61. Человек, попавший к разбойникам и раненный ими

It happens that a person falls into the hands of robbers, who undress him and seriously wound him. We see such evil in the world. So the entire human race, after apostasy from God and the transgression of His holy commandments, fell into the hands of the devil, as a thief, and was left without holy and godly clothes, and was unspeakably wounded, and lay wounded on the path of this world, like one man. His wounds were so severe that no one could heal them. God's Law was sent to him from heaven. But he only denounced him and showed him his wounds, and did not heal him; he threatened him with death, and did not help him. Prophets were sent, but they did not accomplish anything. The poor human race lay unhealed! He lay wounded, wounded, exhausted, dishonored, desecrated by the robber devil! He lay “barely alive” (Luke 10:30–32). Ah, God's dearest creation, man! What a state you have come to, what a calamity, what dishonor you have come to through the cunning of a serpent! Where is your most beautiful beauty, the one with which your Creator adorned you? Where is your honor with which He first honored you? Where is the image of God and the likeness of God, according to which you were created? Where is the bliss for which you were created? The crafty serpent was jealous of our bliss, and cunningly tripped us, wounded us incurably and deprived us of our bliss. And we learned good and evil through experience. They lost good - and learned good. They fell into evil and knew evil. They wanted Divine honor - and lost the image of God. “But man, being in honor, did not understand, and became equal to foolish beasts and became like them” * (Ps. 49:13). The ulcers and wounds with which our enemy incurably wounded us are pride, arrogance, immeasurable pride, unruly desire, vanity, ignorance of God and carelessness about Him, hatred, envy, anger, malice, impurity, and so on. What does a person, not renewed by the grace of God, conceive and want, if not only evil and vanity? Just as from a stinking source only a bad smell emanates, so from the human heart, not renewed by the power of God, nothing comes except evil. This evil is all the more dangerous because it is hidden deep within a person. And it is only learned by those who examine their inner state with all diligence and find themselves in various temptations. Our enemy, man, wounded and infected us so much that no force could cure us. This requires the power of God, which created us out of nothing. It was necessary for the Creator Himself to come to His creation, incurably wounded by an enemy and defeated on the path of this world, which neither the law nor the prophets could cure, and He Himself had to cure it, with no other incurable force. The Creator came and took pity on him. He came in human form to a wounded and half-dead man, so that it would be more convenient to heal him and first bring him bliss, which he had lost by the cunning of the serpent (Luke 10:33-35). I sing to You, my God and Creator! By ear, Lord, I heard - and was horrified. He came to me, looking for me who had gone astray. And so much I glorify Your condescension towards me, O Most Merciful One! Know, man, the wounds of your soul, if you want to be healed from them, and pray with all zeal and sigh to Christ. May He heal you, He, without Whom there cannot be your healing, since this is impossible for any created force. Out of darkness there is light, and out of evil, good can be created by God alone, who creates everything out of nothing. Translation by P. Yungerov – Editorial office of “The ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: