101. Слово в день обретения мощей Преподобного Сергия 506

(Printed in Christian Reading 1839 and in collections 1844 and 1848) In the blessing of the righteous the city will rise; the mouth of the wicked will be dug up. (Prov.11:11). This is an extraordinary type of building art, which is probably not known to everyone, and to others will seem completely unrealizable. The city is being created: what do you think? Wealth? art? power? crowded? - According to Solomon, not by those words, but by the kind words of good people: “in the blessing of the upright.” And on the contrary, the city is being destroyed: by what? weapons of enemies? fire? water? earthquake? - Again, not with that, but with the evil words of evil people: “the mouth of the wicked will be dug up.” How powerful and beneficial, according to Solomon, is the blessing! And how destructive are evil words. But if Solomon had not revealed this secret of the word in Palestine, then we could have guessed about it by carefully examining the place where we are now. There was here a desert, uninhabited, not cultivated by human hands, not marked by human traces. But here the blessing of one righteous man appeared, or a few more with him: and what was predicted by the Prophet to the righteous and God-pleasing man was accomplished: “Your eternal deserts will be created and your eternal foundations will be a generation of generations; and you are called the builder of fences, and your paths are in the midst of rest” (Is. 58:12). The desert became like cities, with prosperity and population, it was created stronger than cities, because it did not fall even during the repeated fall of the reigning city; raised above the cities, because under its shadow the inhabitants of cities and towns come, bringing here to the Righteous gifts that he never sought, and honor from which he always ran away; and they do all this because they see in their neighbors, they experience for themselves how powerful and beneficial the blessing of this Righteous One is. This predisposes me to some thoughts “about blessing,” which, perhaps, for others will not be superfluous. Blessing, by its name, comes from a good word. If you want to find out where the good word comes from, where is its original source, and the deepest root of its power: then you will find, according to the instructions of the Divine sage John, that “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word: in Him was life, and life was light of man” (John 1:1-4). Since man was created in the image of God: from this we can conclude that in the gift of speech he received something in the image of the creative Word of God. Saint John brings this idea to the highest degree of significance when he says that the very life or power that is in God the Word has become the light of men. The inner light of a person manifests itself in words. So, since God the Word “spoke and came” (Ps. 33:9), and, moreover, “all good things” (Gen. 1:31): it is not surprising that a person, when he is in an exalted state of the image of God, out of the fullness of faith in God the Word, Whose “life is the light of man,” from the depths of the goodness of the heart, utters the word, and it acts, turns out to be powerful, creates good. The reflection now proposed must be reliable: because it is based on the immutable truth of Holy Scripture. But so that no one doubts whether our conclusion is correctly drawn from Divine truth: we present to you the testimony of a holy Man, who from the same beginning with us drew the same conclusion as us. Deep, with all the simplicity of his words, a contemplator of things Divine and human, Macarius of Egypt, about the state of man, “when he was still a partaker of the heavenly image,” writes the following: “as long as the Word of God was with him, and he kept the commandment, he had everything.” And further: “the Word itself, existing in him, was everything to him, that is, it was to him both reason, and feeling, and heritage, and teaching. What does John say about the Word? "In the beginning was the Word". See that the Word was all.” And again: “The Word was all to him, and as long as he kept the commandment, he was a friend to God” (Conversations XII. 167–167; 6–8). The Word of God was everything to man; He had everything in the Word of God, says Saint Macarius. I’m just finishing it off: the Word of God was to man and the power of his own human word; in the Word of God he also had the power of blessing. It is not surprising if this power was great: on the contrary, it is very natural when it came so close to the Divine principle. It would be much stranger to imagine it as limited in a perfect person as in people alienated from the life of God. The ordinary human mind does not know the spiritual power of the word, and is even afraid of guesses about it. This is almost how it should be: since he takes the images of his knowledge no longer from that person who was created in the image of God, but from the one who, having fallen from this height by sin, “was joined,” as the Psalmist says, “to foolish cattle and became like them” (Ps. 49:13). And to this man belongs this very reason, which now discusses the abilities and powers of man. What kind of wisdom can we expect from such a mind? He, like a blind man, touches his eye, and, unable to feel the light in it, concludes that the sun is just as not in the sky as it is not in his eyes, and that to believe in the existence and action of the sun and light would be superstition and daydreaming. This blind man needs, and it was written for him, this medical advice from a seer: “Anoint your eyes with collurium, so that you can see” (Rev. 3:18), be cured of the blindness of gross sensuality; anoint the eye of understanding with the subtle ointment of faith in the spiritual and Divine: then you will truly see. Moreover, if we want to see or cognize spiritual power and action, then we must choose as the object of observation not carnal people, although they are always in the eye, but spiritual people, although these are not often encountered; - people who, through moral purification and self-sacrifice, have reduced the severity of the substance that suppresses the human spirit, and by constantly turning their minds and hearts to God, they have come closer to Him, returned to the communion of the heavenly image, and resumed internal communion with the Word and Spirit of God. If you are, as you should be, inclined towards this kind of observation, then it is not difficult for me to show you in experiments how much is contained in the expression of Cleopas: “a man is strong in speech” (Luke 24:19). With a word, Joshua stopped the sun. “Out of the mouth of the word” (1 Kings 17:1) Elijah depended on dew and rain for three and a half years. “According to the word of the Lord, which He spoke by the hand of Elijah” (1 Kings 17:16), a handful of flour in a waterpot, and an equally small amount of oil in a chvantse, was enough for the entire time of famine. By threefold inspiration and the word of Elijah, the son of the widow of Sarepta was resurrected. Elisha corrected the malignant springs of Jericho by pouring salt into them: but as everyone knows that salt does not have such power, then one must necessarily conclude that the power of this action was in this word of the Prophet: “Here saith the Lord: Heal these waters” (2 Kings 2:21). With a word, the Apostle Peter healed the lame man and raised Tabitha. Without collecting more examples, I will note in particular, as is clear in some of the ones given now, the action of the Word of God in the word of man, such as: in the words of Elisha: “to the Lord says”, and in the words of the Apostle Peter to the lame: “in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk” (Acts 3:6). In other cases, apparently, differently, like this: the same Apostle says to Tabitha, as if in his own word: “Tabitha, arise” (Acts 9:40). But the previous incident leaves no doubt that here, although it is not manifested by name and sounds, the same Word of God, dwelling in the Holy Apostle, acts by force. If in this way it is known that the Word of God, whether appearing openly in the mouths of people close to God, or acting secretly from their hearts, creates miraculous works, in some way imitating the creative actions of the Divine: then it should no less be clear and reliable that the same Word of God, through the same people, in the same ways, speaks and teaches blessings, in some way imitating the actions of Divine Providence. So to bless, in the strongest sense of this word, means to extend the action of God’s Word to God’s creations. The one who blesses is the one who mediates with good will between the Word of God and God’s creation. According to this concept, the supreme and universal dispenser of blessings is Jesus Christ, the Intercessor of God and men, the God-man, in whom “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14). That is why blessing was the most ancient feature with which He was designated even to the Patriarchs, for example, to Abraham: “all the nations of the earth will be blessed because of your seed” (Gen. 22:18). That is why the Apostle, wanting to depict the benefits of Christ to the human race, said that God the Father “has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly things in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). That is why we, when teaching our borrowed blessing, usually use the name of Jesus Christ, in particular, or as part of the name of the Most Holy Trinity, and the sign of the cross of Christ. Of the teachers of borrowed blessing, parents are in some way natural intermediaries between the creative Word and their children: because in some way they completed the work of creation on them, bringing them into the world. That is why parental blessing is naturally important and powerful, especially if through piety it is elevated to the power of grace. In this way, the blessings of the Patriarchs are amazing. For example, the blessing of Shem to Japheth: “may God spread Japheth” (Gen. 9:27), now, after several thousand years, how strongly it still works in the descendants of Japheth, the Europeans, who do not cease to spread their settlements, trade, power, religion, and morals to all countries of the world. The priest is the dispenser of blessings, according to the order of grace-filled secret teaching. Even in the original decree about the legal priesthood, God said to the priests: “Bless the children of Israel” (Numbers 6:23). And again about them: “Let them put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless the Lord” (Numbers 6:27). And in the New Testament, when the Lord commanded the Apostles, and the successors of their ministry until the end of the age, to teach, baptize, and generally perform the mysteries, “in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19), He placed through this the power of His blessing in them, and gave them the authority to teach it. By this judge whether the blessing of the priesthood is worthy of attention. Think not about by what hand, or in what vessel, but by what Divine Vine the spiritual wine is given to you through the blessing of a servant of Christ. However, it is also true that “if anyone cleanses it for himself, the vessel will be sanctified in honor and useful to the Master, prepared for every good work” (2 Tim. 2:21). Therefore, the Saints, as vessels purified by faith and spiritual deeds, filled with grace, opened and overflowing with love, are not so much recipients and distributors of blessings, for a time, according to position, according to need, but rather living streams of blessings, inexhaustibly flowing and irrigating. The blessing of Christ continually pours into them, and overflows through them, “like ointment on the head, which comes down on Aaron’s brotherhood, like the dew of Aermon that comes down on the mountains of Zion: for there is the commandment of the Lord, blessing and life forever” (Psalm 133:2-3). It pours light and peace into souls, healing into bodies, prosperity into endeavors and deeds, improvement into places, invisible, but richly and variedly fruitful heavenly dew onto the earth. The Jews were sent for a blessing to Jerusalem, to the mountains of Zion: “for there is a commandment of the Lord to bless” (Psalm 132:3). How much more prosperous are we, Christians! For us it became more open and closer. Both there and here the commandment is the Lord's blessing. Let us understand the blessing. How desirable must be that which the all-satisfied God himself desires! And He desires, He demands from us, and from all His creations, blessings: “Bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord” (Psalm 133:1). “Bless the Lord, all His angels; bless the Lord all His works” (Psalm 102:20–22). Let us also love the blessing, and firstly, the actual blessing of Christ. Let us bow our hearts before every blessing of a holy thing, for the same reason that in it the blessing of God the Word descends. Parents! do not forget to bless your children with a loving heart, and try to increase the power of your natural blessing, attracting the power of grace through piety and faith. Children! Treasure the blessing of your parents a thousand times more than any other inheritance: for through it, by faith, you can receive the blessing of the Father, “of which the whole family in heaven and on earth is named” (Eph. 3:15). “Honor your father and mother in deed and word, may you find blessings from them. For the Father’s blessing establishes the homes of children” (Sir.3:8-9). Because in every true blessing, the beneficial Word of God secretly flows through the person who blesses: then let us think, brethren, what spiritual benefit we have when we bless. Then, as we open our hearts to a person, giving a blessing, God the Word from within opens the entrance into our hearts to His blessing. By giving to man, we receive from God. Therefore, let us accept this Christian commandment as a spiritual blessing and sincerely fulfill it: “Bless you who persecute; bless and do not curse” (Rom. 12:14). The faithful fulfillment of this will truly make us blessed by the Heavenly Father, whom Jesus Christ will call to inherit the Kingdom prepared for such from the foundation of the world. Amen. In the author's manuscript and in Christ. The reading is entitled: The Doctrine of Blessing, taught in the word on the day of the discovery of the relics of St. Sergius in the Lavra. July 5, 1833 You might be interested in: