Приложение I-ое. Праздники переходящие

Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem See in the 1st part the week of Vai, the 6th of Lent. Holy Week. Maundy Thursday, Friday and Saturday Two days before the holiday of Passover (Wednesday), the elders of the Jewish people and scribes gathered in the house of the high priest Caiaphas and in their council decided to take Jesus Christ by cunning and kill him, but not on the holiday, so that there would be no disturbance among the people. Suddenly, one of the twelve apostles, named Judas Iscariot, appeared in their meeting and said: “What will you give me? And I will deliver Him to you." They offered him thirty pieces of silver - the price of an ordinary slave. Judas agreed, and from that time on he began to look for an opportunity to betray the Lord Jesus Christ to His enemies. On the morning of Thursday, the Lord commanded the apostles Peter and John to prepare everything necessary for the celebration of Easter, and to their question: “Where to prepare?” said: “Behold, as you enter the city, you will meet a man carrying a jug of water; follow him into the house and tell the owner: The Teacher commanded to say: My time is near; Where is the upper room in which I could eat the Passover with My disciples? And he will show you an upper room, large and furnished: prepare there.” They did as Jesus commanded them and prepared the Passover. When evening came, the Lord Jesus Christ came to the prepared upper room and reclined at the table along with His twelve disciples. The Lord always loved His disciples, but in these last hours the feelings of love for them increased to the highest degree and were expressed in the most touching way. The Lord stood up from His place, took off His outer clothing and, taking a towel, girded Himself; then he poured water into the washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and wipe them with the towel with which he was girded. Everyone silently obeyed, but when it was Peter’s turn, he resisted. “Lord, is it you (the Messiah, the Lord of the living and the dead) to wash my feet!” The Lord said to him: “What I am doing now, you do not know, but you will understand later.” Peter exclaimed: “You will never wash my feet” (that is, never)! The Lord answered: “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” “Lord,” Peter exclaimed, “not only my feet, but also my hands and head!” But the Lord said: “He who has been washed only needs to wash his feet, because everyone is clean, and you are clean,” He added, turning to the other disciples, but not all of them (the first admonition to Judas). Having washed his feet, the Lord said: “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord and you speak correctly. So, if I, the Lord and Teacher, washed your feet, then you should wash each other’s feet (that is, serve each other with humility and love); for I have given you an example, that you should do the same as I did to you.” After this, the Easter supper went on as usual: they read prayers, sang songs of thanks, ate the lamb, and drank Easter wine. After the Old Testament Passover, the Lord Jesus Christ took bread (leavened) and, thanking God the Father, blessed it, broke it, gave it to the disciples and said: “Take, eat, this is My body, broken for you.” Then he took a cup of grape wine (dissolved in water) and, having given praise to God, gave it to the disciples, saying: “Drink of it, all of you; This is My blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins.” After the apostles received communion, the Lord commanded them to perform this sacrament in remembrance of Him. During the Old Testament Passover and the Last Supper, the Lord admonished His betrayer several times. After hinting that not all the disciples were pure, He said: “Truly I say to you, one of you who eats with Me will betray Me.” All the students were horrified and began to ask anxiously: “Isn’t it me?” God?" But Judas was silent. Then the Lord, in order to have a stronger effect on his hardened heart, said: “The Son of Man goes (to suffer), as it is written about Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed; It would have been better for this person not to have been born.” Excitement began again between the apostles and questions began to pour in: “Isn’t it me, Lord?” Fiery Peter could not withstand the uncertainty and gave a sign to John, who was reclining closest to Jesus Christ, to ask Him about the traitor. John fell to the Lord’s chest and quietly asked: “Who is this?” The Lord revealed to His friend the secret of the traitor, saying: “He to whom I will dip a piece of bread, I will give,” and, having dipped the piece, he gave it to Judas Iscariot. John only understood the meaning of this action, but in the eyes of others it was a sign of the Lord’s special attention to Judas. Finally, Judas decides to break the silence and asks Jesus Christ along with others: “Lord, is it not me?” “You,” the Lord answered him, but so quietly that no one except Judas heard this word. The Gospel does not clearly say whether Judas was awarded communion of the Holy Mysteries; but the church believes that the Lord did not deprive His betrayer of this highest sign of His love and, after receiving the bread (that is, after unworthy communion), Satan entered Judas and finally took possession of him. Seeing his anxiety, the Lord said: “Whatever you want to do, do it quickly.” Judas immediately got up from the table and went out, but even now no one except John understood the words of the Lord, and everyone thought that the Lord ordered Judas either to buy something for the holiday or to give to the poor, since he had a common treasury. At the end of the supper, the Lord and the disciples, singing joyful and Easter psalms (Ps. 115–118), went to the Mount of Olives. Even before the end of the Last Supper, as soon as Judas left, the Lord said to the apostles: “children, I will not be with you long. I give you a new commandment: love one another; just as I have loved you, so do you love one another. Therefore everyone will know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another.” The Apostle Peter asked: “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus Christ said to him: “Where I am going, you cannot follow Me now, but later you will follow Me.” Peter objected: “Why can’t I follow You now? I will lay down my soul for You." The Lord answered him: “Will you lay down your soul for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow until you have denied Me three times.” On the way to the Mount of Olives, the Lord said to the other disciples: “You will all be offended because of Me this night, for it is written: “I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.” Peter exclaimed: “Lord, if everyone is offended because of You, I will never be offended!” Jesus Christ said to him: “Truly I say to you, today, this night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” Peter continued to assure: “Even though I had to die with You, I will not deny You.” Other students said the same thing. During the Last Supper, the Lord began and on the way to the Mount of Olives continued a touching farewell conversation with His disciples. He assured them of His love and help, promised to send them the Holy Spirit, consoled them with the favor of the heavenly Father and encouraged them to endure temptations and disasters. “Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God and believe in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; and if it were not so, I would not have told you: I go to prepare a place for you. I am the vine, and you are the branches; He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If you remain in Me, and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. As the Father has loved Me, I have loved you; abide in My love. This is My commandment: love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than someone who lays down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. If the world hates you, know that it hated Me first. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you too; If they have kept my word, they will also keep yours. I told you this so that you would not be tempted; They will drive you out of the synagogue; even the time is coming when everyone who kills you will think that he is serving God. It is better for you that I go; for if I do not go, the Comforter will not come to you, but if I do go, I will send Him to you. When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak from Himself, but He will speak what He hears, and He will tell you the future. He will glorify Me, because He will receive it from Me and tell it to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and believed that I came from God.” The Lord concluded his farewell conversation with the following words: “in the world you will have tribulation, but take heart: I have overcome the world.” 2. Thoughts of St. Demetrius of Rostov about St. sacrament of communion Remarkable for its excellent comparisons and irresistible power of persuasiveness is the following instruction of St. Demetrius of Rostov on the transubstantiation of St. secrets 1. “If anyone expresses doubt and unbelief regarding the Divine sacrament, like the bread at the table is transformed into the body, and the wine into the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and becomes His true body and blood in sacred service, then every Orthodox Christian should ask him this way: can God make greater than man and beyond his understanding? And when he says: “It is possible,” tell him: “Why can’t He give us His flesh for food?” By the word of the Lord the heavens were established (Ps. 33:6); by the same word of God He changes bread and wine into His body and blood.” 2. “And if you are surprised at how the same Christ is both at the table and in heaven, then be amazed at how the same sun, which illuminates and warms us here, at the same time shines in heaven and on earth, and in the east and in the west, and in all the countries of the world. So Christ - at the same time both in heaven and on earth - in the most pure mysteries, as one Almighty and All-Powerful, both in heaven truly by nature, and on earth by the power of the Divine, performs great and glorious deeds, incomprehensibly and inexpressibly above the human mind.” 3. “And again, if you are surprised at how one Christ in many parts is presented equally whole to the faithful, no less in one part, and no more in another: - be amazed at how my voice is one and the same in my mouth and in your ears.” 4. “And if you are surprised how the body is not crushed in the fragmentation of the mysteries, when the Lamb is fragmented, and how in every part there is a whole and perfect Christ, marvel at this, how it is that when the mirror is broken into small parts, then the human image in it is not fragmented, but in every part appears whole, as in a complete mirror.” 5. “If you are amazed at how Christ, often consumed, is not diminished, but remains whole forever, be amazed at how, having lit other candles with one candle, you do not thereby diminish the brightness of the first candle.” 6. “And if you ask how Christ, having entered into the interior of our nature, is not defiled and is not contained, then I will ask: the sun, passing over unclean places, is it defiled through this or not? “I know that the wise and faithful will not dare to say: yes!” Much less is Christ, the Light of all purity, desecrated, and He who is, whom neither hell, nor tomb seals, nor the doors at the entrance to the disciples, closed and firmly enclosed, could not contain.” 7. “If you are surprised how in such a small part of the mysteries there is the whole full and whole Christ, then marvel at this, how such great cities are contained and embraced by such a small grain of your pupil? But, having learned this, do not experience the untestable mystery, but with undoubted faith and heartfelt love give thanks to the terrible, strong and almighty King and God Almighty, both in deeds and in mind, for His inscrutable gifts.” 8. “And again in the discussion of the body of the Lord - rightly believe with the church about terrible mysteries. Although you see visible bread and wine with your bodily eyes, believe firmly, without a doubt, that their essence, by the influx and action of the Holy Spirit and the power of the almighty word of God, is changed into the body and blood of Christ, so that nothing else remains here, but only the very true body and blood of the Lord, under the guise of wheat, leavened, new-baked soft bread, and wine pressed from grapes, i.e. e. berries." (“The work of St. Dim. of Rostov,” part V, p. 115). It is a fire that burns and consumes the root and branches of sins, it is a all-healing cure for all illnesses and sorrows; and it is the basis of the sanctification of the soul; holy communion is a sure guarantee of eternal life, and it is, so to speak, a deposit of God’s grace, the beginning or sprout of holiness; and it is a sacred knot that closely binds a person to Jesus Christ. He who worthily partakes of the Holy Mysteries receives complete deliverance from all his sins, he can be healed of all diseases; whoever worthily receives communion of the Holy Mysteries receives the beginning of the sanctification of his soul and becomes an heir to eternal life; he who worthily partakes of the Holy Mysteries is united by strong bonds with Jesus Christ, so that Jesus Christ is his soul and life, and he is the dearest member of Jesus Christ Himself, or he abides in Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ abides in him: “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him,” said Jesus Christ. And if a person who has worthily received communion of the Holy Mysteries does not turn to his former sinful life, but, according to his strength, tries to pay attention to the inside of his soul, then this sprout of grace and holiness will little by little sprout, take root, vegetate and bear the sweetest fruit of the kingdom of heaven. If a person who has received communion worthily lives more cautiously and prudently, then this sacred knot connecting him with Jesus Christ will become stronger and stronger and, finally, will become so strong that no force forever and ever will be able to break it, and then such a person himself becomes a living source of life and grace: one touch of him, one shadow of him, even his very clothing, like the Apostle Peter, can produce miracles. My God! What a treasure we have in our hands and precisely in our hands, because no one forbids or forbids us to come and drink from this cup of life; whenever you please, come and drink, and not only does no one forbid, but the church calls us every day to this immortal cup - come, she cries, receive the body of Christ, taste the immortal source. (From the works of Innocent, Metropolitan of Moscow). 4. Miracles that occurred during the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ 1. The historian Sozomen narrates: “when St. Chrysostom performed the liturgy and distributed St. secrets, a certain woman, infected with the Macedonian heresy, began to do this. And as soon as she accepted Divine Communion with unbelief, instantly a part (of Christ’s body) turned into stone in her mouth. The woman, horrified by this wonderful miracle, told what had happened to her in front of all the people, showing the stone itself, and from unbelief turned to true faith” (Historical Sozom. book 8, chapter V). 2. In Limonar it is written: “in Seleucia, a certain heretic merchant had an Orthodox slave, who, having taken St. communion, kept it in a reliquary. After some time, his master found out about this and wanted to burn the saint. secrets; - but suddenly all the parts of the most pure body of Christ, kept in the reliquary under the guise of bread, sprouted ears of grain” (“Limonary” chapter LXXIX). 3. During the time of Mina, Patriarch of Constantinople, one of the Jewish youths joined the Christian youths and received St. with them. communion; but, returning to the house, he told his father everything that had happened. His father was inflamed with anger, and immediately grabbed his son and threw him into the furnace in which glass was melted (for his father was a master of glass casting). The mother, not knowing anything about what happened to her son, searched for him for a long time and could not find him. On the third day, crying and sobbing, she came to her husband, a glassmaker, and suddenly from the midst of a red-hot furnace she heard the voice of her son. Frightened and delighted at the same time, the mother hastily approached the smelting furnace and saw her son among the burning coals. Taking it out of the fire, she asked: how did it not burn in the oven? He answered: “some wife in light clothes often came to him, giving him water to extinguish the burning coal; and when he wanted to eat, she gave him food.” This miraculous incident spread throughout the city. Emperor Justin himself (who at that time reigned in the Greek Empire) found out about this and ordered his son and mother to be baptized, and ordered his father, who did not want to be baptized, to be thrown into a hot furnace. This miracle was known to the whole world. (The following church historians write about him: Evagrius in book 4, chapter XXIV; Eusebius in book 4, chapter XXXVI; Nicephorus in book 17, chapter XXV). 4. One winter evening, as reported in the magazine. “Helmsman,” I came to a house I knew. I see the owner of the house sitting alone; his face was sad and gloomy. I asked: “Why are you so sad?” - Yes! The Lord visited me with the greatest misfortune - my wife is dying; a few minutes before your arrival, she confessed and took communion, and now she is sleeping, but it seems that this dream will be an eternal dream - and with these words, the saddened husband became even sadder. Not wanting to disturb the grief-stricken man any longer, I hastened to leave; when parting, he said to me: “come to me someday, I’ll soon be left alone.” I promised, and indeed, in two days I had to go to the same familiar house. When I arrive, the hostess walks around looking completely healthy; her husband sits with a cheerful look; they received me very kindly. I asked a recent sufferer about her health: “Now, thank God, I am completely healthy,” she said. “Oh, what a miracle the merciful Lord performed on me!..” Curiosity took over me, I asked to tell about everything that happened, and the mistress of the house told me the following: “For several years now, I have been suffering from suffocation and intermittent fever; but I have never experienced such terrible torment as on Saturday last week, during the night. My husband was not at home, I went to bed completely healthy and I saw in a dream: as if I were walking along some road, on the right side of which there was extraordinary light, and on the left there was terrible darkness; I kept striving for the light side, but some force pulled me in the opposite direction... Suddenly there was a terrible blow to the head, and I woke up. I felt unbearable pain and intense heat in my head; the stabbing spread throughout the body; Terrible vomiting and severe inflammation in the chest began, and I was completely unconscious. “At dawn I woke up, and my illness became even more difficult. “My husband arrives, and with great difficulty I could pronounce: “I’m dying.” They immediately sent for the priest. I don’t know why I suddenly had a strong, impatient desire for the priest to come as soon as possible; The words came to my mind: “If anyone is hurting in you, let him call the elders of the church”... Every minute seemed more painful to me than death, until the priest came. Finally, the priest comes: my illness has become extremely unbearable - it took my breath away, and I almost died. “The priest put some kind of box on the table, put on the stole (as I later found out) and put it on his hands. When everyone began to leave the room at the order of the priest, my husband said to me quietly: “Accept it with faith!..” These words seemed to pierce my heart like an arrow. “Then the priest came up to me and asked: do you know what’s here?” pointing to the box. I said: no! Here, he says, are the Holy Gifts - the most pure body of Christ and His blood: do you believe this? “No,” I said. The priest was amazed and then, after standing for two minutes, he asked again: why don’t you believe this? - I'm a Molokanka! And although I was baptized, I only bore the name of a Christian, but in fact I was a strict follower of my teachings... Amazement took hold of the priest even more, then he began to tell me about the Savior, about the one for whom He suffered, for whom He was crucified on the cross and, after prolonged consolations, he said: “believe, and you will be saved!..” Suddenly some kind of trembling ran through my whole body, I said with firmness of spirit: I believe, father, and I believe undoubtedly that these particles of bread are the true body of Christ! And as soon as I accepted these particles, a weight seemed to fall off me - I felt better... After the priest left, I fell asleep within a few minutes, and slept soundly... In my dream, I kept walking around some new, beautiful garden; All sorts of flowers flashed before me, but they had not yet blossomed; I felt inexpressibly pleased... In the morning I got up healthy and not only did I not feel the slightest sign of illness, but even my complexion changed: instead of the previous pallor, freshness appeared, and now I feel so at ease, so cheerful and pleasant that I cannot fully express all this to you... Oh, how great and saving communion is!.. Now I will never in my life believe my false wise men about anything; I myself have experienced that the Orthodox faith is the true faith; Now I will incessantly talk about the miracle that happened to me, both old and young, and especially to my former lying teachers. Look, Sunday will come, and I will go to church for the first time and, after mass, I will serve a thanksgiving prayer!” At these words, tears of tenderness appeared in the eyes of the healed sinner (“The Helmsman” 1890). 5. For the consolation of believers, we consider it appropriate to inform you that recently in Odessa the Lord revealed His miraculous, gracious help through the most holy sacrament of St. communion. Dr. L.M.Sh.'s daughter became dangerously ill with diphtheria in adolescence. The doctor’s comrades and employees separated the patient from the whole family and took all medical measures to save the sick woman. The disease turned out to be very malignant, and doctors found that the patient’s situation was hopeless. They invited the clergyman who is writing these lines. The sick woman received Holy Communion. secrets, and her recovery quickly began, to the surprise of those who knew the course of the illness and her position before St. communion. Apparently, the faith of the parents was strong, they believed sincerely and painfully. For those of little faith, what is dear here is that the sick woman’s father himself, a doctor of medicine, recognized in this healing the action of the almighty power of God, defeating the laws of nature (“Kherson. Eparch. Ved.” 1891, No. 9). 5. The admonition of those who willfully evade the Holy Spirit. communion Let those who willfully move away from St. be horrified. communion, because through this very thing they serve the enemy of our salvation, the devil. “Mnozi,” says St. John Chrysostom, I see that they do not often receive communion: this is the work of the devil. He detests that the body of Christ should not be received often. And behold, even though he does not often receive communion, he gives much power to the devil, and the devil accepts his will and leads him into all evil.” The “Helmsman’s Book” tells that when one ascetic asked the evil spirits what they feared most, the evil spirits answered him: “what you eat, that is, the sacrament. If Christians honestly observed what they eat in communion, then they would be impregnable to our machinations” (Kormch. book, chapter 68). Remember this, Christian, and approach the divine meal as often as possible, realizing your unworthiness, and place your trust in God’s mercy. “God is not your enemy, but a doctor; He wants to heal you, not destroy you, teaches St. Dimitry Rostovsky. Why then do His divine cups run away? It’s better that I accept spiritual healing and be healed, rather than run away from healing and fall into great sinful illnesses and perish.” (“Works of St. Demetrius of Rostov” part 2. ed. 1818, word for the 5th week of the Holy Pentecost). 6. Examples of God’s punishment for unworthy communion of St. secrets or blasphemous treatment of them He who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment without considering the body of the Lord (1 Cor. 11:29). 1. St. ap. Paul narrates that in the Corinthian church many of the unworthy communicants were subjected to serious illnesses and death itself for their guilt (1 Cor. 11:30). 2. In the Carthaginian church, according to the testimony of St. Cyprian, one unworthy communicant suddenly became mute after communion, and another’s tongue split into two (From the book on the fallen). 3. During the time of St. Chrysostom, according to him, unworthy communicants were sometimes apparently subjected to torment from evil spirits. (“First week of Great Lent”, Kiev, p. 259). 4. When the venerable martyr Evdokia was captured by the soldiers and brought to trial, then, taking off her clothes, the soldiers noticed that a particle of the most pure and life-giving body of Christ had fallen to the ground, which the martyr Evdokia took with her when leaving her monastery. The servants, having picked up the fallen part of the Divine body of Christ and not knowing what it was, brought it to the ruler. As soon as he extended his hand and wanted to take the shrine brought to him, immediately a particle of Christ’s body turned into fire, and a great flame was formed from it, which burned the hegemon’s servants and damaged his left shoulder with the flame. (“Cheti Menaia” March 1). “Although eat, O man, the body of the Lord, approach with fear, lest you be scorched: for there is fire.” (Prayer before communion). 5. On the island. Cyprus has a marina called Tade. Not far from it there is a monastery called Philoxenova. In this monastery lived one monk, originally from Miletus, named Isidore, who was constantly crying bitterly about something. When everyone began to convince him that he should be consoled to some extent, he did not agree and told everyone: “I am a great sinner, such as has not been seen since Adam until this day.” When they said to him: “Holy Father, who is without sin except God?” - he answered: “Believe me, brothers, I have not found either in Scripture or in tradition such a sinner as I am, and such a sin as mine. If you think I am only blaming myself, listen to my crime and pray for me. “I,” he continued, “when I was in the world, had a wife, we both adhered to the teachings of the North. So, when I came home one day, I did not find my wife, but I heard that she had gone to a neighbor’s to commune. The neighbor belonged to St. cathedral church. I immediately ran to stop her. Arriving at a neighbor's house, I found that my wife had already received St. part and joined. Grabbing her by the throat, I forced her - oh the crime! - spew from the mouth of St. part and, taking this last one, furiously threw it here and there, and finally it fell into the mud. But immediately lightning caught the saint. communion from that place. Two days later, an Ethiopian dressed in rags appears to me and says: “You and I are condemned to the same punishment.” - “Who are you?” I asked him. The Ethiopian answered: “I am the one who struck the Lord Jesus Christ on the cheek of the Lord who suffered for everyone.” That’s why,” the monk concluded, “I can’t stop crying.” The follower of the North committed a terrible crime, plunging the shrine into the mud; but those who accept it with a heart uncleaned from sinful defilements sin just as terribly. (“Meadow of Spirits.” I. Mosch, chapter 29). 6. Rev. Macarius of Alexandria, for his ascetic labors, received from God the gift of recognizing worthy communicants of St. secrets from the unworthy. This is what he tells us regarding this. “When the brethren approached the altar to receive the body of Christ from the hands of the Priests, one could see,” says St. ascetic - how the Ethiopians put coals of fire into the hands of some of them, and the body of Christ, given by the hand of the Priest, returned again to the altar. Meanwhile, the demons ran away from the worthy communicants. The very secrets of the Divine were distributed by the angel of the Lord, who stood with the Priest at the altar.” (“Ch. M.” Jan. 19). 7. Stories from the life of St. desert dwellers and St. martyrs, showing with what zeal they sought to receive Holy Communion. Christ's mysteries Sacrament of St. Communion is one of the most important means in the matter of salvation. “Through him, in the words of St. Chrysostom, we become one body with Christ, united with Him, like the body with the head; His blood is the deliverance of our souls: with it the soul is washed, with it it is adorned, with it it is inflamed” (Talk, on Ev. John, right. 46). “This sacrament is called communion,” says St. John of Damascus, because through him we become partakers of the divinity of Jesus; through him we communicate with Christ” (Exposition of rights, ver., chapter XIII). “Like ordinary bread, which we eat daily, there is the life of the body,” says St. Cyprian of Carthage, - so this supernatural is the life of the soul.” This is what our deep confidence in the high significance of St. is based on. communion. But at the same time, our thoughts with heart disease turn to those numerous Christians who, calling themselves zealots of ancient fatherly traditions, are deprived of the mysterious pleasure in the divine meal. How can one not grieve for such things?! How not to regret their extremely dangerous self-delusion, for they think of being saved, moving away from the source of salvation. Poor! They forget that only the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7) - therefore, without tasting His body and blood, they do not partake of the sufferings on the cross and His death that cleanse us from our sins. Amen, amen, I say to you, says the Lord, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of man, nor drink His blood, you do not have life in you (John 6:53). What do the zealots of ancient piety cite in their justification? Not daring to deny the high significance of the sacrament of St. communion, the Old Believers usually reassure themselves with the fact that many saints were saved without receiving Holy Communion. secrets These are, they say: Paul of Thebes, Mary of Egypt, Theoktista, etc. (Pomeranian rep. 20–21). But, firstly, it would be too impudent on our part to equate ourselves with the great ascetics of piety; secondly, it is unfair to claim that the named saints did not receive Holy Communion throughout their lives. secrets Although their lives do not directly mention their communion, this silence in no way gives the right to conclude that they really did not receive communion. Ancient narrators about the lives of saints had in mind to arouse in readers jealousy for especially high feats. What was ordinary in the lives of the saints, fulfilled by all Orthodox, obviously there was no need to talk about. Here, with pious attention, let us dwell on some examples from the lives of the saints, in order to clearly see how the great saints of God, despite the fact that their deeds were truly lofty, were always zealous for the communion of St. secrets Let's talk about those saints whom the so-called Old Believers place in the category of those who allegedly never received the Holy Order. Eucharist. 1. This is what the biography tells us about the Monk Theoktista. One hunter went with his fellow craftsmen to the deserted island of Paros, in the Aegean Sea, to catch animals; On the way he fell behind them. And so, wandering through the desert, he accidentally came across a church in the name of the Most Holy Theotokos, which had fallen into disrepair over time, and entering it, he devoted himself to fervent prayer; While praying, he noticed a small hole on the ground, in which, in addition to water, there were also grains of one plant, the so-called sunflower (iliotropion). Assuming from these signs that one of the saints lived in the dilapidated church, he left, firmly deciding to visit here again on his way back. A few days later, when they had already caught enough game of all kinds, the hunters gathered home - and they were from the seaside mountain of Euboea. The aforementioned hunter also went with them; but on the way he again fell behind them and still entered the church to pray to the Most Holy Theotokos: at the same time, he hoped to see that saint who lived in this church and ate grains soaked in water. And so, during prayer, he saw St. on the right side. the meal was like a kind of blade of grass, “shaken by the wind,” which was hidden from prying eyes by a dense network of cobwebs. Wondering what it was, the hunter approached and was about to break the web, but suddenly he heard a weak voice: “Stop and don’t come close, for I am a woman and without clothes!” Struck by the vision, the hunter did not know what to do. Finally, gathering his courage, he decided to ask: “Who are you? and how do you live in this desert? And again I heard a voice from the nets: “I beg you, throw me a garment, so that I may cover my nakedness, and then whatever the Lord commands me, I will tell you.” The hunter, having taken off his outer clothing, laid it on the floor, and he himself left the church and, after waiting a little while the woman dressed in his clothes, he entered again and saw her in the very place where she had been before. It was Rev. Theoktista. The hunter's surprise now knew no bounds. Falling with tears at the feet of the saint, he asked her to pray for him and bless him. She, after a short prayer, turned to him with these words: “May God have mercy on you, child, but tell me, what made you come here?” Then, having said that it was probably for the sake of her unworthy that the Lord inspired him to visit her, the saint confessed to the hunter her whole past life and, in conclusion, added: “but I ask you one thing: if next year you come here to hunt, and I know that you will certainly come - God wills it so - take with you in a clean vessel part of the most pure mysteries of Christ and bring them to me, for since then I settled in this desert, I never had the opportunity to partake of this gift. Now go in peace to your comrades and don’t tell anyone about me.” The hunter, having promised to fulfill the saint’s wishes exactly, hurried to his comrades and went with them to their homeland. A year has passed since the meeting just described. Hunters again gathered on the deserted island of Paros to catch animals. The aforementioned pious trapper also joined them. But, getting ready to set off, he asked the presbyter for part of the most pure mysteries of Christ and, putting it in a small reliquary, took it with him 239. When the hunting ship landed on the shore, the hunter in question first of all went to the church of St. Theotokos, where the Rev. was saved. Theoktista. Seeing the blessed one, he fell to the ground and bowed to her. But she, approaching him, said with tears: “Don’t do this, for you bear Divine gifts.” And then, taking the hunter by the hem of his clothing, she lifted him from the ground. He handed her the reliquary with the Divine mysteries, and she, first bowing to the ground, accepted it and, having partaken of the life-giving body of Christ, said with tenderness: “Now you forgive Your servant, Master, as my eyes have seen Your salvation, and as the remission of sins has been received in my hand, now I will depart where Your goodness commands.” Having said this, she gave praise and thanksgiving to God, who had made her worthy to partake of St. secrets, and, blessing the hunter, released him in peace. But what happened next? When, a few days later, the hunter again came to the church of St. Mother of God, then St. Theoktista was no longer alive: she was numbered among the celestials. Thus, the communion of St. the secrets were the communion of the dying, parting words for the outcome of the soul. Having quickly dug the grave, the hunter placed the relics of the saint in it, and he hurried to his comrades. (“Ch. M.” November 9) What is instructive for us in this story, first of all, is that Rev. Theoktista, despite her great exploits, did not consider it unnecessary to commune with St. secrets; on the contrary, she, as we see, begs the trapper to bring her part of the body of Christ, putting herself in great deprivation that for a long time she did not have the opportunity to partake of this gift. The need for communion with St. The mysteries for the saint increased especially because, as can be concluded from the narrative just proposed, the end of her life was already approaching. But what about Providence? does it remain indifferent in this matter? Oh, far from it! Providence sends just such a person who could be a worthy bearer of the most holy secret. It is not for nothing that the biography writer notes that the trapper was a pious man. Thus, God Himself makes sure that people, at least in the last minutes of life, are not left without guidance from the life-giving mysteries of Christ. How guilty then are those who willfully avoid the Divine Table, boldly declaring that good deeds alone are enough for salvation?.. Let us not, reader, be like that! And now let’s talk about Mary of Egypt, who with her great exploits won for herself an unfading crown of glory. 2. To the desert where the Rev. lived. Mary of Egypt, a year before her death, Elder Zosima came. Having met the great ascetic of piety, he fell at her feet, asking in the name of Christ, for whose sake she devoted herself to the hermit’s feat, to tell him her life. The venerable woman, fulfilling the elder’s wishes, told him everything down to the smallest secret. Finally, in conclusion, saying goodbye to the elder, she asked him to come next year, if it pleases God, on Maundy Thursday with life-giving mysteries, and to grant her to be a partaker of them, as a guarantee of eternal life, and conjured him not to cross the Jordan, but to wait for her near the village. “I will come,” said the righteous woman, and partake of St. mysteries, for I have not received communion since I was communed in the Church of John the Baptist, before I entered into the feat of living in the desert. Do not deny my request, St. Father, come to vouchsafe me the great mystery at that hour when the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, before His death on the cross, made His disciples partakers of the Divine and Last Supper.” Having said this, the monk said goodbye to the elder and retired into the desert. - A year has passed; the Great Pentecost, the days of fasting and prayer, has arrived; Elder Zosima remembered the saint’s request and, it seemed, could not wait for Holy Week - so great was his desire to see the saint; Finally, the week of the Passion of Christ arrived, and on Thursday, after the liturgy, the elder, taking the gifts, left the monastery. Having reached the river, he sat down on its bank and waited for the arrival of the saint. Already the elder, tormented by spiritual anguish, thought that, due to his unworthiness, she did not want to come to him, or she was already here and, not finding him, left: one thought more sadly disturbed the elder than the other. Suddenly he saw the monk walking towards him across the waters. The elder, frightened by this vision, wanted to bow to her, but she said: “St. Father, what are you doing? You are a presbyter with divine secrets." Approaching him, she demanded a blessing, and, at the request of the saint, he blessed her and read the creed and the Lord's Prayer. At the end of the prayers, she accepted the mysteries of the body and blood of Christ and, raising her hands to heaven, exclaimed with tears of joy, as Simeon once did in the Temple of Jerusalem with the Divine Child in her arms: “Now do You let Your servant go, O Master, according to Your word, in peace” (Luke 2:29). Having said goodbye to the elder, she asked him to come to the place where they had a meeting and conversation for the first time, “and there, the monk said, you will see me, if it pleases my Creator.” Another year passed, and the elder again went to the place of their first meeting, but did not find the saint alive. Approaching her body, he washed her feet with tears, then began to read funeral prayers, and suddenly the thought of whether the saint wanted the burial confused him, and he was perplexed. Suddenly he saw the words inscribed on the ground: “Zosima, in this place bury the body of the unworthy Mary and, having buried the body, pray for her, who reposed on the first day of April, on that very night on which she was honored to receive from you the saving gifts of the body and blood of Christ.” Aren’t they marvelous, aren’t they wonderful the deeds of the Almighty, who cares for us, His unworthy servants! The all-generous Lord vouchsafed the saint to die on the day on which she, having partaken of the body and blood of Christ, became a partaker of eternal life... Having glorified God and His such wondrous benefits shown to those who do His will, Elder Zosima buried the body of the saint and, returning to the monastery where he had stayed, told there about everything that the Lord had brought him to see (“Ch. Min.” April 1). 3. The Monk Savvaty of Solovetsky labored alone on a deserted island. What his life was like there, what his spiritual exploits were - only God and His saint know about this. angels who visited this desert ascetic. When this pious old man, filled with godly deeds, realized his departure to God, his only concern was the desire to partake of the divine mysteries. And so, having prayed to the Lord and entrusted himself to His heavenly intercession, Rev. Savvaty got into a fragile boat and sailed in it across the sea to the land where the house of prayer was located. Abbot Nathanael was here at that time. When the Monk Savvaty set foot on earth, he met Nathanael, who was coming with the most pure mysteries to give communion to the sick. By the usual greeting, they recognized each other and were very happy: Savvaty was glad that he had found what he was looking for, Nathanael was glad that he was honored to see the honest gray hair of the monk, about whose virtuous life he had heard so much. After a joyful greeting, the Monk Savvaty said to Nathanael: “I pray to your holiness, Father, release me, by the authority given to you from God, from the sins of which I will repent to you, and grant me communion of the holy mysteries of the most pure body and blood of Christ, my Lord; For a long time now I have been desiring to nourish my soul with this divine food; feed me now, holy father, for Christ, my God, has declared to me your love for God, that you may cleanse me from the sins that I have committed in word, deed and thought from my youth, throughout my entire life even to this day. The end of my life is approaching and I beg you to immediately grant me divine communion.” Nathanael fulfilled the will of the saint of God: after confession, he communed with him the Divine mysteries of Christ. After this, the Monk Savvaty rested peacefully in the Lord, and the church in which he died was filled with an indescribable fragrance. (“Ch. Min.” April 17). 4. Holy martyrs, imprisoned for confessing the Orthodox faith, - and they tried with all their might to be worthy of holy communion, so as to most sincerely unite with the Lord in these divine sacraments and enter into the afterlife with a guarantee of eternal blessings (John 6:53-58). “The Venerable Martyr Lucian the Presbyter, after many different torments, was bound and thrown into prison and here he lay on sharp stones for 40 days. The feast of the Epiphany has arrived; St. Lucian strongly desired to receive holy communion. secrets, like the Christians who were with him in prison. He began to fervently pray to the Lord about this, and the Lord heard his prayer. Some of the Christians, secretly from the guards, brought bread and wine to the martyrs in prison. Presbyter Lucian said to those prisoners with him: “Stand near me and be the church.” When the Christian prisoners stood around the saint. Lucian, he said to them: “Let us perform the liturgy and partake of the Divine mysteries.” “Where, father, shall we put the bread,” his disciples asked, “is there no table (throne) here?” He, tied up, lying face up on sharp stones, answered: “Put it on my chest - and there will be a living throne for the living God.” So, in prison, on the martyr’s chest, the Divine Liturgy was performed, with all the prayers that belonged to it, ceremoniously and reverently, and everyone was partakers of the Holy Spirit. secrets" (“Thurs. Menaion” October 15). Thus, examples from the lives of saints show that the saints, retiring into the desert for the sake of deeds of piety, were not at all as indifferent to the need for communion as the alleged Old Believers want to imagine. And despite their great exploits, they did not think that they could replace it with their faith and good deeds. Despite all the difficulties, the hermits did not deprive themselves of the Divine meal; on the contrary, they found in it true pleasure and strengthening for spiritual exploits. With no less zeal they sought the communion of St. mysteries and St. martyrs. They looked at it as a necessary accessory for a Christian. “How can a Christian exist without liturgy,” says the holy martyr. Felix; therefore, they carried spare gifts with them and received communion with them before suffering and death. Imprisoned in prison, they received St. communion through the faithful, who were sometimes exposed to the greatest dangers from the pagans, and if it was impossible to receive St. the gifts concluded - if there were priests between them - sometimes themselves performed the liturgy and received communion. (We gleaned this information from the work of Prof. N. Ivanovsky: “On the Sacrament of Holy Communion according to the teachings of the Old Believer, non-priest consent”, M., 1875). 8. Lamentation in remembrance of the passion of Christ Father, save Me from this hour! John XII, 27. So You exclaimed, beloved Son of God, foreseeing Your imminent outcome... And You Yourself added then: but for this reason you have come to this hour; You yourself decided to lay down Your soul for Your people, and therefore no one could save You! In vain did one of the princes who believed in You defend You before the Supreme Council. In vain did Your disciples advise You not to go to Judea for the feast of the last Passover. In vain did the people of Jerusalem give You a royal welcome and greet You with the word of salvation. In vain Peter sought with a knife to save You. In vain did Herod have the opportunity to deliver You, as a Galilean, from the hands of the Jews. In vain does Pilate’s wife ask her husband not to do harm to You the Righteous One. In vain does Pilate himself want to let you go and three times publicly confesses that he finds no guilt in you... Everything that, apparently, could serve to preserve your life turned out to be in vain!.. And your whole life is filled with all sorts of sorrows. You came to Yours and Yours did not accept You. And in the last days of Your life, Your sorrows and Your sufferings increased to the utmost degree. You foresaw them, and on the last journey to Jerusalem You said to Your disciples: behold, we are ascending to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed by the bishop and the scribe and the tongue, and they will mock Him, and reproach Him, and wound Him and spit on Him - they will condemn Him to death and, immediately, kill Him... What a depth of sorrow lies in every word of these prophecies of Yours, not to mention their fulfillment in practice! But even before (You were delivered into the hands of sinners, sorrow after sorrow struck Your heart. The death of a friend brought tears to You, the future; the fate of Jerusalem - also tears. The disorder in the house of God prompted You to anger; the barren fig tree - to a word of oath; the barren synagogue - to a bitter speech of reproof. And then they go in continuous succession - the betrayal of Judas, the sleep and flight of the disciples, the denial of Peter, the strangulation of one of the servants, the mockery of all the servants of the high priest, the arrogance and frivolity of Pilate, the cries of the ungrateful mob, ridicule from Herod, reproach from the soldiers, comparison with the thief, unrighteous condemnation, bearing the cross, the shame of nudity, the violence of crucifixion, gloating enemies, blasphemy of a fellow crucified villain, bitterness and grief until the last breath! And don’t console, and don’t grieve!.. It is true that the compassionate daughters of Jerusalem wept; True, Your Mother and beloved disciple stood at the cross; but what consolation could this helpless participation bring? There was no real and only necessary consolation from the Heavenly Father! And You, beloved Son of God, were left without consolation, crying out to Your Father: My God, My God! You left Me forever!.. But consolation was not given to You because God laid the sins of us all on You (Is. 53:6). You are wounded for our sins, You are martyred for our iniquities. You took upon yourself the punishment for our salvation. That is why Your ulcers had to last without relief until the last minute of life... We cannot understand or appreciate the value of Your suffering... We understand the horror of death for ourselves, but You, who brought others back to life, You, the very author of life, were doomed to death - this surpasses all our concept of suffering and torment! What should we say to You, Lord and Master of life, at the hour of our mental standing at Your cross? With what expression of sympathy will we honor Your boundless suffering, O Word of God? We must stand before You with the same feelings, with the same tears with which those who love You and those beloved by You expressed their helpless grief at Your cross. Come, sons of men, let us mourn before the Lord (Ps. XLIV, 6), all as one orphaned family of His! .. Are you, Lord, on the tree of condemnation, Judge with the end of the earth, Judge with righteousness, Judge with power, and conquer when you judge Thee? Are you, Hope of tongues, giver of justification to the human race, appearing before us defeated, humiliated, and universally dishonored? Is it you, the Sun of Truth, who has risen to the world to disperse the deep darkness of error and reveal to everyone the truth of God, but instead you yourself enter into the darkness of slander with the reproach of blasphemy? Is it you, the beloved Servant of God, who did not argue, who did not cry, who did not break a bruised reed, and who did not quench the quenching lamp, who, together with the robbers, is numbered among the murderers and are you dying to the execution of evildoers? Are these your creative hands that blessed, did good, worked miracles, stretched out and nailed to the tree of execution?.. Are these your worshiped feet, which brought peace, joy, and eternal salvation into the cities, tormented and nailed to the tree of shame? Is this your long-desired and forever unforgettable image, in the likeness of which we are all created, now terribly and pitifully seen on the tree of curse, having no form, no glory, no kindness?.. Judge and Vedche! Accept my sorrow for You, who was condemned for my sake... You did not have where to bow your head, and where did you finally bow your head? On the cross! You have not committed sin, and now you are being given over to death as a grave sinner! And flattery was not found in Your mouth, but now the whole Sanhedrin calls You a flatterer, who deceived the people in the name of Christ the Son of God! You were consumed by zeal for Your Father’s house and, jealous of it, You cleansed it from the defilers, but these defilers pretend to be more zealots of the Church of God than You and, nodding their heads, say to You: Eh! destroying the church and building it up in three days (Mark 15:29). You are born to reign in the house of Jacob forever, on the throne of Your father David, and you die with the name of the claimant to the kingdom desecrated! In an underground cave You met the first night of earthly existence; in the cave you will recline in your flesh even on the last night! Lamb of God, take away the sins of the world and accept, like a man, the shame of extreme humiliation, listen to the cry of my sorrow at the sight of Your free poverty, and do not let me boast about anything else, only about Your cross!.. Your bright face, shining like the sun at the hour of Your transfiguration, is no longer visible! We cannot hear Your voice, which pacified the elements and penetrated into the final sources of life! You no longer walk on earth, praised by the seraphim! You do not create and do not teach, one of the greatest Great things in the kingdom of heaven! You do not call Your sheep by name, You yourself were slain like a sheep! You no longer call to yourself those who labor and are burdened. The time desired by prophets and kings, unprecedented before and unique after, has passed and disappeared irrevocably! Who will now heal the sick, cleanse the leper with a glance, heal the blind with clay, raise the dead with a word?.. Good teacher! To whom do You leave us, Your poor and fearful disciples, overwhelmed by the waves not on a lake or on the sea in a great windy storm, but in the midst of the darkness of all kinds of doubts raised by the unbelief of the age, which passes off ghosts as truth and takes the truth for ghosts?.. Good shepherd! Who will shepherd Your orphan and defenseless flock, accustomed to follow You and expect everything from You? He faces an impenetrable jungle of dangers, temptations, and delusions; he is surrounded by the homeless desert of the world, in which fierce wolves rage (Acts 20:29), tearing and tormenting Your little flock with blasphemies, and his enemy the devil himself walks like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). With You all this is not scary, without You it’s terrible!.. Shower the doctor! I commit my aching soul to You: heal her, groaning at the foot of Your cross! Bow down to my heartfelt sighs, and accept my drop of tears, even a certain drop, shed for separation from You, offered to You, who wants nothing from me, not as a gift worthy of You, but as the meager and wretched fruit of my daring, albeit imperfect and weak love for You! But my Lord and Savior! Are tears of sorrow appropriate at the sight of You, who suffered and was given burial? Do I not hear Your words in the sacred song: I will arise and be glorified? Do I not remember your assurance to the apostles before separation: it is better for you that I go (John 16:7)? This is truly true: Your death is better for us than Your eternal presence with us. For believing love there is more consolation in visible separation from You than in Your visible co-presence. You said to Your disciples: if you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said: I go to the Father (John 14:28). Oh, help me to always be Your disciple; grant me forever to love You with a believing heart and bless me to shed other tears at Your cross - tears of warm thanksgiving, praise and worship... By the Cross and the Tomb You accomplished our redemption; the cross and the tomb appeared for our sake and for our salvation. Let the song of praise never leave our lips throughout all generations and forever and ever! With all the warmth of my soul and with tears of my heart - We worship Your passion, Christ! Show us also Your glorious resurrection! Amen. (Abridged from the words of Archimandrite Anthony. See “Trinity leaf.” No. 783). 9. Way of the Cross of the Lord 240 When the cowardly Pilate, after many but vain efforts to free Jesus Christ, whose righteousness and innocence was clear to him, finally yielded to the Jews who demanded His death, and sentenced Jesus Christ to death, then the Roman soldiers took off His scarlet robe and put His ordinary dress on Him. According to the cruel laws of Rome, those condemned to execution on the cross had to bear their own cross. The path now traversed by Jesus Christ is called the passionate path of the Lord. Let us follow the Lord along this path. From the praetorium, where Pilate lived, to Golgotha ​​it was necessary to walk about two miles and a half. Strastnaya Street, almost straight at first, soon turns sharply to the left. First it comes under the arch that connects the remains of Pilate's palace with other buildings; From one window of this arch, Pilate, they say, showed Jesus Christ to the people with the words: “Behold the Man.” Travelers say that the stone platform that served as the entrance to the praetorium is still visible; it is composed of large marble slabs. The Lord’s procession of the cross began from this stone platform. When the procession reached the turn to the left, the Lord, exhausted and weakened by the countless sufferings that He had to endure, fainted under the weight of the cross and fell. Meanwhile, His Most Pure Mother, having heard about the bloody decree that condemned Her beloved Son to death, hastened to Pilate to ask for mercy for Her Son. The prayers of the inconsolably crying Mother, She thought, of course, would touch Pilate’s heart, and he would cancel his harsh sentence. But She was deceived in Her expectations. Then She hurries to look once again at Her beloved Son. But it was inconvenient to follow Him: a crowd of enemies and idle people, who go to bloody spectacles in order to find something to do, surrounded Her Son. There was no way to get to Him. Then She chooses another path, the shortest, so that, having overtaken the procession of the cross, she goes out to meet Him. In the same direction as Strastnaya Street from Pilatov’s Palace there was a narrow alley through which one could go out to meet the procession of the cross. When She came out here, a terrible sight met her eyes. The road led up a steep mountain. Exhausted and weakened, covered with sores, Christ falls under the weight of the cross. The enemies noticed this, and, fearing that Jesus Christ might die on the way, without experiencing the torment on the cross prepared for Him by their malice, they decided to free Him from the cross. At this time, a man named Simon of Cyrene was walking towards the mournful procession, returning from field work; he was stopped and forced to carry the cross behind Jesus Christ, - But even Christ, relieved from the heavy cross, climbed the mountain with difficulty; streams of sweat and blood streamed down His face. And so, not far from the place where the cross was laid on Simon, one woman, named Veronica, moved by a feeling of compassion for the Divine Sufferer, came out to meet Him and offered Him a towel to wipe the sweat from his face. No matter how small and short-lived the relief provided when a tired and exhausted person wipes himself off, for an extremely tired person this is also expensive. But even more valuable for a person who is insulted and persecuted by ridicule and curses is kind participation, a kind word, a compassionate look. From this place there were no more than 100 steps to the judgment gate; near this gate there was a stone pillar on which the sentences of the condemned were hung, which is why the gate was called the judgment gate; Convicts were always passed through them. When Jesus Christ was brought to this place, sobs were heard in secret. It was the women of Jerusalem who wept. At the sight of the very place of execution, as the minutes of execution approached, the women who followed Jesus Christ could not hold back their tears. And so, Jesus Christ, who had not previously opened His mouth before the lawless judges, addresses them with an answer. They regret Him, but they themselves demand much more regret: the fate of them and their children is even more difficult. "Daughters of Jerusalem! Don’t cry for Me, cry for yourself and for your children. For the days are coming in which they will say: Blessed are the barren, the wombs that have not given birth, and the breasts that have not nursed. Then they will begin to say to the mountains: fall on us, and to the hills: cover us. If they do this with a green tree, then what will happen to a dry one?” This was a terrible sentence over the city, which condemned and brought to death the One from whom alone he could expect salvation. 37 years have passed since these prophetic words were spoken, and this prophecy was fulfilled with terrifying accuracy in the fate of Judea and Jerusalem. Thousands of Jews died from the sword of the Romans, from plagues, from hunger. Mothers killed their children for food. Finally, Jesus Christ was brought to Calvary - the place where criminals were usually executed; the common name for this place was “Execution Place”; so, perhaps, it was called because the skulls of executed criminals and those left without burial were constantly visible on it. The suffering of the cross was fierce suffering; in order to alleviate their severity, people sentenced to these sufferings were given a special kind of drink that rendered a person unconscious and weakened sensitivity. They offered this drink to Jesus Christ, but after tasting it, He did not want to drink. He wanted to drink the entire cup of suffering, to the smallest drop, with full consciousness. Then they began the crucifixion itself. Crucifixion was carried out in two ways: one consisted of placing the cross on the ground, laying the person sentenced to death on it, nailing him to the cross with his hands and feet, then raising the cross and placing it in the ground. Another way was that the cross was first established in the ground; one of the executioners lifted the crucified man onto the cross, and the others nailed his arms and legs, or only his arms, and tied his legs with ropes and left him hanging in this position until death ended the torment of the crucified man. The torment of Christ nailed to the cross was terrible. He could not move in any direction without His suffering increasing, He could not move, He could not choose any position that would alleviate His suffering even to the smallest extent; if He wanted to hang on the body, then the wounds expanded with burning pain; if He wanted to lean against the cross, then the needles of the crown of thorns pierced His head deeper and deeper. Improper circulation produced a constant rush of blood to the head and heart; There was constantly painful whirling in my head, and my heart was experiencing such a fierce melancholy that we cannot even imagine. Finally, from the loss of blood, the crucified man felt an unimaginable thirst. The thirst that we feel in extreme heat, from fatigue, in comparison with the thirst of the crucified, is a small drop in comparison with the ocean. Now let's see what the people around Jesus Christ did when he was nailed to the cross. First of all, the soldiers who crucified Jesus Christ began to divide his clothes, which from now on became their property. Between these clothes there was one that they were sorry to tear apart: it was all woven, from top to bottom. About these clothes they cast lots as to who should get them. The sight of these people calmly sharing their bloody spoils should not have filled the soul of the sufferer with even greater suffering: a kind word, a compassionate look, greatly eases the suffering; indifference and heartlessness doubles a person’s suffering. The enemies of Jesus Christ also came to Golgotha; their anger seemed to have no bounds. It wasn’t enough for them to see Him on the cross as He melted in terrible agony; they wanted to do something else to intensify His suffering. And so, they began to mock and mock Him. “You saved others, now save yourself,” they said. If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. “He always trusted in God, may God now deliver Him.” His bodily suffering was terrible, but even more terrible was His mental suffering: to see how good is paid for with evil, reproached with good, mocked at good - it is very difficult for a person even not hanging on the cross. But Christ responded to all these cruelties with prayer for His enemies; not a single word of curse or malice came from His lips. And it was not only those who were crucified who laughed at Him like this: He met mockery and slander from a person who should have sympathized with Him, for he himself, to some extent, experienced the same torment. This was one of the thieves crucified with Him. If you are Christ, save yourself and us, he said. But the other calmed him down and stopped him. “Aren’t you afraid of God,” he said, “we are punished justly for our deeds, and this one did nothing wrong.” And, turning to Jesus Christ, he said: “Remember me, Lord, when You come in Your kingdom.” And so, for these words, which are now so often repeated in church, he was honored to hear from the Lord not only forgiveness of all those bloody crimes that filled his life, but also a promise that he would be the first to enter heaven. One repentant, from a pure heart, sigh to God redeems the guilt of an entire life in the eyes of God. “Today you will be with Me in Paradise,” He said to the repentant thief. Not far from these people, mocking and mocking, stood a group of women devoted to Christ, and among them was the beloved disciple of Christ - St. John. One of these wives was struck with fierce grief. This was the Mother of the Lord Jesus Christ hanging on the cross. The inspired prophetic words of the righteous God-Receiver came true: “a fierce weapon passed through her heart.” The hardest torment for a mother’s heart was to see the suffering of Her beloved Son, to see the blood flowing in streams from His wounds, to hear ridicule of Him. The gaze of the Divine Sufferer fell on Her, and the feeling of filial love makes Him forget His suffering and console Her. With His gaze He pointed Her to His disciple and said: “Here is Your son!” that is, this is who will replace Your Son for You, and turned His gaze to His disciple; in this gaze the student read the words: “here is your Mother,” that is, surround Her with cares and concerns, as if She were your mother. While the enemies of the Lord raged and sought more and more new ridicule with which they could increase His suffering, nature was horrified and trembled; far before nightfall, thick darkness began to spread across the earth, so that the sun completely darkened. In the midst of this darkness, the Lord said: “I thirst.” One of the soldiers, more compassionate than the others, took a sponge, soaked it in sour wine, stuck it on a stick and put it to the lips of Jesus Christ. Having quenched his thirst somewhat, Jesus Christ said: “It is finished,” that is, everything was fulfilled, why He came to earth, why He suffered, why He tasted death. God's justice is satisfied and sins are forgiven to those who believe in Him. Then He raised His eyes to heaven and exclaimed: “Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit!” and with these words he breathed his last. Immediately then, terrible underground shocks were heard, the stone rocks were split, the burial tombs were opened, many dead people were resurrected and appeared in Jerusalem. These signs were so terrible that many of the spectators, beating their chests in despair, hurried home, and the commander of the Roman soldiers, seeing such great signs, believed in the Lord. This was the day when the bodies of the crucified were not to remain at the site of the crucifixion until the feast; night came, and the crucified were still alive. It was necessary to hasten their death. To do this, the legs of the crucified were broken. The Jews begged permission from Pilate to break the legs of Jesus Christ and the thieves crucified with him; They broke the legs of the robbers, but they did not break Jesus Christ: He died while they were going to Pilate, so that not enough time had passed after their departure when Joseph appeared to Pilate with a request to give him the body of Jesus for a pious burial. Pilate was surprised that the death of the Lord Jesus Christ followed so quickly, but, having made sure of this, he gave His body to Joseph. Nicodemus joined Joseph. They took the body of Jesus Christ from the cross, wrapped it in a thin clean cloth, a shroud, sprinkled it with fragrant powder and laid it in a new tomb that Joseph had prepared in his garden. (From the magazine “Pastor. Social Security.”). 10. Seven words of I. Christ from the cross Almost nineteen centuries ago, at six o'clock in the afternoon, as they said in the language of that era, on a small naked hill called Golgotha, Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross. Christ spoke several words on the cross, preserved and transmitted to us by witnesses who heard them with their own ears. Let's think about them. Dying, I. Christ taught us the great science of life in those few words that came from His lips during this time, and according to them, the science of life is the science of suffering, consolation, love, forgiveness, perfection, in a word - the science of death. The first word with which this divine science begins, the most necessary for man, because we may not know much, even know nothing in this world except the science of dying, the first word that came from the lips of Christ was the word of forgiveness. “Father,” He said, already raised on the cross, let them (His tormentors) go, for they do not know what they are doing.” “We all suffer more or less from people, from their ill will, malice, cruelty, cunning, from their hidden hostility or obvious persecution. Born for brotherly love, people torment each other. Anyone who has experienced life even a little has bought this knowledge through hard experience. The suffering inflicted on us by unconscious nature, the suffering, so to speak, arising from our fragile organization, sensitive to the extreme, is much easier for us to bear: we involuntarily submit to the inexorable inevitability; but the suffering inflicted on us by free and rational beings, those among whom we live, our fellow citizens, friends and brothers, is the most painful, the most burning suffering, especially if it falls on the head of an innocent person who has the right to say to his enemies: why are you persecuting me? Christ did not even make this reproach to His tormentors; He forgave them, and forgave them completely. You also say with Him: “Father, let them go, for they do not know what they are doing.” Nailed to the cross by His enemies, in His final hour of death Christ forgave. I can't imagine anything more touching. From the moment of this forgiveness, boundless mercy embraced the whole earth: victims who previously only knew how to curse, learned to love and forgive. But Christ not only commanded to forgive! He asked the Father for His tormentors, saying: “Let them go, for they do not know what they are doing,” thus revealing to others the secret of infinite mercy. – Note, in fact, that usually in the depths of every evil done by man lies ignorance. A person’s mind is limited, he does not see everything, does not understand everything, and therefore he is mistaken; the torturers who crucified Christ, of course, would not have done this if they knew who He was. Their ignorance excuses them and opens a secret outlet for boundless mercy. This is the effect of this divine word. Humanity, if we consider it in relation to the Divine, is governed by two laws: the striking and vengeful law of justice and the loving, sin-forgiving law of mercy. Our Lord Jesus Christ had to live under the law of avenging justice, under the law of the terrible Jehovah, which left no room in the human conscience for kindness and forgiveness. Brutal-necked humanity grabbed the sword, struck, flogged, chopped, killed in the name of that false justice, which is called the justice of retribution. Such was the terrible law that raged throughout the whole world before the appearance of the Savior of the world. After Him this law changed; with the word of forgiveness spoken by Him on the cross, a new feeling filled the man’s heart. We are already kind to the extreme, we no longer defend ourselves against this feeling, because it is quite permissible to imitate our God and feel pity for bad people. In the kingdom of Christ there is no more vengeance, no retribution, no murder, no swords are visible aimed at pacifying the man-beast; you need to imitate Christ, and even if the claws of this animal man dig into your body, you need to control your anger, open your heart to pity and not close yourself to the feeling of forgiveness. Blessed be the Lord, who changed in man what is most difficult to change in him, who killed the instinct of vengeance in him, who elevated him to duty and established the kingdom of boundless mercy and forgiveness! If even a person can utter a word of forgiveness to his tormentors at the last minute, then only God can lay the divine law of universal mercy in the heart of humanity. Christ was crucified between two robbers, thieves or murderers. The second word he spoke was a word of deepest consolation. One of the crucified thieves, joining the crowd of passers-by, the Pharisees, and the Jewish leaders who vied with each other to mock Christ, said: “If You are the Son of God, save Yourself and us”; even in the eyes of death he continued to sin. The other, objecting to him, said quite sincerely: we are acceptable according to our deeds, but this... and, turning to Jesus, said: remember me, Lord, when you come in Your kingdom. And Christ answered him: today you will be with Me in paradise. My brothers! I don’t know words that more closely relate to the attitude towards humanity. We are all sinners, although to varying degrees. Of course, we are not robbers, not thieves, not murderers, like victims of public judgment, like those who, having been condemned by Pilate, accompanied Christ to Golgotha; but we have so many of our own vices that we are often more guilty than recognized villains, more criminal than murderers. Some kill the body, others corrupt the spirit and kill the soul. Of these two crimes, which is greater before God? Villains of the spirit, you may have poisoned an entire generation with a terrible poison! You spawn of vipers, because you are killing spiritually not just one, but thousands of people! And how many consciences have been corrupted by corrupters and seducers?! How many families have they brought shame and incurable vice into! Meanwhile, they, assuming the guise of civilized people and talking a lot about virtue in order to make people believe in their own, have the audacity to admire themselves under this mask of hypocrisy. No, enough lies, deceit, pretense; human conscience bends under the weight of countless secret and obvious sins. And it’s a strange thing - those who are most innocent before God are more likely than others to admit and confess their sins and weaknesses with the highest frankness and sincerity. Brothers, you will not escape death, it guards us. I am not saying, of course, that we too will be nailed to the cross, but in due time we too will be nailed to our deathbed and will have to breathe our last breath. What will we need at that terrible hour? In hope. Because when, approaching death, a person begins to vividly recognize his shortcomings, he is filled and often makes salvation impossible for him by a painful impulse of despair that suddenly arises and grows within him. And when at the end of a long life we ​​examine our actions in the ominous light of death, we so want to say: leave me, I am too far from God; ah, if only I could die quickly so that all this would be over. This is the bitter cry of the desperate. I would like everyone who hears the word of Jesus to have once and for all a cure for this last mortal anguish. Look at the unknown thief who died next to Christ; he was the same criminal as there are now, because times, like crimes, hardly change, but the essence of evil always remains the same and its mortal fruits are always the same. I would like to address myself in the name of Christ, in the name of the crucified, great, only Comforter, to all the unfortunate, unfortunate because they are guilty - to all who have sinned openly, to all who have sinned in secret, who have sinned against justice, against society; I would like to be able to say to all the criminals, because they are all on the same road and in the same atmosphere of satanic evil: whoever you are, whatever the number and darkness of your sins, do not despair! Do not despair, fallen maidens and youths! Don't despair, unfaithful wives! And you, husbands, depressed by the weight of all sorts of secret sins, do not despair! Oathbreakers, oppressors of the weak, traitors to justice and traitors to the faith, do not despair, because since Christ said to the thief crucified with him: “Today you will be with me in paradise,” despair has been overcome. – Heaven is God. Heaven is the truth; heaven - eternal love; paradise - endless power; heaven is perfection; paradise is the kingdom of God; heaven is eternal justice and eternal love. – This is the dream we caress, the pinnacle of our highest drives and aspirations. Sinner, heaven is your hope: Christ promised it to you. Oh, brothers, you need to do only one thing to achieve heaven, and this one thing depends on you: you need to repent, turn to your conscience and, following the example and with the faith of the good thief, exclaim from the depths of your heart: I did something bad and am receiving a punishment worthy of my deeds, but You, Christ, are innocent: “Remember me in Your kingdom”! And you, just like the thief on Calvary, will hear the word of Christ: “Today you will be with Me in paradise and in God.” This is the secret of eternal consolation. One more piece of advice: do not put off your repentance and your actual correction until the last minute; repent more often, repent and correct yourself after every sin. Otherwise, you will not be able to repent, following the example of the thief, on the threshold of death. At the foot of the cross a scene took place that was extremely touching because it was extremely human; the soul of Christ is revealed in her from the side of His amazing and infinite tenderness. Near the crucified people there was a noisy, unfriendly and angry crowd, looking with curiosity at their suffering. The majority mocked and mocked them, especially targeting I. Christ with their ridicule, insults and blasphemy. A little to the side, inconsolable, all in tears, mute from grief, the holy women who served Christ during the sermon stood and looked at His suffering. Finally, the Mother of Christ, her relative Mary, the wife of Cleopas, John, the beloved disciple, and Mary Magdalene, despising everything, seized by an invincible attraction, approached Him, as if in order to mix their grief closer with the grief of the Crucified One. Christ saw His Mother, saw his beloved disciple; His gaze rested on them with inexpressible tenderness; He forgot His torment, His execution, thinking only about those he loved. If there is a particularly outstanding fact in His suffering, it is, of course, the oblivion of one’s own suffering. From the moment He left the praetorium and met the women of Jerusalem, who with their loud cries, according to Eastern custom, expressed the great grief of the people, and until the last hour, when He gave His spirit into the hands of the Father, Christ forgets Himself, in contrast to a person who concentrates in his suffering and sees nothing but him, when it takes possession of them and torments him. Great lesson, strict instruction! No egoistic feeling even in suffering! All of you who bear him, forget him, forget him, following the example of Christ on Calvary: crucified hand and foot, resting His fading gaze on the group of people whom He loved more than anyone else in the world, on His Most Pure Mother, John, His friend, Mary of Cleopas, the friend of His Mother, and Mary Magdalene, converted by Him, He poured out His boundless love on them for the last time before His death. “He said several beautiful, deeply humane words, made something like a will. Anyone who has seen the death of a loved one and heard his last will, you will appreciate this moment with all your heart. – He looked at His Mother, at John and, turning to the Mother, said: “Woman, behold your son,” and then turning to John: “behold your mother.” Jesus, seeing that death snatches Him from His Mother, and not being able to continue to be visibly the Son of Mary, gives Her as a son in His place His beloved apostle. John will take care of Her, and the Mother of Christ will take care of the chosen disciple. This, in its simplicity, is the testament of Jesus Christ. Women, pay attention to the wondrous law of Providence and measure the height to which Christ is pleased to raise you in the person of the first of your sex and after Christ in humanity. According to the supernatural, divine order established on earth by Providence, we not only have a Redeemer, giving, communicating, pouring out the grace of the Holy Spirit on us, we not only have a Teacher, a Father, we have a Mother, who is called Mary. In deep union with Her Son on Calvary, Who truly regenerated us to divine life with His blood, She truly became our Mother. Submissive to the inexorable will of God, which condemned her Son to sacrifice, She merged with His execution, suffering and death, and her anguish, courageously endured, became the condition of this motherhood, which continues through the centuries and is sanctified forever by the proclamations of the universal Church. All simple, kind souls, all those in whom the mind has not killed the heart, all Christians with living faith feel from this hour that they are sons of this blessed Creation, into whose heart God has poured boundless mercy. Through Her, the gifts of grace that God pours out on humanity in mysterious ways reach us. I know women who, following the spirit of this Virgin Mother to whom they devote themselves, call on her name. Whispering it in the ears of the dying, they turned the most stubborn and desperate sinners to God. – Women who act by this name, do not stop saying it! You know how to heal and know well that the best, softening and always soothing balm is the balm of love, the balm of the heart. Therefore, when you can whisper the name of the Mother of all Christians in an ear yearning to hear the eternal truth, do not hesitate to invoke it. And you, perishing in darkness and mortal anguish, seeking in vain for light, strength and peace, know that if you have a Father who cares for you, and an Intercessor who loved you even to death, you also have a Mother, a Mother who is always ready to listen to you and lend her beneficent hand to lead you to God and to Christ. The fourth word of Jesus on the cross was a word full of anguish: “My God, my God, forsaken me!” Thus began one prophetic psalm, depicting with fiery features the inexpressible suffering of the crucified Christ. In fact, it is impossible to imagine or comprehend sorrow and suffering equal to those that filled the soul of Christ during the three hours of His crucifixion; He was nailed to the cross around noon, and breathed his last at three o'clock - such are the clear expressions of the evangelists. What was Jesus' suffering? I know many Christians who said: “What could suffering mean for Christ when He was God? God cannot suffer, and He, being the Son of God, should not have suffered; even if He suffered, His suffering must have disappeared in the infinite bliss of the Divine.” Such reasoning is based on the fundamentally false idea that Christ was a man only in appearance, was not a man of flesh and blood, gifted, like us, and even more than all of us, with subtle sensitivity. Christ was undoubtedly God, but He was also a man. Human and divine nature were united in Him, without mixing and preserving both their basic properties intact. God is alien to suffering, but man feels it, and the addition of the divine nature to the human nature of Jesus Christ not only did not destroy the suffering of this human nature, on the contrary, it gave it the character of infinity. In fact, nature's capacity for suffering becomes greater the more subtle and sophisticated its sensitivity. The combination of divine nature with human nature not only did not take away the sensitivity, refinement and sophistication of this nature, on the contrary, it gave it infinity, that is, through this it became a more perfected instrument in order to understand, love, want, feel and suffer. Have you ever noticed the particularly acute and subtle sensitivity of spiritually developed beings? One word is enough to hurt and torment them. Why is this so? Because, more spiritually developed, they understand better and feel more deeply. The God-man, possessing the most subtle, most sensitive human nature, unparalleled, filled with the most ardent love, had to, according to His organization, marvelously adapted to His mind and His human sensitivity, experience inexpressible suffering, and it can be said that He walked along all the steps to the very top of the ladder of suffering. Crucifixion is the most terrible execution invented by human cruelty. This execution was terrible because the death was slow, because it preserved in complete clarity all the abilities of the executed person, who was aware of his slow death, all his shame when he was exposed naked in front of the crowd, in front of the whole people. But I have not yet told you what was most terrible, the most cruel, the most terrible in the abyss of evil into which Christ was plunged by the will of His Father. You can endure terrible bodily torment, like all martyrs, be given over to be torn to pieces by beasts, people whose teeth are sharper and more painful than those of animals, - be devoured by mortal fever, feel how your heart is burned by the fire of sorrow, turned to stone, - be the target of all sorts of insults from the rude, unconscious crowd and more refined and therefore more bitter insults from educated people; you can see your friends, powerless witnesses to our execution and increasing our grief a hundred times with their grief, but even in such a deplorable state we are left with the last highest refuge, inaccessible to human cruelty and hatred - conscience and in conscience God, who sees justice and loves it, sees devotion and accepts it, sees the sacrifice and blesses it, sees our melancholy and alleviates it. - Christ, at that hour when he exclaimed: “My God, My God, you have forsaken Me,” having the Divinity in Himself, in His mind, heart and will, at that moment abandoned by the Father, Who looked at Him as a sacrifice bearing the penalty for all the sins of the world, no longer felt in Himself the gentle breath of the Divinity living in Him. The fact is terrifying, yet it is the truth; It was he who evoked from the chest of Christ a terrible cry, full of inexpressible melancholy; it came from the cross as the last word of endless human sorrow and suffering: “My God, my God, have you forsaken me?” And now, in the face of the Crucified One, I say with full right: do not be sad anymore, do not be angry, all of you who cry, suffer, and die; look at Him, turn to God with the same cry and understand that there is no suffering like His suffering. We see only the ray of the Divine, we taste a drop of His sweetness, while Christ saw the sun itself, felt the outpouring of a whole source flooding heaven and earth. Understand what He experienced when this sun disappeared, when the source, like a blocked stream, stopped giving Him its sweetness! 241 I told you that the main torment of those crucified was unquenchable thirst; Christ tested her too. After that cry, when He felt that God, His Father, had abandoned Him, He cried out: “I thirst!” – One of the evangelists, a witness to this scene, talks about it and explains the word of Christ. To clearly note that everything that happened in the life and death of the Savior was predicted in advance, he makes the following addition: “Christ, knowing that everything has already been accomplished, and wanting to fulfill the last word of Scripture, says: “I thirst.” The prophetic word of scripture was that Christ on the cross was to be drunk with ocet. The Romans prepared two kinds of drink for those condemned to crucifixion. The first - a mixture of bile, myrrh and wine, was a drink that drowned out pain; he, lulling the sensitivity of the condemned man, calmed his last torments. When you read about the passion of Christ, pay attention to the fact that this drink was offered to Christ when He was just ascended to the cross, but Jesus, having tasted it, refused to drink it. He wanted to endure His torment in complete clarity of His consciousness and drink the cup of His suffering to the bottom, without weakening its bitterness in any way. – Another drink, intended partly for soldiers, partly for convicts, when the latter were already close to death and were used to refresh their dry, hot lips, was vinegar, something like sour wine. When Christ said, “I thirst,” a soaked sponge was brought to His lips, and thus the last word of the scripture about Him, that He would be given ocet to drink, was fulfilled. This thirst for Christ has a deep meaning. With His exclamation: “I thirst,” He not only betrayed the terrible torment of the crucified, He much more expressed the inner thirst of the soul, its inner fire, the fiery desires of His ardent love, and this thirst was burning, unquenchable than physical thirst. What did Christ want, already on the cross, before taking his last breath? What did His love strive for so passionately? My brothers, He thirsted for you, for me, for all people; He wanted to communicate to all of us the divine life, the fullness of which He possessed. Do you have any idea about the thirst that torments every convinced person, about the strength and fervor of desire that captivates the soul in which faith burns with a bright fire? This is difficult in our anemic time, when, in order to be completely wise, it seems that we only need to suppress every desire in ourselves - at the present time, when doubt has weakened so many minds, when the ardor of earthly appetites has extinguished the highest aspirations, when we will look in vain for noble, invincible natures who do not believe in the impossible. The thirst of good, honest, virtuous hearts, seized with the desire to spread their knowledge, the truth that they possess, is unknown to these jaded people. To persist, to remain unchanged... leave it to God, because He is infinite; you, who have relative truth, limited justice, are in motion (unstable), you must constantly move forward. And if you shirk the divine suggestion, the Lord will raise up thirsty, unquenchable ones to transmit from generation to generation in humanity, which must and wants to grow, this thirst, the torment of which the Crucified One experienced, and which wrested from Him before the face of heaven and earth a painful immortal cry. Blessed be you, Christ! Your words do their job, no matter what, because they are spirit and life, and nothing can suppress life and spirit. O Christ, at this hour You were thirsty. But since then, every soul turning to You is like a cup of cold water to a weary traveler. For the Crucified One, whose tongue stuck to his larynx, every converted person, people, nation are rivers of living water. The sixth word of Jesus Christ was: “It is finished!” When Christ on the cross said this great word: “It is finished!” this meant: I have testified to the truth, shown you the way, revealed to you the source of the Spirit of God, the fullness of which I possess. How did He do this? Through His suffering. There is great teaching in these words. We humans cannot accomplish anything, we cannot complete anything without suffering—nothing. Every deed not sanctified by suffering lacks the final mark. A poet who has not suffered will never extract from his lyre the purest, most stunning sound; A scientist, a researcher, who has not suffered in order to conquer nature and forcefully open the doors behind which she hides her secrets, will never defeat her, the rebellious one, and her doors will forever remain closed to him. Anyone who wants to bear witness to the truth must suffer and, if necessary, die for it; Anyone who wants to give an example of life must give it in trials and even death. Anyone who strives to open a new path for people, inviting others onto it, should mark it not with his statue, but with his corpse. Every person is worthy of glory among his contemporaries only if he wears on his forehead the aura of suffering and martyrdom, because suffering and blood sanctify everything. Reviewing the whole of history from this point of view, we will see that no one has yet risen to the level of Christ, who died on the cross, Who alone had the right to say: everything is perfect, because His testimony to the truth, the examples of virtue that He gave to people throughout His ideally holy life, He confirmed - sanctified with death and the most terrible, unheard of, terrible death. He did more: By His death He sanctified the right of mankind to be imbued with the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God was unattainable to us until Christ revealed its source to us. You may ask: why was this path closed to us? Because the inexorable justice of God blocked it for us. Why did such a change occur from Christ? What changed things? Christ's sacrifice, His cross. A divine phenomenon occurred in the heavens, pacifying them, restoring eternal order, eternal justice. And therefore Christ, saying: it is finished, seemed to be saying: the kingdom of horror inspired by the Divine, and human slavery, the kingdom of the terrible God and His inflexible justice, weighing on people, sparing nothing; that is, what constituted the very essence of the world, given over to the evil and wrath of God - this kingdom has ended: I am ending it. – And indeed, He completed it with His suffering and death. - A person has in his hands only one means of defeating evil and reconciling justice - this is to accept suffering as punishment and necessary atonement for moral evil. Christ took upon himself endless suffering; because of this, He became the Lamb of God, who washed away the sins of the whole world. Thanks to Him, heaven and man were reconciled. The face of God, speaking in human language, softened; his wrinkles smoothed out; the angry Lord became the heavenly Father. – Indeed, the modern world is ruled by the Father, and that is why, worshiping the sacrifice extinguished on Calvary, I worship the Creator of the great human brotherhood, since, note, human brotherhood, as a social phenomenon, is only the result of brotherhood in Christ, this brotherhood can only originate from the heavenly Father, the Gospel God. Neither science, nor philosophy, nor economics can create it. If you forget the Crucified One, you will again fall under the yoke of the laws of the old humanity, the humanity that lived before the redemption. Your tongue will call people brothers, but in reality there will only be enemies before you; an enemy is anyone who has less than you, who thinks differently than you, an enemy is anyone who wants to take your place. Whereas a friend, a brother, a true brother is one who follows the commandment of Christ, who said; love your enemies! A friend is one who lives by the Heavenly Father, and who will tell you: if we call God Father, obviously we come from him and return to him. Why should we argue about this piece of land that we will leave tomorrow? The earth is not worth the trouble to enter into a fight or dispute over it; it should be for us only a meeting place, a short-term connection; from here we must strive further and higher, to the eternal fatherland, the highest law of which is the unity of all in truth, goodness and infinite love. The last word of Christ: “Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit.” Having exclaimed this, He bowed His head and died. Just as there are several patterns of life, so there are several patterns of death. There are three ways to live, three ways to die. Some live exclusively by their animal side, others by their human side, and still others spend their lives in God. Those who live in an animal state live more or less by the instincts that constitute and characterize this state, and they die like animals. Those who live in the human image, more or less nobly, at the whim of their capricious mind or selfish, changeable will, their little ambition, also end more or less nobly, like people. There are, finally, those who, being masters of their instincts and themselves, live in God; they are in God and die. – Christ lived entirely in God, His Father; everything that was material in Him, that related to instinctive life, was unconditionally subordinated to the mind and will of man, just as His human mind and will were unconditionally subordinated to the wisdom and will of His Father. From this you can understand the high divine meaning of the words with which the mortal life of Jesus Christ ended: “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.” By committing His soul into the hands of the Father, He surrendered everything to Him. Notice that Christ ended his life freely; He was not defeated by death, He only allowed His work to be completed in Him through it. Judging by the words of St. Evangelists, Jesus Christ kept his head straight all the time; He spoke His words, fixing His gaze to heaven, and only having spoken the last, He let out a loud cry, bowed His head and gave up His spirit. So He finished. – What is especially important for us here is that we too are doomed to death, fatal, inevitable, necessary death, by virtue of the laws of our organization, and we also have to choose between three kinds of death. Die like an animal - alas! this is the lot of many people. Barely freed from instincts, they submit to their laws all their lives until the last hour, and they return to the earth what belongs to it, or rather, the earth takes back what belongs to them; Having emerged from the dust, they fuss over it for an instant and return back to it, like animals, unconsciously. To die as a person means to invest even in the act of death some intelligence, will and consciousness. But even on this path, the majority are taken by surprise; the end almost always overtakes them suddenly, unexpectedly, because they diligently turn their gaze away from it. But is it possible to avoid it by trying not to think about death? Some, however, are aware of their end; but most often they die unrepentant, leaving with regret a life whose mysterious future terrifies them. - Unbelievers console themselves with the fact that they will leave behind deeds that will outlive them in humanity. Friends will speak over the coffin containing their remains; they have the pretension to know themselves and teach others that there will be nothing left of them, and that friends will not even speak to the deaf, but to emptiness. Nevertheless, they will say, they will call on them: your memory will remain in the humanity you served; you will be an example for those who will live after you; your son, wife, your friends will follow your commandments, etc., etc. This is the human end. I recognize that certain properties of people allow them to experience themselves in humanity. Of course, the scientist, the writer, the poet, the politician, the conqueror do not completely die for the humanity that they instructed, admired, ruled or terrified. But does humanity contain the life of the soul within itself? Can the earth contain the life of eternity? I don't know what some people think; this is their business, but they cannot deny that among people there are many natures that thirst for eternity and for whom it will be as cramped on the vast earth, in the entire vast universe, as in the grave into which their corpse is thrown. How will they end? What will they do with their soul before they die? To whom will they betray their spirit? Christ taught us to die. The death that will come to those we love, to ourselves, the real death that we will have to face, death - this is the condition of our entry into the world to which we are heading - let it be for us as Christ taught it to us. When you reach this hour, I am not talking about its victims alone, but also about those present at it, I say to all of you: help others die as Christ died. Try to awaken in the consciousness of the departing person the thought of the Heavenly Father, Who gave us the task to complete here on earth, and Who must judge us. An awakened conscience will understand in the light of death everything that it has done good and bad; she will give thanks to God and ask for forgiveness for herself; these two actions sum it all up in a nutshell; the life they end is pure, and the death they are preparing for is worthy of God. After this, depart in peace. Everything good you have done will remain: good, like God, cannot perish, it is eternal. Your family virtues will burn with a bright flame on the hearth devastated by death; this flame will ignite others. Your children will pass on your virtues. Perhaps the good you have done will remain unknown to people. Is it important? Turn your gaze to heaven, to achieve which you sought truth, perfection, and say to the Heavenly Father: O You, Whom Christ taught me to know, into Your hands I commit my life, my spirit, my whole being. Christ thus taught us all science, all examples, science and power to live, science and power to die in God. We live on earth where anything can befall us; Let us live well so that we are ready to betray our soul. If you only have one second to look death in the face, remember Calvary, Christ dying on it and, leaving this world, say only one word, as long as it comes from the very depths of your conscience: Father, into Your hands I commend my spirit! By ending in this way, you will leave in all those present, in all whom you leave, the feeling of the joy of children going to the Father, you will leave a trace of the divine, the smell of divine aromas. (Extracted in abbreviation from the book “Proof of the Divinity of Jesus Christ” by Dido). The barbarian was a robber who kept entire regions in fear. Mothers used to scare naughty children with his name. In vain did they take measures to catch him and put an end to his terrible deeds: the strength and dexterity of the Barbarian saved him every time, and he walked free and committed crimes. But the cruel life did not satisfy Barbarian. The more successfully his most daring, crazy enterprises ended, the more loot his robberies brought him, the gloomier he became: he was gnawed by an inexhaustible melancholy, and he could not drown out this melancholy. One day, the Barbarian was sitting in a secret cave, where the most expensive part of the goods he had stolen was kept. The torch illuminated the low-hanging vault, and the light constrained by this vault played all the brighter on the piles of gold, valuable fabrics, and semi-precious stones that were laid out everywhere. But instead of the beauty of these treasures, from all corners, from every thing, images of the crimes he committed stared at Barbarian relentlessly. He was alone. There, above, there was a silent, impenetrable night - and not a single sound, not a single external impression could tear the robber away from his memories. One after another, ominous pictures arose: secret copses, hidden ravines, narrow gorges - and everywhere he was, waiting for prey. They are riding, but still peacefully, in the desert, and its silence is slightly broken by the even beats of hooves... Suddenly terrible screams, struggle - and... again silence, deathly silence. And they are looking!.. The whole cave is full of ghosts who have come from there, from the gorges, from the copses, with gaping wounds, with lifeless eyes - and they all stand, transparent and incorporeal, near the treasures stored in the cave, and their lifeless eyes are fixed on the killer. Terrible images reminded the robber of every crime he had committed, from the first to the last; and all the abomination, shame and sin of the deeds he had committed were laid bare before him, and his conscience shuddered at the sight of these iniquities. Under the weight of endless regret about his past life, he hung his head; The thought of God awoke in him, and he began to cry... The barbarian was going to church. He was no longer an arrogant, powerful man: he walked with a timid step, without raising his eyes from the ground, and his appearance was humble. When the service was over and the church was empty, he approached the presbyter and asked to accept his confession. “Holy Father,” he said, kneeling and shedding tears: “I am a damned sinner, and I want to repent of my many crimes.” Don't reject me! The presbyter picked him up, led him to the altar and said: “Confess, child, your sins to God Himself, and I will be a humble witness of your confession and repentance!” - I am the robber Barbarian... You may have heard about me, father. I am covered in sins, in bodily uncleanness, stained with blood... I killed three hundred souls, and among them were two priests who did not forgive me my sins. And you, father, if you know that the Lord will accept my repentance, command me, having repented, to fulfill the commandments of Christ, and if he does not accept it, take this sword and call the people - let them kill me with this sword. “Son,” answered the priest: “there is no sin that conquers God’s mercy.” Don't despair. Go to my house and do what I teach you! Coming out of the church, the priest turned around and saw that Varvar was following him on all fours, leaning on his knees and elbows. He was surprised and asked the robber: - I have now fallen to the ground with my sins; I was worse than a fierce beast and now I take on the image of a beast; I will not rise from the earth, I will no longer see the sky and the sun, until the Lord forgives me my crimes. The priest answered him: “You take on this image by your will, keep your vow, and everything will be forgiven you.” When they came to the presbyter’s house, he said to the robber: “Here, child, are my children and servants, and here are my cattle and dogs, which you want to become like. That’s why you need to eat with them.” “I don’t consider myself equal to dogs, because they served you and did no harm to anyone, and I... But nature requires food, consider me a dog.” I will eat with them, and day and night I will be at the fence, without shelter. “Do, child, as you now say before God, and trust in His great mercy.” Barbarian spent three years with the presbyter, crawling like a four-legged animal on his knees and elbows, not rising from the ground, considering himself unworthy to be with people, and living day and night outside the house, with dogs. And when these three years had passed, the presbyter said to him: “Son, stop eating with dogs - the Lord has had mercy on you!”, and Barbarian answered: “No, father, the time has not come: I want to graze with cattle.” To this the presbyter said: “child, God sees this promise of yours, which you offer Him out of your humility in your thirst for suffering and execution for your sins!” And Barbarian began to graze with the cattle, still walking on his elbows and knees, and eating green grains. He spent twelve years away from people, in pastures and groves, without clothes, not even having rags to cover his nakedness; and his flesh was like tree bark, which is either scorched by the heat of the sun, or cracked by frost; He turned black all over, like coal, and spent his life in such free martyrdom. The execution that the repentant robber chose for himself was terrible and difficult. He was accustomed to an unrestrained free life, to honor and power, and to furious defeat, when he was the chieftain of robbers, and his name, although evil, thundered everywhere; and now he has humiliated himself as no other person has humiliated himself. Only this terrible scourging and unprecedented execution could somehow soften the melancholy of repentance that burned his soul with inexpressible torment. When his body and heart were exhausted from torment, then his soul became lighter... Only one thing could drown out the melancholy that tormented him: he longed to be washed with his own blood from the blood that he shed, and to perish on earth, as he destroyed others. Twelve years of his suffering in the desert passed, and he was informed by the revelation of God that his sins had been forgiven him, and that he would complete the feat of repentance with a martyr's crown. One day he was walking in a remote oak grove and approached a place where passing merchants were resting. The grass was tall; but it was clearly visible that it was swaying; the merchants thought that a wild beast was sneaking towards them; They aimed their bows, released their arrows and went to look at the killed beast. The Barbarian lay in the thick grass with a pierced chest and a joyful face. It was an inexplicable sight: he calmed the merchants with a meek voice, told them the story of his life and asked to be notified of his death by the presbyter, who accepted his confession fifteen years ago, then gave up his spirit into the hands of God. The presbyter came to that place - and Barbarian’s body became illuminated like light. The usual burial ceremony was performed over the dead man and he was buried in the ground at the place where he was killed. From his grave came healings for all sorts of ailments. After some time, many people gathered with the presbyter at that grave, they opened the coffin of Barbarian, and his body turned out to be incorrupt and exuded healing myrrh. People were convinced and with great glory they transferred the honest relics of Saint Barbara to their village, and placed them in the church, praising the wondrous love for mankind and mercy of Christ God (“Russian pilgrimage” 1894, No. 20). On Holy Saturday St. the church remembers the burial of the Savior, which was recalled the day before when the shroud was taken out at vespers. No new events took place on this day, and what events could there have been after the Source of life lay dead, and peace, deep peace embraced the earth, after the confusion of all creation that took place during the crucifixion!.. But outside of this world, in the dark region of hell, there was no silence and inaction. “Hell was put to death by the brilliance of the Divinity of the Source of Life who descended there, and all the powers of heaven glorified the Giver of Life when He brought out all the righteous from there.”... Today St. The church early calls its children to the tomb of the Savior. Matins in Vel. Saturday is usually celebrated before dawn, and zealous Christians rush back to the church to venerate the shroud. This Matins, in its content, should be called a funeral lament at the tomb of the Savior and belongs to the most touching services of the church. At Matins the entire 17th kathisma will be chanted; 176 verses contain 17 kathismas, 176 touching funeral troparions are added to it. All 17 cafes. is divided into 3 articles, and after each verse of the kathisma a troparion is read. The canon of Holy Saturday is high and deeply meaningful; it expresses not so much sorrowful feelings as the greatness of the divine Dead and the mystery of the redemption of the human race, provided for by the Old Testament prophets. The One Whom we see lying in the tomb is at the same time the omnipotent God, Who once drowned Pharaoh (“The wave of the sea that hid of old” 1 canto). He, Whom the creature saw on the tree and was horrified, is at the same time the Creator of the universe (“You who hanged the whole earth on the waters are irresistible.” 2 canto). His suffering was only a voluntary exhaustion for the salvation of the human race. At the end of Matins, a majestic and touching procession of the cross takes place around the church with the shroud, reminiscent of the burial of the Savior. Upon the return of the procession to the church, the Gospel is read about the sealing of the coffin and the posting of guards. Matins ends with the blessing of the ever-memorable Joseph and Nicodemus, who buried the Savior. Believers listen to the entire Matins with lighted candles. The liturgy of Basil the Great is no less remarkable. (performed on Holy Saturday). It is combined with Vespers, at which 15 paremias are read, containing the most important Old Testament prototypes and prophecies about the restoration of man through the death, burial and resurrection of the Son of God. Before reading the Gospel, while singing (instead of “alleluia”) the verse “Rise, O God, judge the earth” (Rise, O God, judge the earth), the clergy take off their dark vestments and put on light vestments, signifying the angels who descended from heaven to roll away the stone from the door of the Holy Sepulcher. The Sunday Gospel is read - about the appearance of the risen Lord to the myrrh-bearing women, when He announced to them: “Rejoice” (Matthew 28:1-20), and involuntarily these words are joyfully echoed in the heart... Instead of the cherubic song, a touching song is sung: “Let all human flesh be silent,” which depicts man’s reverence for the greatness of the incomprehensible sacrament in which the Lord comes to slaughter and feed the believers. With the end of the liturgy, the eve of the holiday begins, and another feeling is involuntarily felt in the soul, the opposite of the sorrow of Holy Week, and soon, soon the peace of Holy Saturday will be replaced by the rapturous joy of the resurrection. (“Russian pilgrim” 1895 No. 12). 13. Night of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ Now, almost 19 centuries ago, in the same spring season, one day a deep night stretched over Jerusalem and the surrounding country; night, natural, because the sun bowed to its sunset, and supernatural, because even before the sunset of the sun, extraordinary darkness spread in the heavenly places, because the non-evening Light-Bearer entered the earth in flesh, and not suffering to see the sun darker than noon I still exist (on Holy and Great Saturday morning, blameless. Stat. 2, v. 106); a night which, by the sight of God (ibid., on the praise sticheron) was predetermined, on the one hand, for the repose of the mortal sleep of the tormented flesh of the God-man, and on the other, for the most difficult struggle of His spirit in a hellish prison with the dark forces of hell, and for the illumination by the light of His Divinity of the last depths of the underworld, for the awakening of all those who have fallen asleep there from eternity. In the light of the word of God, let us peer with our, albeit dim, mental eye into the mysterious darkness and blinding light of the Resurrection of Christ for our frailty, with prayerful sighing to the Risen One, may He open to us, as once upon a time, on this most luminous day and evening of the Resurrection, He opened to His disciples, the mind to understand the divine scriptures about how it is fitting for Christ to suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and enter into His glory (Luke 24:26–27; Luke 24:45–46). The sun was terrified, and the earth trembled and shook, and the coffins were opened, and living people returned from Golgotha, beating their hearts, because near Golgotha, on the evening of the death of the God-man, the darkness of horrors incomprehensible and unimaginable for us thickened. After mocking, scourging, ulceration of the head with thorns, the terrible, shameful torment of the cross, in two or three hours of extraordinary crucifixion, mortally struck the body of the crucified Jesus, full of godly masculine strength; all this bodily torment invented by hellish malice was only a shadow of another torment, internal, immeasurably more painful. If the followers of Christ, the apostles and martyrs, endured the cross and all kinds of torment after Christ and for the sake of Christ, not only with imperturbable courage, but also with bright complacency, then, apparently, it was not only bodily torment that the Leader of all martyrs Himself averted, when before His passion He, according to the word of St. evangelist, began to be horrified and grieved (Mark 14:33), and said to the disciples: My soul is sorrowful even to death; when he asked them to watch with Him, i.e. so as not to leave Him alone with His inexpressible anguish with His vigilant participation (Matthew 26:38-49), and falling to the ground he prayed that if it were possible, this hour would pass from Him (Mark 14:35), knowing that this was impossible, that it was precisely for this reason that He came to this hour (John 12:27), and, nevertheless, overcome by the darkness of sorrow, He calls to the Father: Abba Father! everything is possible for You; Carry this cup from Me past, but I do not want it, but You (Mark 14:36). It is clear that in addition to the visible darkness that surrounded Golgotha ​​and the cross, another incomprehensibly mysterious darkness of sorrow enveloped the soul of the God-man at the terrible hour of His death. And so, when the hard-hearted compassion of the tormentors brings the otzet mixed with bile (Matthew 27:34; Mark 15:23-36), the time has come to drink to Him the cup that contained all sin and all the sins of the world, all and every oath against him, every death and the whole totality of deaths, and in the end all the immensity - in breadth and depth - of removing guilt before the Creator creation, by the terrible judgment and omnipotence of God, from God, the source of all life, happiness and light... My God! My God! - exclaimed the Divine Sufferer, who forsaken Me... And again he cried out with a great voice: you are accomplished! And bow your head, give up your spirit (Matthew 27:46-50; Luke 23:46; John 19:30)... The one-of-a-kind night has come... The material and immaterial darkness of fear spread everywhere, the sun darkened, the earth shook, stones disintegrated, coffins opened, some dead people stood up, the living crowd trembled in horror - a crowd a minute ago of cruel, mocking spectators of the death penalty. The apostles, darkened by horror, except for the beloved disciple, are hidden somewhere far from the cross. Peter denied Christ with an oath. The disciple of Jesus was secretly afraid for the sake of the Jews (John 19:38; Mark 15:43), Joseph of Arimathea dared to go to Pilate (and this required courage to declare the desire to bury the executed man!) and, having asked for the body of Jesus, hurries with Nicodemus, who came to Jesus’ night before (John 19:39), put Him in the tomb and leave, leaning on the door the tomb (Mark 15:46) is a stone that the Pharisees’ malice hastened to protect by the custodians and seal – the crafty malice thought – forever. The sun of righteousness has set underground (Vel. Sat. morning. Immortal art. 96). The divine Sufferer of the flesh has now fallen asleep, the blessed Saturday has come for her, the day of repose; in he also rested from all His works, the only begotten Son of God, having taken the Sabbath - having rested in the flesh, but not yet in the spirit. His Spirit still descends to the extreme degree of exhaustion, humiliation, the disease of hell, which, like the internal torment of the cross, could again only be felt and endured by the God-man alone. Moses and Paul prayed to be blotted out from the book of life, to be excommunicated from God for the sake of their relatives in the flesh, the transgressors of Israel (Ex. 32:30–33; Rom. 9:1–3). But this turned out to be impossible for God’s judgment and unthinkable for human thought. And the God-Man, for His brethren in spirit and in the flesh (Heb. 2:11-15), is indeed condemned even to hell: the gray one was brought down with the Father there, where is the throne of Satan, the ruler of the world is a prisoner of hell; life and light are in the hellish prison of the shadow of death; purity, which became guilty of the sin of the whole world, and all-covering love found itself in the community of everything that is fierce, malicious, tormented and tormented, loving its darkness, its malice... This was the deepest midnight of humiliation, the most extreme degree of condescension of the Sun of Truth, when the spirits of darkness, in complete self-darkening from their triumph, in the underworldly depths of their dark kingdom, clasped their hands: good, good! Having not bowed down to the tempter on the mountain of temptation, the Son of God from Golgotha, the mountain of redemption, descended into the underworld of the earth! And the minds of the angels of the rank are terrified, covering their faces with wings (Great Sub. Immaculate Art. 104), seeing with the dead in hell the Creator and Lord. But from here, from the extreme degree of humiliation, the ascent began. It was impossible for the Chief of Life to be held by the bonds of death (Acts II: 15). In the depths of hell, from the mouth of the Divine Prisoner came a sharp weapon, the word of God: a divine sermon was heard. According to the word of the apostle (1 Peter 3:18–22; 1 Peter 4:6), having descended into hellish prison with His spirit, Christ began to preach there - to whom? The spirits of dead people who resisted God when God's long-suffering awaited their repentance, in the days of Noah, when Noah was building his ark, - to all antediluvian humanity, which before the flood was corrupted to the point that it completely forgot God and removed the Spirit of God from itself, completely immersed itself in carnal life and became flesh - that is, the lower region of hellish prisoners, the lowest and for a long time of existence on earth and according to moral decline, and then to all Old Testament humanity, starting with the most serious sinners and ending with the righteous, who with faith looked forward to Christ’s coming. Why did you preach? For this reason, the gospel should be preached to the dead, so that they will receive judgment according to man in the flesh, according to sinful carnal man on earth and in hellish torment, but they will live according to God in spirit. But everything in hell that bore within itself the seed of goodness and living faith in God, that longed for the promised deliverance, all of this awoke. The lamp of divine light, hidden under the earth, as if under a bushel, disperses the darkness existing in hell (Nepor. Vel. sub. art. 19). The Light-Bearer of Truth, who has gone underground, raises up the dead as if from sleep (ibid., v. 86); the one who is buried crushes the kingdom of hell, the one struck down by death kills death (ibid., v. 83). Hell is crying out: my power is destroyed, I have received the Dead, as one of the dead, but I cannot hold Him and I will destroy everyone with Him, by whom I have reigned from time immemorial (Great Sub. Evening, verse, on the Lord's cart); Adam rejoices, and Eve rejoices, accepting deliverance. The gates of paradise are open to everyone, where the Beginning, the leader of the joyful face of liberated souls, enters with the prudent thief, a participant in the suffering of the cross, Christ the Lord, the firstfruits of the dead. Confused by sorrowful surprise, at the sight of the Lord imputed to the dead, the council of angels now sings a victorious song to the Savior, who destroyed the mortal fortress and raised Adam with Himself and freed all from hell. Accompanied by a host of celestials and human souls brought out of hell, who appeared to many after the resurrection in Jerusalem (Matthew 27:53), the spirit of Christ continues to triumphantly march towards the life-giving tomb, preserved only by the malice of the Pharisee-Sadducees, to revive His most pure flesh, which has rested in it. And so He, who fell asleep like a lion, rises up like a skimen, the conqueror of death and hell (Great Sub. Immaculate Art. 38); rises invisible to the eyes of the earthly, but visible only to the spiritual eyes of the celestials. The angel rolls away the stone from the door of the tomb not for the exit of the Risen One, but so that the love and faith and contemplation of His disciples and disciples can penetrate there. The earth, giving up to life the spoils of death hidden in its depths, reflecting in itself the vibrations of the underworld depths of hell, shakes from transient horror and ensuing joy. Reflecting the frenzied horror of the guards of hell, the Roman-Jewish guard assigned to it scatters from the tomb, in whose place the bright angels, the messengers of the resurrection, become reverent guards: Christ is risen! Having filled heaven and the underworld with divine light, the Sun of Truth illuminated the earth with the light of resurrection, which had not yet been illuminated by the morning rays of the rising material sun. The Flightless Light from the grave shone fleshly not only to the apostles, but also to all people, and to us. How can we see the shining light of Christ’s resurrection with the unapproachable light and hear the cry of rejoice? For us this is not a matter of curiosity, but of life and death. We will see Him, immutably, but will it be with joy, or with horror and despair? We will see after death, we will see after the general resurrection, and we will hear Christ saying either: come blessings, or: depart from Me curse. In order to see our Judge and Lord fearlessly and joyfully on the day of general resurrection and judgment, you need to see Him before you, and especially learn to see Him on the bright holiday of the resurrection. For this, the church gives us advice: let us purify our feelings and see... Those who are pure in heart will see God. The Lord Himself offered the same advice, in one of the last days of His life on earth, in the parable of the ten virgins: they will see the heavenly Bridegroom and rejoice with Him forever in the bridal chamber of the virgin souls, whose lamps will burn with a bright flame from the abundant oil. This pure flame is the same purity of heart; and it is acquired, even by those who have lost it, through alms: give alms, - the risen Lord Himself gives us advice (Luke 11:36-44), - from what you have, and then everything will be clean for you. Alms cover many sins. So, the pure and the unclean in heart! Hurry on the bright day of resurrection to enlighten your feelings not by satiating yourself with the blessings of this world, but by sharing your goodness with the poor, sad, oppressed, and crying, and then you will see Christ shining with the impregnable light of the resurrection and hear Him saying: rejoice. He has done immeasurably for us and wants us to do at least something for Him. (From the teachings of Archbishop Nikanor of Kherson and Odessa). 14. St. Joseph of Arimathea St. Joseph of Arimathea received his nickname from the place of his birth. Arimathea, according to the testimony of Blessed. Jerome, was a small city in the tribe of Benjamin, in the mountains of Ephraim (1 Samuel 1:1), remarkable from ancient times as the birthplace of the prophet Samuel; in the priesthood in scripture he is designated by the names Rama, Ramaphaim, Sophim. Joseph came from rich and virtuous parents; Leaving Arimathea, he settled in Jerusalem. The acquisitions of houses, gardens and lands he made in Jerusalem made him a significant person and gave him the opportunity or right to be present in the highest government Jewish institution - the Sanhedrin. According to the testimony of the evangelists (Mark 15:43; Luke 23:50), Joseph was one of the leading members of the Sanhedrin. The character of this “famous member of the council” is described by the evangelists not by many, but by high traits; he was a good man, that is, filled with love for his neighbors, distinguished by charity, and a righteous man, that is, pious, full of love for God (Luke 23:50). Neither great honors nor enormous wealth in any way prevented Joseph from awaiting the coming of the Messiah and the opening of His kingdom (Luke 23:51; Mark 15:43), which at first, like other Jews, he imagined to be earthly, political. However, Joseph, like Nicodemus, did not stop at the popular idea; a man of good moral character, with a love of truth, he zealously sought instruction and was always ready to listen to those who could reveal to him the truth about Jesus Christ and His kingdom. Thanks to this attitude, he had the opportunity to understand the truth from the heavenly Teacher himself (Matthew 27:57) and became a sincere follower and disciple of Him, despite the fact that this Prophet of Galilee was hated and persecuted by the Sanhedrin and that the kingdom He preached was not of this world. But with pure and high faith in Jesus Christ as the true Messiah, Joseph kept his disposition towards Him secret, and was a hidden disciple of the Lord (John 19:38) for the sake of the Jews, i.e. in order to avoid persecution from the enemies of Jesus, for a decision had already been made to excommunicate from the synagogue all those who recognized Jesus Christ as the Messiah (John 9:22), and many who believed in Him from among the leaders of the people and, perhaps, members of the Sanhedrin (cf. VII, 48) were afraid to openly declare their faith, they were afraid to the point of savagery of the Pharisee party, embittered against the Savior, which also ruled the affairs of the Sanhedrin. As a member of the Sanhedrin, and a famous one at that, Joseph of Arimathea had the right to participate in all important matters taking place in Jerusalem, and he was with the high priest Caiaphas when the Savior was brought to him from Annas, Caiaphas’ son-in-law. St. Luke notes that only this member of the Sanhedrin had the courage to refuse to participate, both earlier in his last attempts against Jesus Christ, and in the lawless trial of Him (XXIII, 51), no doubt because he considered Him innocent, or because, not seeing any means of saving the Innocent One, he did not want to be a witness to His condemnation. But the fierce malice of the enemies of Jesus Christ, apparently, triumphed. He, like a grave villain, was nailed to the cross and endured terrible torment in front of His friends and numerous enemies who surrounded Him. From the fact that Joseph managed to visit Pilate, the Roman governor, before the official news of the death of Jesus crucified reached him, we cannot help but conclude that Joseph stood in sight of the cross all the time among all the women from Galilee who knew Him and followed him (Luke 23:49; John 19:25–27, etc.). Watching everything that happened on Golgotha, Joseph of Arimathea, indignant in spirit and languishing in heart with pity for the crucified Lord, Whom he had not dared to openly confess before his embittered comrades in the Sanhedrin, at the moment of His suffering death, forgets his fear and boldly hurries to Pilate to ask permission to show the crucified Jesus the last duty of friendship and respect. through the burial of His body. A rich and noble member of the Sanhedrin, Pilate could not refuse to fulfill this request, but only after he was convinced of the reality of the death of the Galilean Prophet from the centurion standing guard at the cross of Jesus (Mark 15:44–45). We cannot help but notice that the height of Joseph of Arimathea’s social position made this greatest feat extremely dangerous for him. The fierce malice of Jesus' enemies still seethed in all its strength; only a few hours ago, the common people, the soldiers, the elders, the Pharisees, and the high priests themselves were cursing and mocking the Crucified One; no doubt, they would not have wanted Him to be honored after death. The brave petitioner from Pilate faced many dangers: the danger of losing the favor of the bishops and Pharisees - all the great and powerful of the Jewish world at that time, the danger of losing his honorary position in the Sanhedrin, the danger of being exposed to the frenzied anger and hatred of the people. According to I. Chrysostom, “Joseph now ventured to obvious death, for he aroused universal hatred against himself,” and in this act he appears as a majestic, morally selfless person; here a truly courageous and undaunted heart was revealed, a strength of spirit rising above all the self-loving and selfish calculations of life. Only strong, unshakable, true love and pure faith in the Lord Jesus Christ could move Joseph to such a great act of self-sacrifice. Assisted by another secret disciple of Jesus, Nicodemus (John 7:51; John 19:39), Joseph, in the presence of the Virgin Mary, John, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the sister of Cleopas, took the dear body of the Lord from the cross and, although with haste, due to the onset of the Great Saturday, arranged an honest burial for Him in fulfillment of ancient prophecies (Is. 53:9; Is. 11:10). Having wrapped the body of the Savior in a clean shroud and high-priced funeral towels and anointed him with copious amounts of precious incense from myrrh and aloes, Joseph and Nicodemus took the body of Jesus Christ to their own garden, which lay not far from the place of the crucifixion, and laid it in a new coffin, carved in stone for themselves or for members of their family, where no one had yet been laid, and then filled the hole with a huge stone, so that the body of the Lord would not be buried. could be disturbed at night by animals. Thus, St. Fathers of the church, Joseph paid the first duty to the Savior of the world, taking Him into his arms when He was born in the den, and Joseph also fulfilled the last duty. That's all the information about St. Joseph of Arimathea, which we draw from St. Gospels. It is remarkable that all four evangelists found it necessary to mention the handsome Joseph, no doubt taking into account all the circumstances of his extraordinary feat. For this same love for the Lord and courage and St. the church annually remembers him along with the deeds of the Lord Himself and especially pleases him with a deliberate song on Holy Saturday and on the week of St. myrrh-bearing wives, inviting us to bless Joseph of blessed memory. As for the further circumstances of his life, we would look in vain for undoubted information. It is likely that he later united with the disciples of Jesus Christ; brought the price of all his estates to their feet and lived in the love and fellowship of the first Christians. Along with the apostles, having set out to preach about Jesus Christ, Joseph of Arimathea performed apostolic service not only in Palestine, but, as legend says, he preached the Gospel in Britain, where he rested blessedly. (“Russian pilgrimage” 1895 No. 30). See in the 1st part of the week. St. Easter. Evang. from Luke. zach. 114th, ch. XXIV, 36–53 art. 1. Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ into heaven After His glorious resurrection from the dead, the Lord Jesus Christ was pleased to remain on earth for forty days. During this time, the resurrected Savior of the world appeared to His disciples several times, taught them about the mysteries of the kingdom of God and prepared them for the worldwide preaching of the Gospel. When the fortieth day after the resurrection arrived, all eleven apostles and with them some pious women devoted to the Lord gathered in Jerusalem. The Lord appeared to them for the last time then and, having given some instructions to the apostles, commanded them not to leave Jerusalem until they were clothed with power from above. After this, the Savior led the apostles out of Jerusalem on the way to the Mount of Olives. Having reached the eastern peak of this mountain, where He had somewhat earlier begun His dying sufferings, the Savior, raising His hands, blessed the disciples. Blessing them, He began to rise from the ground and move away from them until a bright cloud completely hid Him from the eyes of the apostles. Struck by the vision, the apostles stood motionless and gazed at the sky. But then two men in white clothes appeared to them and said: “Galileans! Why are you standing and looking at the sky? This Jesus, who has ascended from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him ascending into heaven.” Having ascended into heaven, Jesus Christ ascended and sits at the right hand, that is, on the right side of God the Father. This sitting of the God-man at the right hand of the Father must be understood spiritually. It means that Jesus Christ, by virtue of His humanity, inseparably united in Him with the Divinity, assumed power, greatness and glory equal to God the Father. The Apostle Paul tells us about this that God the Father, having seated Jesus Christ at His right hand in those in heaven, exalted Him “above all principality, authority, power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come” (Eph. 1:20-21). Having ascended into heaven, our Savior Jesus Christ did not leave the earth completely and was not separated from us forever and completely. On the contrary, He inseparably abides on earth with all those who truly believe in Him, as He Himself said to the apostles before ascending to heaven: “And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Through His ascension into heaven, Jesus Christ became the closest and ever-present Intercessor for us before God the Father. The Apostle Paul says that “Christ Jesus, who died and was much more risen, who is at the right hand of God, makes intercession for us” (Rom. 8:34). What a consolation, what a joy for us sinners to have such an Intercessor! He sits at the right hand of God the Father, constantly looks down on us and unceasingly cares for us. Let us lift up the name of Christ, let us try to justify the care of our Savior for us. Let us acquire and appropriate for ourselves the kingdom of God through a holy and virtuous life. Let us direct our minds and hearts there, to heaven, to our Redeemer, remembering that our true life is in heaven, “from here we seek the Savior of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20). The time will come when the Savior will come to earth again to judge the living and the dead, to demand from us an account of all our deeds and actions, to award the crown of righteousness to all who loved His appearing. Let us strive to show ourselves to be unshameful workers, children obedient to our Father, slaves faithful to our master. “Blessed is that servant,” said the Savior; and when his master comes, he will find him doing such things” (Matthew 24:46). 2. About the fruits of the ascension of our Lord Whatever our Lord Jesus Christ did, he did everything for us. - Descends to earth for us, ascends to heaven for us, will come again for us, for us, will come for our own good. What are we, Christians, doing not for Him, but for ourselves? Our Lord ascended to heaven in order to attract us to Himself, and, indeed, He attracts us with the power of His boundless love, with all the measures of His infinite wisdom. “Behold, I stand at the door and understand,” He says, “if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and sup with him, and he with Me” (Rev. 3:20). Do we obey this gracious attraction? Do we obey the voice calling us to the mystical supper with Christ, or do we carelessly leave, to go to our village and to our purchases” (Matthew 22:5)? Our Lord ascended into heaven, may he send us another Comforter, the All-Holy Spirit; and indeed, the Comforter sent by Him from the Father offers us His gracious gifts. An abundant river of grace flows in the pure streams of the church sacraments. The sanctuary of repentance is open to all; everyone can throw off the yoke of sins: forgiveness and mercy are ready with the Lord. The Most Holy Body of Christ is refracted all day long into the saturation of our souls. The blood of the covenant of Christ is poured out abundantly to quench spiritual thirst. The voice of the wisdom of God is constantly heard; “If anyone is thirsty, let him come and drink” (John 7:37). Do we use and how do we use the abundance of this Divine grace? The one who does not use these gifts is irresponsible; and even more unrequited is the one who uses them for evil. Our Lord ascended to heaven in order to prepare heavenly abodes for us: “I am going to prepare a place for you,” He said; and indeed, the Lord has already prepared a place for us in the abodes of the Heavenly Father. Are we ready to enter these abodes? Do we have that wedding garment, woven from Christian virtues - love and mercy, abstinence and chastity, meekness and kindness, patience and generosity, faith and hope, without which it is impossible to enter the adorned chamber of the heavenly Bridegroom? Do we at least care about making our sin-stained robe white in the cleansing blood of the Lamb, who was slain before the foundation of the world for the sins of the whole world in general and for our own in particular? The Lord has not left us forever: He will come again. So, be comforted, you who suffer with patience and sorrow, waiting for the blessed hope and the revelation of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13), since you are partakers of the passion of Christ, rejoice, so that when His glory is revealed, you who are glad will rejoice” (1 Peter 4:13). - Will come soon; May the careless and weak be awakened, who, like holy fools, slumber, not caring that the lamp of their faith is extinguished from the lack of the oil of love and good deeds! Shake the sleep of sin from your heads and prepare to meet the Lord! Will come suddenly; Let those who, like the wicked servant, say in their hearts fear His coming: “My lord is forbidden to come, and they begin to beat their minions, and eat and drink with drunkards” (Matthew 24:48–49). No, beloved brother, “the Lord will not impair the promise, as the Neti think that they are stinging, but is patient with us, not that some should perish, but that all may come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). “Behold, he is coming from the clouds, and every eye will see Him” (Rev. 1:7), and blessed is he who in his conscience can calmly say: “Hey, come, Lord Jesus!” ( Rev. 22:20 ). (From “Taught.” by Justin, bishop of Odessa). I am with you to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). Where are You, Lord?.. And we are looking for You so often: there is so much sorrow in the world!.. For example, one unfortunate person says: “I was rich, now I have lost everything and become almost a beggar; With my wealth I also lost my friends: according to custom, they left me; my relatives are running around me: I have become a burden to them; my acquaintances feel sorry for me and tell me about their regret, but it would be better if they didn’t tell me... Some of my enemies still do not stop persecuting me, others are content with a contemptuous smile, but it would be better if they continued to persecute me... Day and night I constantly have to work to get myself a piece of daily bread, so as not to stretch out my hands for alms, and here is this disease: everything hurts from head to toe, for so long now I don't get out of bed anymore. During all this time I am doing one thing: thinking about my situation... thinking, thinking... And what is here, in my heart? My God, my God!”... “And here I am,” says another: a sinful man. A long-standing bad inclination, little by little, finally turned into a passion in me. Now I can no longer resist her. Sometimes I don’t think about it at all and sin in cold blood; but sometimes my conscience gnaws at me so much, my soul becomes so heavy, so unbearably heavy... I do something wrong - I know and feel this; people have the right to point fingers at me, and I know that. The Lord looks at me with anger and pity - and I know this... I myself am often ashamed and despise myself... And with all this, however, like a dog, one might say, I return to my vomit... Sometimes I am ready to run away from myself. But where and how to run?! Or should I condemn myself to be a victim of lawlessness, a victim of the devil and destruction, and stop thinking about it?.. These nets have entangled me too tightly, I can’t get out of it on my own... What should I do? My God, my God! Where are you?.. And without serious sins, and without great misfortunes, we are all quite sinful, quite unhappy. These daily troubles, these unfulfilled hopes, these continuous losses - on the one hand, and on the other - these continuous mistakes, errors, falls, these frequent injustices of ours in relation to our neighbors, this eternal pride, this constant coldness in relation to God: we think so little about Him, we do so little that pleases Him, so often we forget about eternity... Which of us will say about himself that he stands on the proper road on which he should stand a man and a Christian? Who can say about himself that he is calm and satisfied with himself and his fate? That’s why there are often moments when we feel uncomfortable with everything in the world. Will you look at the world of God? “He doesn’t give us anything or gives us only to take away and irritate us.” Will you look at the people? - The Lord is with them, we ourselves are no better than them. Will you look at yourself - will you look into yourself? It’s so empty, so gloomy... Vanity of vanities and all sorts of vanity and ruin of the spirit!.. My God, my God! Where are you, where are you, Lord?.. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age: Amen. Seek and you will find!.. Whoever in spiritual sorrow wants to seek the Lord, know first of all that, according to the word of the Apostle, the Lord is near (Phil. 4:5). The Lord is not far from each of us (Acts 17:27), just look for Him diligently and where you should look. - First of all, according to the commandment of the Lord, shut yourself up in your home, in your cell, and pray to the Heavenly Father in secret. Do not be afraid: the Lord will see and hear your secret prayer, and will reward you openly. - Or better yet, come to the house of God; do not move forward there: human curiosity will disturb you here; stand there, somewhere in a corner, fall to the ground with reverence and say: “Lord! I came here to seek You; my soul is sorrowful.”... Where two or three are gathered in My name, I am in the midst of them (Matthew 18:20). The Lord is here undoubtedly, He will tell your heart too - undoubtedly. - Or, if you are a person not without a fortune, go seek the Lord in prison, in a hospital, in a poor hut, where either hunger and poverty, or illness, or spiritual despondency, or all of this reign; give a helping hand to the unfortunate; remember that the merciful poor gives back to God; What you do as one of these little ones, you do for the Lord; together with the poor man, the Lord Himself will stretch out his hand to you, stretch out one hand, bless you with the other. - Or, if you are faint-hearted, if your conscience is troubled, go to your spiritual father, tell him: “Father! God exists - this I believe; but what should I do? I am unhappy, I am a sinful person, I am looking for God and do not find it, I call for help and do not receive help... Such difficult moments come upon me, moments of despondency and lack of faith: comfort me, father, give me understanding, forgive me. – Is this not enough? Go to the church of God again. When the doors open here and the servant of God proclaims: approach with the fear of God and faith, bow down: you see Christ Himself before you; or proceed to the Mysteries - you will accept Christ Himself with His humanity and Divinity. Say: I believe, Lord, help my unbelief!.. And the Lord Himself will answer your heart, answer so much that you will be completely convinced that Christ the Savior after His Ascension lives not only in heaven, but also on earth, that we can see Him, and hear His word, and touch Him, and even accept Him into ourselves, into our hearts - that His words are not false: behold, I stand at the door and it is of no avail: if anyone hears My voice will open the door, I will come in to him, and I will sup with him, and he with Me (Rev. 3:20). I am with you all the days until the end of the age. Amen. (From Puchen. Nikanor, Archbishop of Odessa). Pentecost. Saint's Day Trinity and the Descent of St. Spirit Evang. from John zach. 27th, 29th, ch. VII, 37–52 art. XII, 12 art. 242 1. Why did the Holy Spirit descend on the apostles in the form of tongues of fire? St. John Chrysostom explains the reason for this extraordinary phenomenon: “The Holy Spirit descended in the form of tongues of fire in order to remind us of the ancient story. Just as in ancient times God, having divided the languages, destroyed the destructive union of people who, in extreme madness, wanted to build a pillar reaching to heaven (the story of the Babylonian pandemonium): so now the Holy Spirit descends in the form of tongues of fire in order to unite the divided universe. And a new, extraordinary thing happened; just as in those ancient times, through the division of languages, the world was divided and the lawless council was scattered: so now, through the division of tongues, the universe is united and those who are divided are brought into fellowship” (from the word on the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit). And that these tongues were, as it were, of fire, this meant, according to the explanation of the same St. Father, the all-active power of the All-Holy Spirit, which, like fire, burns the thorns of our sins, and that this power of the Holy Spirit in the Holy Spirit. the apostles will be such that they, simple fishermen, with their preaching, as if by the fiery power of their words, will convert all tribes and peoples to Christ. “Old times, St. sings. church, tongues were mixed for the insolence of pandemonium: now the tongues are divided for the sake of the glory of the knowledge of God” (stichera, for the evening. Pentecost). “When the tongues of fire descended (during the pandemonium), when the fiery tongues were distributed, all were called into unity” (Kond. fest.). (From “Resurrection Readings” for 1865–66, Book I). 2. Celebration of Trinity Day in ancient Russia In the old days, Trinity Day was celebrated with great solemnity, especially in Moscow. This was facilitated by the constant presence of the patriarch and the king here. On Trinity Day there was always a particularly solemn patriarchal service. The Tsar, when he was in Moscow, came out with special splendor to this service in all his royal vestments and during Trinity Vespers he lay on the sheet. These features distinguished Trinity Day from all other great church holidays. Preparations for the holiday usually began much earlier than Trinity Day. These preparations depended on the ancient custom of Christians, passed down to them from the Jews, to clean churches and houses with young greenery and flowers on the day of Pentecost. For the patriarch and the tsar in Moscow, they prepared herbs and tree leaves without stems and covered the cathedral with them, as well as a broom or bunch of flowers with which they stood during vespers. So, “in 1679, June 6, the patriarchal boyar children were sent to the village of Troitskoye-Golenichevo, the village of Vladykino, - they were ordered to take 25 peasant carts in the first, 20 in the second from the cart and with guides and go to the house (patriarchal) forest and cut branches with leaves from all kinds of trees and tie them into brooms, so that on each cart there would be 200 brooms, and bring them to Moscow to the Cathedral Church of June on the 8th day, on the feast of the Holy Trinity, in the morning at the first hour of the day.” 243 Here the cathedral watchmen plucked the leaf and separated it from the stems. Exactly the same preparations were underway from the royal court. The royal “brooms” of flowers and fragrant herbs were tied with red cloth and red silk. To do this, it was ordered (for example, in 1693) “to buy a quarter arshin of red taffeta, 8 arshins of silk cord, half a pound of red silk for the tent for the Trinity Day holiday for tying brooms.” At the beginning of mass, the king would make a ceremonial exit from the palace. The royal vestments on this holiday were distinguished by special splendor and richness. Depending on the weather conditions that day, it was warm or cold. The king came out of his chambers in light silk and cloth clothes. Such clothes were: zipun - a camisole, short underwear over a shirt, ferezi - a caftan, a second garment in addition to the zipun, and ferezya - an outer dress, like an opashnya, worn on a ferezi. All of them were made of expensive multi-colored materials, with gold and silver embroidery along the floor and hem, and decorations. On the king’s head was a velvet cap with “large cufflinks” - with gold plaques with stones. In his hands is a large Indian staff made of ebony with stones. In these clothes the sovereign walked to the Golden Chamber. Here he was given the royal outfit or the outfit of the Great Treasury, in which he dressed. This outfit included: a caftan - the second garment, in addition to the zipun (the ferezi and ferezei were removed, and the zipun was changed), a braid - a belt over the caftan, a royal plaza - the outer, most magnificent clothing; a diadem was placed on top of the charge - a wide necklace in the form of a cape, decorated with icons and jewelry (the icons were called holy barmas), a pectoral cross with a gold chain, a crown and a royal staff (the hat and staff were left). All this shone with gold and silver and expensive stones. In the cathedral, before vespers, the king took off his outfit and put on a new change of his royal clothes, in which he returned to the palace. From the Golden Chamber, in all his royal attire, the king walked to the cathedral, accompanied by a large retinue. In accordance with the significance of the holiday and according to the clothes of the sovereign, the entire retinue was dressed in luxurious gold phereses. During the procession, the retinue was separated in rows: people of lower ranks walked ahead, according to seniority, two or three people in a row, and the boyars, okolnichy, duma and close people followed the sovereign. The captains, and sometimes nearby boyars, supported the sovereign by the arms, since the weight of his outfit was significant. In the retinue there was a bed servant with cooking, that is, with various items that were required at the exit, and which were carried by the bed servants, namely: a towel or handkerchief, a chair with a headboard or pillow on which the sovereign sat, a footstool, a type of carpet on which the sovereign stood during the service, a sunflower, or an umbrella that protected from the sun and rain, and some other items 244. Ahead, preceded by the nearby boyar, the nearby stewards carried a broom and a leaf on the carpet. The royal exit was announced by a special bell ringing, which was called a day off. At the end of the mass, when the sacrament verse was sung, the clergy sent the gospel to ring the large Assumption bell for Vespers. After the liturgy, they began to read the ninth hour without the usual beginning, straight from Come, let us worship. At this time, the king took off his outfit in the chapel of St. Demetrius of Thessalonica. The key-keepers removed the image of the Descent of the Holy Spirit from the lectern and placed another one - the Life-Giving Trinity. After the ninth hour, the patriarch went with all the authorities to the middle of the church, to the place where he usually put on his vestments, and he himself began Vespers. When they sang the stichera “for glory” or “slavnik”, the keymasters presented the sovereign with a leaf from the patriarch and, mixing it with the sovereign’s leaf, various herbs and flowers, covered the royal place with it and sprinkled it with gulaf vodka (rose water). The sovereign's sheet was covered with the place of the patriarch and the highest spiritual authorities, and the rest was distributed throughout the church. On this incense leaf, while the patriarch was reading prayers, the sovereign knelt, and, according to the expression of that time, lay on the leaf. The church service on this day was performed with special solemnity. All available highest spiritual authorities served with the patriarch. All church utensils used on this holiday were the best. All the candles in all the icons were lit in the cathedral. “For the entire service they brought out large shrouds and shrouds and golden vessels, and for the Wonderworkers shrouds and white shrouds for the coffins. At mass in the Deesis, everyone lit candles and the local icons were all lit up, clothes were placed on the throne and on the altar.” In those cases when the sovereign came to the cathedral, after the service “for the sake of the sovereign’s coming of many years,” they sang. At the end of the entire service, the sovereign and his retinue returned to the palace, and one of the nearby stewards carried a broom before the sovereign. (From the book “Festive Services in Old Moscow” by Gr. Georgievsky. Moscow, ed. 1897, pp. 98–104). 3. About the signs of the gracious presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts Once in Ephesus, to the question of St. ap. Paul: “Have you received the Holy Spirit?” Some disciples answered him: “We have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” And it is not surprising: these were the disciples of John the Baptist, who probably had not heard about the descent of the Holy Spirit into the world, which took place on the 50th day after the resurrection of Christ from the dead. But what would we say if someone asked us: “Have you received the Holy Spirit?” We cannot say that we have not heard whether the Holy Spirit exists, for we know that the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles and has been given abundantly to all believers since then; even to ourselves in the presence of St. His grace-filled gifts were communicated at baptism. Well, does the Holy Spirit dwell in us? Probably, many will find it difficult to answer this question, not only because they do not feel the Holy Spirit within themselves, but also because they do not even know the signs of His presence in a person. Meanwhile, it is very important for us to know, and to know reliably: whether the Holy Spirit dwells in us, because if He is not in us, then we have no right to be called Christians. Therefore, I consider it useful and necessary to explain the main signs by which we could judge whether the Holy Spirit dwells in us. These signs, according to the teachings of St. Paul, the essence: “truth, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17); Please pay your attention to them. The first action of the Holy Spirit, by which one can conclude about His presence in a person, is truth, that is, truthfulness, or a person’s effort to always act fairly in everything. He who has the Holy Spirit within himself demonstrates such truth both in relation to God, and in relation to his neighbors, and in relation to himself. He, in justice, loves God, as the greatest Benefactor and loving Father, with all his heart and all his soul - he honors Him with the deepest reverence, as the Creator, Provider and Judge of his, listens to Him with all obedience and tries to exactly fulfill all His commandments. In relation to his neighbors, he who has the Holy Spirit within himself shows the truth by not only not doing, but also not wishing anything bad for them, but always treating them fairly, trying to give everyone their due: he is respectful to those above him, respectful to his equals, condescending to those below him; he is obedient to his superiors, attentive to his subordinates, friendly to strangers, fair to the guilty, compassionate to the unfortunate, and friendly to everyone. He who has the Holy Spirit acts with strict truth in relation to himself: he does not exaggerate his wealth and is not proud, does not become arrogant over others; he does not indulge his passions and illegal lusts, but curbs them through abstinence and constant prayer for grace-filled help; he always speaks one absolute truth. Peace is united with such truth in a person filled with the Holy Spirit. This is a perfect, threefold world: peace with God, neighbors and with oneself. One filled with the Holy Spirit is in every possible way wary of everything that can anger the Lord, and tries to do only what is pleasing to Him; burns with love for Him and always has Him before her eyes; tries to know and do His will with all accuracy, keeping himself from all sin: He who is filled with the Holy Spirit has peace with his neighbors; for not only does he not have enmity towards anyone, but he also takes care that they do not have enmity towards him; does not irritate them in any way and by his compliance does not give room to their anger; He willingly forgives those who have offended him and never takes revenge on them, even doing good to his enemies for their offenses, according to the commandment of the Savior. He who is filled with the Holy Spirit has deep peace with himself: his conscience does not bother him for any bad deeds, vicious passions do not bother him, envy does not torment him, and if he sins in anything, he immediately repents before God, trying to make amends for the evil he has done, firmly believes in the goodness of God, hopes in the blood of the Savior and is calm in his soul. Together with peace, the Holy Spirit pours joy into the heart of the believer - spiritual, holy. He who is filled with the Holy Spirit rejoices in the Lord, imagining all His perfections, which constitute indescribable beauty. He rejoices over his salvation, vividly imagining the abyss of sin and torment from which the Lord delivered him by His great mercy. Finally, he rejoices, imagining the great blessings that God has prepared for those who love Him, of whom he hopes to be an heir. And his joy is so great that out of its abundance he calls out to God: “What do I have in heaven? And what did You want on earth? My heart and my flesh are gone, O God of my heart, and my portion, O God, forever” (Ps. 72:25–26). This is the truth, what peace and what joy there is in believers filled with the Holy Spirit. It is good for us if we have this precious deposit of the Holy Spirit in us: then we can hope for eternal life with the Lord; but woe to us if we have removed the Holy Spirit from ourselves: then eternal death will be our lot. To avoid this last unfortunate fate, let us earnestly pray to the Holy Spirit: “Heavenly King! come and dwell in us...” And for Him to really come and dwell in us, for this we need to sincerely repent of our sins and beware of sins. (From the teaching of Justin, Bishop of Tobolsk). 4. About what we must do for the Holy Spirit to come and dwell in us From the priest. Scripture knows that the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles in the form of tongues of fire. It would be enough for us if He, without noise and tongues of fire, but albeit secretly, would touch us with a spark of His grace and with it would produce in our hearts that spiritual enlightenment, that ardent love for God and the fiery desire for everything holy that accompanies the presence of the Spirit of God in man. But what? Did the Holy Spirit mark its presence in us with the indicated gracious actions? Alas, I think that it is rare among us who will dare to say with the apostle that he “has the Spirit of God within himself,” we need to extend and strengthen our prayers for the descent of the Holy Spirit into us. And in order for He, the Heavenly King, to come and dwell in us, for this we must do the same thing that people usually do when they want to receive an honored guest, that is, thoroughly cleanse our house, put on the best clothes and jewelry, go out to meet the expected guest and earnestly invite him to your place. This is what we must do now - only not sensually, but spiritually. And firstly, calling on the Holy Spirit, we must prepare in ourselves a suitable abode for Him, and therefore we must thoroughly cleanse ourselves, according to the commandment of the Apostle, “from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit,” that is, from all sins, carnal and mental (2 Cor. 7:1). Our sins are so unpleasant for the Holy Spirit that He not only cannot see them, but also completely withdraws from those people who are defiled by them. The prophet testifies to this when he says: “Your sins separate you from God, and sin for your sake the Lord has turned His face away from you” (Is. 59:2); God Himself declared this when He said about the antediluvian sinners: “My Spirit shall not dwell in these men, because they are flesh” (Gen. 6:3). So, if we want the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, then, I repeat, we must completely cleanse ourselves of sins. How to do this? To do this, we must now sincerely confess our sins before God, crying out like a publican: “God, be merciful to us sinners,” and carefully protect ourselves from them. With such confession we will throw away sins from our hearts, like any rubbish from the church, and make ourselves a pure abode for the Holy Spirit: “if we confess our sins, says the apostle, then the most good God will forgive us for them and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). But for a worthy reception of the Holy Spirit, it is not enough to cleanse oneself from sins, one must also be adorned with virtue, “one must put on the new man, created by God in righteousness and in the likeness of the truth, prepared for all good works.” This is necessary not only so that the Holy Spirit, who loves everything that is pure and good, would more willingly come and dwell in us, but also so that He would not become angry and withdraw from us when we appear before Him in old, sinful rags, or appear naked, not having the robe of good deeds, so that we are not thrown “into the outer darkness.” Therefore, I will tell you with the apostle: “put on mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, etc. of Christians. virtues, and most of all put on love, which is the sum of perfection” (Col. 3:12-14). Having been adorned in this way, we must go to meet the Holy Spirit. We can do this by striving for heaven in spirit, ascending to heaven with our thoughts and desires. We must do this if we want the Holy Spirit to come and dwell in us; for He descends to us as we ascend to Him. The word of God testifies to this when it says: “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you... Seek the things that are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God—set your mind on things above, and not on earthly things.” Therefore, desiring to receive the Divine Spirit into ourselves and expecting His grace-filled coming to us, we must put aside all worldly cares - at least, think as little as possible about earthly things and then only about what is necessary, in order to strive for God with the desire for grace-filled communication with Him. With such a godly desire we will attract the Holy Spirit to ourselves and we ourselves will draw closer to Him; and at the same time let us open the entrance to our hearts for Him. Coming thus into the meeting of the Holy Spirit and having prepared ourselves to receive Him, we must earnestly pray to Him that He would deign to come and dwell in us. “Ask and it will be given to you,” says the Savior, “everyone who asks receives” (Matthew 7:7-8). How should we ask Him to really come and dwell in us? To do this, firstly, you need to call on Him diligently, not only with your lips, but also with your heart, with a sincere desire to have grace-filled communication with Him; secondly, we must pray for His sending with firm faith that God the Father, for the sake of the merits of His Only Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and out of His love for the human race, will send us His Holy Spirit; thirdly, we need to pray with undoubted hope that the Holy Spirit, as good and loving of mankind, will hear our prayer to him - will come and dwell in us, “for hope is not ashamed”; finally, in 4, you need to call on the Holy Spirit. with sincere love for the Son of God, our Savior; we must call on Him with faith, hope and love: faith opens Him entrance into our hearts (Acts 15:8), hope introduces Him into them (Heb.6:19; Heb.7:19), and love accepts Him and so unites Him with us that the person who has Him becomes “one spirit with the Lord” (1 Cor.6:17). (From the teaching of Justin, Bishop of Tobolsk). In the leading church of the Christian part of St. the bodies were handed over to the faithful; and St. the blood was taught directly from the cup. See another article about the same thing on pages 557–561. Whoever you are, unfortunate one, compare your grief, your suffering, with the suffering of Christ, and you will receive relief. (Prot. G. D-ko). Note For additional articles, see Part 1, week. Pentecost. Ivan Zabelina: Home life of Russian tsars, 2nd ed., M. 1872, 368 and materials 248 pp. Home life, 323–325 pp. You might be interested in: