Поучение 79. О благодарении и терпении.

My brothers, fathers and children! Since we have a lit lamp within us - the love of the Lord and the desire for eternal blessings, we must daily pour in the oil that is necessary so that the lamp does not go out and leave us in darkness; and we, wandering here and there as at night, will be poor from passions. What kind of oil is this? Remembrance, recollection, reflection and removal from previously former sins, from those committed now and future ones. So, let us remember the days of our youth, when we walked in the darkness of foolishness, were in distress as at sea, from the excitement of affairs, and drowned as in the abyss, in voluptuousness. Let us remember where the good God called us from, what he delivered us from, from what and how many passions he tore us away, gave us his hand and raised us up, showed us the right path, and encouraged us to resort to this bright and holy image; and while so many of our other relatives, friends and acquaintances remained, we alone were freed, as if from the work of Egypt, and ascended the high mountain of this life, we look from here and see people, as if in the deepest ditch, how they are restless and collide with each other, laboring in vain and in vain in that which perishes, passes and decays; they shed a lot of sweat and work incessantly; and oh, if only it came to this, and if they were not subjected to eternal torment! And for this only deliverance, what and what kind of thanksgiving should we have to God, and what reward shall we give to the Lord for all that He has rewarded us? This reward consists of renunciation and withdrawal from the world, renunciation of parents, separation from neighbors, and a blessed life of obedience. Having recognized the mercy of God, we will thank Him, and, as if celebrating, we will spend the days of this life, singing and chanting, more than the Israelites: we will drink to the Lord, gloriously we will be glorified: “horse and rider were cast into the sea” of destruction (Ex. 15:1). So, since we have gotten rid of this, we must now cross the desert of real life in a godly manner - to be obedient and submissive, patient and complacent, virgins and keepers of the commandments. Let us not, like the ancient Israelites, be murmuring and disobedient, lovers of flesh and sensualists, impudent and discordant, opponents of the Lawgiver. Let us not remember the meat and the cauldrons, the red onions and garlic of Egypt, by which we mean that which we have forsaken and renounced by the power of God. No, not like that, I beg you; but we will be like holy people of God. Let us not grieve, but please, obey and follow where we are commanded, and when and where the abbot wants this, led by his commands, wherever it happens and where it is indicated, walking and enduring sorrowful things along the way, whether it be a lack of food, or drink, or something else necessary. If we obey in this way, then the Angel of God will walk before us, and the Lord will smite passions for us, like foreign nations, and we will enter not into the land of the Amorites, but into the land of the meek and righteous, into a land that yields honey and holy milk, immortal and insatiable, and we will inherit all the promised blessings, and we will reign with the Lord Christ. So, look, brethren, at the rewards set before us, think about the pleasures that are prepared for us, and, on the contrary, about the torments that await those who live carelessly, thinking about what these disobedient people suffered, and what benefits the obedient ones achieve; Let us diligently carry out the course with much joy, gladness and with great and invincible patience, reverently keeping our service, as the sons of Kohath and Merarin (Num. 4: 4, 29, 30) kept these sacred vessels; and let us erect without laziness the tabernacle of the Covenant of the Lord—His Gospel Law. So, let no one be disobedient, no one a murmurer, no one a snitch, no one a slanderer, no one shameless, no one a liar, no one a laugher, no one jealous, no one envious, no one idle, no one a slanderer, and let no one humiliate the holy life, but let us all with all our strength do everything pleasing to God, so that through this, having successfully completed the feat, we may be crowned the crown of righteousness in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom belongs glory and dominion with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. You might be interested in: