142. Слово в день Успения Пресвятыя Богородицы

(Spoken in the Assumption Cathedral; printed in the Christian Readings of 1839 and in the collections of 1844 and 1848) Look at the humility of your servant: behold, from now on all generations will bless me. (Luke 1:48). Who who is attentive to the Divine service is not familiar with the often heard Church hymn in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary: “Blessed are you, O Virgin Mother of God”**? If we think about where this song came from, and what its very words indicate: then a wonderful and immense sight will be presented to the contemplating spirit. In the distance of past times, you see that from the humble “Nazareth” to another not glorious city in the mountainous country of Judea 586 comes a poor and unknown Virgin in the world; greets his elderly relative with the usual greeting: but suddenly arouses in her Prophetic delight; is greeted by her as “Mother of the Lord” (Luke 1:43), and, being overwhelmed by such delight, prophesies about herself: “Behold, from now on all generations will bless me” (Luke 1:48). The peoples, the ages, the ends of the universe hear Her voice, and the peoples, the ages, the ends of the universe answer Her: behold, we fulfill your word: “Blessed are all thee, O Virgin Mother of God.” This church, this holiday, this sacred and solemn meeting also belongs to the fulfillment of the prediction of the Most Holy Virgin that all generations will please Her. It also brings joy to what before Her had always been a subject of mourning—the end of earthly life. Let us see from this, brethren, the high dignity of the saying of the Blessed Virgin: “Behold, from now on all generations will bless me.” This is not a simple word of joy, not a fortune-telling that accidentally took on the appearance of a premonition; but prophecy, in the most precise sense of this word, is the verb of the Holy Spirit in the mouth of Mary, the expression of the determination and will of God about Her destiny, and about our duty to Her. Let us also consider the high importance of the tradition, according to which the Universal Church in every Divine service constantly and zealously pleases the Most Holy Mother of the Lord. This is not a simple human tradition, not just a custom introduced by arbitrary zeal, not an imitation of examples of private belief, but the thought of the Holy Spirit transmitted to people, following the wave of the finger of God, the fulfillment of a duty as sacred as it is fair and beneficial for Christianity. The law by which true prophecies are born was depicted by the Apostle Peter in the following words: “It was not by the will of man that prophecy came, but by the Holy Spirit the holy men of God were enlightened” (2 Pet. 1:21). Two signs must be combined in order to reliably show and distinguish such a prophecy. Firstly, the prediction must be one that cannot be deduced from known circumstances through the conclusions of reason, or explained from the natural state of the predictor. Secondly, the prediction must be fulfilled exactly. If a prediction is derived through the conclusions of reason, or is explained from the natural state of the predictor, then this is a human guess, and not a divinely inspired prophecy. If the prediction did not come true exactly: then it is a false and not a true prophecy, or at least not proven to be true. This is how the Prophets themselves teach to judge Prophets. “When the word comes, they will know the prophet whom the Lord has sent to them in faith” (Jer. 28:9). Let us apply these principles to the prediction of the Blessed Virgin. Poor and unknown in the world, the Virgin, from what could she rationally deduce such a magnificent guess, on what could she naturally establish such a huge hope that She would be recognized and glorified not only by the modern world, but also by all generations of all subsequent times? Is it because she was from the line of kings? “But the glory of this family has long passed away; She herself was betrothed to a treemaker, and such a lot is, of course, too far from world fame. Is it because She has already been predicted to be the Matter of Christ? - But if She had reasoned about this according to the wisdom of her time, as even under Christ the Apostles themselves reasoned; and therefore would have expected “the establishment of the kingdom of Israel” (Acts 1:6): how little could this have led Her to the hope of universal and national glory! Which of the kings of Israel is more famous than David? Whose memory in the race of Israel is more blessed than the memory of the ancestor Abraham? But the mothers of Abraham and the mothers of David not only do not please the subsequent generations, but they do not even know their names. How much could the Mother of the Messiah promise Herself based on these examples, naturally reasoning according to the reason and concepts of her people and time? In this regard, we must remember the deep humility of the blessed Mary. Whoever thinks a lot about his dignity, about his virtues, can flatter himself with exaggerated hopes: but Her disposition of spirit was not at all like that. At the same time that She praises God for her election to the high title of Mother of the Lord, she sees herself only as a slave, speaks only of her insignificance: “look at the humility of her servant.” How does She suddenly move from such humble wisdom to such lofty verbs about Herself: “from now on all generations will bless me”? It is obvious that this thought did not arise from Her own seeds of Her mind and heart. The Holy Spirit, to whom She surrendered in the rapture of prayer, enlightened Her mind at that time, moved Her lips, and She uttered what God had ordained for Her, and what, under the guidance of His providence, the Universal Church should fulfill in relation to Her. How the prophecy of the Blessed Virgin reveals signs of the Word of God speaking in Her; so the event of this prediction is marked by signs of the work of God, not only in general, because the event fully corresponds to the prediction, but also in particular, because the event was formed and established not in those ways that would show the ordinary path of nature, or the work of human hands. If one who seeks it, or willingly takes advantage of opportunities to meet it, finds glory in the world: this is the way of the world, this is the work of human hands. But if he who flees glory enters among men into glory, pure, sublime, even greater than human: obviously, this is not the way of the world, not the work of man; here there is a reason to seek the way of God, to discern the finger of God. “I do not accept glory from men” (John 5:41), says the Son of the Virgin Mary; but His glory covers the earth, and it is obvious that this is “the glory that is from the only God” (John 5:44). He arranged the same path of glory for his most pure Mother. Apparently, She, less than others, should have shunned the glory that She predicted for herself: nevertheless, She constantly shunned and ran away from it. When the people were in awe of the divine words of Jesus; when he praised Him for his miracles; when he solemnly welcomed Him as a King: we never see in the Gospel that on such occasions His Mother appeared near Him to share His glory. On the contrary, we see Her hastening to Him with maternal sympathy, when He was dishonored, as if “there are furious ones” (Mark 3:21); We see Her at His cross, sharing His suffering and reproach. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, during the days of His earthly life, was in no hurry to reveal the glory of His Mother, so that what should be an act of high grace would not seem to be a matter of natural, human love. Therefore, it is not surprising that at this time the Apostles, like many other things, did not quite understand what degree of honor and service befits the Mother of the Lord, and it was necessary from the cross to teach the beginnings of this teaching to the beloved disciple: “Behold your mother” (John 19:27). Such was the removal of the Most Holy Theotokos from the glory that awaited Her, in accordance with Her humility, as well as the time when “Jesus was not glorified” (John 7:39). But look how even at this very time Her glory comes through an apparently unpaved path. Like lightning from a cloud, it suddenly shines from the lips of a certain woman, who, in spiritual delight at the Divine words of Jesus, “raised a voice from the people, saying to Him: Blessed is the womb that bore Thee!” (Luke 11:27) The unknown wife, of course, did not hear what the Mother of Jesus, too thirty years old, said to Elizabeth alone: ​​“All the generations will bless me.” But how true is her fulfilling response to this prophecy, not only in thought, but even in the word: “blessed is the womb!” Is it possible not to notice here, from prediction to fulfillment, the one way of God, by which comes “the glory that is from God” - the breath of the one Spirit of God, which begins to strive “for all generations to bless” the Ever-Virgin Mother? When the crucified Lord is glorified by resurrection and ascension into heaven: then the glory of His Divine Mother is no longer instantly shining, like lightning, but, in Solomon’s expression, rising “like the morning,” so that “good, like the moon,” with the Sun of righteousness, the same, after His ascension above all heavens, remained for the earth “chosen, like the sun” ( Song 6:9), in the midst of one ten or twelve stars, that is, the Apostles. “All these,” says the Book of their deeds, “endured with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus” (Acts 1:14). Note that She, having never been seen among the Apostles with Jesus, is now inseparable from their council: “bearing patience,” constantly abiding, with “Mary the matter of Jesus.” What does this new dispensation mean? – Although it can be explained simply by the desire for communication in prayer, with a general expectation of the descent of the Holy Spirit: but, with in-depth attention, something special and more mysterious can be discovered here. If a vessel in which there was a fragrant ointment, and after it is fragrant, and to some extent continues the action of the world itself, how much more so, having become a vessel of the Divinity during the Incarnation, should have been anointed forever with the Divine fragrance of grace