114. Слово в день тезоименитства Его Императорского Величества Благочестивейшаго Государя Императора Николая Павловича и пред торжественным обетом сердобольных вдов

(Said in the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, in the Widow's House, December 6th; printed in the Christian Reading of 1834 and in the collections of 1835, 1844 and 1848.) God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, who passed through doing good and healing. (Acts 10:38). On the day adorned with the name of the Most Pious Emperor, the closest word would be about our well-being under the protective canopy of the mighty name of the “Conqueror of the People,” which so happily, with all the fullness of its sign, met the spirit called him, who punishes the peoples with threefold power: wisdom, power and love. But the wave of the Autocrat himself indicates a different direction to my thoughts, assigns a different subject to my word - disaster and compassion. For then, as we celebrate the holiday of loyal love, the Most Pious Sovereign wants that now, right here, there will be a holiday of the Tsar’s love for mankind. Then, as we bring prayers to this Altar for His invaluable health to us, He brings here His compassionate care for the sick, and instructs us to consecrate the living instruments of His own compassion. Let us follow, brethren, the Christian movement of the Tsarev’s heart, and let us think about that special kind of love for mankind, which has as its object the sick. And firstly, let us demand this kind of philanthropy as much attention as it deserves in various respects. Some of the deeds of love for mankind, which, according to the Gospel, will give the right to blessing at the judgment of Christ, and to the call to bliss, are presented to attention without being sought, and offer themselves to us. The hungry, the thirsty, the wanderer in need of clothing, appear, come, speak of their need, show it; in them the virtue of philanthropy follows us, pursues us, wants to squeeze into our homes: just don’t run away; just don't lock the doors. But he who is in distress with illness lies: who will see him? If he asks for help: who will hear him? And often, the more help he needs, the less he can explain his need, and even understand and feel it. Take care of compassion for the sick, which bothers you less than other types of philanthropy; go, look for this virtue, because it cannot follow you. Sometimes the reason for the inattention of the prosperous to certain disasters can be assumed to be the fact that they were not experienced; – that they don’t always believe the sight of a disaster; - that they consider the poor person to be responsible for his misfortune. For example, what it means to be hungry due to a lack of bread, most of us do not know from experience, even at a time that others call hunger. Compassion for those imprisoned can be cooled by the thought that they imprisoned themselves there, by their own deeds. This is not the scourge of illness. Even if you have walked the path of life for quite a long time, blamelessly and safely, without encountering it, however, it is more than likely that it will meet you further, in old age, before death. So, on the bed of a sick person, have compassion for him, and for yourself; and, remembering the law of Providence, which can so often be read in events, even if it had not been written in the Gospel: “measure in the least measure, it will be measured back to you” (Matthew 7:2), - take care to console and alleviate the sick, so that one day Providence will send you the necessary consolation and relief. According to the greatness of the disaster, compassionate attention to the distressed must be great. Although it is difficult to determine the greatness of the disaster, because our disaster usually seems to us greater than someone else’s, and what we actually experience is greater than what is heard or imagined in our thoughts: but the example of the long-suffering Job allows us to understand how great the disaster of illness can be in comparison with other misfortunes. Overtaken by poverty and childlessness, he still reasoned generously and blessed God: but stricken with illness, “Job opened his mouth and cursed his day” (Job 3:1). Due to this greatness of the misfortune of some sick people, doing good to the sick is presented in the Gospel not only as a commendable deed of human virtue, but also as a high deed of Divine love for mankind, and among the man-loving deeds of Jesus Christ himself shines with special glory. And He fed the hungry, once in the wilderness He fed five thousand people with five loaves, and on another occasion four thousand with seven loaves; and visiting the sick or receiving those who came, he healed every ailment and every illness among people. Both types of beneficence were wonderful: but when the Apostle Peter, preparing Cornelius and some other pagans for entry into Christianity, had to depict for them the Divinity of the face of Jesus Christ, and the high beneficence of His deeds, the preacher’s attention especially focused on the second type of beneficence. “Anointing,” he says, “is His God with the Holy Spirit and power, Who passed through doing good and healing.” So, healing is a Divine work: but therefore, visiting the sick, comforting, relieving, strengthening in spirit, is such a human benefit that follows the Divine. Finally, we cannot fail to mention the special importance of visiting the sick in the sense that the state of illness often turns into the threshold of death. An important field of earthly life is the last, where the previous ones are completed with a successful final feat, and even sometimes, more or less, the lack thereof is made up for, or, on the contrary, the undone end more or less overshadows the whole matter; – where presence of mind in a decisive battle wins eternal victory, or, on the contrary, a cowardly and useless effort to escape death is threatened by irrevocable captivity; - where with a few remaining steps a person steps into the sky, or steps into the abyss! Incomprehensible, and therefore intractable and unsafe, the final battle between corruption and incorruption, the decaying person with the renewed one, connecting the body with the liberated soul, earthly habits and affections with heavenly desires, memories of the past with hopes and fears of the future! Sometimes the declining strength of the body, the soul that has not renounced the body, are, so to speak, covered with its ruins, and the sick person does not see the approaching death, does not remember his previously perceived intentions, does not notice the importance of the upcoming feat, does not seek benefits. Approach this wavering ascetic, fresh, spare warrior; remind him of the preparations for a decisive battle, support him in his feat, give him spiritual weapons: the shield of faith, and the helmet of the hope of salvation; strengthen him with strength from the treasures of grace; help his spirit, through the ruins of the flesh, to rise to the Father of Spirits; With the comforting and life-giving Divine word, and the quiet breath of prayer, straighten and lift up the wings of the flying soul. Who knows? Perhaps, having infallibly completed its high flight, she, out of the reciprocity of timeless love, will one day return to you, like a dove to Noah, with an unfading branch of the world, when the time comes for your soul to leave the ark of the mortal body to the land of the living, immortal. If these reflections give you, brethren, some idea of ​​how worthy of attention and exercise a humane and Christian visit to the sick is: then it remains for me, secondly, to briefly indicate the disposition in which such a visit should be in order for it to be truly useful. Visiting the sick should be undertaken out of a sense of duty and, at the same time, out of free will. Arbitrariness alone would not ensure constancy in this task, which is often tedious. With just an involuntary sense of duty, this matter would be cold and dead, tasteless for the visitor, unnutritious for the visited. Therefore, especially to you, called sisters of compassion, time of preparation is given to test your free disposition; and then the sense of duty is reinforced by a vow. When visiting the sick, Christian love should be an inseparable companion. With love, like every other thing, this is easy for the one doing it, and pleasant for the one for whom it is done. Most importantly, Christian love, as in all respects is, according to the Apostle’s saying, “the fulfillment of the law” (Rom. 13:10), and in relation to the sick, alone can replace all the rules, or, if necessary, give them, accept them, and fulfill them. She will try to give the patient every possible consolation, except the harmful one; and reward him with bitter but saving medicine. This love will call meekness and patience to the sick bed, to which, however, special attention must be paid so that they do not leave here. As the Apostle said about the actions of the old man: “It is not I who do these things, but sin that lives in me” (Rom. 7:20): so about the dispositions of a sick person one can sometimes say: it is not he, but the disease. She can be unusually irritable, impatient, stubborn in him: if you do not maintain meekness and patience in dealing with him, then you can spill oil on the fire, and, moreover, on the destructive fire. Finally, bring the sick person to the bed—be sure to bring faith and prayer. If you already find it in feelings of faith and prayer: apply your incense to his incense, and support the fire of his incense with the breath of your prayer. If, unfortunately, his censer is not lit, neither the warmth of faith nor the fragrance of prayer is noticeable in him: nevertheless, use your faith and prayer here too. If a dead burning coal, through its approach, ignites another dead, cold coal: isn’t it more possible for a heart, animated and ignited by living faith and prayer, to kindle the same fire in another, even a completely cold, even half-dead heart? Do not hesitate to bring your burning censer closer to this unlit coal; and by a quiet but constant direction of the will acting with God, bring upon him a life-giving spiritual fire. Perhaps it is not too late to kindle at least a small spark of spiritual life in the fading life of the flesh: and then you have accomplished not only the greatest benefit to man, but also apostolic service to God. Cases may arise for everyone to use these thoughts and advice; and for those now called to compassionate service to the sick, may they be a parting word for this God-pleasing service. Amen. You might be interested in: