176. Слово в день тезоименитства Благочестивейшаго Государя Императора Николая Павловича, в Мариинской церкви, пред обетом сердобольных вдов

(Spoken December 6; printed in the 1844 and 1848 collections) Thus let your light shine before men. (Matthew 5:16). Light worthy of careful attention comes from these words of the Gospel. In them is the Lawgiver and the Administrator of Light. He gives the light, as it were, to some people: “the light is yours.” He indicates a way not only to use the light, but also to shine on others: “so let your light shine before men.” He offers this work of light, not as a gift that can be received, but as a duty that must be fulfilled, and which consequently can be fulfilled, because Wisdom does not command the impossible: “let your light be enlightened before men.” What kind of light is this? Who are these happy ones who have the wonderful responsibility of spreading light? Wouldn't it be happy if we were among them? Lord Jesus! You are the supreme Light of the world, according to Your own word: “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). Send us internally Your light and Your truth, so that we can find, arouse, hold and use, according to Your will, the light that You command to be enlightened before men. To find out who these people are, whom the Gospel calls to shine for other people, one must pay attention to the circumstances in which the Lord pronounced the commandment of light: “let your light be enlightened before men.” The Evangelist Matthew describes these circumstances as follows: “When He saw the nations, He went up onto the mountain, and His disciples sat down and came to Him; and He opened His mouth and taught them” (Matthew 5:1-2). So the teaching of Christ was to the disciples of Christ; and of course the high commandment, to give light to men, applied primarily to the highest category of these disciples, that is, to the twelve Apostles, since, without a doubt, the following part of Christ’s teaching applies to them: “you are the light of the world: a city cannot be hidden from the top of a mountain” (Matthew 5:14). The apostles stood on the mountain of teaching, which we now see, and were enlightened by the light of the spiritual law, then on Mount Tabor, - and comprehended the light of prayerful contemplation, then on Zion, - and were illuminated by the light of the resurrection, on Olivet, - and raised their eyes to the light of the deification of humanity in Christ, finally again on Zion - and were filled with the light of the Holy Spirit. Having thus risen in spirit, they could no longer “hide” in their natural simplicity and lack of education. Lightning of light, not killing, but life-giving, poured from them not only onto the land of Judea, but also onto the pagan world, lying in the deep darkness of ignorance and vices, and transformed it into a world of light, into a world of truth and virtue, into the Christian world. So this is the Apostolic work, and not ours? - perhaps the one who hears will think. Consequently, the matter of the world is not our business? – Let us hold back the thought, which is needlessly hasty. Let us return to the spectacle of Christ teaching on the mountain. “And when He saw the peoples, He went up to the mountain, and His disciples came to Him, and He opened His mouth and taught them.” The Apostolic language often calls disciples not just the Apostles, but also everyone who listens with faith and accepts the teaching of Christ. That in this broad sense it is possible and should accept the name of the disciples used in the Evangelist’s tale just cited, this is confirmed by the circumstance he noticed: “having seen the nations.” If the Lord’s teaching applied only to the twelve Apostles: why would the Evangelist say that it began when the Lord “saw the nations”? It is strange to imagine the humane Jesus, who saw the nations, left them without attention, and “opened His mouth only to twelve people. This is not how He usually acted. What needed to be said specifically for the Apostles: He spoke to them separately without the people: “He told His disciples all things individually” (Mark 4:34). And when he saw the people before Him, he did not despise them, and did not deprive them of the saving word: “When Jesus saw many people and showed mercy toward them, he began to teach them many things” (Mark 6:34). So there is no doubt that even then, as the Lord, “having seen the nations,” taught on the mountain, His preaching did not apply to the Apostles alone, but concerned each of the people who had ears to hear and a heart to believe. Now it has been found that even if we are not Apostles, but belong only to the “people” of believers: nevertheless, for us there is a share in the Sermon on the Mount of Christ; and we are told something in these words: “let your light shine before men”; the matter of spiritual light is not alien to us. Those who hear this, won’t they also want to hear how we can participate in the spread of light, and not only hear, but what we hear and create as much as possible? - Oh, if only this word were met with this desire, which it seeks! – We can immediately come to the solution of the question now proposed, not through difficult research, but through a simple continuation of the words of Christ’s teaching. “So let your light shine before men.” - How? – The Lord continues: “Let them see your good deeds” (Matthew 5:16). Here is a very simple secret of light! “Good deeds” - that’s the light that anyone can give! Setting a good example is how everyone can spread light to others! And here is a clear feature of the Divinity of Christ’s teaching that, rising above high contemplation, at the same time it descends to the simplest understanding, and fulfillment accessible to everyone! To spread light among people, or in other words, truth and goodness, for this, it seems, we do not know more open ways than the following three: word, power, example. The word acts by conviction, power - by righteously used power, example predisposes to imitation. Not everyone is given the gift and right to act with the word of reason and wisdom; few are called by Providence to power, especially the highest and most extensive; but everyone can act by a good example, while he imparts new strength from himself to the special power of speech or power. Judge by this how important a good example is. If the minister of the word says to you: be pious, philanthropic, self-controlled; but if his instructions are not written in the book of his own life, then the whole fruit of the instructive word can be contained in the response word: “to the doctor, heal yourself” (Luke IV. 23). I’m not saying that this is how it should be: but this is most likely to happen. - However, the Lord commands us to accept fair and useful words from those whose deeds do not correspond to their words: “Everything that is told to you to observe, observe and do; but do not do them by deeds, they say, and do not do them” (Matthew 23:3). But whoever does what he teaches, his work imparts great power to a small word. The light of the word without the power of deeds is a brilliance without life, soon passing away: the light of good deeds often continues to shine even when the word has faded away, and beyond the death of the doer it spreads a long and wide dawn. So, would the light of St. Nicholas “become enlightened” before us, through His word, which hid in the hearts of His contemporaries and did not pass into books to reach us? – But the gracious and wonderful deeds of His compassionate, inexhaustible, boundless love for humanity, what a bright, long, wide dawn spread and are spreading across centuries and countries of the universe! The commands of power in their diversity obviously cannot always be accompanied by the example of the commander, who alone cannot use himself in all matters and positions distributed among different degrees and categories of subordination. But where power and subordination can follow the same path, as, for example, in the truth of faith, in moral goodness, in deeds of philanthropy and mercy: there the previous example of power, how strongly, and at the same time how pleasantly, subordination is carried along with it! Just as water flows from higher places to lower ones, not always being held back even by barriers, so the moral spirit of higher states in society passes through imitation to lower ones, despite some barriers presented by the difference in ranks. The piety and philanthropy of those who own and rule, like the sun, without effort, strongly spreads its light in the circle of those under its control. Happy are the subjects and subordinates, who, in order to be animated by love for truth and goodness, justice and mercy, zeal for their duties, tirelessness in exploits, need only look at the power placed over them and study its actions! I have no doubt that now my words are echoed by the thoughts of those present: happy are we, for whom here not only is a parable, but also the living deeds of the Royal love for mankind shine and say: “Go, and do likewise” (Luke 10:37). That is why, thank God, we often have acts and institutions of philanthropy. But what else can we say that is closer to those whose state is not like “hail standing on top of a mountain,” but perhaps only like a hut under a mountain? Can their “light shine before men”? - Why not? And a wandering wanderer will see a small lamp in the hut, and will follow its light, and will find salvation in the hut from the cold night or the beast, and will calm down in safety, and will rejoice at the hospitality of strangers. And a modest good deed of a person invisible in the world, if animated by a good and holy intention, is a deed of light, which acts in this capacity on those who see it, attracting them to goodness; and even, under the control of Providence, sometimes extends its action to an immeasurable distance. Look at the widow indicated by the Knower of the Heart, who, out of an abundance of pious zeal, put her last two mites into the treasure of the church. What small act of kindness? But to how many millions of people has it already been enlightened, and will still be enlightened in the Gospel, teaching some to do good in small ways, and others, both in small deeds and in small people, to highly value good feelings and holy thoughts. And here is an encouraging example for you, benevolent widows, chosen and chosen for humane service to the sick. It is not a brilliant thing to sit at the bedside of a sick person, faithfully give him medicine, minister to his peace, say a word of consolation to him: but if this is animated by a feeling of Christian love, holy care and prayer for the peace of the soul of the sick person: then your modest deed will be a deed of light for your neighbor, and your conscience will be illuminated by the light of inner consolation. And let none of us, brethren, deviate from the commandment of the universal Light Giver and Light Guide. Let everyone do good to the best of his ability, and let him shine in the deeds of light, if not along with the great luminaries, then at least among the small stars. It is good to be at least a small spark in that heaven of God, where even a small spark is brighter and stronger than the local sun. “So let your light shine.” Amen. You might be interested in: