Послесловие (1Тим. 6:20, 21)

Short; It does not touch on anything extraneous, it only reminds us of the most important thing - keep the tradition, avoiding frivolities that are dangerous to the faith - and in a fatherly manner teaches the Apostolic blessing. At the beginning of the Epistle this is the main thing for everyone. 1 Tim. 6:20. Oh, Timothy, preserve the tradition, avoiding the nasty talk and contradictions of the false mind. “Tradition”, παραθηκην, is something that someone trusts (παρα) to keep. As in the present place we are talking about faith, then under this word: “tradition” we mean all the teaching about faith handed down to Saint Timothy. The Apostle commands him: keep this teaching as it was handed down to you. “Do not reduce it: it is not yours; you have been entrusted with someone else’s: do not diminish it” (St. Chrysostom). “Keep everything that I have commanded you, since these are the Lord’s commandments” (Blessed Theophylact). “Keep the commandment of God, which God entrusted to you through me” (Ecumenius). - This is the law for all shepherds of all ages - having learned what has been handed down, keep it as it was handed down, so that you can pass it on to your successors in the same way, without adding your own inventions. Vincent of Lirinsky writes in this place: “Who is Timothy now, if not the entire Church in general, or, more specifically, not the entire society of primates, who themselves must have, and must communicate to others intact, the knowledge of the Divine faith? What does it mean: “keep the tradition”? This means: watchmen, because there are thieves, there are enemies, so that among the good seed of wheat, which the Son of Man sowed in His field, they do not sow tares while people sleep (Matthew 13:37-39). “Tradition,” he says, “preserve.” What is "legend"? What has been entrusted to you, and not what you have invented, what you have accepted, and not what you have invented, is not a matter of the mind, but of teaching, a matter translated to you, and not received its beginning from you, in which you are not the auctor, but the guardian, not the founder, but the follower, not leading, but following. “Tradition,” he says, “keep it,” that is, keep the talent of the universal faith intact and untouched. What has been entrusted to you, let it remain with you, then let it be betrayed by you (and others after you). You received the gold, give the gold back. Don’t give me one thing instead of another, don’t shamelessly give me lead or deceitfully copper instead of gold; I don’t want gold in appearance, but gold in nature. "About Timofey"! O priest! O speaker! O teacher! If the mercy of God has recognized you as suitable for this, according to your ability, work and teaching; then be the Bezalel of the spiritual tabernacle, decorate the Margaritas of the Divine teaching, align them correctly, decorate them wisely, give them shine, grace, and attractiveness. Let it be, according to your presentation, understood more clearly that which was previously believed less clearly. May your posterity have joy and consolation through you, so that they clearly understand what antiquity previously honored without understanding. However, teach the same things that you yourself have learned, so that, speaking something new, you do not teach something new.” “Avoid the nasty talk and contradictions of the false mind.” – “Reason”, γνωσεως – knowledge; knowledge that boasts that it knows, but does not know why it falsely bears such a name, is false. Knowledge became false, because the mind took the wrong road and got lost, believing, however, that it was walking correctly, looking correctly, and seeing correctly; why it has become not what it should be, has become unreason, and, being called reason, is falsely called so - it is falsely named. Why did this happen to the mind? Because he minds his own business. It is given to him to understand everyday affairs, but it is not given to comprehend the Divine. This he must accept by faith as God reveals. God revealed; accept it by faith, trying only to understand this revealed thing as it is revealed. When reason and revelation begins to understand everything in its own way, and not according to how it is revealed; then he usually confuses and goes astray, as when he undertakes to comprehend the Divine without revelation. But meanwhile, in this case, he considers his understandings to be unquestioning and strongly contradicts not only those who, like him, interpret the revealed in their intelligence, but disagree with it, but especially those who understand the revealed as it is revealed. Pretension is therefore an integral feature of it. But he will contradict in vain, for since he does not stand in the truth, he will contradict not with the truth, but with lies, and what comes out of him is nothing but idle talk, idle talk. Those who contain the truth as it is revealed do not like to contradict, but only say: this is how God revealed it and this is how we contain it; If you want to submit to God, listen to us, if you don’t want to, God will be your judge. “We do not have such a custom, that is, to argue” (1 Cor. 11:16). This is what the Apostle reminds Saint Timothy: avoid these idle talk and contradictions. What kind of nonsense and contradiction these are, he does not distinguish; whatever they may be, but if they do not agree with what God has clearly revealed to us, avoid them. Teach your flock the truth of God, and this truth will make it capable of repelling all vain talkers. Saint Chrysostom says: “You see how again he commands not to even get along with such people. “I avoided,” he says, “with contradictions.” Consequently, there are contradictions that should not even be answered. Why? Because they remove one from the faith; because they do not allow you to stand firm and unshakable. Therefore, we should not adhere to this, but to faith, which is an unshakable stone. For then neither the rivers nor the winds, rushing towards us, will be able to cause us any harm, because we are firmly established on the rock. He called idle talk and contradiction the products of a false mind. And he said it well that way. For where there is no faith, there is no knowledge (of Divine things). When something is generated (in this regard) from our own considerations, then this is not knowledge.” “Vanity”, κενοφωνιας, - idle talk. If instead of ε we put αι, then it will be: new words. Ecumenius and Theophylact say that Saint Chrysostom read this way (probably somewhere else! in a place other than the Interpretation), meaning by this newness in the teaching. In the Vulgate and in the text it says: vocum novitates. Venerable Vincent draws his guidance from these words in his famous treatise on the guardianship of the devotee, as can be seen from the last words of the passage cited above. 1 Tim. 6:21. There is no boasting about him, he has sinned about his faith. Grace be with you. Amen. “Boasting about him” - about knowledge, boasting about knowledge. People of many abilities, having acquired a lot of knowledge about created things, having studied history, physical sciences, mathematics, medicine, jurisprudence, philology, often come to the false conviction that for them even the objects of faith are not incomprehensible, and begin to interpret them in such a way that it is reasonable, so that their faith is reasonable, that is, it does not contain anything unreasonable, and everything in it is understandable naturally. But as faith, proceeding from the supernatural God and leading believers along a supernatural path to supernatural communion with the supernatural God, it cannot be naturally understood and interpreted; then wise men who are planning to treat it in this way inevitably evade it, interpret its provisions crookedly and, passing off such interpretations as the truth, make mistakes. It has always been and is now the case - that those who boast of knowledge, επαγγελλομενοι - knowledgeable by profession, when they undertake to comprehend faith, sin in faith. ' Ηστοχησαν, says the Apostle, - they did not follow the trail of faith, they went in the wrong direction where it pointed. “It is inevitable for one who follows only human understandings to fall short of the tact and goal of faith. For faith does not allow for intelligibility” (Blessed Theophylact). Saint Chrysostom says: “The Apostle says this, perhaps because at that time some called themselves Gnostics (knowledgers), that is, those who knew more than others.” To this Blessed Theodoret adds: “from Simon they called themselves Gnostics, they said about themselves: what the Divine Scripture was silent about, God revealed to us. This is filled with all wickedness and lewdness. The Apostle rightly called this knowledge “falsely named.” They have the darkness of ignorance, and not the light of knowledge of God.” The Gnostics emerged in power in the 2nd century; but it is not surprising that their first fruits also appeared under the Apostles. "Grace be with you." “The Apostle added the usual blessing” (Blessed Theodoret). “To seal everything, he wishes him grace, by which every good thing is given and preserved. Let us all be richly involved in it, not destroying the benefits received from it, but preserving them through it and glorifying Christ, the Giver of graces, with the Father and the Holy Spirit” (Blessed Theophylact). Let us quote the final word of Blessed Theodoret for the entire Epistle: “This teaching must be faithfully preserved by all who have been honored with the priesthood; and as a kind of rule, always have it in front of you, and think about it, and what to say to them, and what should be done. Thus, it is possible to be worthy of a portion of blessed Timothy, and even of the most divine Paul, by the grace and love of mankind of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, with whom glory and splendor befit the Father with the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages! Amen. You might be interested in: