Нравоучительная часть (Кол. 3:1–25, 4:1–6)

Here the holy Apostle first: A) represents Christian life as it should be in itself, without regard to the external positions of believers (Col. 3:1-17); and then: B) indicates what it should be like in Christians, with their different external positions and states (Col. 3:18-25, 4:1-6). A) Christian life is detached from the external positions of Christians (Col. 3:1-17) Here Saint Paul indicates: a) the essence of life in Christ Jesus - that it must be detached from all earthly things and immersed with Christ in God (Col. 3:1-4); as a result, in reality, she is: b) a mortifier of passions and an acquirer of all virtue: this is her work, working on which, she finally reaches the last limit of active perfection: love and peace (Col. 3:5-15); c) means for success in such a life are offered by enriching the mind with knowledge of the word of God, prayer and the creation of everything in the name of the Lord Jesus (Col. 3:16, 17). a) The essence of life in Christ Jesus (Col. 3:1–4) This being consists: aa) in the search for the highest - heavenly, eternal, Divine, with detachment from the earthly, temporary and created (Col. 3: 1, 2); bb) the reason why this should be so is that believers die to everything and their life is hidden in God with Christ the Lord (Col. 3:3); a: c) inspiration for such detachment is drawn from the conviction that otherwise it is impossible to appear in glory when Christ the Lord appears (Col. 3:4). Col. 3:1. If you are risen with Christ, seek those on high, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. “Also” – if. He does not pose the resurrection with Christ in a question that presupposes hesitation of thought, but undoubtedly affirms it and posits it as the basis for the conclusion of the rule - to seek the highest, to philosophize about the above. “Ubo” is, therefore, a particle indicating a conclusion. Where does it come from that we have risen with Christ? From (Col. 2:12), where it was said that in holy baptism we were buried in Christ and took care of Him. From this position the Apostle already deduced: “if you die with Christ” (Col. 2:20); and now another concludes: “if you rise again.” But the first conclusion concerned the knowledge side: if you died with Christ for everything material, then why are you looking for support for your beliefs and hopes in something material. And the real second concerns the active side - Christian life: if you have risen with Christ, seek the highest. That we were resurrected with Christ, this is deduced from the power and meaning of the sacrament of baptism; from the same thing that has been resurrected, a new conclusion is drawn: “seek the highest.” What it means to seek the highest is determined by what it means to be resurrected with Christ. In the Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul defines the resurrection with Christ as follows: “just as Christ has risen from the dead in the glory of the Father, so we also will begin to walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). Walking in the newness of life will mean seeking the highest. But what does it mean to walk in newness of life? Walking is the opposite of the old life. The old life began with the fall, when man fell away from communion with God, to which he was destined, and fell into self-indulgence, sensuality and love of creatures. Renewal of life is again the entry into living communion with God through the rejection of self-indulgence, sensuality and love of creatures. To remain in this order of life, one will walk in renewal of life, and then seek the highest. To seek the highest is therefore to strive with all our might to always remain in living communion with God. For what is higher than God? And he who has sought and found God, what else can he seek? Why does the prophet David cry: “My heart says to you: I will seek the Lord, I will seek your face, O Lord, I will seek your face” (Ps. 26:8); and invites everyone: “Seek God, and your soul will live” (Ps. 68:33). The word itself: to seek the highest means to seek that which grief is, to seek the heavenly; which is usually expressed by seeking the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God. But what is this Kingdom? There is something when God begins to reign in the soul. Through the Lord Jesus Christ, the communication of the soul with God, interrupted by the fall, is restored. Entering again into communication with the soul, God dwells in it and, reviving it and controlling all its movements, returns to it the lost well-being. And behold the Kingdom of God. It will also constitute eternal bliss. Why can we assume that it combines in itself everything that anyone imagines under the name of the highest blessings. Another way in which the Apostle defines what is sought above is shown by the words: “where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.” Ambrosiastes writes that “the Apostle calls those raised with Christ in baptism who seek the heavenly things, where is the throne of Christ, where God the Father gave His right hand to His Son to reign and judge.” “Where has he taken our minds! What a great thought I was filled with!” - St. Chrysostom calls. The search for the highest will therefore be a search for that which brings about the sitting of the Lord the Savior at the right hand of the Father! The sitting of the Lord Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Father is the holding of everything in His power or the deed manifestation of what He Himself said about Himself: “all authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). Together with this, it means being in glory and Divine contentment, or bliss. This is what the Lord’s sitting at the right hand of the Father brings about! Our search can only have the last two as its subject here - glory and bliss. As for the omnipotence of Christ, the search in relation to it can only make sense, so that the Almighty Christ would also rule over us. This is the same as the demand to be submissive and most devoted servants of Christ the Lord or for Him to make us such. We sign up as slaves of Christ the Lord when in baptism we deny Satan with all his works and are united to Christ. We are truly slaves when we fulfill His commandments with all zeal and are zealous not to deviate in anything from His holy will. This puts us on the right path to the other two blessings, which are indicated by Christ’s sitting at the right hand of the Father, that is, to His glory and blessedness and with Him. For He promised: “Where I am, there My servant will also be.” Before this, He defined His servant as follows: “Whoever serves Me, let him follow Me” (John 12:26). And to follow Him means to walk in His will and His commandments to the point of the stomach. Thus the glory and blessedness of Christ already belong to His servants, according to His promise. You just need to show yourself to be His true servants, walking in His commandments. And this is the same as seeking the sovereignty of Christ the Lord over us. It turns out that all three objects of search, indicated by the Lord’s sitting at the right hand of the Father, agree on one thing - to seek to walk unswervingly in the commandments of Christ. This is not far from what the resurrection with Christ showed us to seek. The Resurrection with Christ showed us the search for the highest in the pursuit of communion with God; The immediate means to this end is walking in the commandments of Christ. For the Lord says this: “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me: and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father: and I will love him, and I will appear to him Myself.” And a little lower: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word: and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him” (John 14:21, 23). Thus, what we are looking for above is not far from us. But as the Lord said about the Kingdom of God: “behold... the Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21); so also that which is above, which the Apostle commands to seek, is within us. When we hear the Apostle saying: “Seek the things on high,” we must not fix the gaze of the mind on an indefinite height, but go inside ourselves and there in our hearts we must ascend to the living God, through the Lord the Savior, in the Holy Spirit. In a word: “highest” - not the place is indicated, but the dignity is determined. Col. 3:2. Be wise from above, [but] not from earth. The previous commandment is repeated with a small addition. Having brought the Colossians to the mountain, to the right hand of God the Father, the Apostle “made it clear that from there they should not look at the earth. Real life, he says, is not yours; your life is different. He is already in a hurry to transfer them (from the earth), trying to show that they are in heaven, making it clear that they should not look for things here. If you are in heaven, then you should not seek earthly things” (St. Chrysostom). - “To philosophize”, φρονειν, - to think, to keep in mind, to ponder, to figure out how best to arrange something. There are two things for this: heaven and earth. While a person lives in self-indulgence, all he can think about is how best to arrange his earthly well-being or earthly happiness. When the grace of God awakens in him the slumbered spiritual needs, then his thoughts move on to something else, are torn away from the earth and turn especially to the discussion of how to more accurately arrange his eternal well-being, or to achieve eternal bliss and be worthy of the inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven. The latter is heavenly wisdom, and the former is earthly wisdom. This occupies true Christians, and this occupies those who are not Christians in spirit, although they are called so. These philosophies draw a sharp line of distinction between them. If by the above we begin to understand the same thing that we have defined to mean by the highest - that is, living communion with God through walking in the commandments with the rejection of self-indulgence, sensuality and love of creatures, then these are the objects of constant and caring Christian thoughts: the Christian thinks how not to again fall into self-indulgence and sensuality and not to cleave to any creature more than the Creator - how to more accurately fulfill the will of God in all its course and in all the contacts of your life, - especially about how to constantly remain with the Lord in your thoughts and hearts and work out your salvation with fear and trembling before Him. These are objects worthy of the philosophizing of a Christian! Earthly things are not worthy of being occupied. It goes with him like a third-party thing - an addition, and not a matter. Col. 3:3. You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. These are the reasons why Christians should seek the things above and philosophize on things above, and not on earth! The first is that they died; the second is that they have a life hidden with Christ in God. “On both sides, he encourages them not to look for what is here, both from death and from life. You have died, he says, to what is due; why shouldn't they look for it? Again, your life, he says, is grief; So go ahead and philosophize. The Apostle strives to show that they remain in grief and live another life, which is in God and invisible to bodily eyes” (Blessed Theophylact). “I died,” - of course, in baptism. Here Christians die to sin - self-indulgence, passions, love of creatures, they die to all the objects that satisfy them - so that all this should be as if non-existent for them. What kind of job should I do with this?! Saint Chrysostom says: “real life is not our life. We are wanderers and strangers. “Umroste bo,” he says. And who would be so reckless as to buy slaves, or build houses, or prepare precious clothes for a dead and buried body? Nobody. Therefore, we should not do this. We usually want only one thing: not to be naked; and we will look here only for this one thing. Our first man is dead and buried; not buried in earth, but in water; It was not death that defeated him, but the Conqueror of death who buried him. And there is nothing more blessed than this burial. Everyone rejoices over him: Angels, people, and the Lord of Angels. For this burial, no clothes, no coffin, or anything like that is needed.” Do not, we add from ourselves, resurrect this, so well-buried, with your obscene thoughts and worries about something self-indulgent, passionate and creature-loving. “Our life is hidden in God” can be understood in two ways: both because it is such in its essence, and because it is for a time invisible to others, often even to those who are involved in it. The previous speech requires the first thought, and the subsequent one the second. Our belly is determined to be hidden in God in creation itself. For this is our goal, to be in living communion with God, for us to be in God and God in us - which actually means the hiddenness of life in God. Man was placed into such communion at the very moment of creation through the blowing into his face of a spirit from God. Sin dissolved this communication and became the mediastinum between man and God. The Son of God came through incarnation and destroyed this barrier. Those who believe in Him receive remission of sins and are endowed with the power to overcome sin—both through union with the Lord. Those who believe in Him put on Him and are one in spirit with Him. And He is one with God the Father. As a result of which, through Him and with Him, they again enter into unity and communion with God, from Whom they had fallen away - or, what is the same, their life becomes and is hidden with Christ in God. This is the mystery of life in Christ Jesus. The Lord expounded this mystery this way: “I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (John 14:20). This is the golden chain! The Lord also explained how it is connected: “no one will come to the Father except by Me” (John. 14:6), and again: “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him... Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father will come to Me” (John 6:44, 45). God the Father draws everyone to the Son, and the Son brings them to the Father. And the communion of believers with God is established; their belly becomes hidden with Christ in God. – Saint Paul reminds us of this mystery of the Christian life in confirmation that Christians should always philosophize only about heavenly things. You died, he says, for everything - for yourself, for the world, and for every creature; You don’t need to think about all that. You have come to life with a new life, and your life has become hidden with Christ in God; think about God, and think about the Divine. Where your belly is, there your heart and your mind should be. But this life, hidden in God through the Lord the Savior, remains hidden, hidden, invisible, for others. People do not see it: for it is all accomplished in the spirit and heart. Although the “spiritual”, according to the Apostle, “contends everything” (1 Cor. 2:15), he correctly determines only whether someone is God’s, and sometimes what degree someone stands at, but does not see the very production and movement of this life, as well as the meaning and power of it. Even those who partake of this life do not see everything. He doesn’t see how she was conceived; for the Lord says: “The Spirit breathes wherever it wills, and you hear its voice, but do not consider where it comes from or where it goes: so... everyone... is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). Having begun, this life also matures unknown to him, until the tangible actions of the grace of the Holy Spirit begin to appear. But even after this, he does not see and know everything: for, according to the Apostle, among those who have received the Holy Spirit, this Spirit makes intercession for them before God with groanings that cannot be uttered, but they do not know it (Rom. 8:26). They also do not know how and how it will all end: “for it was not revealed what we shall be” (1 John 3:2). And for the Angels much is hidden here; What is clear to them is only the general state of souls, and not the very essence of life according to God in everyone. Only God alone knows “his own beings” (2 Tim. 2:19). For all others this will be revealed at the second coming of Christ, when, to great amazement and irrevocable grief, many of those who considered themselves God and were revered as such by others will learn that they are not God, for they will hear: “I have never known you” (Matthew 7:23). This other side of hiddenness, or the secrecy and invisibility of life according to God, prompted the Apostle to add to what was said. Col. 3:4. When Christ appears, your life, then you will appear with Him in glory. Now it is not clear how you are in God and how glorious this is; and then it will be revealed, and everyone will see it. With this announcement, the Apostle added fire to those who were zealous to live in God and eliminated much that could influence the diminishment of his power. They might have thought: leave everything, don’t think about anything earthly, but be God’s; Meanwhile, what is our position? The Apostle assures: this is only for a while; When your triumph comes, you too will appear in glory. Be grateful and do not cease with heavenly zeal only to philosophize and keep your belly hidden in God. But this same notification gave rise to the thought: we will appear, and nothing will remain hidden; and then it will be revealed that we are not what we want to be and what others revere us for?! Let us truly strive to have our belly hidden in God with Christ the Lord. “Now in hope we have only the promise of good things, and then what is now invisible will be manifest” (Blessed Theodoret). “Christ is not; This means that your life has not yet come - it is in God, in heaven. So what? When will we live? When Christ appears, life is yours; then seek glory, and life, and joy. So, if we appear then, we will not grieve if we do not now enjoy glory. If real life is not life, if life is hidden, then we must spend real life as if we were dead. “Then,” he says, “you too will appear with Him in glory.” Not without purpose he said: “in glory”; for even a pearl is hidden while it is in the shell” (St. Chrysostom). That “we will appear in glory” when Christ the Lord appears, Saint Paul believes this is in direct dependence on the fact that Christ the Lord is our life. Having our belly in Him, we are in an essential connection with Him - inseparable: so where He is and what He is, there we are and the same. He will appear in glory; this appearance of Him in glory will draw us all into His glory. As what belongs to the head passes over to the whole body, and as the state of the vine is also the state of all the branches; so those who are on the Vine - Christ, like branches, or those who are of His flesh and of His bones, will appear in glory when He appears in glory. From here it follows: if this appearance in the glory of Christ is glorious and desirable, then one must be jealous and strive only to have one’s life in Christ and from Christ; and then glory will come by itself. With this conclusion, the word of the Apostle returns attention again to what he inspired ahead - to seek the things on high, to philosophize on the things above. In this regard, it is very appropriate to remember: “having heard Him, and learned about Him, as is the truth about Jesus: after you first lived, put off the old man, which is corrupting through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new... created according to God in righteousness and... the excellence of the truth” (Eph. 4:21-24). What the Apostle of Christ the Lord here calls our belly is not different from what he said before this about the hiddenness of our belly in God. For this is why it is hidden in God, because it is Christ’s, although it is in us and belongs to us. He is Christ’s in us not by origin alone, but also by essential living union with Christ the Lord, Who Himself is one with the Father. b) The work of life in Christ Jesus (the object of its efforts and the end) (Col. 3:5-15) “Turn away from evil and do good” (Ps. 33:15) - two subjects to which all the attention and all the efforts of those who desire to have their life in Christ the Lord are directed. How, shifting the center of gravity from foot to foot, someone going somewhere moves forward; Thus, one who goes to Christ and with Christ completes his course in two ways - by avoiding evil and by creating good. Otherwise, this is called resisting oneself in evil and forcing oneself to do good: self-resistance and self-compulsion are two legs. Where do they go? They reach the point where evil and passions are completely driven out; everything good appears in the power and fullness of perfection. All this is now depicted by the Apostle, teaching: aa) how to avoid evil (Col. 3:5-11), and: bb) to be enriched in good (Col. 3:12, 13), and: c) indicating the final limit of perfection in love and peace (Col. 3:14, 15). aa) The Apostle teaches avoidance of evil (Col. 3:5–11) What is required is an evasion from evil so strong and so decisive that the Apostle calls it the mortification of sinful evils and the putting aside of all that is evil. There are two sinful things in us - lust and anger, in their different forms. The Apostle arms Christians against them, convincing them: α) to put to death everything lustful (Col. 3:5–7), and: β) to put aside everything that is angry and hostile (Col. 3:8–11), and to each of these exploits applying their own motives: there is the wrath of God and the test of the harmfulness of lustful life (Col. 3:6, 7); here is the putting off of the old man and the putting on of the new, in the image of the Creator (Col. 3:9, 10). Col. 3:5. Put to death therefore your evils that are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil lust and covetousness, which is idolatry. "Death." After all, he already said: “I will die”; What else can a dead person mortify within himself? “What are you saying? Didn't you say: you are buried, you are entombed, you are circumcised, you have put off the bodies of sinful flesh? How do you say again: “put to death”? There is no contradiction here. If someone, having cleaned a stained statue or even refinished it and made it completely shiny, said that rust wears and destroys it, and would advise trying again to clean it of rust, he would not contradict himself; because he would advise cleaning it not from the rust that he had already cleaned off, but from the one that appeared later. So Paul speaks not about the former mortification, not about the former fornications, but about the subsequent ones” (St. Chrysostom). “The first mortification was the gift of baptism, which took away the original sin that was in us; and now the proposed mortification is a matter of our will, consisting in atonement for sins that occur after baptism, and even more so in not even allowing them to come to life in us, cutting off their origin through the mortification of carnal wisdom” (Blessed Theophylact). “The Lord quickened us from the first death, having washed away our sins in baptism; but we also need another kind of mortification - not just to mortify ourselves, but to mortify passions, not allowing them to act in us” (Ecumenius). Mortification to sin in baptism is only in intention and determination, strengthened by the grace of God, and after baptism one must maintain oneself in this mortification or constant mortification of oneself by the power of the first mortification, directed against again arising passionate and sinful movements and urges. This is in intention and determination, and this is in reality and in life. For even after the spirit comes to life by the grace of God, hates sin and loves a holy life according to God in righteousness and righteousness, the soul and body are still full of wrongs from a long-term habit of sinful deeds that have distorted their natural needs. Because of this, the soul and body do not cease to be drawn to sin or offer sinful things, recalling the self-indulgence that was previously experienced in passions. One who has made the decision to live not according to passions must strictly look at what the soul and body offer, and, encountering anything passionate among them, reject it. This rejection of passionate and sinful proposals is the mortification of the oud, which the Apostle commands here. The rejected passionate proposal will come again; and again it must be rejected. It's always like that. Through this frequent and constant rejection, which every time is a defeat of passion, passion will finally die out. So - one, another, third; that's all at last. And this is the goal that Saint Paul wants us to achieve, so that all passions will finally be dead and all human nature will appear dispassionate, pure and bright. Under such a condition only can one hope to appear in glory when Christ the Lord appears. That’s why Saint Paul said: “Put ye to death.” So, mortify all passions in yourself and cleanse yourself of them if you want to appear then in glory. “For this reason, put to death your udks that are on the earth.” – “The fishes of the earth” the Apostle calls the passions, which he then lists. He called the passions our souls because they seem to be integral parts of our nature. This is why they captivate us because they seem to be parts of nature and it is as if, by arming ourselves against them, we are going against nature. Cutting off passions is like cutting off our own members. In fact, passions are not our natural members, but alien ones, grafted onto certain natural parts and distorting them. And this can be considered the second reason why St. Paul called them our fish. Because of this entanglement of other passions with our members, while acting against the passions, it is impossible, at the same time, not to act against the members to which they are attached. And this is where self-pity comes in, or is brought in by the enemy, which cuts off ascetic energy and then allows passions to arise. To prevent this from happening, the Apostle writes: cut off your members, do not regret; otherwise you cannot appear in glory with Christ the Lord. In order not to fall into this temptation of self-pity, the ascetic must keep in mind and conviction that when he kills certain members of his body, he does not kill them, but the passion that has become attached to them. Passion, having taken root, deadens the members; But you, by killing passion through some kind of mortification of the members, will free them from the deadening power of passion and revive them. “Udami, even on earth” - the passions are called because all passions rest on the earth and are fed only by earthly things. They act according to earthly wisdom and find satisfaction on earth. Earthiness is a distinctive feature of those living according to passions (St. Chrysostom). And while these passions are in force, they will not allow those on high to philosophize and seek those above. This generally applies to all passions, and therefore also to those that anger gives rise to. But Saint Paul lists the passions, first lustful, and then angry. Among the lustful he exposes various types of carnal impurity and covetousness. I missed the comforting life spent in sensual pleasures: eating, drinking, having fun, generally living in worldly pomp; because this is not a common property, and perhaps because such a life is meant by extortion. For those who have much usually live “rejoicing brightly all the days” (Luke 16:19). Carnal lust gives rise to “fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil lust.” Only the word “fornication” indicates certain sinful deeds; the rest, what they mean, is left to the arbitrariness of each reasoner. Our interpreters believe that the first word signifies the deeds of lustful passion, and the others - the properties of this passion - that it makes a person unclean more than other passions or upsets him more than others and is truly παθος - a disease like fire (blessed Theophylact), which is why it is worthy to be called evil lust. – But maybe we can put it this way: “fornication” means well-known criminal relationships with women; “uncleanness” – unnatural deeds to satisfy lust; “passion” – lustful mania; “evil lust” - love with withering jealousy and seeking death, both for others and for oneself. But no matter what is meant by them, it seems that Saint Paul commands to mortify carnal passion in all its manifestations, so that it and its deeds are not even named among Christians. It is most of all contrary to the spirit of Christianity; why everywhere in the Apostle, among the things rejected, it comes first. “Covetousness” is a desire that never ceases to have more and more, an insatiable passion for wealth. The Apostle does not arm us against possessions, but against covetousness. We need food, clothing and shelter, and we cannot help but have something with which to satisfy it. But the measure of possessions should be the satisfaction of need, which should also indicate the boundaries of acquisition and efforts for it. Whoever, bypassing the need, falls in love with the very acquisition or possessions, he suffers from the passion of covetousness, which, having taken possession of his heart, becomes the mistress of all his affairs, thoughts, plans and enterprises. Then everything is forgotten, both in oneself and in others, both earth and heaven; There is only one goal - to have and to have. In such a mood, possessions become gods simply because they take possession of the whole person. But it is especially a god for the covetous because he places all his trust in it. And his life, and his position, and the course of affairs - everything is stable for him, because he has a lot of everything. He rests his trust in mammon and expects from wealth what is to be expected from the only God. For him it is an idol, whom he serves and works and hopes for. Why did St. Paul call covetousness idolatry? Blessed Theodoret writes: “He called covetousness “idolatry,” because the Savior called mammon master (Matthew 6:24), teaching that he who is enslaved to the passion of covetousness honors wealth as God.” Captive to this passion “serves and worships silver and gold. “And the tongue of idols is silver and gold” (Ps. 113:12 )" (Blessed Theophylact). We must keep in mind that the Apostle does not mean the amount of property, but the passion to have and acquire. Job, Abraham, David and many others were very rich, but did not suffer from covetousness or covetousness. What the Apostle commands to mortify in oneself in this regard is addiction to possessions and placing trust in them - to which one can be subject even with a small acquisition, just as one can be free from it with a large one. Col. 3:6. For their sake the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. “For their sake” - for what? For the sake of the said passions and deeds, for the sake of a lustful and greedy life. The wrath of God has more than once fallen upon those guilty of these passions and deeds. The flood was brought about because all people then became “flesh” (Gen. 6:3). For the same reason, fire consumed Sodom and Gomorrah. Hezekiah suffered something - because he gave himself too much strength because of his great treasures. And in the parable, the one to whom the field was “desired” hears: “They will extort your soul from You,” - that night, because he thought that “his life is from his substance” (Luke 12:15, 16, 20). But all such manifestations of God’s wrath are only harbingers of the coming wrath, which St. Paul reminds us of here, namely the wrath that will be revealed at the Last Judgment. The Apostle holds our thought at that decisive moment, as above with the words: “appear in glory,” and here with the words: “the wrath of God is coming,” suggesting that whoever does not mortify his passions will not only not appear in glory, but, on the contrary, will face the wrath of God. Then the final payment. And now the wrath of God finds itself; but this one is temporary, corrective, and that one will be decisive, irrevocable. Here the Apostle has the same thought as in the Epistle to the Romans in the words: “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, holding the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom. 1:18). “Sons of disobedience” the Apostle calls unbelievers, both Jews and pagans, who do not see with vision and do not hear with hearing. No matter what you say to them or convince them, nothing takes them. A thorough sermon is offered: they do not heed. Signs are attached to the word, and this does not convince. They are like a stone that no weapon can handle. That is why they are called sons resistance, απειθειας, - lack of conviction, as if their nature is not to be convinced by anything, not to want to be convinced: “he calls them sons of resistance, depriving them of all condescension and showing that they are in passions not out of ignorance, but out of stubbornness, εξ απειθειας, - to which they were so devoted that they seemed to be sons. themselves to him, having received from him distinctive and characteristic features." And something terrible is suggested to such from the words of the Savior, namely: they do not listen, because they are not of the truth; for “everyone who is of the truth will listen to my voice” (John 18:37), says the Lord. There is no truth in them, and the truth is not accepted by them, does not fit into them, not finding anything akin to itself in them. The Truth of God walks on earth and has true testimonies about itself. Anyone who wants it sincerely will always find it. If there are those who do not find, it is because they do not seek; but they do not seek because they do not want the truth; they don’t want to because they are not from the truth. But there is nothing fatal in this: everything is a matter of free will. Reminding the Colossians of the coming wrath, the Apostle offers an incentive to mortify passions. And a reminder of God’s blessings is enough to keep one from passions and sins, but the presentation of God’s wrath is stronger than anything else (St. Chrysostom). “The Apostle considered it necessary to add to his convictions the threat of punishment” (Blessed Theodoret). Why is this so? Perhaps, due to the nature of the passions, from which he prescribed to avoid and which he commanded to kill. Lustful passion and covetousness are poorly influenced by the memory of God’s good deeds. While this passion is not in motion, this memory also acts; but when they began to stir, nothing would sober up as much as a living representation of the coming wrath of God. And in general, standing with attention at the trial is the best place for an ascetic; but this is an exceptionally suitable place when lustful passion is in motion. Col. 3:7. You sometimes walk in them, sometimes you live in them. “In them” - in the said passions and sins - and you walked and acted according to the impulses of passions and according to skills in sins and vices, when you lived “in them” - among the pagans, according to their spirit, rules and customs. It reminds us of the previous conversion to faith in Christ, the Lord of time, but at the same time it brings to mind the idea of ​​comparing how they feel now and how the previous state seems to them - how before everything was dark, unclean, unpeaceful in them and how now everything is light, clean, peaceful. “So in the Epistle to the Corinthians he said: “And these... were not, but were washed, but were sanctified, but were justified” (1 Cor. 6:11)” (Blessed Theodoret). And then these words made one feel what extreme misfortune they were freed from by renouncing passionate deeds and separating themselves from the pagans - namely, the wrath coming on the sons of disobedience. This anger is about to fall; but it will not affect them, because they came from the environment towards which this anger will be directed. Both, that is, a reminder of the previous dark and present bright state, and the feeling of deliverance from a terrible misfortune, represent a strong incentive to move away from passions, which even now upset the one who indulges in them and threaten with inevitable misfortune in the future. Ambrosiastes writes: “The Apostle does not remain silent about how great a benefit the grace of God in Christ Jesus brought them, so that, gratefully remembering the avoidance of the wrath that was suddenly to come upon the infidels of the whole earth, they always showed themselves to be zealous fulfillers of the commandments of Him, through Whom they were so undoubtedly delivered from the second death.” Col. 3:8. Now put away all that, anger, rage, malice, blasphemy, obscene language from your lips. “Now” - after accepting faith in Christ the Savior and leaving paganism. - “Put it aside.” They have already postponed it: for, approaching the font, the bath of rebirth and new birth, they said: I deny Satan and all his works and all his ministry; what has been done is what Saint Paul now commands to do with the word: “put aside.” Why should this “put aside” be taken in the sense: “put off”, as the former “put to death” - in the sense: “put to death.” In the intention, although everything that needs to be postponed here has already been decisively postponed, and the power of grace has been received for this purpose in order to keep this postponement in force; But in reality, this does not prevent cases from being postponed, just as when such a case occurs, it will require all the attention and corresponding effort. Blessed Theophylact writes: “how is this? He just said: “ever lively,” showing those that now they no longer live like that, and suddenly he says again: “put it all aside”? How can they put aside what they no longer have? To this we can answer that what was said: “when lively” serves to understand what is now being said. For this suggests that sometimes, that is, before baptism, sin ruled in you, possessed your whole life and tyrannized over you, and freedom from passions was impossible for you; Now, when sin has been put to death in you through baptism, it has become convenient for you to put aside passions like clothing. And you cannot give as an excuse (not to put aside) that you live under the tyranny of sin and passions: for you died by it.” Why, arming us against lust, did he say, “put to death,” and when preparing us to fight irritability, he says, “put aside”? The power of the commandment is the same both there and here, namely, to make one’s nature completely pure from passions, so that there is not a trace of them inside and they become outside it, like a severed member or like discarded clothing. But the fight against them is not the same: lust is more difficult to fight; for it seems to have roots in our nature; and irritability is easier to manage, because it is completely alien to our nature, in the depths of which lies brotherly sociability. Fighting with that, as if you are raping yourself, tormenting, killing yourself; and when you fight the second, you only reject what is alien. One has only to evoke consciousness and a feeling of common brotherhood, and it will disappear. “And you.” Like all Christians, so are you. A Christian is not a Christian if he does not keep himself undefiled by passions. Having entered the midst of Christians, keep yourself and you far from passions, as before, moving among the pagans, you lived according to the same passions. But this goes without saying. Wasn’t it something special that St. Paul wanted to instill when he said: “and you”? Isn’t this suggesting that in conversion, when a new man was being created and when the holy decisions of will were formed, grace acted predominantly, and will followed after it, although not forcefully, but self-willingly, but tangibly being drawn? him, helping and strengthening? At least it cannot be denied that in this sense one can say: “and you.” Not everything is grace; work, strain your strength and you yourself, to put aside everything passionate. “That’s all” - as if points to the passions of lust that have already been rejected; but after this, in explaining what “that whole thing” is, the passions of irritability are listed. How is this possible? Perhaps the holy Apostle has this thought: put aside everything - both what has already been said and what will be said after this - everything how you lived and what you were doing when you were in paganism, according to the custom of all pagans. Greek: τα παντα, - everything, - gives the thought of a specific object of sedimentation, which is passions, everything in general, both lust and irritability. Since the first ones had already been indicated, it only remained to point out the last ones. “Anger, rage, malice” - indicate the degree of increase in irritability: “anger” is the first movement of irritation, displeasure, indignation, grief, the emergence of anger - that everything is kept within the limits of apparent prudence and is hidden, although not always successfully. “Rage” is an outburst of anger that is not contained within limits and is revealed in word and deed. But both of these - anger and rage - are transitory. It happens, however, that grief sits deep in the heart and, remaining there, builds schemes and all sorts of methods for revenge, plots to do evil - it becomes angry. Ecumenius distinguishes between “anger” and “rage.” ""Anger" is a flash or an upsetting flare-up of irritable passion; and "rage" is, due to deep grief, an uncontrollable desire to repay now those who have offended - the soul thirsts for revenge. You need to know that people sin many times with both of these movements, either uncontrollably immediately rushing at those who have offended, or patiently waiting for an opportunity to take revenge and building on it (the latter is anger). We, who have been taught humility, must avoid all this.” Blessed Theophylact distinguishes malice in this way: “The Apostle calls malice the memory of rancor, when someone holds within himself a grudge against another, as if to take revenge.” “Blasphemy” and “blasphemy” reveal heartfelt irritation in the word. Blasphemy, βλασφημια, - in relation to God - blasphemy, and in relation to people - slander, any reproachful speech, abuse, disgrace of someone with a word, and revealing what has happened with embellishment and misinterpretation, and bringing up the unprecedented by seeming accidents. Here, of course, the latter. “The Apostle speaks of abusive speeches” (Blessed Theophylact). “Infamy” - shameful words, swearing with obscene words, from which the one who has lost his temper cannot restrain himself. Put away blasphemy and obscene language from your mouth. Both “defile the lips created to glorify God” (Ecumenius). Your lips are “sanctified by the participation of the body of the Lord. Therefore, it is extremely inappropriate for you to defile with slander and foul language these lips that receive Christ the Lord.” Col. 3:9. Do not lie to one another, having put off the old man with his deeds. The first: “do not lie” is a continuation of the indication of what should be postponed; and the second: “being stripped” - together with what is said in the next verse, represents an incentive to fulfill the proposed commandments. “Do not lie to each other,” εις αλληλους, - one can understand: in front of each other, do not tell lies to each other; just as in the Epistle to the Ephesians: “having put aside lies, speak the truth to everyone who is sincere” (Eph. 4:25), where this commandment is derived, as here, from putting off the old and putting on the new man. Blessed Theophylact writes: “You have put on Christ, who said: “I am... the truth” (John 14:6). How can you now clothe yourself with another form (of clothing), a form of lies? Then it will be obvious that you are throwing off that uniform (like uniform) that characterizes you with the trait of truth.” – But this is also possible: do not tell lies to each other, do not make false accusations, do not slander each other, like the Apostle James: “Do not slander one another” (James 4:11). The latter is closer to the flow of speech; because the Apostle here prohibits feelings and deeds generated by irritability and mutual hostility, among which slander is not the least important. Having listed what should be put aside, the Apostle now offers incentives for this. The first is: “putting off the old man with his deeds.” All these are the works of the old man, whom you have put off. Therefore you should not touch anything like that. “The old man calls the corrupted will, which is expressed in deeds corresponding to it” (Blessed Theophylact). “He calls him old, wanting to show his shame, ugliness and weakness” (St. Chrysostom). “This is life in sins, decrepit, corrupted, exhausted, before rebirth and renewal in baptism by faith in Christ the Lord” (Ecumenius). Man, as he became after the fall, is the old man. There is a quality of self-indulgence in him, forcing him to use all his efforts to create earthly well-being, based on sensual pleasures, turning everything else into means to this. As a result of this, his direct passions are the passions of lust, which the Apostle mentioned above. The passions of irritability seem to come from outside or are conditioned by external accidents. People with the character of the old man live together, and everyone only wants and seeks to arrange their own well-being. Why are clashes inevitable, from which irritation and all the passions and matters of hostility between people generated by it? Their basis lies in the self; but awakening, discovery, and diversity, and obsolescence depend on external collisions. Without this, the old man would only indulge himself, wallowing in lusts and living according to his own will without any irritation. But how does the Apostle present the putting off of the old man, that is, the rejection of self-indulgence, as an incentive to put aside not the direct passions of self-indulgence, but random ones? There is nothing incongruous here. For after selfishness and self-indulgence are rejected with a turn to Christ and this rejection is secured and invested with power in the sacraments, all passions are rejected at the same time, both those that are directly generated by self-indulgence, that is, the passions of lust, and those that are generated from selfhood as a result of random collisions and resistances, that is, the passions of irritability. Why does it directly follow from the putting off of the old man that it is obligatory for Christians to put aside these passions and deal with the deeds in which they are expressed. Taking this into consideration, however, we can admit that the Apostle here continues the exposition of the motivations for moving away from passions, begun above (Col. 3:6, 7) and as if not finished. There he said: “You also sometimes walk in them,” that is, in the works and passions of lust, when you lived in the spirit of the old man. Here, after listing the deeds and passions of irritation, he adds: “putting off the old man.” We walked in those passions of lust, but now we have stopped walking. Why? Because they have put off the old man, from which they were directly born. Thus, this impulse - “putting off”, like the next one - “putting on”, directed directly against the passions of irritation, being in connection with the previous ones, directed against the passions of lust, is also directed against these latter, as the very essence of the matter of putting off the old man requires it. From here it should be concluded that, on the contrary, the previously indicated motivations against the passions of lust (Col. 3:6, 7) also go against the passions of irritation, which are directly meant here. What is there in these impulses that is primarily directed against one or another passion? It primarily goes against the passions of lust: “the wrath of God is coming,” as already noted in its place; and against the passions of irritation: “in the image of the Creator,” as will be explained now. Col. 3:10. And having put on the new, being renewed in mind, after the image of Him who created him. This is the second action, inseparable from the first: one is rejected, the other is accepted. The self-indulgent self with all the passions that arise from them is discarded, and the determination to live selflessly for the sole purpose of pleasing God is accepted. This determination, which embraces the entire being of one who approaches the Lord with faith and is baptized, is the new man. “The new man,” says Blessed Theophylact, “is a will that is directed toward God,” that is, a will that has decided to live according to God and to please Him alone. But although this putting on of the new is inseparable from the putting off of the old, for all that it represents a new impulse not to succumb to passions, not to put on these rags. Having put on something new, bright, fragrant, who, except one who has lost his senses, would agree to put on old, ugly and stinking rags again? If, having taken off one's clothes, one remained undressed; Perhaps he would be tempted to put on what he had discarded again, despite the recognition that it was worthless. But just as at the same time as the withdrawal occurs, the endowment also occurs; then such an action is unthinkable for those who are of sound mind, in full consciousness of themselves and everything around them. It happens, but always due to clouding of the mind. The lightness of the state in grace, recognized and felt, has always been, is and will be the strongest incentive to put aside the passions that deprive one of this state. Why is this given not only to be recognized, but also to be felt by all who come running to the Lord, both in the sacrament of baptism and in the sacrament of repentance. "Renewed in the mind." Put on the new - what other update? New – how is it still being updated? Putting on the new is not a finished matter. It is only the beginning, the seed, the germ, the root. From this moment of putting on the new, renewal itself begins and proceeds continuously, revealing itself more and more fully and striving to achieve its prototype, hidden in the Creator. This will make it clear that there is no end to renewal. “The new man does not grow old, but blossoms and grows more and more in the knowledge of God and Divine things, always and always appearing youthful and, however, the more strengthened, the more complete knowledge he acquires and the more he is vouchsafed” (Blessed Theophylact). “You have put off the old and put on the new instead. Don't expect the same thing to happen to this one (i.e. to become dilapidated). On the contrary, the longer he lives, the more he approaches not old age, but youth, which is better than before. For the more knowledge he acquires, the more he is rewarded, and the more he blossoms, and the more he has strength, not only from his youth, but also from the image to which he approaches” (St. Chrysostom). “Such is the property of a virtuous life according to God that it always becomes young; although she seems to be aging physically, she is always blooming spiritually” (Ecumenius). “Renewed in the mind according to the image of Him who created it.” Renewal takes place according to the image of the Creator, as is self-evident. What is “into the mind”, εις επιγνωσιν? This is an indication of either the purpose of the update or the consequence that accompanies it; that is, the believer, recreated in baptism, is renewed in the image of the Lord who again created him here, with the goal of knowing, enriching himself with knowledge, or is renewed in this way and through this is enriched with knowledge. Neither the Lord, who arranges our salvation, nor the man who sought salvation in Him, has knowledge as a goal. Knowledge is one part, but salvation embraces the whole of nature, in all its manifestations, and renewal is also comprehensive. But it is undoubtedly true that knowledge, of course, spiritual, which has as its subject the order of spiritual life in God, always follows the traces of spiritual renewal. And only such knowledge is true, durable and reliable. But it is accepted, not sought. The spirit that catches it rejoices, like one that gains much gain; but not as a merchant receiving the profit he expected in advance. It always appears suddenly. This is how it goes: the one who is renewed, being renewed, creates something new. This new thing does not escape consciousness, but makes itself felt. The character, accepting him into his consciousness, becomes aware of him and begins to know him. The sensual eye has seen a thing and knows it. So consciousness is aware of what is in itself and knows that. All spiritual knowledge can only be obtained in this way. It is recognition, in which the knower says within himself: well, now I know. I see, I experience, I feel and I know. The new man is renewed “in the image of Him who created him.” They ask: what image is clear here, the one by which man was created or by which he is recreated? Aren't they all the same? The Creator and the Recreator are not one and the same? And the image, there and here, isn’t it the same? Man was created in the image of God; but lost it. Now it is recreated in the same image and is constantly renewed in order to come to the measure of that image. Blessed Theodoret writes: “in the beginning, the God of all things created us and imprinted in us the exact features of God’s image, which were damaged by sin (now they are being recreated again in Christ Jesus). The Apostle said this in his Epistle to the Romans: “whom... he foreknew... and ordained to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom. 8:29). Ecumenius also added his word to this: “such (that is, renewed by grace) keeps in himself the image of the God who created him always pure, not allowing traits borrowed from a lower region, deceitful and deceitful (that is, acceptable as a result of deception) to be mixed with it.” In holy baptism we put on Christ. This endowment is mysteriously grace-filled, perception in the spirit of the prototype. Then follows the transfer of all the features of Christ the Lord to the corresponding members of our nature. In this is the work of will, the feat of a whole life, the production of renewal, or, as in the Epistle to the Ephesians, creation “according to God in righteousness and perfection of truth” (Eph. 4:24). Blessed Theophylact writes: ““in the image of Him who created him,” that is, Christ. Christ did not come into old age; but he was always so beautiful that it is impossible to say, “Beautiful in kindness more than the sons of men” (Ps. 44:3). For he did not commit sin, which ages and corrupts. And we, created by Him in His image, must cut off from ourselves all sinful corruption and aging. The Apostle means creation both that which happens in baptism, and that which happens through a wonderful way of life.” Why did Saint Paul mention the “image” here? The flow of speech demanded it. Before this, he gave the commandment to put aside the passions of irritation. The strongest incentive to suppress the very occurrence of such movements is to remember that we are in the image of the all-good and all-forgiving Lord. We see the same comparison between illness and healing against it in the words of the Lord in the Gospel: “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who attack you and drive you out, that you may be sons of your Father who is in Heaven, as His sun shines on the evil and on the good, and rains on the righteous and on the unjust... Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:44, 45, 48). That is: “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). Col. 3:11. Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian and Scythian, slave and free, but Christ is all and in all. “Idezhe” – where? “With Christ, with faith” (Ecumenius), - in new orders, principles and rules of life, brought about by the faith of Christ, in the kingdom of His grace. Here, no differences are taken into account, neither national - whether someone is Greek or a Jew, nor religious - whether someone is circumcised or not, nor by education - whether someone is a barbarian or a Scythian, nor by civil status - whether someone is a slave or free. Whatever one is, he brought faith and was accepted; cleave to Christ the Lord - and are saved. The grace of God in Christ Jesus unites everyone and makes up one body out of everyone. And here is everything and Christ is in everyone. Christ is not this or that, but everything, and not in this or that, but in all. That is why everything is one. How is this? We put on Christ in baptism, the features of the image of Christ are then transferred to us, in the action of an incessant and deeper and deeper penetrating renewal, to the corresponding parts of nature. Yet Christ does this. He is the beginning and the source, from which, He is the image, according to which, He is the producer, by whom everything is made in everyone. Just as He accomplished the incarnate economy of salvation, so He arranges the salvation of everyone according to this economy. All Christians should carry this in their consciousness and feeling. And in the realm of all things, everything is devoted to Christ the Lord; for He Himself says: “All things have been given over to Me... all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me” (Matthew 11:27, 28:18). The Apostle’s thought is that in Christ Jesus all natural differences disappear. Only that which everyone receives from Christ the Lord and assimilates to himself has meaning and power. Blessed Theophylact writes briefly from St. Chrysostom: “Here is another commendable distinction of the new man in Christ, that nothing external is taken into account in him: neither race, nor dignity, nor ancestors, but that Christ is his distinguishing feature, his character. In all who have been formed in the spirit of a truly virtuous life, everything is Christ, that is, both race and dignity. Or else we can say: you are all one Christ, being His body.” Ekumeny continues this. ““Christ is all in all,” since we are all one body, having Christ as our head. Why is everything righteous for us: Christ, the Savior, the Lord, the head, the Bishop, and the sacrifice. “In all” - this means either in all matters, or in all the contacts of our life, or in all of us. For, he says, God has no partiality.” Why did the Apostle mention here the differences between people outside Christ the Lord and the unification of everyone in Him? New representing an incentive to put aside the passions of irritation. These passions produce division. The Apostle, having shown how everything and everyone is united in Christ by grace, says, as it were: is it fitting for you, so comprehensively and so deeply united in Christ, to allow within yourself the movement of passions that create division among you and violate your mutual unity, produced in you by the fact that everything in you is Christ? By tearing apart the union, you are tearing Christ apart. bb) The Apostle teaches enrichment with good things ( Col. 3:12, 13 ) He stripped the Christian of passions and now clothes him with virtues. And just as before he taught to put aside the passions of lust and irritation, now, by contrast, he inspires goodwill, some of which go against the passions of lust, and others against the passions of irritability. Col. 3:12. Put on yourselves, as you are holy and beloved by God's choice, in the womb of generosity, kindness, humility, meekness and long-suffering. "Put your face on." He said: put aside the shameful garments of passions. So what? Stay naked? No; It is also shameful to be naked: “put your clothes on.” “This word shows the ease of virtue: for it gives the idea that just as easily we put on clothes, so we can comfortably perceive virtue. And it is also instilled by this that one must constantly have virtue and use it as the greatest adornment: he who does not have it is disgraceful and ugly” (Blessed Theophylact of St. Chrysostom). “As the naked man covers himself with shame, so the naked man covers himself with virtue; why should we always have virtue inseparable from ourselves, just as we have clothes” (Ecumenius). Let's add to this: how clothing, covering the body everywhere, warms and protects it from external painful attacks; Thus, virtue warms the soul with spiritual warmth and makes it strong and invulnerable from the temptations of the enemy. Saint Anthony called the Great Union of Virtues an army that protects and drives away enemies. “Ubo” - makes it clear that the following instructions are derived from the previous one; in front it was said that he who has put off the old and put on the new man should not succumb to passions. What is proper for him? Put on every virtue. The main motive here is to be jealous of such an endowment. What is new is someone who, having received strength in rebirth, then continually renews himself, cutting off passions and in their place introducing virtues that are opposite to them, or clothing himself with them. But the Apostle did not limit himself to this, but added: “as you are holy and beloved by the election of God.” “Admonition unites with praise; for from this it receives more strength” (Saint Chrysostom). Praise encourages you to manifest what is being praised, to retain it, and to raise it to greater and greater perfection. You are the chosen ones, you are the saints, you are the beloved. How much fire of jealousy is added if such titles are perceived! You are the chosen ones. Are there really only people like you? But out of many, God chose you, preferring others. He hopes that you will behave worthy of the Chosen One. You are saints. God has sanctified you, forgiving you of your sins and giving you the strength to sin no more, but rather to excel in every virtue. To this you have been called: and be so. You are lovers. God does not have you as strangers, but as His own, and He loves you as His children. Show yourself worthy of this love and establish within yourself what God loves. God has loved and chosen you; having chosen, he sanctified; and as long as you remain holy, he will love you more and more. These titles oblige us to all virtue; but the Apostle encourages them primarily to be well disposed towards their neighbors. Be merciful, just as your Heavenly Father, who chose you, sanctified you and loved you, is merciful. “Put on the wombs of bounty.” - “Wombs of Generosity” - all-hearted mercy with pain for every neighbor as if he were one of his own. This expresses parental love for children. Just as parents worry about their children, so worry about all your brothers in Christ. “He did not say: you should have care (for each other) as brothers; but to care for each other as fathers care for their children” (St. Chrysostom). “Put on, he says, not just love (whatever it is), but the kind that naturally lives in the hearts of parents for their children” (Ecumenius). “Goodness”, χρηστοτης, is goodness, the readiness, on any occasion and in deed, to show the soul-filling pain for the good of others, in the very deed of doing for others everything that is necessary and useful for them. "Humility" He who is kind and gracious forgets himself. He who does not have himself as a goal is naturally humble. A mother who is sick about her children and endures every difficult care for them is humble-minded: for she cares only about the children; she forgot herself. This humility is not acquired through reasoning, but is naturally rooted in the heart. So is the merciful one. Everything for others, nothing for yourself. He considers himself obligated to serve others and, having served, does not rise, but only considers himself to have fulfilled his duty - which duty, however, is not interrupted by the service performed, but everything remains on him in full force. The unhumble, on the contrary, when doing something for another, feels that he is favoring him, and, having done one thing, believes that everything has already been done for this person, and after several favors, for everyone. So, he will say, everything is for others, and you need to think about yourself, - and he squeezes his hands, because the self has squeezed the womb. In general, where there is selfhood, active benevolence appears reluctantly, if only it appears. "Meekness". A vast virtue that is not indignant at anything and does not disturb anyone in any way. This is not callousness and indifference, but a strong heart, which sees and understands more intelligently than any other mind that by indignation, whether in oneself or in others, no good is achieved, but only evil multiplies and grows. She is the direct daughter of humility, always accompanying him and strong by him, so that, the slightest distance from him, she immediately becomes exhausted and evaporates. “Long-suffering” is constant and unchanging patience with troubles, falsehoods, attacks, insults, oppression, persecutions, beatings and murders that come from people at the instigation of the enemy. This is the outer side, or visible manifestation of meekness. Just as the inner wombs of generosity manifest themselves outwardly in kindness, so meekness, implanted in the heart, is apparently revealed in long-suffering. Blessed Theophylact derives all these good dispositions from one another, placing them at the head of the “womb of generosity.” “Whoever, he says, has put on the womb of generosity, all other virtues will naturally appear in him. For what father does not show kindness to his son and is not humble, providing him with everything without dispute? Which one is not long-suffering? And notice how beautiful the order is in all this! Goodness (generated from the womb of generosity) gives birth to humility, for he who is good is also humble in wisdom. From humility comes meekness, for one is proud and angry. From meekness comes long-suffering, which is generosity.” But we can put all these five in this relationship: the root of all is humility. It cuts down and expels the self, which is the source of all passions: for from it are born, on the one hand, the passions of lust, on the other, the passions of irritation. When the self is struck at the head by humility, all its creations are also struck, that is, both the passions of lust and the passions of irritation. From the defeat of the passions of lust, the wombs of generosity and goodness come into force. Lust wants to live for its own pleasure; why, when he disappears, the disposition remains in the soul not to live for its own pleasure, or its natural mood of goodwill, which was hitherto suppressed by selfishness, returns to it. On the other hand, when irritation is struck, the soul returns to its natural peaceful dispensation, which was previously disturbed by incoming irritability. Kindness is manifested in the belly of generosity and goodness, and a peaceful dispensation is manifested in meekness and long-suffering. Thus, in a few words, the Apostle reflected and defeated the entire horde of passions. Col. 3:13. Accepting each other, and forgiving yourself, if someone blames someone: just as Christ forgave you, so do you. Since meekness and long-suffering have a great need for support, the Apostle provides for them both an indication of the manner of their expression and the strongest encouragement for this. It’s as if the Apostle hears the question: living with each other, we have incessant clashes that arouse irritation; teach us how we can sustain ourselves in meek patience? And he answers: accept each other and forgive yourself mutually. Accept lovingly everyone as he is, with all his weaknesses and shortcomings and with everything that you do not like about him in his words and undertakings. This is the same as bearing each other's burdens. You like him, but he doesn’t like something else about you; carry each other. “Accepting, ανεχομενοι, is the same as bearing, βασταζοντες, one another, you - him, and he - you. Do not judge each other’s shortcomings and failures with acute severity; but, considering them small things, ignore them” (Blessed Theophylact). “Accepting” refers more to what we don’t like about each other and annoys us, without any relation to us. A: “forgiving” - to what concerns us, what we can complain about, what is reproachful only in itself, but is offensive and insulting to us; which the Apostle expressed in the word: μομφη - reprimand. Now he has done something for which you righteously blame him; and tomorrow you can do the same in relation to him. When encountering such cases, forgive yourself mutually, χαπιζομενοι εαυτοις - give each other such accidents mutually, without starting disputes, quarrels and discord because of them. To bear and endure each other is to bear a more external burden; and forgiveness has as its object what enters the heart; why it reveals a merciful heart and gives to another what could be sought. No matter how simple it all seems, in thought and word, in reality it can be difficult to bear and forgive even the smallest things, and not just the big ones. The Apostle reinforces his commandment with the strongest motivation - the forgiveness that everyone receives from the Lord. Why don't they forgive? A selfish movement comes to my heart: why will I forgive him? and forgiveness, often already ready, is driven away. This is the main source of unforgiveness. The Apostle blocks him with a strong and heavy stone. As soon as the self speaks in you: why will I forgive? – quickly bring to mind the forgiveness you received from Christ the Lord, and the self will fall silent. For how will she dare to raise even the weakest voice when you imagine how immeasurable the insult you have inflicted on the infinite God, since his satisfaction required an immeasurable sacrifice, and how his forgiveness was granted to you, the most unworthy and most despicable, for nothing? If you accept this, how can you not accept it? - then after this, what will be in your soul will no longer be this: because of which I will forgive this or that little thing, but this: give me more and more of what I could forgive. The Apostle says: “as Christ forgave is.” Brings to mind greater forgiveness in holy baptism. Consequently, he assumes those to whom he writes have not sinned after baptism. To those who sin after baptism, it must be said: otherwise Christ God will not forgive you. The Savior presented in a bright light both by direct word and by parable that the forgiveness of everyone’s sins is completely dependent on his forgiveness to his neighbor of what he has against him. If you don’t forgive, you won’t be forgiven. And here is the answer of the self: why will I forgive? Because otherwise you yourself will not be forgiven. But if you are not forgiven, then you will endure something in comparison with which nothing that you suffer from another and that requires your forgiveness can be compared to an inch. Saint Chrysostom says: “and look how Saint Paul showed the insignificance of this (that which one has to forgive another), calling it “reproach.” Then he adds: “as Christ also forgave you to eat.” Great example! Paul always does this - he convinces by the example of Christ. “Corruption,” he says; than he showed that this (tolerated from others) is insignificant; but, when he gave an example, he argues that even if we had important accusations, we should forgive. The words: “like Christ” mean this, and not only this, but also what should forgive with all the heart; and not only this, but also that which should love (those who offend). For Christ, presented as an example, teaches all this and also that we should forgive offenses, even if they were great, even if we ourselves did not offend those who offended us in advance, even if we were great people who offended us are insignificant, even if they intended to offend us even after forgiveness, and, finally, that we should lay down our souls for them. The word: “as” demands this. It (shows) also that we must stand (for those who have offended us) not only until death, but, if possible, even after death.” So, “look at the Lord’s love for mankind, how many sins has He granted you remission of sins? Therefore, imitate the Master, and let everyone forgive the sins committed against him by his brother” (Blessed Theodoret). cc) The final limit of moral perfection (Col. 3:14, 15) This limit is love and peace. Through self-denial, having defeated the self, they then go, on the one hand, along the path of compassion and goodness, on the other, through meekness and long-suffering. This way they reach love, this way they reach the peace of God. Comparing them with passions, we see that love is established instead of all passions of lust, and peace - instead of all passions of irritation. I remember that in this way Saint Maximus the Confessor distributes what happens within us somewhere. Col. 3:14. Above all these [acquire] love, which is the essence of perfection. “Acquire” is not in Greek; but it only stands: “over all these in love”; means: “be clothed.” Those were the undergarments, and this is the topmost component, all the beauty. On top of everything, he says, put love on. This is the uniform of Christians, by which they should be distinguished from non-Christians. If a general doesn't wear his uniform, no one will think that he is a general. So it is with us - if someone does not have love, no one who knows how to discern will recognize him as a Christian: neither God, nor the Angels, nor the saints. Although people will call him that, there will be no truth in it. “All of you understand this, just as you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35), said the Lord. But how, he says, “love is above all”? First I already remembered the wombs of generosity and goodness. Isn't this love? And what more does love have against this? Love is a certain Divine property; and generosity and goodness are human dispositions, embedded in our nature, only suppressed by selfishness. Therefore, to show them means to show oneself as a man; and to breathe love means to reveal God within yourself. For God is “lovable” (1 John 4:16). Generosity and kindness, although they reveal the kindness of the heart, still have more strength in the active side, and love embraces the very depths of the heart, where it comes from the belly, and revives those very good dispositions, as well as everything good that happens in us. True love is a gift from God. “Loves are from God, and everyone who loves is born of God” (1 John 4:7). Only the one who has realized it understands it; but even he can hardly explain it in words. Therefore, it is an object worthy of searching for everyone and most of all. Saint Paul places love above all because it is the union of perfection. He who has acquired love already has everything; he has nothing more to seek: for, having love, he has God. How it is a union of perfection, St. Paul outlined this in his Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 13). Read and you will understand. From what was said there it is clear that love expels all passions from the heart and, on the contrary, infuses with it all kindnesses. Saint Chrysostom explains it this way: “Above all of these is love,” says the Apostle. Do you see what he says? since the one who forgives and gives may not love for all that; then he says: no, and one must love, showing in this the way to true generosity and forgiveness. Some are good, and meek, and humble, and long-suffering; but does not breathe love. That is why he said: “Above all of these is love.” What he wants to say is this: there is no benefit from those (virtues) (while they are alone): for they all fall apart if there is no love with them. She connects them all closely. And no matter what good you call, in the absence of love it is nothing - it spreads (and disappears). As in a ship, even if the components are large, but if their fastenings are not strong, there is no benefit from them, just as in a house (there is no benefit from thick logs), if there are no reliable crossbars and couplings, and in the body there is no benefit from large bones, if there are no connections: so, no matter what serviceability someone has, they are all fragile if there is no love with them. “The Apostle did not say that it is the top, but, what is much more important: “sous.” This is more necessary than that. For the top is the limit of perfection; and “sous” is the combination and content of everything that constitutes perfection, like the root.” Col. 3:15. And let the peace of God dwell in your hearts, in your life and calling quickly in one body: and be grateful. “The peace of God” is either peace given by God and established in the heart, or Divine peace, similar to that with which God has peace within Himself. Just as God is at peace in Himself, so be at peace within yourself. Both need to be combined. This world is truly godlike; but such peace cannot come from anywhere except from God, or therefore it is God-like, because it is from God, like previous love. Love, as the speech goes, takes the place of all the passions of lust; but in such a way that it is the fruit of victory and all passions of irritation. Peace is established instead of the passions of irritation; but in such a way that it is the fruit of conquest and all the passions of lust. Both love and peace are established in the heart after overcoming and expelling all passions. Until they are expelled, do not expect peace and quiet, for every passion brings confusion to the soul; Such is the nature of passions that they bring confusion everywhere. The space of peace that is finally established in the heart is all-encompassing: it is peace with God not only through the feeling of all-forgiveness, but even more so through the feeling of communion with God; there is also peace in itself, in conscience and in all movements and actions, but randomly beginning and ending, peacefully unfolding, as a flower and fruit peacefully develop on a tree; there is peace with the brethren, according to the feeling and demand of living and heartfelt unity with them, which does not allow any discord. In essence, it is singular, there is peace in God, absorbing everything that can bring confusion into the heart. Although in the present place, apparently, it is necessary to understand more peace with the brethren, as the words show: “in the name and rank, in one body”; but how this world cannot be strong without other types or aspects of the world and how it is here called God’s; then it will not be alien to the Apostle’s thought to understand peace here as peace in God, pacifying everything within the hearts and bringing complete harmony and peace to the entire body of the Church. “Let it be established”, βραβευετω. – Βραβευειν – means to distribute rewards to the winners on the lists. Saint Paul personifies the world, representing it within us as a certain person who rewards us for victory over passions, especially irritation, and rewards us with himself, that is, peace. If you conquer irritation, you will receive peace as a reward; If you don’t win, you won’t get it, but you will remain with your peace-disturbing irritation, losing more and more peace. But although the Apostle said so, that the world seems to him to be established within and sovereign; for all that, however, his thought here is the same as regarding love. Like there, saying: “gain love,” he called for our own efforts to install love in our hearts; so here, saying: “let peace be established,” he calls for the same efforts to acquire and preserve peace. “If anyone experiences anything sorrowful from anyone, let him keep peace in his heart, which determines and distributes rewards for deeds and brings into unanimity pleasing to God” (Blessed Theodoret). Saint Chrysostom says: “The peace of God is a deeply established and lasting peace. If you have peace for a man's sake, he will soon go bankrupt. If for God’s sake you have it, never. But why does the Apostle, having spoken about love (which combines the world [see: blessed Theophylact]), again come up with the same thing (with a word)? For there is love that does not observe measures, precisely when someone, out of great love, in vain denounces, argues and starts discord. No, he says, that’s not what I want; but just as God created peace for us, so do you. And how did He create? Having desired it himself, he did not accept anything from us. – What does βραβευετω mean? When two thoughts fight within you, do not place anger, do not place vengeance on those holding the reward in your hands, but peace. For example, let someone be unjustly offended. From this insult two thoughts were born in him, one of which commands to take revenge, and the other to endure; and they fight among themselves. If in you (your beliefs) the world of God stands as a dispenser of rewards, then it will give a reward to the thought that commands you to endure, and will shame the other (the thought that commanded you to take revenge). How? Convincing that God is peace, that He has made peace with us, the Apostle shows through this that the cause of peace requires great feat. Let neither anger, nor strife, nor human peace be the deciders of the competition and the givers of rewards among you: for human peace is either due to what was demanded and rewarded, what was considered righteous, or due to the fact that nothing important was suffered. But I, he says, do not desire such a world, but the kind that Christ Himself left for us. So the Apostle built within us, in our thoughts, a lists, a feat, a victory, and a dispenser of rewards.” “It’ll be quick and easy.” What world are we called to? In peace with God: for the Apostles were sent into the world to call everyone: “Be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). But not everyone is called to this world individually, but all together, as a whole body, and not so that they are called so that everyone remains and lives separately, but so that they all form one body, in living union and communion with each other. That is why the Apostle added: “the calling is in one body.” You cannot be at peace with God without having peace among yourself. It can be seen that in these words the Apostle represents an incentive for peace, just as in relation to love he put in the incentive that it is “the basis of perfection.” You, he says, are members of one body. Just as the members of the body are peaceful among themselves and form one body because they are peaceful; so be peaceful, all of you among yourself; for otherwise how will you have a body? “Through the world we are one body, and for this we are one body in order to be in the world” (St. Chrysostom). And in his Epistle to the Ephesians, Saint Paul inspired: “Be diligent,” he says, “to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.” Why? Because you are “one body, one spirit” (Eph. 4:3, 4). It's the same here. “God who called you made one body out of you all; therefore do not fragment it” (Blessed Theodoret). “By calling us into the world, Christ made us one body, Himself becoming the head. For what else are we one body for, if not so that, being “good to one another” (Eph. 4:25), we may keep peace among ourselves and not be divided?” (Blessed Theophylact). “And be grateful.” Here, according to the Apostle, thanksgiving stands either alongside love and peace, as the third highest spiritual perfection and state that accompanies, completes and covers them, or in relation only to peace, as its support and protection. In the first sense, thanking God is an unceasing state. When passions are driven away and good dispositions are installed in their place; then the soul is in a peaceful state and through love receives peace in God. When the soul rests in God, then God also rests in it. And where God is, there is bliss - there is joy in the Holy Spirit, an integral part of those deemed worthy to receive the Kingdom of God within themselves. The consciousness and feeling of such blissful joy, no matter how strong it may be, does not absorb the consciousness and feeling that it is a gift of God's grace and God's favor towards us, and not only does not absorb, but, on the contrary, deepens and covers with itself. Hence, with him, unceasing gratitude to God flows from his heart for His inscrutable gift. This is the state of the Angels, constantly glorifying God in the Trinity of the worshiped: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts! It is about him that St. Paul suggests here. And that he expressed this in the form of a commandment, whereas someone who has ascended to such a state no longer needs a commandment, because gratitude flows naturally from his heart; then he did it either in confirmation, as if saying: so-so; be grateful; the feeling that fulfills you is a due, good and pleasing feeling to God, or as an encouragement, to warm up this feeling more and more: for, due to the variability of our nature, it can be either strong, or weak, or completely hidden. The Apostle inspires, so that when such a feeling disappears, he can evoke it and, when it weakens, restore it in strength. In the second sense, thanking God is a spiritual act, which must be done in the spirit in order to protect spiritual peace and peace with the brethren. Peace of mind is disturbed by the unfortunate accidents of life, and peace with the brethren is disturbed by insults from them. The Apostle says: be grateful to God, and neither the sorrows of life nor the insults of the brethren will disturb your peace. The sorrows of life will not disturb the peace - so: rise to the conviction and accept the feeling that everything is from God and everything is for your essential good. Try to see the same thing in every unfortunate accident. When you see this in the real sorrow that torments you, the bitterness of the sorrow will immediately begin to diminish and, if you do not weaken the conviction that it was sent for your good, it will completely disappear, and in its place will be established thanksgiving to God, making you joyful. But if by frequent restoration of such a feeling you manage to acquire the skill of thanking God for everything; That feeling of bitterness from sorrows will not appear in you: for it will not be given a place by the quality feeling in your heart for all thanksgiving to God. So “be grateful,” and peace will not be disturbed in you due to the sorrows of life. - At the same time, peace with the brethren will not be disturbed in cases of insult from them. This is how the Lord depicted it in the parable of the debtors. How many times and how strongly have you offended God with your sins?! And He forgave you everything, freely, by Himself, by His sole goodness. But now your brother owes you some insignificant debt, having insulted you. Forgive him too, remembering how great and unpayable the debt the merciful God forgave you. Out of gratitude to God, who has forgiven you many and great things, forgive your brother an insignificant little thing. And this is not to your detriment; but on the contrary, for forgiving something insignificant, you will again receive incomparably more - the preservation and establishment of spiritual peace through the preservation of peace with your brother. The first side is explained by St. Chrysostom: ““And be grateful,” he says, “be.” This is what he demands most of all everywhere; for this is the height of good deeds. So, let us thank God in all cases; for this is what gratitude consists of. Giving thanks in happiness is easy, here the essence of the matter prompts us to do so; it is worthy of surprise if we give thanks when we are in extreme circumstances. If we give thanks for something for which others they blaspheme, from which they come to despair - look at the wisdom here: firstly, you made God happy, secondly, you shamed the devil, thirdly, you showed that what happened to you was nothing. God, as if offended by blasphemy, leaves you and increases your misfortune. If you give thanks, then the devil, as having received no success, retreats; and God, as having received honor, rewards you with greater honor. And it cannot be that a person who gives thanks in misfortune suffers. His soul rejoices by doing good; at the same time, the conscience rejoices - it delights in its praises, but a rejoicing soul cannot be sad. There (in despair), along with disaster, conscience also punishes; and here she crowns and proclaims. There is nothing holier than the tongue that thanks God in misfortunes. It is truly no different from the language of the martyrs and receives the same crown as that one. For he too has an executioner, forcing him to deny God with blasphemy, a devil, tormenting him with painful thoughts, darkening his soul with sorrow. So, whoever endured sorrow and thanked God received the crown of martyrdom.” The second side is explained by Blessed Theophylact: “those who act in the same way towards their fellow servants as God does towards him are grateful. He who confesses the grace of God and thanks God for the remission of his sins will not take revenge on the one who wronged him; how, on the contrary, the one who takes revenge obviously does not remember what a great benefit he himself received (in the remission of his sins), like him who received the remission of tens of talents and did not want to let go of a hundred denarii.” c) Means for success in the life pictured here (Col. 3:16, 17). The following means are provided: aa) enriching the mind with the knowledge of Divine truths (Col. 3:16); bb) prayer (Col. 3:16) and: c) doing everything for the glory of God (Col. 3:17). These are the essence of spiritual works of an ascetic nature, embracing the entire area of ​​our inner life, giving it the direction it deserves and educating it. Col. 3:16. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing yourself, in psalms and songs and spiritual songs, singing in grace to the Lord in your hearts. “The Word of Christ” is either the word that came from Christ the Lord, spoken by Him Himself and spread through the Apostles, or the word about Christ the Lord, our Savior. In the first sense, it embraces all the New Testament Scriptures - the Gospel and the Apostle; in the second, it indicates the content of these Scriptures: for they are all the word about Christ the Lord and about salvation in Him. The infusion of the word in the first sense is its rational study - knowledge, understanding and remembrance; and in the second there is the very receipt of salvation in the Lord the Savior and its assimilation. In the first, it makes one wise for salvation; in the second, it arouses, supports and ignites zeal for achieving salvation with the undoubted hope of receiving it. In both ways, it is the strongest means to success in Christian life. However, both of these works of infusing the word, since they converge in one and the same person, are inseparable when the very work of bringing about salvation proceeds properly. The achievement of salvation is the active assimilation of the word about Christ the Savior. It is short: I am perishing, and there is no salvation for me as in Christ the Savior, who came to save the lost. I cleave to Him with faith, hope and love, confident of being saved through Him. There is a moment in life when such a decision is formed in the mind. But as soon as it is formed, a thirst for knowledge of the word of Christ and about Christ the Savior immediately arises: zealous reading of the Gospel and the Apostolic Scriptures begins, and all the verbs about the Savior and salvation are composed in the heart. The heart then becomes thirsty earth, and the word of Christ becomes dew and rain. The thirsty earth will not leave a single drop of dew outside, it absorbs everything into itself: so the heart, thirsting for salvation, absorbs into itself the whole word about salvation. It infuses him richly. But because it infuses itself as a result of a spiritual need and satisfies it, it nourishes spiritual life in Christ the Lord, introducing consciousness into sublime contemplations and captivating the heart with them. The heart then no longer exists on earth, but on the mountain, where our belly is hidden with Christ in God; and, therefore, in us is accomplished that in which the Apostle, at the beginning of the chapter, laid down the essence of Christian life. “Let him dwell”, ενοικειτω, - let him dwell, let him live in you. How to do this? Memorize the words of the Lord Savior and His holy Apostles and often go through them mentally, so that the enemy does not come secretly and steal it, leaving in its place malicious oblivion. If you do this, you will show that the word of Christ dwells in you. The word about the Savior and salvation will live in you if you deepen within yourself more and more the feeling of your destruction and salvation by Christ the Lord. Make sure that this does not depart from your consciousness and feelings and forms their basis. Then the contrite and humble spirit will not leave you, and you will be in a saving mood. “In all wisdom teach and admonish yourself.” The words: “teaching and admonishing” indicate the method of instilling the word of Christ, and “in all wisdom” determine how this should be done. “Sebe samekh.” Everyone teach and admonish himself with the word of Christ, or teach and admonish one another, one another. “Teach” - to explain, make it clear and comprehend the truth - mental or active; and to admonish - “to inspire”, to instill inside, to convince, to lead to feelings and correspondingly evoke goodwill. So, everyone, teach yourself and instill in yourself the truths of the word of Christ, and it will dwell in you. For this, read, reflect, memorize, sympathize, love and then put it into practice. This last is the limit of self-education. While this is not the case, it cannot be said of anyone that he has taught himself, even though he knows the word of Christ by heart and reasons well. Saint Paul reproached the Jews for such a lack in his Epistle to the Romans: “Teaching... others, do you not teach yourself?” (Rom. 2:21). “Whoever is like that, the word of Christ has not taken possession of him and does not live in him.” – Or teach each other the truths of the word of Christ and instill them in yourselves mutually, and it will dwell in you and will live in your whole society, ruling all your affairs and undertakings. This mutual teaching in a Christian society goes by itself: shepherds teach their flock, elders teach younger ones, parents teach children, teachers teach students, authorities teach their subjects. For this purpose, fraternal discussions with reading are established. Here, and without directly teaching each other, they learn and are admonished mutually, taking from what is examined and read what is useful to whom. But it is obvious that any kind of mutual education bears fruit only when everyone teaches and admonishes himself, that is, after listening to what is said or read, he persuades himself not only to think this way, but also to feel and act. Why, I think, is what St. Paul had in mind in this place, this self-persuasion. For only then does the word of Christ dwell in someone when he manages to persuade himself to both believe and live according to it. “In all wisdom” - with all wisdom, or wisely. These words indicate not the subject of teaching - it has already been indicated - but its image (method). We must wisely enrich ourselves with the word of Christ, wisely teach ourselves according to it and admonish ourselves with it. He does not do this wisely who diligently reads the word of God, but does not discuss it, does not bring it to the senses and does not put it into practice. It flows with him, like water through a gutter, and flows through him, without settling in him or settling in him. It is possible to know the entire Gospel and the entire Apostle by heart and still not have the word of Christ to the universe within oneself, due to unreasonable study of it. The one who only enriches the mind with the word of Christ, but neglects the conformity of the heart and life with it, does this foolishly. It remains with him, like sand, poured into his head and memory and lies there dead, and does not live. It lives only when it passes into feelings and life; but here it is not. And therefore it cannot be said that it dwells in such a thing. The one who, when discussing the meaning of it, believes in his own mind alone, is not wisely enriched in the knowledge of the word of God, and does not trust his considerations to the community of beliefs of all believers. Hence we have the Khlysts, Skoptsy, Molokans and Doukhobors, and all heresies everywhere. Understanding the word of Christ with trust only in one’s own mind, although it will not lead others to heresy, does not always create and edify, but rather inflames and teaches arrogance. This state is such that it is better not to know anything than to fall into it. We quote the words of St. Chrysostom on this subject: “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly,” that is, let the teachings, dogmas, convictions dwell, by the power of which, he says, real life and its benefits are nothing. If we saw this, then no difficulties would seem insurmountable to us. “Let him dwell,” he says, “in you,” not simply, but “richly,” with great abundance. Listen, all of you, worldly people who care about your wife and children, just as the Apostle inspires you to read Scripture more - and not just as it happens, but with great diligence! And don't expect another teacher; You have the word of God, no one can teach you like it. Listen, I ask you, all of you attached to this life, buy books - medicine for the soul. If you don’t want anything else, at least acquire the New Testament, the Acts of the Apostles, the Gospel - our constant mentors. If sorrow befalls you, approach them as if they were a vessel filled with a healing substance. Whether there is loss, death, loss of loved ones, draw consolation from there in your misfortune. Or better yet, don’t just touch them, but take them inside and keep them in your mind. Ignorance of Scripture results in all evil. We go to war without weapons - and how can we escape? It is easy to be saved with the Scriptures, but impossible without them. - “In all wisdom, teach yourself often and admonish yourself.” Virtue is called wisdom. And rightly so: for humility, and almsgiving, and everything like that is wisdom. Therefore, the opposite would be stupidity. Hence, every sin is often called (in Scripture) madness. “Speech,” he says, “is foolish in his heart” (Ps. 13:1). And again: “My wounds stink and rot, because of my madness” (Ps. 37:6). For, tell me, what is more foolish than that man who puts on expensive clothes on himself, and despises his brothers who do not have clothes; feeds the dogs, but looks at the image of God in his hungry neighbor with contempt; completely convinced of the insignificance of earthly things, but attached to them as if they were incorruptible? But just as there is nothing more foolish than this man, so there is nothing wiser than an ascetic of virtue. Look how wise he is! He gives from his property, is merciful and philanthropic. This means that he understood the commonality of nature, understood the meaning of money, that is, that it is worth nothing, that he should take care of his bodies (members, brothers) more than money. He who despises honors is equally wise; for, obviously, he knows human affairs, and wisdom consists of knowledge of divine and human affairs. So, knowing which works are of God and which are human, he abstains from some and does others. He knows this and thanks God for everything; He regards real life as nothing, and because he does not rejoice in happiness, he does not grieve in misfortune.” The second means to success in life according to God in Christ Jesus is prayer. The Apostle speaks about it in the same 16th verse and constitutes its second half: “in psalms and songs and spiritual songs, singing in grace in your hearts to the Lord.” The words: “in psalms and songs and spiritual songs” seem to refer to: “teaching and admonishing oneself” - teach and admonish yourself with psalms and songs and spiritual songs. But in the essence of the matter, psalms, chants and spiritual songs are the essence of prayer. It is true that both psalms and spiritual songs teach and edify, but this is their contiguous action, and not direct. Their direct business is the production of prayer. And the study of the word of God leads to prayer and is often accompanied by it; but the word of God directly teaches and instructs, and prayer is contact, fruit, the action of studying it. So here too, psalms and songs are directly the production of prayer, and teaching and admonition are the good consequence and fruit of it. What the Apostle says here, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, he stated this way: “be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourself in psalms and songs and spiritual songs, making melody and singing in your hearts to the Lord” (Eph. 5:18, 19). Here the words “in psalms and songs and spiritual songs” cannot be attributed to anything other than the production of prayer. By this example, the present passage must be understood as referring to prayer. The words: “in psalms and songs and spiritual songs” - define verbal prayer, prayer; and the words: “singing in grace in your hearts to the Lord” is an internal, mental-heart prayer. Psalms, chants, songs - psalms, hymns, odes - are different names for spiritual chants. It is very difficult to indicate their differences; because both in content and form they are very similar. All of them are expressions of the spirit of prayer. Having moved to prayer, the spirit glorifies God, thanks and lifts up its petitions to Him. All these manifestations of the spirit of prayer in the spirit are inseparable and one cannot exist without the others. When prayer begins to move, it moves from one of them to another, and often more than once. Express it in words, a verbal prayer will come out, call it a psalm, a hymn or an ode - it’s all the same. Therefore, we will not strain to determine the difference between these names. The Apostle wanted to embrace with them all kinds of prayers expressed in words. All the prayers that we now use will also fit under them. In addition to the Psalter, we use church hymns - stichera, troparia, canons, akathists and prayers contained in prayer books. You will not sin if, reading the words of the Apostle about verbal prayer, you understand these verbal prayers used among us. The power is not in these or those verbal prayers, but in how to do them. The Apostle indicates how to perform verbal prayers with the word: “spiritual.” The word: “spiritual” - although grammatically connected only with songs, but in terms of the power of speech it also applies to all other names of expressions of prayer. Whichever one you use, you must have it spiritually. Prayers are spiritual because they are initially born and matured in the spirit and are poured out from the spirit. They are even more spiritual because they are born and matured by the grace of the Holy Spirit. And the Psalter and all other verbal prayers were not verbal from the very beginning. But the word that came did not eliminate their spirituality. Even now they are verbal only in appearance, but in power they are spiritual. In the words of the Apostle one can directly see the following thought: sing spiritually moving prayer songs from your hearts to the Lord. In the primacy of the Church, it happened that in those who were inspired by the grace of the Spirit of God, prayer was born and matured in their hearts; he asked permission to pour out this prayer in front of everyone and, having received it, verbally lifted up the prayer moving in his heart to the Lord. This heartfelt prayer, perhaps, sometimes resonated with someone right there in the congregation of believers in the Church; but more usually it was formed at home, during home solitary prayer and contemplation of God. Having formed, it filled the entire soul of the believer and asked to be expressed. Pregnant with it, coming to the meeting, he could not resist and asked permission to express what filled his soul. Having received it, he expressed it. And here is a verbal prayer, or a spiritually moving psalm, emanating from the heart! The Apostle had precisely such persons in mind when he wrote to the Corinthians: “When you come together to pray, some of you have a psalm, others something else. Let it all be for building up” (1 Cor. 14:26). By saying that the person entering the congregation has a psalm, he makes it clear that this psalm has matured inside him and is asking to come out. But this one, who had matured a song to God, said a prayer; yet others listened to him. His song was truly spiritual. For everyone else it was verbal – external. But, accepting it with their ears, they also entered into its spirit, came into a similar mood, moved in spirit towards the same contemplations and feelings - and the prayer was generalized. A song that was born by the Spirit and ripened in the heart of one, coming out of his mouth in word and entering through the ears into the hearts of all, gave rise to the same song in everyone there - and everyone sang with spiritual movement. Let's apply this to us. All prayers and songs used in the Church are of spiritual origin. When we gather in churches, they are pronounced either by a priest, or by a deacon, or by a reader, or by a singer. We accept them by ear. If we all do not stop at just this acceptance of church songs with our ears, but bring them to the heart, we strain to enter into a similar mood with them both in mind and feeling so that they, having been reproduced in our heart, from there, as if from the original source, ascend to God: then in our meeting what the Apostle commanded to the Colossians will be fulfilled - and we will sing spiritually moving songs to the Lord from our hearts and prayers. If we then do the same in home prayer, that is, enter into the spirit of the prayers being performed and, having reproduced them in the heart, from there we lift them up to God, as if they were just arising and ripening there; then we will become, in all respects, impeccable hymns to God, spiritual hymns, singing with spirit. From such explanations it follows that if we want to turn the Apostle’s word about verbal prayer into a lesson for ourselves; then we get this: enter into the spirit of the prayers you hear and read and, having reproduced them in your heart, lift them up from there to God, as if they were the product of your heart under the influence of the grace of the Holy Spirit. This is the law that determines the essence of godly prayer. How to get there? Discuss, feel, even memorize the prayers that you have to read in your prayer book. Then, when you stand in prayer, you will not say something that is someone else’s, but what lies in your own heart, as felt by it. The words: “in psalms and songs and spiritual songs,” as noted, directly refer to the production of prayer; but all these types of prayers, together with setting in motion the spirit of prayer, can also edify. Therefore, these words can be combined with the previous ones: “teaching and admonishing oneself.” This is what Saint Chrysostom does: “Teachingly,” he says, “and admonishing oneself, in psalms and songs and spiritual songs.” Look how lenient Paul is. Since reading is tedious and can become boring; he encourages you not to narrate, but to psalms, so that you, together (with teaching), will amuse your soul with singing and not notice your labors. “In singing,” he says, “and spiritual songs.” And now your children love satanic songs and dances, imitating cooks, bakers and dancers; but no one knows a single psalm. Nowadays such knowledge seems indecent, humiliating and ridiculous. This is where all the evil lies; for on whatever soil the plant stands, it bears fruit: on sandy and shale soil - one, on good and fat - another. And such learning is, as it were, a beneficial source. Teach your son to sing those psalms full of wisdom, for example: first about abstinence, or first of all about not communicating with the wicked, that is, the psalm at the very beginning of the book; for for this purpose the Prophet began with this, saying: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked” (Ps. 1:1), and again: “He did not ride with a host of vain people” (Ps. 25:4), and also: “The wicked one is humiliated before him; those who fear the Lord glorify” (Ps. 14:4). You will find there about treating the good, and much more; you will find rules about continence of the belly, about holding back your hands, about non-covetousness, and about the fact that money, and fame, and everything like that are nothing. If you teach him this from childhood, you will gradually raise him higher. The Psalms contain everything; and songs again are not anything human. When he is versed in the psalms, then he will also know the songs; since songs are a more sacred matter, for the higher powers sing songs, not psalms. - “Praise is not red,” he says, “in the mouth of a sinner” (Sir. 15:9); and again: “My eyes are on the faithful lands, plant them with Me” (Ps. 100:6); and again: “Do not dwell in the midst of my house and create pride” (Ps. 100:7); and again: “Walk in the blameless path that you serve in this way” (Ps. 100:6). So, let us begin to take care of this (about removing children from the wicked) more than anything else - “I have loved,” he says, “who loved Your law” (Ps. 119:163, 165); Let us, imitating him, love them too. And so that the children are self-controlled, let them listen to what the Prophet says: “For my soul is filled with reproach” (Ps. 37:8); and again: “You have consumed every fornicator from You” (Ps. 72:27). Also, so that they are not voluptuous, let them listen again: “And kill,” he says, “the multitude of them... I will still destroy in their mouths” (Ps. 77:30, 31). In the same way, so that they are not overcome by gifts, let them learn from the following: “if wealth flows, do not put your heart on it” (Ps. 61:11); They will also find that they must stand above glory: “His glory will descend with him” (Ps. 48:18); that one should not envy the wicked: “Do not be jealous of the wicked” (Ps. 37:1); that power must be counted as nothing: “I saw... being exalted and towering like the cedars of Lebanon: and I passed by, and behold, I was not” (Ps. 36:35, 36); that the present should be considered insignificant: “Blessed are the people, for whom is the Lord their God” (Ps. 143:15); that we do not sin with impunity, but there will be reward: “Reward each one according to his deeds” (Ps. 61:13); Why doesn’t he reward every day? because, he says, “God the judge is righteous, and strong, and slow to anger” (Ps. 7:12); that humility is good: “Lord,” he says, “my heart is not lifted up” (Ps. 130:1); and arrogance is evil: “For this reason,” he says, “I will restrain their pride to the end” (Ps. 72:6); and again: “The Lord resists the proud” (James 4:6); and again: “Their iniquity shall come out of the fat” (Ps. 72:7); that alms are good: “spend on them, give to the needy: his righteousness endures forever and ever” (Ps. 112:9); that mercy is commendable: “Good is the man who is generous and giving” (Ps. 112:5); what should not be slandered: “Whoever slanders his sincere secret, he will drive him out” (Ps. 100:5). The faithful know what the song of the highest powers is, what the Cherubim utter, what the Angels sang on earth: “Glory to God in the highest.” Therefore, after psalmody, songs are a more perfect work.” The second type of prayer is mental-heart prayer. And the first one should be the same. But it is born under the influence of verbal - ready-made prayer; and this one is born directly in the heart and from there ascends to God. This was the prayer of Moses before the Red Sea. The Apostle teaches her with the words: “Singing in grace to the Lord in your hearts.” “From the grace of the Spirit, sing, he says, not just with your lips, but with attention (standing mentally before God in your heart). For this means singing to God, otherwise singing to the wind; as the voice fills the air. Not to show off, he says. Even if you are in a shopping area, you can turn to God within yourself (from within) and sing without being heard by anyone. So Moses prayed and was heard. Why are you calling on Me, God says to him? And he did not say anything in words, but cried out mentally, with a broken heart. Therefore, only God heard him. It doesn’t hurt to pray with your heart and be in grief during the journey” (St. Chrysostom). Such a prayer is just that: a prayer. And verbal prayer is only prayer because the mind and heart pray with it. It is created in the heart by the grace of the Holy Spirit. He who turns to the Lord and is sanctified by the sacraments immediately takes into himself a feeling for God, which from that time begins to place grief in the heart of his ascent. Whoever does not drown out this feeling with something inappropriate, then time, constancy and work turn it into flame. But whoever suppresses it with what is not due, although the path of approaching God and reconciliation with Him is not closed; but that feeling is no longer given suddenly and for nothing. There is sweat and labor of seeking and begging for it. For this purpose, feats of repentance are assigned when the sinner turns to God. Their job is to wipe away the frozen feeling. Whoever puts contrition and humility as the basis for this work and without any indulgence begins to carry out worthwhile labors without interruption, God will soon return the lost feeling to Him. For those who have fallen away from God more than once, this is more difficult for them and not so quickly. But he doesn’t deny it to anyone. For everyone has grace, you just have to give room for its action. Grace gains scope as selfhood is eradicated and passions are eradicated. The measure of purification of the heart is the measure of the revival of feelings for God. When the heart becomes pure, then the feeling for God becomes fiery. The feeling for God even in these revives far before complete purification from passions, but it still exists, like a seed or a spark. Having been reborn, it grows and flares up; but it does not happen constantly, but comes to life and freezes; and when it comes to life, it does not have the same strength. But no matter how much it comes to life, it always ascends to the Lord and sings a song to Him. Grace builds everything: for grace is always present in believers. Those who surrender themselves to it are irrevocably guided by it; and she, as she herself knows, creates them. And this is what the Apostle talks about. He wants believers, being under the influence of grace, to come to life with feelings for the Lord and, ascending to Him mentally, sing prayer songs to Him from their hearts. According to him, this should be the permanent state of Christians; but since experience shows that not all are like this, even among those who have abandoned the paths of sin and passions, then in this word of the Apostle one must see an indication of the norm of the prayerful state of Christians, as an obligatory subject of search for them. It should be the subject of search both because it is high and because it is an urgent condition for success in spiritual life and approaching God - and there is a measure of this and a true guide. Col. 3:17. And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father. The third method that should be used in order to reveal one’s life as hidden in God is to do everything in the name of the Lord. Of the first two - reading Scripture and assimilating revealed truths - drives out vain and unclean thoughts and fills the mind with good thoughts of everything about the Divine; and prayer establishes the habit of always remembering God or walking in the presence of God. Both keep attention and feeling hidden in God. It would seem quite enough. It seems, but it is not. If you leave only these two methods in action, they will not lead to the predetermined goal. Man is not only a thought and a feeling, but more than anything, a deed. He is a constantly moving, constantly acting being. But every business attracts attention and feeling. The actor is all in the action. Therefore, the one who seeks God, due to deeds, without which he cannot exist, inevitably deviates from God in thought, and behind thought and feeling. Deeds bring him from heaven to earth, or bring him out of the hiddenness in God into visible relationships: for all of our deeds are almost visible, flowing in a created order, among sensory things. It follows from this that if a person’s affairs are not directed so that they also serve as a means of maintaining life hidden in God; then the first two methods will remain fruitless, or even in themselves cannot be performed as they should. Things will continually be frustrating—both the study of the Scriptures and the matter of prayer. So the Apostle teaches in the words he offers how to turn deeds into a means of concealing life in God—do everything in the name of the Lord. If you set yourself up this way, then you will not depart from the Lord either in thought or feeling. For to do everything in the name of the Lord means to do everything for His glory, in the desire to please Him, faithfully fulfilling His known will even in the smallest things. And at the same time, the members of the body, like instruments, will do the work, and thought and feeling will be turned to the Lord with concern, how to do what is done pleasing to the Lord, and so that it serves for His glory. And this technique is stronger for the intended purpose than the first two, and success in these depends on success in that one. For they are of a mental nature. The mental enters the juice and blood through action. The matter besieges the conceivable inside human nature. When the work being done is sanctified by directing it to God, then in doing it a certain Divine element enters all the forces and organs participating in its accomplishment. The more such deeds, the more Divine elements enter into human nature. And then they fill it all up; and thus the whole nature becomes immersed in the Divine, or hidden in God. As this kind of direction of affairs is established, prayer with God-mindedness and good thoughts becomes more firmly established. They influence the establishment of the direction of affairs for the glory of God, and this direction, as a reward to them, strengthens and facilitates them. The Apostle embraced everything we do in two terms: “word” and “deed.” Words are pronounced with the lips, deeds are done with the other members. From awakening to sleep, both are in constant use. Our speech flows almost without ceasing; and other movements of the body also do not stop. What a rich sacrifice for God if all this is directed to the glory of God?! By turning the word to the glory of God, it is not only artistic expression that is driven out, but also idle talk, and only one thing is left - that serves to build up the brethren, or - the extreme limit - does not serve to destroy them. To this should be added prayer. Likewise, by turning deeds to the glory of God, not only bad deeds, done out of lust and irritation, are eliminated: there should be no mention of these among Christians; but the spirit in which proper, permissible and useful deeds should be done is indicated. This banishes from the circle of activity all self-indulgence and service to the world and its evil customs. To do everything in the name of the Lord means to turn everything into His glory, to try to do everything in such a way that it pleases Him, with the consciousness of His will for that, and also - to surround every work with prayer to Him, to begin with prayer, to complete prayerfully and to end with prayer, at the beginning asking for blessings, in the continuation seeking help, and at the end offering thanks, as to the Finisher of His works in us and through us. Saint Chrysostom says: “If we do this, then where Christ is called, nothing vile, nothing unclean will be found. Whether you eat, drink, get married, or go on a journey, do everything in the name of God, that is, calling on God for help. Get down to business by first praying to God. Do you want to say something (in words)? imagine it. Are you eating? thank God and resolve to do the same afterwards. Are you sleeping? thank God and resolve to do the same afterwards. Are you going to the square? do the same. Let there be nothing worldly, nothing worldly: do everything in the name of the Lord, and everything will prosper for you. Whatever you seal in the name of God, everything will come out happily. If it drives out demons, eliminates diseases; this will make it all the more easier to do things. Listen to how Abraham sent a slave in the name of God, and David killed Goliath in the name of God. Wonderful and great is His name! Then again Jacob, sending his children (to Egypt), says: “May my God give you grace before your husband” (that is, Joseph [see: Gen. 43:14]); for whoever does this has God as an assistant, without Whom he does not dare to do anything, since God, honored by invocation, gives honor by granting a successful course of affairs. Call upon the Son, give thanks to the Father; for when you call on the Son, you also call on the Father, and by thanking the Father, you thank the Son. Let us learn to fulfill this not only with words, but also with deeds. There is nothing equal to this name: it is always wondrous. “The ointment poured out,” he says, “is Your name” (Song. 1:2). And whoever said it was suddenly filled with a fragrance. “No one can speak of the Lord Jesus except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:3). So many things are accomplished by this name! By this name the universe was transformed, tyranny was destroyed, the devil was trampled underfoot, the heavens were opened. But what do I say - heaven? By this name we are reborn, and if we do not abandon it, then we shine forth. It gives birth to both martyrs and confessors. We must hold it as a great gift in order to live for the glory (of God), to please God and to be worthy of the blessings promised to those who love Him.” Here the Apostle commands to do everything “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,” and in another place he commands to do everything “for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). This is one and the same thing: for the Lord Jesus Christ is God. There is only one God. The incarnation of God the Son did not introduce any change into the mystery of the Trinitarian God, one by nature. And the reunification of us with God through the incarnate economy is accomplished by God in a Trinitarian manner. God the Father draws us to the Son by the grace of the Spirit; those drawn to Him through Him - and only through Him - come to the Father. So everything in us is in the name of the Lord Jesus, but inseparably with the Father and the Spirit. In prayer, turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, for He is our Savior, but in your thoughts do not separate Him from the Father and the Spirit. And do all your work in the name of the Lord Jesus, for without Him you can do nothing; but do not exclude the Father and the Spirit from your thoughts. Likewise, when turning to the Father and the Spirit, do not belittle or remove from consciousness and conviction the exclusive necessity through embodied economy. Saint Paul pointed out such inseparability in the thoughts of the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity when he added: “giving thanks to God and the Father.” Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, but do not obscure the face of God the Father with His face; on the contrary, through Him give thanks to God the Father, who has been pleased to arrange for us in Him certain and undoubted salvation. Above, the Apostle put thanksgiving as a commandment: “and be grateful”; and here he remembers him for no other purpose than to warn us against the mistake of covering the face of God the Father (and at the same time God the Holy Spirit) in our thoughts with the face of the Son. God the Father, through the incarnate Son, extends to us the embrace of His Fatherly favor and accepts those who are thrown into this embrace through the Son. Everything in us comes from the incarnate Son, but so that through Him we ascend to the Father. We do not dare to appear before God the Father, either with petition or with thanksgiving, alone on our own, apart from the incarnate Son of God; but also existing in the Son, together with Him the filial ones must ascend to the Father. This will mean that we are in the Son if we have a filial, grateful heart towards the Father. B) The life of Christians in their various situations (Col. 3:18-25, 4:1-6). The provisions to which Saint Paul draws attention here are: a) family (Col. 3:18–25, 4:1); b) church (Col. 4:2–4); and: c) civil (Col. 4:5, 6); The Apostle does not concern everything in these provisions, but only the most important, or what he considered necessary to touch upon due to the condition of the Colossians. a) Life of Christians in the family (Col. 3:18–25, 4:1). The Apostle focuses more on family life; because everyone has to spend their life mainly in the family. The apostle enters into the position of all persons usually included in the family, and determines by rules how the following should relate to each other: aa) wife and husband (Col. 3:18, 19); bb) children and parents (Col. 3:20, 21); c) slaves and masters (Col. 3:22–25, 4:1). aa) What should be the relationship between wife and husband (Col. 3:18, 19) Col. 3:18, 19. Wives, submit to your husbands as you ought in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be grieved towards them. Obedience for wives, love commands husbands. The purpose of the word is to establish lasting peace and order in the family. When husband and wife agree in the family, everything is peaceful and everything flows in the best way. If they soon fall out, everything in the family will go upside down. Harmony and peace between husband and wife are violated, and discord arises especially: on the part of the wife - as a result of the disobedience she showed to her husband, and on the part of the husband - as a result of the dislike he showed towards his wife. The husband has no doubt that his wife is his, she is devoted to him and he possesses her until he notices any disobedience, inattention and disrespect on her part. The wife has no doubt that her husband is hers, is devoted to her and she possesses him, until the latter somehow reveals coldness towards her and lack of love. Whatever her husband orders, she will willingly do everything out of love for him and out of confidence in his love for herself; but, as soon as any trait of dislike towards her appeared in her husband, his hands gave up and things would no longer go as they usually did. By preventing these essential causes of discord between husband and wife, the Apostle instills, especially in the wife, obedience and love in the husband. A wife, loving her husband and confident in his love, can sometimes forget herself and allow herself to do something more than she should in relation to her husband, such that it seems disobedience; and the husband, in the consciousness of his advantage and his power, can sometimes behave in such a way towards his wife that it naturally seems to her to be unloving. The feelings of a wife for her husband and a husband for his wife are very tender. The Apostle warns: take care not to upset the world; You are a wife, do not forget obedience and try to act in its spirit, and you, a husband, do not forget love and, above all, try to maintain and show it to your wife. Peace and harmony will never leave you, and with them family prosperity. The Apostle prescribes obedience to wives such as they should have as Christians; and such it will be when it is “about the Lord,” that is, either for the Lord, or in His spirit, or according to His commandment. Submit, wives, to your husbands, so that you can do what is pleasing to the Lord, fulfilling His commandments, and serve for the glory of His name. Saint Chrysostom says: “Obey - about the Lord: instead: obey for God, since this adorns, he says, you, and not them. I mean obedience not slavish, as if to masters, and not that which depends on nature, but which happens for God.” The wife naturally feels weaker in front of her husband and, according to this feeling, obeys him. It's like this everywhere; in ancient times, husbands even turned this natural submission into law, and their wives were like slaves. The Apostle says, as it were: this happened before, but now you do the same “in the Lord” - “that is, as the law of the Lord commands” (Blessed Theodoret). “Not out of human-pleasing and not with pretense, but in the fear of the Lord” (Ecumenius). Perhaps this is why the Apostle added: “in the Lord” - because then, many wives had to remain in a marriage union with unbelievers, so that the wives would not think that because of their advantage over their husbands, which the holy faith gave them, they could refuse to obey them, the Apostle reminds them: no; You must still obey your husbands, and obey completely, as you should, changing only the spirit of obedience - obey in the Lord (Blessed Theodoret). Prescribing love to husbands, the Apostle did not add: “in the Lord”; for this went without saying. In a Christian marriage, nothing should be sensual, but everything should be pure, holy, sober. But he considered it necessary to add only: “do not be upset towards them,” μη πικραινεσθε προς αυτας, - do not be bitter for them, do not show your power and your leadership in such a way that it would be bitter for the wife, like a yoke and an unbearable yoke, but the very commands and make orders so that they testify to your love and breathe it. It is not what is ordered that is sometimes bitter for a wife, but the tone in which it is pronounced, with what expression or movement. When all this is loving, then love evokes love and obedience comes with all the desire and goodwill - not according to pressure from the outside, but according to one’s inner desire. Then the husband’s most difficult will is imperceptibly fulfilled; and when there is no love, then the slight desire of the husband is bitter and difficult. – Or by this the Apostle inspires husbands to be lenient towards their wives when they happen to displease them in some way. If the wife always tries to do as the husband wishes, then the husband, when he notices some omission or oversight, is wiser not to pay attention to it, as if nothing had happened, and, if it is necessary to notice, do it in such a way that the wife does not notice that a remark is being made, but that there is only a discussion about the best order of affairs, in which she also enters and offers her judgments. – Didn’t St. Paul also have in mind some of the natural shortcomings in wives, which sometimes irritate husbands in moments of oblivion and give them a reason to attack their wives because of them and upset them thereby. If an arbitrary mistake is worthy of leniency, all the more worthy of leniency is that which does not depend on arbitrariness. Saint Chrysostom derives this instruction from the words of the Apostle: “So, to love is the work of husbands, and to yield is the work of wives. Therefore, if everyone fulfills his duty, then everything will be secure; for, seeing herself loved, the wife is friendly, and when she meets obedience, the husband is meek. Look, this is how it is arranged in nature, so that the husband loves and the wife is obedient; for when the superior loves the subordinate, then everything is fine. Love is not so much required from the subordinate as from the superior to the subordinate; for obedience is required from the subordinate. And the fact that beauty is in the wife, and desire is in the husband, shows nothing more than a dispensation for love. Therefore, when a wife submits, do not be magnified; And you, wife, when your husband loves you, do not be arrogant: neither the love of a husband arouses conceit in the wife, nor the submission of a wife does not make the husband proud. God subjected her to you so that she would be more loved; and He inspired his husband to love you, wife, so that it would be better for him to obey you. Don't be afraid of submission; for it is not at all difficult to obey someone who loves. Do not grow cold in love (you are a husband); for your wife is yielding to you. Union is possible in no other way. You have the necessary power by nature; have a union of love. This union allows us to tolerate the weakest.” bb) What should be the relationship between children and parents (Col. 3:20, 21) Col. 3:20, 21. Children, listen to [your] parents in everything: this is what pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, so that they do not lose heart. Children - obedience to parents; parents - non-irritation of children. It is obvious that the Apostle does not define everything here, as in the previous one, but eliminates only what most upsets the good relationship between parents and children. Parents naturally care about their children with all their souls, and children are devoted to their parents with all their souls. Based on these feelings, their mutual relations flow peacefully and are not disturbed while those feelings are in force. As long as the children are obedient in everything, the parents are peaceful towards them and are calm about them; but, as soon as disobedience begins to appear, the parents’ eyes already look unlovingly at the children and their hearts are not peaceful towards them. This will soon be reflected in the hearts of the children, and discord arose. Likewise, while parents lead their children in the spirit of love, the children rest on their love, and no matter what the parents order, no matter what the parents prohibit, everything is accepted for execution with warm readiness, in the confidence that the parents’ orders are made exclusively for their good. As long as this confidence is in force, neither reproaches, nor measures of correction, nor anything else shakes the warm devotion to parents. But as soon as children see that their parents order and forbid only to show their power, then this immediately instills in them an unpleasant feeling, upsets, irritates them, even if what is forbidden or ordered does not directly violate their own good. As a result of this, the peaceful, cordial attitude towards parents in children is upset, and a mediastinum is erected between them: it becomes difficult for children to live under their parents, they become despondent. There is no family peace. - The Apostle prevents this by prescribing constant obedience to children, and to parents not to irritate their children. He also attaches special motives to each of these commandments. To keep children in complete obedience at all times, the motivation is that this is “pleasing to the Lord.” Children are supposed to be in the fear of God and zealous above all to please the Lord, as befits the children of Christian parents. The Apostle is confident that pleasing the Lord is more valuable to them than any natural impulses. Obedience based on natural feeling is not as strong as that based on the desire to please the Lord. There, come some kind of counterfeeling, also based on nature (such as irritation due to a sense of self-preservation and jealousy for one’s well-being), and obedience loses its basis. And here - no matter what happens, obedience will never lose its basis; for it is based on what is above nature. Saint Chrysostom says: “Look how he wants us to do everything not according to the same nature, but, moreover, according to the will of God, so that we may receive a reward (from God).” Whoever obeys his parents out of the goodness of the Lord will not be deviated from this obedience by the most unjust behavior of his parents towards him: for, in obeying, he is not trying to please them, but the Lord. From here it naturally follows that this is the only thing that can force such a person to disobey when his parents demand something displeasing to the Lord. Blessed Theophylact writes: “addressing his speech to the children of pious parents (that is, those who believe in the Lord), the Apostle said: “in everything,” since wicked fathers (those who do not believe in the Lord) should not be obeyed in everything; we should not listen to them when they begin to forcefully drag us into their wickedness.” Addressing parents, the Apostle “did not say: love the children; for this would be a superfluous word; nature itself leads to this” (Saint Chrysostom). The Word of God places parental love so highly that it explains God’s love for us everywhere. “Nowhere does it offer (to explain this) an example (of love) between a husband and wife, but what? Listen to what the Prophet says: “As a father gives generously to his sons, the Lord will provide for those who fear Him” (Ps. 103:13). Look again at what Christ the Lord says: “What man is there from you, whose son, if he asks for bread, will give him a stone to eat? Or if he asks for fish, will he give him food for a snake?” (Matthew 7:9, 10) (Saint Chrysostom). Why, when he commands “do not irritate,” it does not imply a lack of love, but eliminates unreasonable actions in relation to children, in love, and even out of love itself. He says that by the way you act on your children, be careful not to arouse in them feelings that are unpleasant towards you, which could alienate their hearts from you. Or: by your actions, do not put your children in a position to enter into an argument, bickering, or even disobedience with you. “Don’t make them bickering. There are cases in which you must yield to them” (St. Chrysostom). “Not everything they do is pursued with bitterness. Others must be ignored so as not to make them contradictory” (Blessed Theophylact). And not only this, but “what is decent, do to please them” (Blessed Theodoret). He does not advise indulgence, but prudent indulgence, which, however, moderates the necessary severity, and does not eliminate it. In order to incline parents to this way of acting, the Apostle puts as an incentive to it: “let them not lose heart,” so that the children do not lose heart and walk around hanging their heads. “What is especially sensitive for fathers is what he believes. By this he arouses parental feelings and softens their hearts” (St. Chrysostom). “Look, what wisdom; how he bows the hearts of his parents and how he draws their wombs! For fathers’ whole concern is that their children do not lose heart” (Blessed Theophylact). He protected the children from disobedience by the fear of God and their zeal for pleasing the Lord; and “he teaches the command to parents in a friendly manner, without bringing God to their memory” (St. Chrysostom). Why not? Because even seeing that they irritate their children, they may think that they are not going against the will of God. But, seeing that the children are despondent and walk with their heads hanging, they cannot help but be moved by the parent’s heart to delve into the matter more strictly and, having examined their way of acting, then adjust it so that the children stop being despondent. cc) What should be the relationship between servants and masters ( Col. 3:22–25, 4:1 ) How slaves should behave and act, St. Paul speaks about this more than about the proper behavior of other members of the family. This is because their situation was more difficult and gloomier than all others; why it was necessary to illuminate it with Christian views of the work of their work and strengthen them with comforting promises. Col. 3:22. Rabbi, listen to [your] carnal masters in everything, not before your eyes, working like a people-pleaser, but in the simplicity of your heart, fearing God. Slaves were then bought and were in the complete power of their masters, without having any rights. They were disposed of like things. Downtrodden, they bore the yoke in silence, not wondering about a better situation. But Christianity opened their eyes and allowed them not only to know, but also to feel something better. This could make their situation more unbearable, especially when the masters remained in pagan wickedness and were not involved in either that bright and all-illuminating faith, or those sanctifying actions of grace, or those promises that the slaves became involved in. It was natural for them to come to the question whether this spiritual advantage over their masters did not free them - and if the masters were believers, then equality with them - from their power and from obedience to them. The Apostle writes to them: no; "obey." You have accepted something better in spirit; your body remains in the power of the masters. And “obey your carnal masters.” Moreover, not only does it not make it easier, but it seems to make the yoke of slavery heavier, saying: “working is not before your eyes.” Pagan slaves, good before the eyes of their masters, did not consider it a sin behind their eyes to act not according to their will and not even in their favor. The Apostle says: as you are before your eyes, such be you behind your eyes. For this is how people-pleasers act. And about people-pleasers, “listen to what the Prophet says: “scatter the bones of people-pleasers” (Ps. 52:6). Why, if you only work in front of your eyes, you will act to your own detriment” (St. Chrysostom, Blessed Theophylact). Work “in simplicity of heart” - keeping in your heart that you are slaves, work for the masters without divided thoughts and not divided feelings, observing their benefits everywhere and in everything. “For to have one thing in the heart and do another, to appear to be different in the presence of the master, and different in the absence, is not simplicity, but pretense” (St. Chrysostom). That is why slavery is hard, because the heart is not invested in work. In such a mood, these things appear as something alien, a yoke, external. And if you put your heart into them, then they will be your deeds, coming from your heart. In order to protect your heart from any hesitation and deviation from such a system, take on the fear of God, work, “Fearing God.” “Make sure that the work obligatory for you by law is done out of the fear of God. Then, let your master not see you, you will do what is due and related to his honor and benefit, for the sake of the ever-watchful eye of God” (St. Chrysostom). This unsleeping eye, which you are aware of, will be the guardian of your heartfelt fulfillment according to the duty of slavery and will illuminate your work with some light descending from above, and sanctify it by dedicating it to God; so that your work will no longer be the work of men, but will truly be the work of God. You yourself will recognize it as such and you will become zealous in it, just as, having the fear of God, you strive to please God. This naturally followed from: “fearing God.” But the Apostle considered it necessary and with a special word to illuminate the slave work with this Divine illumination, saying: Col. 3:23. And whatever you do, do it from the heart, as unto the Lord, and not as a man. What could especially confuse the Christian slaves is that they gave an obligation to work for the Lord, but here there is inevitable work for people, and again - they transferred all their goals with the Lord from the temporary to the eternal, and here all the work is directed towards the temporary, transitory and corruptible. The Apostle eliminates these two, naturally possible, confusing thoughts: the first - in the present verse, and the second - in the next. When working for masters, do not think that you are working for men, but for the Lord, and this - no matter what subject your work concerns. Why do whatever you have to do, do it from the heart, as to the Lord, to Whom your whole life is dedicated. The Apostle does not explain how to reach the conviction that even fulfilling, for example, such an order: run there, bring this and that - is doing for the Lord; but the law prescribes: do it as for the Lord. It is implied not only that what you do then will be accepted as such from the Lord, but that it is such in essence. One can reach the conviction of both, in the first by the fact that the price, power and significance of such things are determined by the soul with which and in what sense they are created, and in the second by the elevation of the mind to God’s providential determinations of the fate of everyone, according to which everything essential in this fate is imprinted by the will of God, so that fidelity to that is fidelity to God and service to that is service to Him. But the Apostle does not enter into these explanations, but writes the law: do everything from the heart, as unto the Lord, and not to men. And you will faithfully fulfill the vow you made in baptism: to be wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord and to please Him alone. One might think that the power of the Apostle’s thought lies on: “from the heart,” and not on: “as unto the Lord.” But in the spirit of a Christian, both these aspects of the matter are inseparable. He cannot act from the soul except by acting for the Lord, for his soul is devoted to Him. However, it is also likely that the Apostle wanted to guide them in how they, while remaining slaves and in slave work, could be free to act. In this case, the power of thought will be in: “from the heart,” and “as the Lord” is its basis and support. Working from the heart, you will work not as slaves, out of necessity and compulsion, but as free ones of your own free will. St. Chrysostom says: “Through this the Apostle makes them, instead of slaves, free. For “from the heart” means with good will, not with slavish necessity, but with freedom and self-willed will.” Col. 3:24. Knowing that you will receive the reward of your wealth from the Lord: you are working for the Lord and Christ. And in general, bought slaves are naturally confused and sapped of all their energy by the thought: why should I exhaust myself with work: everything to them, nothing to me. But in a Christian, it is not this egoistic, but on the contrary, essentially Christian, detached from all selfishness, thought that could cause confusion: I should seek the highest, I should philosophize on high; and here they force us to work in vanity and decay. The Apostle consoles him: do not be embarrassed; working, as you say, on vanity and corruption, you lose nothing in the heavenly and incorruptible; on the contrary, it is precisely this that you acquire. Just do not deviate from that structure of the heart, so that, while working for the masters, you work for the Lord. If you work for the Lord in this way, you will receive reward from the Lord, precisely that higher and more heavenly reward that you consider yourself obligated to seek. And this is truer than any other reward that you can expect, in the course of earthly things, not to mention the fact that it is high and incomparable with anything earthly. For the Lord is false in His words and promises. In this way, your slave work will not distance you from your highest spiritual goals, but, on the contrary, will serve as a direct path to them. You work for the Lord Christ. And He said: “Where I am, there will My servant also be” (John 12:26). “Leading” – having been convinced. What is this belief based on? The fact that you work for the Lord Christ. Why did they unfairly begin to translate: Work for Christ the Lord? This has already been said. Now what was said before this in the word: “like the Lord” is relied upon as the basis for the falseness of the hope that reward will be received. The words: “you will receive the reward of property”, της κληρονομιας, - heritage - went straight to the wound of bitter slavery. They work and work; and neither they, nor their family and offspring get anything. The Apostle says to them: if you work as I command you, “as the Lord,” then the Lord will give you as an inheritance greater blessings than those that the masters could make you heirs. You are already heirs of the Lord, a part of your inheritance has already been set aside for you and credited to you: for you work for the Lord, and He does not leave His servants weak. Blessed Theophylact writes: “masters do not often make slaves heirs, even if they served them immeasurably well. But the Lord will undoubtedly give you an inheritance in heaven as a reward if you maintain goodwill towards the masters.” But it is good to be kind to masters when they are just; and if they are unfair, how can they stay within the limits of their spiritual work? Let this injustice not confuse you, says the Apostle further. There is a Judge who will give everyone their due in due time. He has no partiality; He will not favor the masters, no matter how great they may be. Col. 3:25. But the one who offends will receive the insult: and there is no face of offense. “The Apostle offered sufficient consolation for the slaves, letting them know that they serve not people, but the Lord. since unjust people can also be masters, the Apostle necessarily added: “But he who offends will receive it,” and so on. If the masters, he says, do not reward you with good for your service; that is, the righteous Judge, Who does not distinguish between slave and master, but pronounces a fair determination” (Blessed Theodoret). This is a common consolation for all who suffer in vain. There is an Eye that sees the wrong side, which will be rewarded in due time according to its unrighteousness. The goal of our life is not local well-being, but eternal bliss, in the acquisition of which patience in vain and injustice has no small part. So, do not look at the iniquities of men; do your job, trying to please the Lord in everyone and enduring everything graciously. Such a suggestion was completely consistent with the flow of the Apostle’s speech and should have served as a great consolation to the slaves, whose fate was then very bitter and lack of rights in every way. But the words of the Apostle can also be understood in such a way that they do not give consolation to slaves in case of injustice towards them by their masters, but a threat to slaves in case of their wrongful action in relation to their masters. The Apostle said ahead that you will receive the reward of the inheritance if you work diligently for the masters as for the Lord. Now the same thing is taken from the opposite: and if you work badly for your masters, violate their rights over you and commit injustice towards them, then you will be rewarded according to your injustice. The Lord will not see that you are faithful and those are unfaithful, or that you are the weak side and those are the strong. But He will repay everything in righteousness: for He has no regard for faces. So are all our other interpreters, except for Blessed Theodoret. However, having presented such a thought, they add at the end that these words are equally impressive for gentlemen. We quote for everyone the words of Blessed Theophylact: “a slave who acts wrongly in relation to his master, either by working carelessly, or by damaging and stealing the master’s goods, will receive his due from God (punishment). For God is impartial in order to have mercy on a slave, as the weakest part, when even in the law He commanded not to have mercy on the poor in judgment (Lev. 19:15). Or this: a Christian slave who untruths his Greek master should not think that he will escape condemnation. For Christ is impartial, so that his sin against his Greek master should be left to him simply because he is a Christian. - However, although, as it seems, the Apostle says to the slaves: God has no sight on the face; but gentlemen should accept these words as very suitable to them.” Col. 4:1. Lord, give truth and justice to the slave, knowing that you also have the Lord in heaven. The Apostle defines the behavior of masters in relation to slaves with the words: “show truth and equality.” - “Equalization” does not mean that masters descend to the level of slaves or raise them to the level with themselves; does not mean treating all slaves equally; but it obliges masters to act in relation to slaves in accordance with their condition, like slaves, and with their work and labors. This word is unambiguous with justice. “What the Apostle called “equation,” writes Blessed Theodoret, was not equality, but proper care, which servants should also receive from their masters.” “What is truth? What is the equation? - asks Saint Chrysostom and answers: the same thing, namely: “to provide slaves with everything in sufficient quantities and not allow them to turn to others with their needs, but reward them for their labors. You should not, since I said that they have a reward from God, think that you are allowed to deprive them of what should come to them from you” (the same with Blessed Theophylact). As an encouragement to such action for the masters, the Apostle points out that they also have a Lord in heaven, it is implied, and a righteous rewarder. Masters allow themselves to be wrong in relation to slaves most out of a false sense of their complete independence: who is my decree? and act without restraint. The Apostle cuts down their courage, assuring that they are not independent, they themselves have the Lord, before whom they are accountable and who will demand from them an account in their affairs (as they demand it from servants - in their affairs), among other things, in relation to slaves. So you and the slaves, in terms of reporting and dependence, are equal. “And you,” he says, that is, you are with them. Here the Apostle makes slavery common” (St. Chrysostom). “Why should you treat them like fellow slaves. As they have you, so you have the Lord. So, “measure accordingly, it will be measured back to you” (Matthew 7:2)” (Blessed Theophylact). b) Church life of Christians (Col. 4:2–4) Saint Paul does not concern everything related to this, but only the most important thing, namely prayer. Church is a symbol of prayer. Christians gather mainly to pray together. They themselves constitute the body of the Church; and their soul is prayer. The Apostle remembers her alone when there was no need to remember anything else. Col. 4:2. Be patient in prayer, watchful in it with thanksgiving. The private prayer of each person has already been specifically mentioned (Col. 3:16). Here we must understand public prayer, although what is said here can be applied to everyone’s private prayer, just as what was said in the previous place about private prayer can be applied to public prayer. When he commands to endure in prayer, he also instills that prayer should not be short. “Be patient in prayer” – the same thing as: pray a lot and for a long time. A short prayer does not give room for exercise and patience. A long period gives rise to fatigue and, because of fatigue, the desire for it to end as quickly as possible, or the desire to leave the church meeting. The Apostle writes: endure to the end and do not indulge in laziness. When patience weakens, on the one hand, laziness and drowsiness or drowsiness sets in, on the other, the cheerfulness of the spirit fades, attention is scattered, thoughts wander. The Apostle writes: “Be of good cheer”—keep both your spirit alert and your body awake, and let both body and spirit remain in constant tension during the entire time of prayer. Dissolve the members of your body, dissolve your thoughts - there will be no more prayer, you will stand like a pillar and nod your head like a doll. Vivacity indicates the vitality of prayer - a strong and warm aspiration of the mind and heart towards God. It is not surprising that with this word the Apostle points to the all-night vigils, which began in the Church from apostolic times; an example of which was shown by Saint Paul himself, who spent the whole night with the faithful in teaching and prayer in Troas. “With thanksgiving”, εν ευχαριστια. – E υχαριστια means pleasure and pleasantness, and means thanksgiving. Its original meaning is the first. Therefore, we can believe that the Apostle had his attention in this place. And by the way, it is very suitable here. The Apostle drove away the feeling of fatigue with patience, the urge for relaxation and laziness with vigor and tension. But you can endure and keep yourself in tension, and at the same time be dissatisfied with such work, endure it with some grumbling. This kind of thought or feeling takes away all the value before God of patience and vigilance in prayer. As in almsgiving, “God loves a willing giver” (2 Cor. 9:7); So in prayer he loves only the one who patiently stays awake in it with heartfelt pleasure; he is glad to stand in prayer, no matter how long it lasts. This understanding is proposed as an opinion; for all interpreters, both ours and others, mean by: ευχαριστια - thanksgiving. Thanksgiving should decorate every prayer. Without it, one should not approach the Lord: for insensitivity to the benefits received blocks the path to receiving new ones, shortening the beneficial right hand of the Lord. Why does thanksgiving have an urgent place in our prayers? Saint Basil the Great teaches them to begin every prayer. According to this meaning of thanksgiving in prayer, it is appropriate to believe that in the present place the Apostle, speaking about prayer, means it by: ευχαριστια. Let's look at what our interpreters said. Blessed Theophylact writes: “The devil knows how great a blessing prayer is, and he tries in every possible way to make us recoil from it. Why does Saint Paul say: “endure in prayer” (προσκαρτερειτε - sit down with her, pore over her). since he who sits down (to prayer) is often attacked by laziness and relaxation, he added: “keep vigil in it,” that is, sober, always being intense in the matter of prayer. But he also teaches her to create in thanksgiving, that is, with thanksgiving. For that prayer is true, which contains thanksgiving for all blessings, known and unknown to us, and for that which brought us well-being and joy, and for that which was accompanied by sorrow - for all blessings in general.” Saint Chrysostom says: “since patience in prayer often leads to boredom and laziness, he says: “awake,” - that is, sober, without wandering (thoughts here and there). For the devil knows, knows how great a blessing prayer is, and therefore weighs heavily on the one praying. Paul also knows how bored and lazy many become during prayer, and therefore he says: “Be patient in prayer,” as if it were something difficult. “Watch in it with thanksgiving.” Let it be, he says, your business to give thanks - for obvious and implicit blessings, for what He has done for our good, both in accordance with our desire and in disagreement with it, and for the Kingdom, and for Gehenna, and for sorrow, and for consolation. This is how it is usual to pray to the saints, thanking (in God’s prayer) for all good deeds. I know one holy man who prayed like that. Without saying anything before, he directly began: “We thank you for all Your blessings shown to us, unworthy, from the first day to the present, known and unknown, obvious and hidden, in deed and word, according to our will and in opposition to it - for everything that was to us, unworthy, for sorrow, for consolation, for Gehenna, for torment, for the Kingdom of Heaven. We beg You, keep our soul holy, having a clear conscience, and an end (grant us) worthy of Your love for mankind. Who loved us, even as He gave His only begotten Son for us, grant us to be worthy of Your love. Give us wisdom in Your word, and in Your fear, Only Begotten Christ, breathe into us Your strength. Who gave for us Your Only Begotten Son and sent down Your Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of our sins, if we have sinned in any way, voluntarily or unwittingly, forgive and do not hold it against us. Remember all who call on Your name in truth. Remember all those who wish us good and bad; for we are all human.” Then, adding the prayer of the faithful, he ended by creating a prayer for everyone, like a kind of crown and a contraction of everything. God does many things for our good, although we do not seek it; there is much that we do not even know (that it is good for us), and much more. For when we ask one thing, and He does the opposite (and this happens to be good for us), then it is obvious that He benefits us, who do not know (what is good for us).” Col. 4:3. Praying for us together, that God will open the doors of the word for us, to speak the mystery of Christ, for whose sake I am bound. “Praying also for us” - together with other objects of prayer, such as: for spiritual enlightenment, for the increase of grace, for constancy in goodness, for peace, prosperity and so on, pray “for us too.” About whom - about us? They believe that the Apostle meant not only himself, but also Timothy and even Epaphras; but since he immediately begins to talk about his own face, it is better to assume that when he said: “us” and “to us,” the Apostle understood himself alone. When he said: “and about us together,” he does not suggest that prayer for him, the organizer of their enlightenment through faith, is an appendage to prayer, left to their own devices, which therefore can be skipped; but he reminds them of the duty to always pray for the one who gave birth to them with the word of truth for life according to God. His thought is this: look, do not forget to pray for him. By this he affirms the duty of spiritual children to pray for their spiritual fathers. But, inviting them to pray for themselves, the Apostle does not use the word of decency and reveals more than just his humility, but expresses confidence that their prayer is strong before God and as believers, and even more so as those who pray with common prayer. The Lord Himself gave such promises to the prayer of believers: “everything you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” (Matthew 21:22). “If you remain in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). “Whenever you pray, if you ask, believe, as you receive, and it will be done for you” (Mark 11:24). “Amen I say to you: for if two of you speak on earth concerning every thing that anyone asks, it will be done by My Father who is in Heaven: where there are two or three assembled in My name, I am in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:19, 20). Every believer is endowed with this privilege, and even more so is the community of believers invested with it, to whom St. Paul is addressing here. With this word he affirms the power of church-wide prayer, at the same time bringing considerable consolation to the Colossians, leading them to realize that they are not entitled to this advantage of those who believe in the Lord. Blessed Theophylact writes: “asks them to pray for themselves, not only being humble, but also showing the power of brotherly prayer. And He needed help from above, which the prayers of the brethren could provide him with to a greater extent. With the same word, the Apostle wanted to introduce them to the work of prayer. For if prayer is needed for him, much more so for themselves.” Let us add that if he felt the need to resort to the common fraternal prayer of the faithful, who would dare to be so arrogant as to dream of doing without the help of fraternal prayer, remaining with his own alone? The Apostle here expressed in action the duty of Christians both to pray for each other and to ask each other for prayer. Blessed Theodoret writes: “The Apostle showed ordinary humility; but it also teaches us not to rely on ourselves, but to seek mutual help from each other.” “May God open the doors of the word to us.” The opening of the door for the word means unhindered preaching, so that no one interferes or blocks the preacher’s mouth. The Apostle wants them to beg the Lord for free entry everywhere and free preaching of the word. But perhaps by this he also expressed his desire for his word to receive free entry into hearts everywhere, so that the ear would be opened everywhere to hear and the heart to receive the word. The Apostle points to such an opening of the door for the word when he talks about the success of his preaching in Troas. There he proposed the gospel of “the door that was opened” (2 Cor. 2:12), which means: a multitude of people flocked and everyone willingly listened to the word. The unbelief of those who hear binds the tongue of the preacher. The Apostle asks to pray for the elimination of this trouble. Otherwise, how can you pronounce the mystery of Christ? Is this not why believers in the Church pray for those converted to faith: may the Lord announce them with the word of truth and reveal the Gospel of truth? The opening here is of course for the eyes of the mind and heart. “Speak the secret of Christ.” He does not ask to pray for freedom from bonds (St. Chrysostom and others), but that the word about the mystery of Christ would go on and on from him, louder and louder, attracting more and more people who hear and diligently accept this word; but whether he should be in prison or free, he does not care about that. He has one concern that never leaves his heart - that the word about the mystery of Christ spread; everything else does not occupy him. Since the Epistle was written at the beginning of the bonds in Rome, we can confidently assume that its speech here is about the successes of the gospel among the Romans. What “mystery of Christ” does the Apostle have in mind? Not only the mystery of salvation in general in the incarnate Son of God and God, but even more so the mystery of the calling of languages ​​into the spiritual heritage of the great forefathers and the formation of Jews and pagans into a single Church of God, founded on the Lord the Savior. He already mentioned it above (Col. 1:26), calling it “a mystery, hidden from time immemorial and from generation to generation.” Saint Paul is primarily associated with this mystery. In Jerusalem they tied him up because he was destroying the laws of his fathers, that is, preaching freedom from statutory regulations and putting the pagans on the same line with the Jews. Without this, there would not have been such fierce bitterness of the Jews against him, and perhaps these bonds would not have existed. Why, when he said: “for this reason he is bound,” of course, he meant that mystery, about which he says everywhere that it was entrusted to him, namely: “[as] to be an heir and sharer of the tongue and partaker of the promise of God in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 3:6). Col. 4:4. May I manifest it as it is fitting for me to speak. It could be like this: “I am bound and I will show you.” The word about that secret became louder when St. Paul was tied up for it. To the questions: what is this for, why was he tied up? - the answer was heard everywhere and the answer was: because he proclaims salvation to the pagans on an equal basis with the Jews. The secret thus revealed was the very bonds. The apostle “pointed out the reason for his bonds; for he says: they make the preaching more obvious” (Blessed Theodoret). Saint Chrysostom says: “You see, bonds show, and do not hide. He, bound, was treated by all the Churches, and he, bound, edified thousands of Christians. Then it was more likely that he was released from bondage (rather than bound). He was in bonds; but then its flow was even faster.” Or this: pray that God will open the door for me to speak the mystery of Christ, so that I may reveal it as it is fitting for me to speak. He asks to pray for the removal of all obstacles to reveal the mystery of Christ, as he should. And he should speak about it as he was commanded, that is, directing everything towards destroying the mediastinum separating Jews and pagans, and from both of them to form a Church, free from external legality, but pure and immaculate, serving the Lord in spirit. This is primarily from which side it is appropriate for him to reveal the mystery of Christ, the mystery of the salvation in Him of all mankind. By “as it should be” one can also understand the quality of preaching, that is, “with great boldness, without hiding anything” (St. Chrysostom), “without pretense and subterfuge” (Blessed Theophylact), openly, publicly, without being afraid to speak about the salvation of the pagans on an equal basis with the Jews. c) Civil life of Christians (Col. 4:5, 6) Civil life then was pagan. When leaving church or home, a Christian inevitably entered into relations with infidels, whom the Apostle calls external - those who are outside the society of the faithful. This meeting is what St. Paul has in mind, defining the social relations of the Christians of that time. In other Epistles he goes into this subject more fully, but here he pays attention to only one point shown. Col. 4:5. Go to those without in wisdom; time is redemptive. “To those outside,” that is, “to those who have not yet believed” (Blessed Theodoret). “For such are outside the essence, that is, not our own, not of the same court with us; although they live in the same world with us, yet they are outside, as if they are far from both the Church and the Kingdom of God” (Blessed Theophylact). And in the sense that they can be considered external, that, no matter how wise those who are outside communion with Christ the Lord are, their life is essentially external; whereas the life of those who cling to the Lord is essentially internal, creating and growing in the heart. It forms what is hidden in the heart of man. The wisdom of going to such people is prudent communication with them, when, according to the order of social and civil life, it is necessary to enter into relations with them. “The Apostle here calls prudence wisdom and commands us to behave prudently in relation to outsiders” (Blessed Theophylact). What such prudence should consist of is indicated by the words: “time is redeeming.” To redeem time means to act prudently, taking into account the circumstances and requirements of the time. This can be expressed more directly as follows: everyone act in such a way that, on the one hand, by the way of your action you do not irritate the pagans against yourself, but through yourself and against the entire Christian society; and on the other hand, do not miss the opportunity to attract to faith those who show a predisposition to it and are able to believe. “Do not give them,” says the Apostle, any reason to harm (themselves and the Church), but use all measures for their salvation” (Blessed Theodoret). Saint Chrysostom says: “What Christ said to the disciples is now instilled by the Apostle Paul. What does Christ say? “Behold, I send you like sheep in the midst of wolves: therefore be wise as a serpent, and targets like doves” (Matthew 10:16); that is, be careful not to give them any reason to catch you. This is why it was added: “to the external,” so that we know that in relation to our own members we do not need as much caution as in relation to strangers; for there is more forbearance and love between brothers. But here, too, caution is needed, and even more so between strangers, because living between enemies and enemies is not the same as living between friends. “Time,” he says, “is redemptive.” He didn’t say this because he wanted them to be fickle and hypocritical; for these qualities are not characteristic of wisdom, but of madness. But what? Don’t let yourself, he says, be caught in things that you can do without harm to yourself. He says this in the Epistle to the Romans: “Render... to everyone what is due: to him... lesson, lesson... to him tribute, tribute... to him honor, honor” (Rom. 13:7). Let it be only because of the sermon that you have a struggle with them: it should not arise from any other reason; for if we have enmity with them because of something else - for example, if we do not pay taxes, if we do not pay decent honors, if we are not humble, then we will not receive a reward, and they themselves (that is, our enemies) will become worse, and their accusations against us will appear to be fair. Don't you see how Paul himself was compliant when it did not harm the preaching in the least? Listen to his words spoken to Agrippa: “Blessed is I to be, for I am to answer before you today, moreover, you are knowledgeable of all Jewish customs and disciplines” (Acts 26:2, 3). But if he considered it necessary to say insulting words to his boss, he would ruin the whole thing. Listen also to the moderation with which those who were with blessed Peter answered the Jews: “It is fitting to obey God rather than man” (Acts 5:29). Although people who decided to lay down their souls could speak more boldly; but since they decided to sacrifice their lives not out of vanity, they spoke modestly, retaining all the power of boldness only for preaching.” Col. 4:6. Let your word [be]... in grace, dissolved in salt, lead as it is fitting for you alone to answer each other. The almost exclusive means of communication with others is the word. It is for him that St. Paul writes the rules. May your word, he says, always be “in grace,” may it be sincere, may it always come from the heart and breathe goodwill and love, like the word of a friend who sincerely wishes good. With all this, however, let it be “dissolved in salt,” not funny and playful, but reasonable and edifying, containing either an explanation of the required truth, or an indication of the necessary rule of everyday prudence, or an interpretation of the laws of the highest and most perfect life, if desired. “Let your courtesy not reach the point of being used indiscriminately: you can speak kindly, but you must do it with due decency” (St. Chrysostom). “Adorn yourself with spiritual prudence. So the Lord commanded the Apostles to have “salt in themselves” (Mark 9:50) and called them “salt” (Matthew 5:13)” (Blessed Theodoret). “Let your speech be pleasant, having a pleasing and cheerful tone; however, let it not fall into indiscriminateness and unbridledness, but let it be restrained. For it means "salt." Let it not be overly cheerful, nor overly harsh. Just as food, if it is not salted, is unpleasant, and if it is too salty, then it cannot be taken into the mouth, and in both cases it is not eaten: so is the word. Do you not see how Daniel heals a wicked man with his words? Don’t you see how the three youths, showing such courage and daring, did not utter a single harsh or offensive word? For this kind of word does not mean bold (trusting in God) courage, but vainglorious audacity (presumptuous).” “Conduct as it is fitting for you alone to answer each other.” Indicates where the above mentioned qualities of the word are applied, specifically when meeting someone. When we meet, the first thing we do is speech from one to the other. Look, says the Apostle, starting a speech and holding it, as shown, from the heart and wise in content, do not forget to think about it with the person with whom you begin to talk. “Answering” means not only answering a question, but generally speaking to someone and to someone. “We must not speak to everyone in the same way, that is, both to Greeks and to brethren; no - that would be great recklessness” (St. Chrysostom). “For teaching must be offered in one way to the unfaithful, and in another way to the faithful, in another way to the perfect, and in another way to the imperfect, in another way to the weak, and in another way to the healthy” (Blessed Theodoret). “Otherwise for the rich, otherwise for the poor. His soul, being weak, needs greater indulgence; but the poor man’s is stronger, so he can bear it if you treat him a little more harshly. When there is also no need, do not call a Greek unclean and do not reproach him. If you are brought before a superior, give him due honor. When they ask you about the Greek beliefs, do not be afraid to say that they are unclean and wicked. But this also depends on the circumstances. Saint Paul in Athens speaks favorably (about paganism, exposing what is good in it), but he directly reproached Elymas, because he was worth it (Acts 13:10)” (Blessed Theophylact). In response to both of these texts, this is what Ambrosiastes writes: “Since it is necessary for us to move among the infidels and have conversations with them because of worldly affairs, this is what the Apostle commands in such cases - that our conversation should be with wisdom, so that the pagans are not tempted and do not find in it a reason to slander our faith and be excited to persecute the faithful. What is the need to talk to someone about whom you know that he is intractable, stubborn and ready to cause trouble? This is why the Apostle suggests that the conversation about faith should be started in a decent place and at a favorable time; and if there is an argumentative person among (the listeners), it is better to remain silent. You also need to behave differently with the powerful, differently with people of average status, differently with the lower class. If, at a time when people are rebelling against the word of God, you hold back your boldness for a while, then you will redeem the time. But when the king is favorable, then it is time to speak the word of God, with meekness, drawing you onto the good path. Before those who rebel with rage, it is better to give in (to hold back your boldness for a while). In this case, by yielding you win.” You might be interested in: