of the purity of their souls - those whose intelligent eyes are open for good by the action of the rays of the Sun of Truth - those to whom the Holy Spirit has given the word of reason and the word of wisdom - those who preserve conscience and the fear of God through love, peace, goodness, mercy, abstinence and faith. This is whose property is knowledge of the divine! To those who are such, Christ says, as He also said to the Apostles: to you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but to others in parables (Luke 8:10). They, being moved by the Divine Spirit, know the equality and unity that the Son has with the Father, since they see in the Father the Son and in the Son the Father through the Spirit, as it is written in the Gospel: I am in the Father and the Father in Me (John 14:10), which implies that the Holy Spirit is equally in the Father. For since the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, and the Father is wholly in all the Son, then the Holy Spirit is also in the Father and the Son. The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one God, worshiped with every breath. - How can I tell you that there are three suns? For if you unite them and say that three are one, then the three will unite and become one sun. If you do not unite them, but say that there are three of them, then you will lose the unity of the three. It is impossible for you to find the Father without the Son and the Spirit in any way, nor the Son without the Father and the Spirit, nor the Spirit without the Father and the Son. Why believe that in the Spirit are the Father and the Son, in the Son the Father and the Spirit, in the Father the Son, co-essentially always existing and abiding and having the Holy Spirit shining with Him. These three persons are not the essence of three Gods, but one God in three hypostases, sung by countless Angels, present and present and likewise, in one subsistence, and kingdom, and Divinity. For although in each of the three persons personal characteristics (unbornness, birth and originality) are thought to be fused (inherent - Ed.), yet the three persons are one God, and one, that is, one God - three, which is impossible to be in three suns. 2. I would like to present some example in order to somewhat clarify the thought of what was said by those who boast with self-confidence that they know the divine through one false reason and without the grace of the Holy Spirit, testing the depths and mysteries of God; but I fear God, who commanded not to give the Holy to the shameless and daring, and not to throw pearls before those who put the divine on a par with ordinary and ungodly things, and in some way trample and dishonor it with their base and earthly thoughts about it, and with their inquisitive souls - whose minds God has blinded, as the Prophet says: “and darken their hearts, so that they may not see and Those who hear do not understand” (Is. 6:9,10). - And righteously. Since they have made themselves unworthy (of God's guidance) through their pride and their evil deeds, they are left by God to walk in the darkness of unbelief and their own badness, as He says through the Prophet David: and having let me go according to the intentions of their hearts, they will walk in the intentions of their own (Ps. 80:13). Having before them so many examples of fulfilling the commandments of God (which, having accomplished by deeds, the holy fathers offered to us, the faithful, in imitation of their virtue), they did not want to think about them and imitate the holy fathers, but do everything contrary to them and condemn them and their life, which they strived for according to God, saying that their life is not according to God. Such, I say, are not only unworthy of divine knowledge, as sons of rebellion and destruction, but are guilty of all condemnation and punishment. Because, having forgotten to tempt themselves, even if the essence is in faith, they torture outsiders and thoughtlessly explore what is beyond their strength, without fearing God, Who commands: do not judge, lest you be judged. By whom you judge, you will be judged (Matthew 7:1-2) - and without respecting the instructions of Christ's disciple Paul, who says: Who are you, judging a strange servant? His Lord stands or falls (Rom. 14:4). How can one recognize such as faithful and Christians when they disobey and abandon the words of Christ the Lord and His holy Apostles, do not observe the laws that He and His disciples decreed, and do not follow in the footsteps of our teacher Christ and do not follow Him? How is it possible to see the light of the commandments for those who clearly violate these divine commandments? No, that's impossible. Let no one deceive you, brethren, with vain doctrine, says the Apostle (Col. 2:4). The divine Apostle calls us brothers because of the rebirth and spiritual kinship that we have with him by virtue of divine Baptism. But in our deeds, as I see, we have become far alienated from the brotherhood of the saints. And I want to present this with the most examples, or, better said, our very deeds and words convict us of this. For this purpose, turning my questions as if to one person, I say: have you rejected the world and everything worldly, brother? Have you become non-covetous, obedient, alien to your own will? Have you acquired meekness and humility? Have you succeeded in fasting, prayer and vigil? Have you achieved perfect love for God, and do you regard your neighbor as yourself? Do you pray with tears and with all your heart for those who hate you, who are untruthful and hostile to you, that such sins may be forgiven them? Have you ascended to such a height of virtues or not yet? - Tell me. If you are ashamed to say: no, and again, out of humility, you do not want to say: yes, then I will also remind you, brother, of what is proper and show by what deeds and correctness every true ascetic rises to such a height of virtues, striving with true knowledge of the matter and with strong zeal for holiness. So, I say: if from all that has been said, you have achieved the point that you have loved your enemies and repeatedly wept for them from your heart, praying to God for their conversion and repentance, then it is clear that you have succeeded first in everything else - that is, through the deeds you have undertaken, you have become impassive, acquired a heart pure from passions, and in it and through them you have seen the impassive God. For there is no other way to reach the point of praying for your enemies with a disposition of heart and love towards them, than by first purifying yourself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, through union with God through the assistance of the all-good Spirit. So, if by the grace of the Savior God you have achieved this, brother, together with goodness and humility, then why do you not believe that your companions have achieved the same, or, believing, you envy them, condemn them and slander them in order to dispel the good opinion about them? Don’t you know that the laborers who entered the vineyard to work from the first hour of the day, because they were jealous of those who came at the eleventh hour and received the same reward as them, were thrown into utter fire? How do you, doing and saying the same thing or worse against the saints, whose virtuous life and knowledge shine like the sun, think that you will not be condemned to the same or even worse punishment and torment? Or don’t you know that saints never envy saints? For where there is envy, there lives the father of envy, the devil, and not the God of love. Why, if you have envy in yourself, then do you think that you are holy - you, whom even the love of God and your brother does not recognize as a faithful or Christian? And that it is truly so, that he who has envy has the devil and cannot be Christ’s, because he does not have love for his brother, this is obvious to everyone who listens to the Divine Scriptures. 3. If you have not yet been worthy to receive such gifts and have not achieved such beneficial virtues, then how do you dare to open your mouth and speak? How do you undertake to teach when you yourself need to be taught and taught by others? How do you try to question something you don’t know and haven’t heard about? And how dare you enter into conversation about such lofty subjects, as if you were a man who knows the divine? Or don’t you know that you should stand outside the doors of the church, like a catechumen, and you, in your insolence, stand together with other faithful, pure, praying inside the church, breaking the Apostolic rules? For not only the unfaithful should be called catechumens, but also everyone who does not behold the glory of the Lord with the open face of his mind. I, however, cry about your ignorance, that you do not believe at all that today there is anyone as holy as the ancients; meanwhile, counting yourself among the mass of people, as an ordinary person among the ordinary, at the same time, as if some holy and God-bearing man speaking by the Holy Spirit, you undertake to explain what you are forced to do by my words, although you confessed that you do not know it at all. Now I ask you - what you said that you did not see, did not hear and did not deserve to receive into your soul - this, I say, are you not ashamed to explain and interpret, as if you knew it from the Holy Spirit? 4. For if you have not become dispassionate, if you have not been worthy to receive the Holy Spirit, if you are not yet a saint, then how can you say that you know the mysteries of the Spirit as if you were a saint - mysteries about which it is written that eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and has not entered the heart of a humble man, what kind of good things has God prepared for those who love Him? For they are revealed by God by the grace of the Holy Spirit to those who have become partakers of the holiness of the Spirit, so that they know what divine gifts are given to those who are worthy, as the divine Paul says: we have not received the spirit of this world, but the spirit that is from God, that we have received that which has been given to us by God. For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God (1 Cor. 2:12,10). Through Him the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior and the great God, was revealed and known to us, living and humble sinners, in Christ God Himself - God, whom no one has seen, is from man, but can be seen below (1 Tim. 6:16). God, who made light shine out of darkness, He also shines in our hearts (2 Cor. 4:6). That is, the completely indescribable and incomprehensible is accepted, like a treasure, into the meager vessels of our bodies, and, having no image or form, is formed in us, fulfilling everything indescribably, as if it is above all greatness and all fullness. The fact that God is formed in us, what else is there if not that He recreates, recreates and transforms us in the image of His Divinity? 5. Such was Simeon the Reverent, who labored in the Studite monastery, as we know and as we have verified this experimentally. For we based our faith in him on the manifestations of the Spirit that was in him, which we have kept invariably to this day, or, better said, we have kindled from his light, like a kind of lamp, the lamp of our soul, which we keep unquenchable, ourselves being kept by his prayers and intercessions for us, with which being soldered, our soul multiplies faith in him and will also (daringly speaking about the Lord) will multiply, to God I promote, may it bear a hundredfold fruit from this divine light. The fruit of faith is holy and unevening light; the holy light, in turn, adds and increases faith. The more the light shines, the faith increases and rises to heights. And again: as faith increases, so clearly does the fruit of the Spirit multiply; The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, mercy, faith, meekness, self-control. He who has such fruits knows them well. For just as the one who has margaritas and precious stones, sapphires, I say, amethysts and the like, knows (if he has acquired experience in this) the appearance and size of each, so the one who has planted virtues in himself and increased the fruits of the Spirit knows both the appearance and strength of each of them, and enjoys the sweetness of them all. 6. And, what is most wonderful, he truly recognizes when the fruit that is in him is also in others. For just as nations are recognized by their clothes, especially by their voice and language, so saints are recognized by how piously and gracefully they conduct themselves, and by other external signs; but their special and decisively true sign is the word coming out of their mouth. For what is not in the heart, the mouth cannot bring out; if anyone undertakes to speak out, he is immediately exposed in his own words that he speaks unkindly. A good man, says the Lord, wears out the good treasures of his heart; and the wicked man destroys the treasures of the wicked one (Matthew 12:35). And look, what are the depths of the Spirit? - The Lord did not just say that he wears it out of a good heart, but said: from the good treasure of the heart, so that you may know from this that none of us can have an empty heart, but that everyone has in his heart one of two things: either the grace of the Holy Spirit through faith and good deeds, or the evil devil for unbelief, negligence about the commandments of God and doing evil deeds. So that you do not think that the Lord says that those who fulfill only some of God’s commandments, and not all with all accuracy, have the treasure of the Holy Spirit, He said in another place: if you have My commandments (of course, all of them) and keep them, that is to love Me: and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father; and I will love him and will appear to him Myself,” and added: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our abode with him (John 14:21, 23). Do you see how the one who has acquired a good heart through labor and doing the commandments has within himself all the Divinity, which is a good treasure? And that this treasure does not dwell in the one who transgresses or neglects even one commandment, even the smallest, and does not fulfill it - listen to what He also says: whoever destroys one of these little commandments and teaches men this way, he will be called in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:19). The Lord called the commandments lesser or smallest not because they really were such, but because we honor them as such. To talk idlely, for example, or to covet our brother, or to look passionately, or to despise and condemn someone - we consider all this and the like to be nothing, we consider it the least and the least, which is why we are negligent, and we treat it indifferently, we are not careful about it and have no idea about it; because they forgot what strict judgment the Lord pronounces about such matters, saying: every idle word that men speak, they will be given a word about it on the day of judgment (Matthew 12:36); also: thou shalt not covet as much as is thy neighbor (Deut. 5:21); also: others will look... to lust after... already commits fornication (Matthew 5:28); and again: he who says to his brother: cancer, he is guilty of eating the host; and those who say: you are a freak, you are guilty of hell fire (Matthew 5:22). – And the Apostle, wanting to show that the devil is at work in those who do such things, says: the sting of death is sin (1 Cor. 15:56). For if sin is nothing more than a transgression of the commandment of God, and - do not covet, do not lie, do not idle talk and do not condemn your brother, is a commandment of God, then it is clear that everyone who does such things is wounded by the sting of death, that is, by sin; through this ulcer and sting of sin, the devil immediately enters like a worm and lives there inside. Do you see how those who have not made their hearts pure through tears and repentance have the devil living within them, who is an evil treasure? This is how a good person brings out good things from the good treasure of his heart, and an evil person brings out evil things. But true repentance with confession and tears, like some kind of plasters and medicines, washes and cleanses the wound of the heart, and the very ulcer that the sting of mental death opened to the heart - then it takes out the worm that made a hole for itself inside and lived there, and kills it - finally heals the wound and makes its place completely healthy, so that not even a trace of it remains. This, which I said, only those who have a heart that seeks health with difficulty, with tears and repentance, know how it happens in them. And others even feel pleasure from such ulcers and deliberately poison them, trying to add other wounds to them. They only consider health when they satisfy every passion and every lust; they even become magnified when they commit some shameful sin, counting such shame on themselves for glory. Why do they act so wrongly? Because they do not know the spiritual consolation and joy that complete cleansing of the heart brings, or, better said, because they do not believe this at all and hold the conviction that it is impossible for a person to completely cleanse himself of passions and accept the full action of the Holy Spirit. As a result of this, they always say and do things that are contrary to their salvation, and through this they close the doors to the kingdom of heaven for themselves, and prevent others from entering it. If they happen to hear about someone that he, having striven as he should in the commandments of the Lord, has become humble in his heart and in his wisdom, has been cleansed from passions and is preaching to everyone the wondrous mercies of God that God has shown over him, according to His false promises - or he himself will be heard speaking for the benefit of those who listen, how he was honored to see the light of God and God Himself in the light of glory, and how he wisely knew in himself with the presence and action of the Holy Spirit and became clothed with the grace of the Holy Spirit - if, I say, they hear this, immediately, like angry dogs, they begin to bark against him, attempting, if possible, to completely devour him, saying to him: stop, deceived and proud! Who in this day and age can become what the ancient fathers were? Or who can see God, although not at all? Who can receive the grace of the Holy Spirit in such abundance that for its sake he is worthy to see the Father and the Son? - Stop, so as not to be stoned. To such, it seems to me, I must answer worthily, as their ignorance requires, following the instructions of Solomon: Do not answer a madman according to his madness, lest you become like him; but answer the fool according to (χατα) his madness, lest the wise man appear to himself (Prov. 26:4–5). O brothers! Indeed, none of you, as you say, have seen God, but of those who willingly took upon themselves the cross of the Lord and flowed along the narrow path, ready to lose their souls for the eternal life, many of these saw God, both before and now, as I think, many see Him, and anyone can see Him if they desire it and strive for it as they should; Only you, due to the corruption of your heart and envy, cannot see such people. Listen to what the Evangelist John says: When the little ones received Him, He gave them the power to become children of God, who believe in His name, who were not born of blood, nor of the lust of the flesh, nor of the lust of men, but were born of God (John 1:12–13). 7. So, if you were not born of God, then it is clear that you are not His child. You have not yet accepted Him and do not have Him inside you. Why didn't He give you the region, and you cannot be a child of God. If you have not yet become a child of God, then how is it possible for you to see the heavenly God as your father? No one has ever seen his father before he was born of him, and no man will see God unless he is first born of him. That is why the Lord said: unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). And again: that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:6). But since you were born only of the flesh and did not yet know the spiritual birth that comes from the Holy Spirit, you were not born of Him, nor did you become a spirit. So, how can you experience the depths of God, or better yet, see God? Of course you can't. You yourself, and reluctantly, admit this to be true. For do you see what the Lord says? - But are you like that? And why do we know that you are like that? “I cannot say that I am like this without the grace of God.” But I believe that neither the Apostle Paul himself nor John can say this, and I am pained by the spiritual blindness of those who say this and immediately seek to find out how one who has reached a perfect man is recognized, according to the age of the fulfillment of Christ. However, if you want to know, I will tell you how: in the same way that the blind recognize other people, how Isaac recognized his son Jacob, although he was dressed up to look like his brother Esau. You all know that Isaac was perplexed and said: the hands are the hands of Esau, and the voice is the voice of Jacob. He could not recognize the trick of the contract, because he was blind, but he recognized the ordinary voice of his son Jacob. If he had been deaf, he would not have been able to recognize his voice. Likewise, whoever you are, wondering in this way, how can you recognize a spiritual man if you are not only blind, but also deaf? This is impossible for you. And that this is true, that those who do not see spiritually cannot hear spiritually, listen to what the Lord says to the unfaithful Jews: Why do you not understand My conversation? For you cannot hear My word. And a little further: whoever is from God will listen to the words of God. For this reason you will not listen, because you are not from God... You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the lusts of your father (John 8:43, 47, 44). So, if you, because of your unbelief and wickedness, because of negligence and transgression of God’s commandments, are flesh—I mean, if you have become dull in heart and have your hearing and the eye of your soul imprisoned, and your mind covered with passions, then how can you know a spiritual and holy man? But, oh my brothers and fathers! I beg you, may each of us strive to first know ourselves, so that later we will have the opportunity, sometimes from what is within our limits, to know what is above us. For whoever did not first know himself so that he could say with David: I am a worm, and not a man (Ps. 21:7), and with Abraham: I am earth and ashes (Gen. 18:27), he cannot in any way know anything of the spiritual and divine spiritually and worthily, and as befits the supernatural and wise Spirit. Let no one deceive you with vain and deceptive words, saying that you can know the divine secrets of our faith without the teaching and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. No one can be a friend of the gifts of the Spirit without meekness and humility. Why must we all, without fail, first of all lay a solid and unshakable foundation of faith in the depths of our souls; then, on this basis, create a house of inner piety of the soul, building its walls high and strong from different types of virtues. When the soul is thus protected on all sides, like walls, and when every virtue is established and rooted in it, then let us put a roof on this building, which is the knowledge of God, and the house of the Spirit will be completely and completely ready for us. For when the soul is cleansed with tears in accordance with the repentance it demonstrates and the fulfillment of the commandments, then a person, firstly, is worthy of the grace of the Spirit to know his condition and all of himself; then, after a thorough and long-term cleansing of the heart and the rooting of deep humility, he begins little by little, and in some way gloomily, to comprehend even about God and divine things, and the more he comprehends, the more he marvels and acquires greater (greater - Ed.) humility, thinking about himself that he is completely unworthy of the knowledge and revelation of such mysteries. Why, guarded by such humility, as if being behind strong walls, he remains invulnerable from thoughts of vanity, although he grows every day in faith, hope and love for God, and clearly sees his success, which appears in the application of knowledge to knowledge and virtue to virtue. When he finally reaches the measure of the age of the fulfillment of Christ and truly acquires the mind of Christ and Christ Himself, then he comes into such a good state of humility in which he is confident that he does not know whether he has anything good in himself, and considers himself an inextricable and insignificant slave. And what is most wonderful and supernatural is what he holds in his heart, that in the whole world there is not a single person who would be lower and more sinful than him. How he reaches such a conviction and how he maintains it, I cannot say. There was only one thing I could understand in this: that there is the most praiseworthy virtue of humility. When the soul comes to such a good state and its mind, by the power of the Spirit about Christ God, plunges into the depths of humility and forgets the world and everything in the world, thinking only about itself and its own, so that it turns into a constant habit and an unchangeable mood, then it sees itself extremely humiliated and poor, and is convinced that among all the people of the world there is no one else as insignificant as she. Thus, the more someone considers himself in the feeling of his soul to be the poorest and lowest of all people, the more he is first and higher than all people, as our Lord and God determines: whatever He will to be in you, let him be your servant (Matthew 20:26). Let us also, brethren, strive to reach such a rank and state; then we too will be able to easily recognize the saints who have reached this level, and we will receive both present and future blessings through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. Amen. 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