from Him whose only name is “poured out ointment” (Song. 1:2); and therefore it is characteristic and, as it were, akin to Her, by Her presence and prayer, to bring closer to people the gracious presence and saving action of the One who once dwelt in Her bodily, and who always Dwells in Her spiritually and Divinely. This, of course, beneficial effect of communion with the Matter of the Lord was felt by the Apostles in their hearts, the more fully, the more they thirsted for such a sensation, in order to make up for the deprivation of visible communion with the ascended Lord; and thus She became the deep focus of their unity, despite the fact that, in Her humility, She continued to evade any form of dominion in their host. “Byahu endured the matter of Jesus with one accord with Mary.” Wonderfully and solemnly, finally, the grace of “chosen like the sun” appeared as the central power of the Church when She, according to the law of the earthly, having known her west on earth, rose on a non-evening heavenly day: for the light of the Spirit showed the Apostles scattered throughout the universe to preach the Gospel this time of the last communication with Her in the visible world, and the attraction of the Spirit united them around Her mortal bed, Her life-receiving coffin. Since then, in the words of the Church, “her God-like glory shines with miracles” ***. In vain the gloomy wisdom of the unjust-minded tried to eclipse Her glory: they only sharpened the zeal of the faithful for Her glorification. Neither the spaces of places, nor the continuation and vicissitudes of times, weaken the radiance of Her glory. No matter how far our late times are from visual communication with Her, this does not prevent faith from contemplating Her, and prayer from approaching Her, among other things, through Her sacred images, and She herself, through secretly communicating images and signs, comes to meet faith and prayer, and extends the grace and beneficial power acquired by Her to all the fulfillment of the Church, which, in accordance with this, pleases all the people. It is as much out of a duty of reverence for the Mother of the Lord as it is out of a feeling of faith, hope and gratitude. Christians! The more completely we are convinced that the glory of the Most Holy Theotokos in the Church is the work of God; that our duty to please Her is God’s determination: the more carefully, the more faithfully this duty must be fulfilled. We please the Ever-Virgin. Is it sincere? Is it not with flattery? Flattery is also despicable between those living on earth, whom, however, it sometimes deceives: but it is impossible to deceive one who lives in heaven and sees in the all-seeing God. Is it possible, they will say, to flatter where the highest praise remains below its object? – We are flattered if we praise something that we do not respect internally. So, in pleasing the Ever-Virgin, are we honoring virginity? Do we respect chastity? Do we keep it clean? Do we hate uncleanness? Are we jealous of our cleansing? We honor the most blessed Mother in the church: but don’t some houses do the opposite of this? Do not children insult the blessed names of their father and mother by disobedience or disrespect, and the parents themselves by neglecting parental duties and virtues? We glorify here Mariam, tall in humility, deep in silence: but isn’t our pride, our vanity, our vanity, our absent-mindedness and tendency to idle talk here with us? And does not the rumor of passions drown out the praises of our lips in our hearts? With Elizabeth we bless “who believed” (Luke 1:45), and through this brought into the world the Leader of faith; We marvel at the grace-filled one: we magnify the miracle-working one: but do we carefully guard the priceless deposit of faith, which can lead us to bliss? Do we seek grace, not to say apparently miraculous, which is not given to everyone, since it is not necessary for everyone, but grace that internally regenerates, creates in us a pure heart, renews a right spirit, making us a new creature in Christ? Do we not, on the contrary, live carelessly and carelessly in the corruption of nature, in the old man, in the works of the flesh, in the worries or amusements of the world, in the idle name of faith, unfruitful with love and good deeds, and therefore unable either to give birth to inner bliss in us, or to give birth to heavenly bliss? “Praise is not beautiful in the mouth of a sinner.” If we wish to honorably please the Most Holy Mother of God; then let us love Her dignity and virtues with all our hearts; having loved, let us strive, if possible, to follow in life what we please in thought and word. May She who is blessed by us, with the grace given to Her and with powerful prayers to Her Son and God, consubstantial and glorified with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever, help us to establish ourselves in such a disposition. Amen. Ipakoi Dormition. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” In Christ. Reading: from the humble city of “Nazareth” to the small village of “Gornaya...” Dormition, I cried to the Lord, stichera 2. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: