Послание 36. К Евпрепиану и находящимся с ним

I firmly hope, beloved children, that you lead a peaceful and God-ordained life. Therefore, I will turn my speech to the most necessary. What is this? When we reveal their wicked teaching and show the reasons why they anathematized us along with others, it will clearly be revealed that they are not just any heretics, but apostates from the Gospel of God, cursed the saints and violated the rules. First, they act against the Old and New Testaments. “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” says the law, “thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain” (Ex. 20:14, 7); “Let there be one law for both the Jew and the stranger” (Exodus 12:49). Then the Gospel, or Christ, says: “You have heard that it was said to the ancients: Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say to you: and do not look “at a woman lustfully” (Matt. 5:27, 28), and also: “Whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments will be called least in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:19), i.e. will be cast into fire, as the Fathers interpret. And these, it’s scary to hear, are adultery, prohibited by law and grace, even to the point of looking with lust, violation of the first and greatest commandment in life, and, moreover, the use of the name of God not in vain, but with such a lawless and wicked action, that is, the use of the name of God at the marriage of adulterers, the communion of the Mysteries of Christ and a wedding contrary to God, committed truly by the culprit of adultery the devil and his servant - called God's economy, good and saving for the Church. Let us close our ears, brothers, so that we do not somehow perish from this blasphemy. And to justify themselves, they say that in relation to kings there is no need to pay attention to the laws of the Gospel. Here is another foreshadowing of the Antichrist! What does it mean: “let there be one law” (Ex. 12:49)? What does it mean: “strict judgment on those in authority. The Lord of all will not be afraid of the face” (Wis.6:5)? What does it mean: “God does not regard the appearance of man” (Gal. 2:6)? Who is the legislator for the king? If there is a subordinate after a superior, then the Gospel laws are not only for subordinates. For if these laws apply to the first, then also to the last, so that, being subject to one law and legislator, they are submissive and peaceful. If the boss is not treated when he wants - he, perhaps, will not want to observe a single one - but the subordinates are treated, then one of two things: either this king is God, for only the Divinity is not subject to the law, or there will be anarchy and rebellion. Truly, where there is not one law for everyone, then what should the world do when the king wants one thing, for example, to commit adultery or heresy, and his subjects are commanded not to have participation with an adulterer, not to participate in heresy and not to transgress anything handed down by Christ and the apostles? Isn’t it clear from this that the Antichrist is already at the door? After all, adulterers will not dare to say: can’t the king do and command that the people submit to what he is doing lawlessly? The Antichrist is clearly visible in these words. For he, being a king, will demand only what he wants and what he orders; and there will be no difference between him and his predecessors, except that he will desire and demand something different from what they both before and now would have desired. The same arbitrariness was shown by the bishops at the council. Wouldn't everyone who is sensible and doesn't like controversy agree that this is really so? Could there be anything worse than this heresy until the very appearance of the Antichrist? I don't think it has arrived yet; but, having begun now, it will reach its end at that time. And those who will fall now would have fallen if they had existed then, and those who, by the power of God, will stand in the struggle, would have been in those days the conquerors of the Antichrist through death with Christ. But, oh human disaster! Others have already turned their backs! How we clearly show what we will be! Therefore there are few who will stand; therefore, Elijah and Enoch will be (we do not know whether the Theologian and Evangelist will also be) helpers of human weakness, primates and victorious in the confession of Christ; therefore, “the days will cease” of the calamity that is destroyed by the appearance of Christ (Matthew 24:22). Those who understand, stand, do not deny Christ from now on, for the present is the beginning of what should be then. The second does not require lengthy explanation, becoming clear from the previous one. For those who anathematized those who do not accept either the combination of adulterers, or the adultery of the emperor, or the iniquity of all those present and who took part in this under the guise of holy oikonomia, what else did they do but anathematize the saints, first of all the Forerunner, and - it is fair, although it is terrible to say - the Lord of saints Himself? For He, without a doubt, forbade this, does not accept or approve, but threatens with inevitable judgment even the one who communicates with an adulterer, not with any specific one, but with anyone, no matter who he is - king or nobleman, small or great. “Let there be one law,” says Scripture (Ex. 12:49), and we have accepted one Gospel. And whoever begins to change anything in the Gospel, even if he were an angel from heaven, your position is quite solid. Is the Emperor greater than an Angel? Is not the ruler of the world greater than all the demons and people who rule with human power and not with divine power? And yet what does the apostle say? “Let him be accursed” (Gal.1:8). Angels do not dare to change, and if they change, they do not remain unanathematized, like the devil and his apostate society. How can any person who is in the flesh, changing and making innovations, especially innovations of this kind, not be alien to God? For these, it turned out that the one who does not accept what is forbidden by God - for the speech must begin again from where it took hold - by the verdict of the adulterers (more precisely, the Antichrists), is already anathematized. If they say about the Lord, like the Jews, that He “casts out demons by the power of Beelzebub” (Luke 11:15), then what will they say about His servants and servants? They either recognize them as disobeying the laws of the Lord in their oikonomia, making the combination of adulterers and communication with them equal in power to oikonomia (that is why they anathematized the saints as lawless and transgressors of the commandments, for which, of course, they themselves should be anathematized); or, recognizing them as guardians of the laws, they, the unfortunate ones, excommunicated themselves, and not the saints, appropriating to themselves the name of saints in what they called oikonomia when combining adulterers. Through this they again anathematized the saints as not being saints; because, in their opinion, the saints are those who, if possible, observed and observe oikonomia when combining adulterers and communicating with an adulterous ruler, and those who do not accept oikonomia, which justifies adultery, and who do not follow their footsteps, are alien to God, lawless and violators of the commandments. So, from whatever side you wish and to whatever word of these wicked you want to pay attention, delve into it, prudent one, and you will be surprised to see and find an abyss above the abyss of wickedness. For heresies do not directly reveal all their wickedness, but some of them have completely departed from the Gospel, while others, hiding behind some Gospel sayings, present themselves as not contradicting God’s exhortations, but apparently wholly advocating for them, giving them one meaning and not another, and thus attributing ambiguity to the Divine sayings. Since they deviate from common sense, they are called heresies. But here is a clear departure from faith. They do not deviate from common sense, but when they say: “Although Christ said so and the law says the same, it must be different in relation to kings,” then the Gospel is violated. Look how the beginning matches the end. Since the incarnation of Christ, heresies began that did not agree with the Gospel. Then the devil, repelled little by little by the prospering grace, began to invade covertly, under the guise of the Gospel itself: he gave birth to heresies, even iconoclastic, covering his poison with Scripture and its very sayings. When he saw that people were listening to him and the end of times was already approaching, he began to again incite hatred against the Gospel itself, in order to more conveniently meet the Antichrist, in whom he would dwell, in whom all his cruelty and disgustingness would be revealed, and whom the Lord would soon kill with his appearance. What can I say about the third? Those who, having dared to openly violate the Gospel, anathematized those who did not want to violate it, will they begin to care about the rules, even those sealed by the Holy Spirit, although by their definition everything concerning our salvation is decided? For they do not have the priesthood, sacrifice and other means of healing our mental illnesses. However, why am I talking about rules and making a distinction? Talking about them and about the Gospel of Christ is the same thing. For He Himself gave the keys of the kingdom of heaven to the great Peter, saying: “Whatever you loose and whatever you bind on earth,” both will be in heaven (Matthew 16:19), and also to all the apostles: “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive, they will be forgiven; those whose sins you retain, they will be retained” (John 20:22). Accordingly, he transfers power to their successors, if only they do the same. Therefore, Basil and the saints equal to him accepted these rules as apostolic ones and followed them, without changing them at all, but supplementing them as necessary. And these bishops in fact turn out to be new false apostles, when completely not according to the established rules of the saints, but contrary to them, out of their own arbitrariness and decision, they sometimes resolve what cannot be resolved and bind what cannot be bound. You can see this happening daily. The holy is desecrated, and the adulterous council openly and secretly serves as a support for sin: the worthy is deposed, the deposed is ordained; he who is subject to deposition according to the rules is allowed to perform priestly service with impunity, and elevation to the rank is carried out by human order, and not by the definition of God and the rules. But alas for me, how sad it is to depict all this! And who among those who have a sensitive heart will not grieve and sigh? And what mind, looking and delving into this, does not recognize that this is a heresy that has departed from Christ? However, why should I express everything that is on my mind and go beyond the limits of writing? What has been said in itself is obvious, not embellished, not difficult to understand - on the one hand, because I do not have the ability to speak highly and am not very eloquent, not verbose and ignorant (having this through the common prayers of my and your father); and on the other hand, because some of you cannot understand the abstract presentation of heresy. Moreover, the word of truth is simple, and this heresy is obvious, alien to dogma and understandable even to an infant. To whom God has spoken, his speech is short. They do not do what is right, but they anathematize the right of those who do so. May the Lord give you grace in everything, beloved children! You might be interested in: