151. Беседа о соблазнах 603

(Printed in the collections of 1844 and 1848) For we do not condemn one another; but judge this even more, so that we do not lay a stumbling block for our brother or a temptation. (Rom.14:13). In the life of our God-bearing Father Sergius, we find that He, during his Abbess, once heard a word of love come out of the mouth of his brother Stefan: “Who is the Abbot in this place? Was it not I who sat before in this place? - immediately left the monastery to settle in another remote and secret place. The patience, meekness and humility of the Saint are obvious in this act. But here’s what’s puzzling: why didn’t he admonish his brother, out of duty as the Abbot? How, for one person, did he leave all the brethren and the ministry into which he was placed by sacred authority? – There are special paths of the Saints, before which everyone should revere, since they are governed by the special grace of God and are justified in their consequences; but which not everyone has the right to follow, because it would be daring if everyone began to ascribe to themselves the same grace. This is the case now under consideration. If a father’s son or a boss’s subordinate behaves outrageously: beware of remaining silent and leaving him without reproof and correction. Remember the terrible rebuke and punishment with which God struck the unfortunate Elijah for the neglect of this generation: “I will take vengeance on his house forever on the iniquities of his sons, of which I knew that his sons slandered God, and did not punish them” (1 Samuel 3:13). If any temptation or displeasure makes you want to flee from the place in which you have been placed by legal authority: beware; It may happen that you bear the guilt of self-will; You cannot escape from evil by your own arbitrariness, and you cannot catch the peace that you are pursuing. But if Saint Sergius, in a certain case, did not act according to these ordinary rules, then according to what? For a saint must act according to holy rules. We will understand his deed if we apply to his action the rule of the Apostle: “Judge this rather, lest you lay a stumbling block or temptation for your brother.” The perspicacious Sergius saw that it was not convenient to directly denounce the ambitious ruler; because in this case, reproof would seem to be a quarrel for the Authority, and the appearance of personal strife between the Abbot and his elder, and, moreover, between brothers according to the flesh, would not be without stumbling for the other brethren of the monastery. In these difficult circumstances, the wise Elder found a way not only to avoid stumbling on his part, but also to destroy the temptation laid down by others. He did not tell anyone about his brother’s act, and his removal from the authorities also provided the strongest remedy against the passion of covetousness. God, justifying the path of His Pleasant, through his voluntary exile, strengthened the brethren of his original monastery in love for him more than before, and returned him to it by the authority of Saint Alexis. Here is a remarkable indication of the importance of the Apostolic canon: “do not put any stumbling block or temptation to your brother.” May the holy example excite us to actively observe it in our lives. But what is “stumbling”? What is "temptation"? – If you are walking and suddenly hit your foot on a stone lying on the road, which causes confusion in your movements and the danger of falling: in this case, the stone is a “stumbling block” for you. The Apostle brings this sensual image to the soul: for he is concerned, of course, not about stumbling on the road, but about stumbling in moral and spiritual life. Moreover, he distinguishes “temptation” from stumbling, without a doubt, as something more serious, as the cause not only of stumbling, but also of falling. We stumble – in our thoughts; we fall in business. We stumble – with doubts, false opinions, confusion of thoughts and disorder of spiritual feelings; we fall into sin, into crime. If we speak such words in front of our neighbor, or do such deeds, which will produce evil thoughts and mental disorder in him; then we lay a stumbling block for him: if by our words or actions we give him a reason, an incentive, an encouragement to sin; then we give him a temptation. So, the Apostolic admonition depicted in the parable: “do not put a stumbling block or temptation to your brother,” means that we must carefully observe so that neither in words nor in deeds do we give our neighbor a reason, incentive, encouragement to evil thoughts, to spiritual disturbances and movements of the passions, and finally to sinful deeds themselves. For the accuracy of the teaching, we will also distinguish between types of temptation, according to their objects. The subject of temptation can be not only sinful, but also permissible, and even holy deeds. Really, you say, can even holy deeds be a subject of temptation? They can, without a doubt: since the infallible Word of God testifies to this. What could be holier than to preach to people the saving doctrine of Christ Crucified? But this was the subject of temptation, as the Apostle says: “we preach Christ crucified, a temptation to the Jews” (1 Cor. 1:23). This temptation comes not from those who preach, whose work was pure and holy, but from those who are seduced themselves, who, from the teaching of the Cross, which is saving for believers, through carnal wisdom, pride and unbelief, extracted for themselves the substance of temptation, just as a spider extracts poison from a flower that gives honey to a bee. From this example it is not difficult to derive a rule on how to act in relation to temptation of this kind. If the Apostles, fearing the temptation of the Jews, had not begun to preach Christ crucified, then the world would not have heard the saving teaching, and would not have been saved. So it is obvious that they had to do work that would bring salvation to the world, and not change their actions for people who seduce themselves and destroy themselves. The temptation of the Cross is not entirely over, brethren; It happens even now that the children of the world and the flesh are indignant at the sight of a strong and decisive desire for the works of the spirit and for the wisdom of Christ, the cross. This is not where the Apostolic warning against temptation applies. Let us freely do the works of holiness and salvation. Let the flesh not be the judge of the spirit. Let not the world lay down laws for the work of God. That a permissible matter can be a subject of temptation, this can be seen from the following sayings of the Holy Apostle Paul. “Fear does not place us before God; Below more than a pit, we have abundance; Below, without a pit, we are deprived” (1 Cor. 8:8). There is no need to go into the discussion to what occasion and to what use of food this saying applies: it is clear that the Apostle is speaking here about the use of food as a matter that does not contain any special dignity or special guilt before God, and therefore speaks of a permissible matter. And about this very matter he speaks further: “If he wickedly tempts my brother, I will never eat meat, lest I tempt my brother” (1 Cor. 8:13). In these words, along with an indication of temptation from a permissible deed: “if he wickedly seduces my brother,” we also find a special rule of precaution against this kind of temptation: “I will not eat meat forever, lest I seduce my brother.” An amazing combination of the power of exhortation with the meekness of advice! How strict Saint Paul is with himself, when he forbids himself an innocent deed forever, so as not to tempt his brother one day; and how much I sow severity towards myself, encourages others to take precautions against temptation! At the same time, how lenient he is towards those taught, when he does not command them “not to eat meat forever, lest they seduce their brother,” but he turns the severity of the prohibition on himself, and allows others to follow his example as much as they can. That sinful deeds are the subject of temptation, this requires neither proof nor explanation. Only for our inattention, perhaps, it is not superfluous to notice how usually sin is accompanied by temptation, and through temptation it multiplies; how long is the chain, how vast is the circle of temptations that one sin entails and spreads from itself. The book of Judges of Israel tells that a certain Micah made an idol for himself and for his house, then hired a Levite to make sacrifices to him; The warriors of the tribe of Dan learned from Levite about this home idol, and stole it; and thus the idolatry of one man from one house became the sin of the city and the nation. This is usually the course of sin through temptation. An evil thought creates an invisible idol of sin; unclean desire brings it into the soul; the sinful deed exposes it and makes it visible; the vainly hidden secret of sin is stolen and spread; temptation is born, and sin multiplies; the creepy are carried away by a bad example; others fall into the sin of slander and condemnation of their neighbor. What can we say about sins that, either by their nature are difficult to conceal, or are committed openly out of impudence, or from the position of those who sin among people receive special power to spread temptation? – What a bountiful sowing, what an immense harvest of tares! How sadly, and at the same time how menacingly, our Lord spoke about temptations! “Woe to the world from temptation! “Woe to the man to whom temptation comes” (Matthew 18:7)! - “He would have been sad if the millstone of the village had fallen on his neck and been thrown into the sea; let him seduce one from these little ones” (Luke 17:2). - Oh, merciful Lord! about sins and sinners you speak with so much peace, with so much meekness: “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:13): and about temptations and those who seduce so lamentably, and so menacingly! Truly, sin is deplorable and terrible; but the temptation is greater. With the help of Your Grace, I can stop my sin and cleanse it with repentance; but temptation, if it was given by my guilt and passed on to others, I no longer have the power to stop or cleanse. Let us be afraid, brethren, of temptation; and may caution against temptation assist us in being cautious against sin, although, however, we must flee from sin not out of fear of temptation alone, but out of inner aversion from evil, and out of love for God, as the Psalmist confessed about himself: “I have hated iniquity and detested it, but I have loved Your law” (Ps. 119:163). Yes, we are afraid both to give a temptation and to accept one given: for sin on the occasion of a given temptation is nevertheless a sin, and can give rise to a new temptation. Do not continue the line of brood of vipers; but hasten to crush the head of the serpent, - the sinful thought by the victorious power of the Lamb is immaculate and most pure of Christ. Amen. In the index on Thursday. O. L. D. P. is listed as pronounced on July 5, 1840. You might be interested in: