6. Пленники и их освободитель

It happens that people from the Fatherland are captured on a foreign side and there they suffer all kinds of evil from the tormentor who captured them. The good king, being merciful and pitying his people who have fallen into such misery, sends to them a liberator who either redeems them with silver or frees them in some other way. So the Eternal King, the Heavenly Father, taking pity on us captives, sent His Only Begotten Son to us to deliver us from bitter captivity and testifies to us from heaven: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; Listen to Him” (Matthew 17:5). And the Son of God Himself says: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; For He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor, and He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18–19). When our first parents in paradise listened to the advice of the serpent and transgressed God’s commandment, they became captives of the devil, along with all their descendants, that is, with the entire human race. And he triumphed and mocked them like an evil giant and tormentor, and did with them what he wanted. It was not enough for people to worship the sun and other heavenly bodies instead of God - they worshiped animals, livestock, plants, and there was almost no creature that they did not idolize. It’s shameful to even talk about other cases in which the will of the enemy who captured them was carried out. The poor man was caught in such bitter captivity! “God is known in Judea; His name is great in Israel” (Ps. 75:2). But even in this smallest corner of the world, how the cunning enemy tried to destroy true worship of God! How many times has Israel been led into idolatry! How many other grave iniquities did he plunge them into, so that “they sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons. And they shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was covered with their blood” * (Ps. 105:37-38). There was not a single person who could free us from his tormenting hands. It was necessary for the One who is stronger and stronger than all to come and free us. “How can anyone enter the house of a strong man and spoil his goods, unless he first binds the strong man, and then he spoils his house” (Matthew 12:29). Christ the Son of God, seeing that there was no helper for us, by the good pleasure of His Heavenly Father, stood up for us, as He Himself says through the prophet: “I looked, and there was no helper; and I thought, and no one defended; and My arm delivered them, and My wrath came” (Is. 63:5). This Most Merciful Intercessor of ours is the Lord, “mighty and mighty. The Lord is mighty in battle.” (Ps. 23:8), entered into a feat for us and defeated the enemy, our tormentor. And just as David struck Goliath, not with a weapon, but with a sling, so Christ defeated the devil, our enemy, not with a weapon, but with the power of His Cross, suffering, patience, and crushed his hostile head, and threw him to the ground like a dead man. to us, His servants, and brought us to freedom. About this Protector of ours, the Conqueror of death and hell, Jesus, we dare and say: if He is for us, who can be against us? Strengthened by His strength, we step on the snake, the scorpion, and all the enemy’s power, and triumph, exclaiming: “Death! Where is your sting? Hell! Where is your victory? Thanks be to God, who has given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Cor. 15:55, 57). What should we, Christians, freed from such a tormentor, do? Answer: 1) From the bottom of our hearts, thank our Great Benefactor, Who freed us from the bitter captivity of the enemy, from whom we could not free ourselves by our own strength, and would have forever been in dark power if the merciful Jesus, the Son of God, had not given us a helping hand. For this be glory to Him, together with His Father and the Holy Spirit! 2) Always remember His great deed and sing a victorious song to Him, as the Conqueror of our enemy. “Helper and Patron, was my salvation. He is my God, and I will glorify Him” (Ex. 15:2). Our enemy fell - we rebelled and corrected ourselves. He was disgraced, but we became famous. He, who captivated us, is captive - we, captives, are freed. He, the ascended, humbled himself; we, the humble, ascended, for in our humility the Lord remembered us. 3) To love from the bottom of my heart such a Great and High Benefactor, greater than Who there is not and cannot be. If we love a benefactor who has done us some small good, then even more so we must love Christ, Who gave us so much that we can never repay Him with anything. 4) Show diligent obedience to Him and keep His holy commandments - so that we do not offend Him. From here our love for Him is known, as He Himself says: “Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me” (John 14:21). 5) Be careful not to fall into captivity again by the evil enemy, so that we do not become his eternal captives. Christ brought us to freedom - we will try to preserve it. Translation by P. Yungerov – Editorial office of “The ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: