Предисловие (2Тим.1, 1–6)

a) Inscription and greeting (2 Tim. 1, 1–2) 2Tim.1:1. Paul is an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus. The inscription is similar to all the others, indicates who is writing to whom and, as usual for St. Paul, contains some terms to which the content of the Epistle gave rise and which are introduced to foreshadow it. "Apostle Jesus Christ by the will of God". By the will of God the Father, the Apostle of the Son of God incarnate, according to the unity of their will. The will of the Father is not different and that of the Son is different, but one and the same. Why, whatever the Father wants, the Son also wants the same. “The Lord God has proposed me as an apostle (προεβαλετο); with Him Christ Jesus also desired (συμψηφισαμενου) this” (Ecumenius). “According to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus.” These words contain a foreshadowing of the content of the Message, which gave rise to their inclusion in this inscription. The purpose of the Epistle is to inspire St. Timothy to courageously preach about the faith and keep the faithful in the faith in the face of dangers and deaths. But in such circumstances, what could inspire so much as not the promise of life, which death itself does not take away, but opens the door to it. The Apostle makes an indication of this at the very beginning. “I am an apostle,” he says, “according to the promise of life,” - according to the work of the promise of life. “The Lord God, with the one will of the Son, made me an Apostle, so that I could preach to people the promised eternal life” (Blessed Theodoret). He was appointed by the Apostle to proclaim this life to all people, but, of course, with the confidence that, first of all, it is the undoubted property of the proclaimers themselves, and therefore of Saint Timothy, as one of them. The thought of this could not but serve him as consolation and encouragement. Thus, Saint Paul “at the very beginning (of the Epistle) encourages his soul. Don’t remind me, he says, of the disasters here: they give us eternal life, where there is nothing like that, where there is no illness, sadness and sighing” (St. Chrysostom). Not only danger is our lot, but death is ready everywhere; but “we die in order to live forever” (Blessed Theophylact). Although this is only promised, the promise is so certain that we all seem to have already had it. Despite all this, however, it is still ahead. “If she is a promise, then do not look for her here; for “visible hope is not hope” (Rom. 8:24)” (St. Chrysostom). "Even about Christ Jesus". “The life that is “about Christ Jesus” is, that is, with Christ, because He gives it to us and contains it. Bodily life is found in food and drink, but spiritual life is found in Christ Jesus. He is everything for us” (Blessed Theophylact). This life is accepted here, develops and grows stronger; its appearance is promised in all its lightness and glory. - Κατ᾿ επαγγελιαν - “according to the promise”, - therefore, it can be translated: according to the proclamation, according to the deed of proclamation of the life that is in Christ Jesus - life, which is immediately received through faith and acceptance of the sacrament and of which eternal life is an integral part. 2Tim.1:2. To Timothy, beloved child: grace, mercy, peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. "To Timothy's beloved child." “Not just: “child,” but: “beloved”; for there may be children who are unloved. But you are not like that, he says, and therefore I do not just call you a child, but a “beloved” child. And he calls the Galatians children, but he grieves for them: “my children,” he says, “in the same way I am sick” (Gal. 4:19). Calling him beloved, he testifies to his great virtue. How? When love is not from nature, then it is from virtue; those born from us are kind to us not only because of their virtue, but also because of the demands of nature; and those who are beloved by faith are such because of nothing other than virtue. And how could it be otherwise, especially for Paul, who did nothing out of passion?” (Saint Chrysostom). “It was not his nature, but his heart that made Timothy valiant in everything, both a son and a beloved” (Blessed Theodoret). "Grace, mercy, peace". “What he wanted before, he now wants the same” (St. Chrysostom). “Grace” is power for the salvation of oneself and others; “mercy” is a source that pours out and overflows with grace; “peace” is the good fruit of grace, immediately tasted upon receiving this mercy - peace with God and the inhabitants of heaven, peace within oneself with conscience and with all earthly inhabitants, not disturbed by any non-peaceful accidents, but nourished in all its strength and among them. “From God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord,” as one of both sources. “He desires grace, and may those present help him, - desires from the mercy of the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord; for God generously gives us His grace through Christ, so that there will be one grace for both” (Ambrosiastes). The Lord Jesus Christ, after suffering, death on the cross and resurrection, ascending into heaven and sitting at the right hand of God the Father, opened the way for the Most Holy Spirit to descend to earth - and He, having descended, blessed everyone and continues to grace everyone until now, by the good will of the Father, by virtue of the incarnate economy of the Son. b) Beginning of the Epistle (2 Tim. 1, 3–6) aa) Having expressed strong love for Saint Timothy (1, 3 - 4) and: bb) praising him and his family for their faith (1, 5), Saint Paul reminds him: .c) to kindle the gift of Apostolic succession that lives in him, which is the main subject of the Epistle (1, 6). aa) Expression of love for Saint Timothy (2 Tim. 1, 3–4) 2Tim.1:3. I thank God, I serve Him from my ancestors with a clear conscience, as the Imam constantly remembers you in my prayers day and night. Saint Paul, just as he taught everyone to give thanks for everything (1 Thessalonians 5:18), so he himself always thanked God for everything, both for joyful and sorrowful things, for external and internal things, for every good movement of thought and feeling. So, here he thanks God for the fact that he has an unceasing memory of Saint Timothy in his prayers. The thought is this: unceasing memory of someone is a true evidence of love; St. Paul, giving thanks for the memory of St. Timothy, thanks for the love for him. So Saint Chrysostom: “I thank God,” he says, “for the fact that I remember you, so I love you.” This is a sign of extreme love when someone loves so much that he himself admires this love” - “when someone in love for someone sees great praise for himself, a wonderful decoration for himself” (Blessed Theophylact, Ecumenius). But underneath this lies another thought: the Apostle constantly remembers Saint Timothy, because he is worthy of memory, and, thanking God for this memory, he thanks God for the fact that Saint Timothy is worthy, that he is such that one cannot help but remember him, and, moreover, in such a way that the memory of him gives rise to gratitude to God. There are faces whose memory also does not go away, but the heart is tormented, and the memory of Saint Timothy aroused joyful and grateful feelings to God in the soul of Saint Paul. So, with a certain special touch, Ambrosiast: “since it is worthy to remember the good, the Apostle thanks God that he remembered Saint Timothy, the wondrous man, realizing that this too is a gift of God: for it is not undeserved if anyone thinks about good men.” “I serve him from my ancestors.” How from his forefathers, when they did not serve God as he now serves, and when he did not learn this new service from them? The image of service is new; but the God served is one and the same, as well as the spirit of service. He carried on the service that he received from his forefathers with all his soul, submissive to God. When this God commanded him to leave that and learn a new one, he began to hold this new one just as whole-heartedly as he held the old one, and again according to the same whole-hearted submission to God that he was filled with, serving Him in the same way. So both God and the spirit of serving Him remained one and the same with Saint Paul. My entire family, he testifies, wholeheartedly believed in the One True God and wholeheartedly submitted to Him in the service commanded by Him. I do the same thing: I confess the only true God and serve Him, as He commanded. This mood is expressed in the words: “with a clear conscience”, εν καθαρα συνειδησει, - in a clear or clear conscience. Conscience is clear when in thoughts, feelings, desires, words and deeds nothing is allowed that is contrary to what is recognized as true, good and proper - nothing contrary to convictions. Saint Paul, just as before in a Jewish way, served God out of the conviction that this is what the One God wants, so now he serves in a Christian way, out of the same conviction, not deceptively inspired, but tangibly “appeared” by God Himself, imprinted. Why does he not have the slightest shadow of hesitation regarding his service: his conviction is as radiant as the sun in a cloudless sky in the middle of the day; so is his conscience. Ambrosiastes writes: “since the God of the Christians is the same, Who was the God of the Jews, the Apostle does not falsely testify that he gives thanks to the same God, Whom he served from his ancestors. If he professes and preaches the same thing that his ancestors hoped for, then their faith is one and the same. Thus, since he entered into the inheritance of his ancestors’ service to God and since it was already in them when they served God, he righteously says: “He is the one I serve from my ancestors.” But how does he say: “with a clear conscience” - when he persecuted the Church? He persecuted the Church, but in such a way that he did it out of love for God, and not out of malice.” We read the same thing from Blessed Theophylact: “how with a clear conscience, when in the beginning he did not know Christ? This is what he says, either by conscience he means life: for although he was a Judaizer, he was irreproachable in life, or because when he persecuted the Church, he persecuted out of jealousy, and not out of any human motives, as others stand for heresy for the sake of glory, fully aware of its rottenness. He speaks about all this, as if inspiring: do not suspect that I have one thing in mind and another in words; My conscience is clear, as always, and now. So I’m not lying when I say that I love you and always remember you” (This is abbreviated from St. Chrysostom, the same is Ecumenius.) “Like the imam, I remember you constantly in my prayers.” “He says: “I have unceasing memory” - and not simply, but: “in my prayers”; that is, this is included in my prayer; at all times, I unceasingly fulfill this: for this is expressed by the words: “day and night” (St. Chrysostom). In prayer, memory is sacred memory, sanctified by God, revered, and, therefore, included in the work of achieving salvation. True worshipers of God do nothing. those who disagree with reverence before God are not allowed to do anything with which in a clear conscience they could not present themselves to God in their prayers. Such was the Apostle’s memory of Saint Timothy - pure, holy, having nothing carnal. 2 Timothy 1:4. Wanting to see you, remembering your tears, may I be filled with joy. The subject of the prayer is to see Saint Timothy, because this was very desirable, επιποθων, - ardently desiring this. “Day and night,” he says, “I pray to God that He will fulfill my ardent desire to see you” (Blessed Theophylact). “Do you see the fiery affection? Do you see the abundance of love? (Saint Chrysostom). Perhaps this desire to see is exhibited here as evidence that if he did not return to Ephesus to him, then the reason for this is not the cooling of love, but the course of circumstances that do not depend on his will. Saint Chrysostom says: “Notice how at the very beginning he justifies himself before him that he himself did not come to see him; for the words: “until I will come” - and also: “I hope to come to you soon” (1 Tim. 4:13; 3:14) - made us expect his speedy arrival. Therefore, he is immediately justified. However, he does not suddenly talk about the reason why he did not come, so as not to sadden him too much - the reason was that he was detained by Caesar (Nero), - but at the end, when he invited him to himself, he revealed it. At the beginning, it does not sadden him, but expresses a desire to see him.” With the words: “wanting to see you,” he leads him to think: “could I arbitrarily deprive myself of the pleasure of seeing you, if I had the opportunity to come to you?” (Blessed Theophylact). “Remembering your tears.” It was desirable for the Apostle to see him not only because of his love for him, but also because of his love for himself, which he showed by shedding tears, probably when, leaving him, the Apostle said goodbye to him. “The Apostle shows here that he does this (prays to see him) not simply, and not without reason, but: “remembering,” he says, “your tears.” Separating from Paul, he probably cried and sobbed more than a child weaned from the nurse’s breasts and from milk” (St. Chrysostom). Remembering this, the Apostle seems to be saying to him: I wish to see you, loving you. “But if I were extremely insensitive, cruel and inhuman, even then I could not help but have such a desire; for your tears, which I remember, could soften me” (St. Chrysostom). Why, when after this the Apostle says: “Let me be filled with joy,” he simultaneously gives the thought: so that your tears can be dried. The tears of Saint Timothy could not help but echo deep sadness about the separation in the heart of Saint Paul. Hence, it is natural both to want to meet and to have a presentiment of joy from it in both. Ambrosiastes writes: “The Apostle assures that he remembers a lot about Timothy and longs to see him because of the memory of his tears, which he shed out of love for the Apostle when he, as a matter of course, left him. It is not without reason that he wants to see the one who loves him so much, so as to be filled with joy from mutual joy.” With all this, the Apostle testified to his warm, fatherly love for Saint Timothy. bb) Praise be given to him and his family for their faith (2 Tim. 1:5) 2Tim.1:5. Receiving the memory of the unfeigned faith that exists in you, which was first infused in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice: I am known, as I am in you. By expressing his love for Timothy, Saint Paul renewed his love for himself and, thereby warming his heart, made him ready to receive lessons, just as heated wax is ready to receive seals. Now he prepares his hand to accept these lessons, restoring the power of faith by reminding him of it, as it is in him and in his family. “Remembering,” he said, “your tears,” I wish to see you again and I pray for that. But tears are natural; nevertheless, everything natural in spiritual relations loses its power if it is not sanctified by faith; and only this sanctification invests it with a certain conventional meaning. Therefore, the Apostle immediately adds: “receiving the remembrance of the unfeigned faith that is in you.” “Not only for tears (I wish to see you), but also for faith, since you are a servant of truth, and there is no hypocrisy in you” (St. Chrysostom). “And I am pleased mainly by the sincerity of your faith” (Blessed Theodoret). The previous words revived in the soul of Saint Timothy the feelings and dispositions common among those who have lived together for a long time and become related; the reminder of faith gives them a different tone and transports them to another area, detached, sober; and praise for faith, seemingly sincere and unhypocritical, could not but arouse zeal for faith, out of a desire to maintain oneself exactly as one is praised. In order to bring this jealousy into even stronger tension, the Apostle also reminds us of the faith of the Timofeev family. Faith, he says, lives in you, “even as it first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunicia.” “You,” he says, “come from a house that has long served Christ. You have had this blessing for a long time; You received the unfeigned faith from your ancestors” (Saint Chrysostom). A reminder of the spirit and character of the clan necessarily encourages relatives to maintain this spirit and character. This is what the Apostle meant when he said this. “With a commendable reminder of his ancestors, he strengthens faith in his disciple” (Blessed Theodoret). Since “the virtues of our ancestors, if we imitate them, belong to us, and if we do not imitate them, they have no power, but still serve to our condemnation” (St. Chrysostom); That fear, not to fall behind the family and not to be put to shame, naturally irritated in Saint Timothy jealousy about his valor, that is, faith; especially when such persons as grandmother and mother are exhibited, whose very name, when heard, warms the heart. If in general “nothing is as effective as a home example” (Blessed Theodoret), then the example of a grandmother and mother is the more powerful the more gentle it attracts. “I am known, just as I am in you.” And you did not lag behind them, and faith was instilled in you long ago. “Known”, πεπεισμαι, - “I don’t guess, but I am convinced and completely sure” (St. Chrysostom). A new incentive to be zealous for the faith. For it turned out that if you, after this, weaken in this jealousy, you will go against yourself, you will be a traitor to yourself. The Apostle mentioned his ancestors above and now remembers the ancestors of Saint Timothy in order to inspire: our root is sanctified by faith; Therefore, we should, taking healthy juices from this root, blossom according to the type of these juices. Or maybe his words have the same power as such a speech in the mouths of soldiers: you and I are old warriors. cv) Reminder of the rekindling of the gift of Apostolic succession (2 Tim. 1:6) 2 Timothy 1:6. Even for the sake of guilt, I remember you to kindle the gift of God that lives in you by laying on my hand. Having prepared Saint Timothy in this way, Saint Paul already reliably commands him to zealously fulfill the work entrusted to him, the work to which he is called by ordination - the work of shepherding or Apostolic succession. The Apostle called the active fulfillment of this the rekindling of the gift of God, which began to live in him by virtue of his ordination. Shepherding or Apostolic succession is not a matter of external determination, as is the case in civil offices, but is a consequence of the internal grace-filled making of a shepherd, by virtue of which the chosen one is made capable of shepherding and is sealed as a shepherd, so that, whether he fulfills his work or not, he is still a shepherd, according to the gift of grace living in him. He who performs the work of shepherding as it should warms and inflates it; the one who does not perform – repays. Here the same thing happens as with those who received talents, according to the parable: one puts the received talent into circulation, the other buries it in the ground. Both tributary expressions mean the same thing: it is not enough to receive the gift of grace; it is necessary to warm it up, or develop it, by working in doing the work for which it is given. The Apostle expressed this with the word: αναζωπυρειν - to fan, - to give enough ventilation, - or air flow, so that the fire does not go out, but flares up more and more. What the flow of air is to fire, so are the labors of the gift of grace to this gift. This is what the Apostle reminds Saint Timothy of, saying: “even for the sake of guilt I remember you to warm up the gift of God.” But what is this for the sake of guilt? for the sake of the faith that lives in him and his generation. This faith obliges him to kindle the gift of God. By faith the gift is given, by faith and accepted; but faith also represents the strongest motives for zealous action according to the gift. The apostle says, as it were: after I have revived faith in you with previous memories, I do not need to convince you for a long time, but only need to remind you to kindle your gift. But here we can further understand: since you believe sincerely, then therefore work harder to kindle your gift; look, don’t be careless; with faith, not rekindling the gift is an unimaginable incongruity. Saint Chrysostom says: “I know that you have unfeigned faith, and therefore I remind you: you need to have zeal in order to kindle the gift of God. Just as fire requires wood, so grace requires our zeal to ignite it. “The gift of God,” that is, the grace of the Spirit, which you accepted for leadership in the Church, for signs and all ministry. “Reheat” - because it depends on us to both extinguish and ignite it. Therefore, in another place he says: “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Sol. 5:19). From carelessness and laziness it fades away, from attention and zeal it ignites.” The Epistle has two parts: the first, large and most important, instructive for Saint Timothy (1, 7 - 4, 8); the second, smaller one, in the form of an afterword and postscript, personally concerning Saint Paul, is circumstantial (4, 9 – 22). One can, however, believe that for the Apostle, abandoned by almost everyone, the main need was to call Saint Timothy to him, for which it was necessary to explain his position. But since he did not know for sure whether he would remain alive before the arrival of Saint Timothy, he wrote to him instructions on shepherding in addition to those given in the First Epistle. He could have conveyed these instructions to Saint Timothy personally upon his arrival. But since he could not possibly believe that he would be alive while he was alive, he decided to place them in the Epistle. Thus, for St. Timothy and for us, the most important part is the first one - the edifying one. We will limit the division of the Message to this, calling the last, circumstantial, afterword. Here, in this main part, you can see two sections: A) the first talks about the pastoral activity itself. This is actually the instructive section (1, 7 – 3, 9).-A: B) in the second, Saint Timothy is inspired to properly go through it in all parts (3, 10 – 4, 8). This is an inspiring department. Both branches, in their parts, correspond to one another. You might be interested in: