97. Вода мимотекущая

As water flows by, so is our life and everything that happens in life. We see that the water in the river constantly flows and passes, and everything floating on top of the water, such as forest, rubbish, etc., passes. Christian! So our life, and with life all prosperity and adversity, passes by. I did not exist before, and now I am in the world, like other creatures. “Thy hands have made me and formed me” *, Lord (Ps. 119:73). I was a baby, and that passed. I was a boy, and that passed away. I was a young man, and that left me. I was a perfect and strong husband, but that’s gone. Now my hair is turning gray, and I am exhausted from old age. But even this passes, and I am approaching the end, and I will go on the path of the whole earth. I was born to die. I die so that I can live. “Remember me, O Lord,... in Your kingdom” (Luke 23:42)! What happened to me happens to every person. I was healthy and sick, and healthy again and sick again - and it passed. There was prosperity and disadvantage - time passed, and over time everything passed. I was in honor - that time has passed, and honor has receded from me. People revered and worshiped me - that time has passed, and I don’t see it. I was happy, I was sad, I was happy and I cried. And now the same thing happens to me: days pass, sadness and joy, joy and crying pass with them. People praised and glorified me, they blasphemed and reviled me. And those who praised, they also cursed, and those who blasphemed, they also praised - time passed, everything passed, praise and blasphemy, glory and disgrace passed. I hear the same thing now: sometimes they praise, sometimes they blaspheme, sometimes they glorify, sometimes they disgrace. I know that even that will fall: time will pass, blasphemy and praise, glory and disgrace will pass. What happened and happens to me, happens to every person living in this world. Such is the world, such is its constancy, such is our life in the world. A man is poor from his mother's womb even to the grave: he is born crying, lives in the world like a ship floats on the sea, and then ascends, then descends, then rises, then descends, and dies crying. I lived in a rich house, and I also lived in a hut. Time passed, and such peace retreated from me. I now live in a hut and cramped conditions, and that won’t happen. I sat at a rich meal, and I sat at a meager one. These days have passed, and everything that was in them has passed. The same thing is happening now, and it will pass. I tasted sweets and sorrows - the taste receded, sweetness and sorrow retreated from me. Heard sweet music. The time of hearing passed, and my joy ceased. I dressed in good clothes. This time has passed, that robe has left me. I rode a chariot. That time has passed, and that is no longer the case. Servants and slaves stood before me. That time passed, and they retreated from me. I had friends and acquaintances. Those days have passed, and they have turned some into my enemies, some into false brothers. What happens to me happens to everyone. Where is the time in which I was happy, in which I was healthy, cheerful, joyful, glorified, praised, honored; in which he consoled himself with a rich meal and music, and rode in a chariot in a train? Time has passed, and all my happiness and my consolation have passed with it. Where is the time when I was unhappy, sick, sad, sorrowful, blasphemed and reviled, reproached and scolded, etc.? Those days have passed, and all my misfortune has passed. Everything that happens now in this time will pass, just as everything passes with passing time. What one person discovers in himself happens to everyone. There is no such person who would remain in constant prosperity or disadvantage from birth to death. Just as the sky is sometimes cloudy, sometimes cloudy, sometimes bad weather and stormy, sometimes clear and quiet, so every person happens to be sometimes in prosperity, sometimes in trouble, sometimes in fear, sometimes in peace, sometimes in sadness, sometimes in joy. But as days and hours pass, so does every happiness and misfortune pass with them. You see, Christian, that like water flowing by, and everything floating on it, so the time of our life and all our well-being and ill-being passes over time. This is how our whole life will pass. Just as we now have our past days, and everything that happened in them, our happiness and misfortune, has passed, so will the rest of our life, and everything that happens in it, will pass. And just as we see our past days, as in a dream, and with them all the well-being and adversity, so we will see the rest of the time at the end of life, as in a dream. And only then will we remember and dream that such and such happened to us. Such is our life in this world! The life of the next century will not be as the word of God and our faith assures us. There our life will one day begin, but will never end, it will be unceasing and unchangeable. Our body will not have weakness, decrepitude, old age, death and corruption; and there will be a spiritual body, incorruptible, immortal, healthy, strong, light and prosperous. “It is sown in corruption, raised in incorruption; sown in humiliation, raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in strength; the natural body is sown, the spiritual body is raised... For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. When this corruptible has put on incorruption and this mortal has put on immortality, then the word that is written will be fulfilled: Death is swallowed up in victory. Death! Where is your sting? Hell! Where is your victory? (1 Cor. 15:42–44, 53–55). There will also be glory, honor, tranquility, peace, consolation, joy, gladness and all unceasing bliss. God's chosen ones will continually see God face to face, and from this they will continually be comforted, rejoice, and have fun; They will reign with Christ unceasingly, as members with the head. “We suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him” (Rom. 8:17). Likewise, in an unfavorable eternity there will be constant death. Once dead, the condemned will continually die and wish for death; They will incessantly suffer and suffer, and will not feel any consolation, cooling, or relief. This is the second death, and eternal death. It follows from this: 1) Since our temporary life is impermanent and everything in it changes and passes, we should not cleave to temporary and worldly things, but seek eternal life and those blessings with all possible diligence. “Set your mind on things above, and not on earthly things” (Col 3:2). 2) Do not be proud of the well-being of this world, that is, wealth, fame, honor, praise and others, for all well-being is temporary - as it comes, so it departs from us, and we are like one of the unhappy, the poor, the poor and the despised. 3) Don’t be discouraged in adversity, as it too will pass. And just as after the last night there is a day and after a storm and bad weather a bucket shines, so after grief and sadness there is joy, and after adversity comes prosperity. 4) To tolerate slander, blasphemy, reproach and reproach of self-willed and lawless people generously and not to be upset, for all this too passes. God is strong and can turn their oath into a blessing for us, according to what was said: “They will curse, but You will bless” (Ps. 109:28). 5) Whoever is equally constant in patience, in prosperity and adversity, will always remain in silence, peace and peace; and a life that is favorable, sweet, similar and in keeping with Christ’s life, will have a life; and on heavenly earth he will feel joy, and in the temporary life of eternal life he will taste sweetness. Lord, help me! “And let those who trust in You rejoice, they will rejoice forever, and You may dwell in them, and let those who love Your name boast in You” (Ps. 5:12). Translation by P. Yungerov – Editorial office of “The ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: