117. Слово в день Рождества Христова

(Said in the Chudov Monastery, December 25; printed separately, in the Christian Reading of 1835 and in the meetings of 1844 and 1848) And the Angel said to them: Do not be afraid; Behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all people. As if today a Savior was born to you, who is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:10–11). What joy the Angel proclaims to the shepherds of Bethlehem! Truly “great joy.” And how, according to his foreshadowing, this is such a joy, “which will be for all people”: now, after the fulfillment of the foreshadowing, this joy, without a doubt, belongs to you, those present here, to all the people of God, from great to small, to everyone who does not close the eye of the mind in order to know it, and does not harden the heart in order to feel it. What kind of joy is this? - The angel explains: “as if you were born today”... I interrupt the messenger’s speech in order to show the beginning of joy at the very beginning of his speech. Birth is always more or less joyful, because it represents the expansion and triumph of life: since, on the contrary, death is always more or less sad, because, having consumed one life, it threatens all remaining lives of the same kind. In particular, birth is joyful for those to whom, or to whom and for whom a baby is born. If he is born to a famous family: joy to that family. If he is born to the people and the state, such as the son of kings and especially the heir to the throne: - joy to the whole people and kingdom. The angel says: “Be born unto you.” To whom? Is it really only the shepherds of Bethlehem, to whom the word of the Angel came? But 542 The Angel has already said that there will be joy “to all people”: this shows that through the shepherds he looks at all people, and therefore precisely proclaims joy “to all people”, that the announced baby is born “to you, to all people”, not to a family, not to a people, but to all people in the world, as there is, was and will be. What great joy! Now you can each rejoice for yourself, and for the entire human race, for those who have outlived their lives, and those who have passed into eternity, whom you either remember with sadness, or do not know what to think about them, and for your descendants, about whom you may be concerned about how they will live. But let us further inquire from the Angel why the birth he announces should bring universal joy. He says: “For today the Savior was born to you.” In the history of the people of God, more than once we see famous men appearing who for them were instruments of God’s salvation. “The Lord raised up judges for them, and the Lord was with the judge, and I saved them from the hands of their enemies all the days of the judge” (Judges 2:18). It also happened that such salvation was announced by an Angel, as for example to Gideon: “Go into this fortress of yours, and save Israel from the hand of Midian” (Judges 6:14). But these temporary and private salvations could not be a subject of joy for “all people.” Because they did not extend to everyone, and soon 544 gave way to new evil and disaster. “The judge died, and turned away, and was again corrupted more than his father” (Judges 2:19). Now the Savior is born to all people - the true Savior, of Whom all the men of strength and salvation famous in sacred antiquity were only a weak image - the universal Savior, whose salvation extends to everyone who does not want to perish voluntarily - the everlasting Savior, on those saved by Whom no new destruction dares to come. The messenger of joy further explains it: “to you be born this day a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Apparently the Bethlehem shepherds already had some understanding of Christ, when the heavenly Messenger, seeing their thoughts, hoped to sufficiently enlighten them about the greatness of the joy being proclaimed, saying that the one being proclaimed is “Christ.” And it was truly impossible for them not to sometimes hear in the Jerusalem temple the psalm voice, which from there spread to our churches: “The Lord has saved His Christ” (Ps. 19:7). And again: “The Lord is the strengthener of His people and the protector of the salvation of His Christ” (Ps. 27:8). However, these very voices of the psalms allow us to understand in what sublime sign the Angel spoke about Christ to the shepherds. The Psalms represent Christ being saved, in order to then serve the salvation of others: in the words of the Angel, Christ is saving, having no need of any salvation 545 for Himself, having the power of salvation in His own being, and acting with it unlimitedly: “Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” The psalmist learns, as if something new, that the Lord protects Christ, protects, saves: “now,” he says, “I know that the Lord has saved His Christ” (Ps. 19:7): An angel proclaims Christ, who is the Lord himself, - Christ, that is, the anointed of God, whom God, as another Prophet says, “anointed, brought good news to the poor, an ambassador to heal to the brokenhearted, preach release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, call the year of the Lord pleasant, and the day of recompense, to comfort all who mourn, to give to those who mourn in Zion glory instead of ashes, an anointing of joy to those who mourn, an adornment of glory instead of the spirit of despondency” (Isa. 61: 1-3), but Who at the same time is Himself Lord and God, able in Himself to save not only those who are threatened destruction, those close to destruction, those who are already perishing, but also to save the dead, to resurrect the dead, to justify those condemned, to bless those under oath for breaking the law, to transform the slaves of hell into children of God. O boundless joy, stretching from heaven to hell, longed for like salvation, sweet and delightful like the anointing of the Spirit of God, powerful like the Lord who is the author of it! I would be silent now: because this is too enough to feel it, since, on the contrary, no word would be enough to fully depict it. But the Angel's sermon was not over yet. Let's listen to it to the end. He also wants to show a “sign” - a sign by which they would see more closely the joy he proclaims, recognize it better, and be more fully convinced of it: “and behold, this is a sign for you.” What kind of sign is this? Where is it? Show us. Here it is: “You will find a midwife lying in a manger” (Luke 2:12). Ah, the messenger of joy! Have you not destroyed it, thinking to exalt it and confirm it with a sign? What joy is it to see a baby not in purple or fine linen, not in a palace, or in a bright house, not even in a hut, not even in a cradle, because there was neither a hut nor a cradle for him, but “in a manger,” and consequently in some dwelling of the dumb, or in an empty place, not protected from the December night air? At such a sight, would you not rather regret the mother and the child born, or fear for the life of the baby, than rejoice? “But one cannot even imagine that the Heavenly Messenger would appear to deceive the earth with a false promise, or an untrue sign of joy.” If to us earth-borns what he points out as a sign of joy does not seem to us a sign of joy: is it not because the pure, heavenly eye sees things better than the earthly eye, which is not suddenly cleared of the dust of vanity? “Let us purify our senses and see” 546; let us clear our minds and understand the mystery of Christ the Lord 547; Let us cleanse our hearts and enjoy His joy through outward forms of sorrow. Having thought better, I begin to understand the Angel, and I recognize 548 that the unprecedented sight of “the midwife lying in a manger” is a “sign” not so much of unprecedented need and distress, but of unprecedented joy. For tell me, in what other form did you wish to find the Savior, Christ the Lord, who was born to you today? Is it in the heavenly glory characteristic of Him as the Lord? - But the Cherubim themselves tremble at this glory, and cover their faces before it. How could we, earth-born, mortal, sinners, resist it? Is it even in earthly glory? – But would this spectacle be more joyful than the spectacle of simple swaddling clothes and a humble manger? Is earthly glory accessible to many? And is it anything more than just a superficial sheen? For those who look at its brilliance, it is for the most part unattainable; and those from whom this brilliance emanates know 549 that earthly glory is not a sure sign of joy. No! Let us stop looking for signs of joy with our daring but unreliable fortune-telling: let us delve deeper into the sign that is shown to us. Why do we need a sign of joy? - Because we don’t have enough joy. Why do we need a Savior, Christ the Lord? - Because we are afraid of death. Why the lack of joy, why the fear of death? Because we are at a distance from the life of God; because we live in sinful corruption. And if so: then isn’t it a good sign that the Savior born to us begins to appear where the first punishment of sin turned out to be, according to the saying of the Judge: “in sickness give birth to children” (Gen. 3:16)? Like a wise doctor, He approaches with His medical, Divine power to the very beginning and root of our illness, our sinful corruption: what better sign could there be of the expected healing? From this deep and wise beginning it is not difficult to conclude how perfect He prepares healing. It is also not unimportant that, descending to a humble birth, He also descends to a humble manger 550. Through this He gives a special sign that, even if sin has lowered you to bestial passions and lusts, even if you were forced by your conscience to turn the prophetic reproof on yourself: “a man who is ignorant of honor, is likened to foolish cattle and becomes like them” (Ps. 48:13); and then you should not despair of the condescension of your Savior, Who, not disdaining to lie down in a manger, will not disdain to rest your soul in the manger with His grace and His peace, if only you cast yourself before Him by repentance and faith. And so “come, all you who labor and are burdened” (Matthew 11:28) with sins, disasters, torments of conscience, fear of eternal condemnation and destruction; This is a sign of salvation for you, and therefore all the joy you desire; - This is a sign for you: “You will find a midwife lying in a manger, who is the Savior, Christ the Lord.” Come to the “baby” Savior, and be like children with gentleness and meekness. Come to Him as a midwife; and bind your sinful self-will; surrender your will to the will of your Savior. Come “to him that lies in the manger”; and reject unclean, bestial life, and in its place establish spiritual life. Come to the silent Word, with the silent cries of an unceasingly praying heart: and God the Word will speak into your hearts His inexpressible joy. Then you will understand the heavenly Messenger of joy; then shout from the Matter the born Christ; “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Luke 1:46–47). Amen. In the department ed. and Christ. Reader: But they had neither kinship, nor acquaintance, in a word, nothing in common with Joseph and Mary, with whom they later found the baby announced by the Angel. To whom was it said: “to you be born”? In the department ed. and Christ. Read: for your survivors... In the department ed. and Christ. Reader: and not for long... In the department ed. and Christ. Read: not in any outside salvation... Easter canon, canticle 1, troparion 1. In the department ed., Christ. Read and collection 1844: the mystery of Christ;.. In the department ed. и в Христ. Reader: and I talk to the Angel... In the department ed. и в Христ. Reader: for those for whom it shines, it is mostly unattainable; and those who know her know... In the department ed. и в Христ. Read: descending to the sorrows of birth, He also descends to the despised manger. You might be interested in: