182. Слово на память преподобного Сергия, Радонежского чудотворца

(Said on September 25th in the Trinity Lavra; printed in the Works of the Holy Father in 1844 and in collections in 1848) You must suffer evil, for Jesus Christ is a good warrior. (2 Timothy 2:3). We often hear a chant here in which the Church, praising St. Sergius as an “ascetic of virtues,” at the same time calls him “a true warrior of Christ God,” and in explanation of this adds that he “struggled in passion”—he resisted passions and lusts, and defeated them with the power of his mind, with the help of God, with the weapons inherent in spiritual warfare. With what disposition should we listen to the praise of “a true warrior of Christ God”? Is it true that people who have not been and do not think of being either winners or warriors often listen to praises of warriors and winners? Or how do those who have just joined and those entering the army listen to the glory of many warriors and victors who have labored, in order to adopt their art, in order to arouse their zeal for military exploits? The Holy Church, when proclaiming the exploits and virtues of the Saints, usually does not care about adding to their heavenly glory an unnecessary, insignificant earthly glory, but about teaching us exploits and encouraging us to virtues. What does the displayed image of the true warrior of Christ teach us and what does the shown image of the true warrior of Christ require of us? The laudatory representation of the Holy Man in the image of a warrior of Christ was borrowed, without a doubt, from the Holy Apostle Paul, who in his letter to Timothy writes: “For you have suffered evil, for you are a good warrior of Jesus Christ.” Timothy, to whom this instruction, or commandment, was given to suffer ill-will, as a good warrior of Jesus Christ should, was one of the disciples of St. Paul, who earned special trust from him, and received from him the Church of Ephesus for control. From this we can conclude that this instruction is worthy of acceptance even for people of superior dignity. But one should not think that this applied exclusively to one person to whom it was written, or only to the rank in which this person was located. No, this more or less applies to every Christian. You can verify this by another saying of the same Apostle to the same Timothy, in another letter. “Let you fight well,” he writes, “having faith and a good conscience” (1 Tim. 1:18–19). Shouldn't every Christian have faith and a good conscience? But as the Apostle relates this to good warfare: it is clear that every Christian is obligated to good warfare, and, consequently, to the suffering that St. Paul demands from the good warrior of Jesus Christ. For greater confirmation of this, let us cite the teaching of the same Apostle, which he extends not through the example of one person, but directly to all Christians. “Take,” he says, “all the weapons of God, so that you may be able to resist on the day of cruelty, and all that you have done. Therefore, gird your loins with truth, and put on the breastplate of righteousness, and put on your shoes for the preparation of the gospel of peace: and having taken upon all the shield of faith, in which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one: and you will take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:13-17). You see that the Apostle enrolled us all in the military service of Christ, and distributes weapons to everyone according to the nature of this service. Let us look a little closer at these weapons, which the Apostle calls “God’s,” because they are not created by human art and power, but are given to us by the grace of God. The warrior “girds himself” to tie his clothes, fasten his body, and thus act more firmly and freely. Your girdle must be “truth.” Learn the truth, adhere to the truth, bind your thoughts, inclinations, desires with the truth. In this girdle, you can act spiritually strongly and freely, without weakening through laziness, without stumbling through temptation, without wavering through false teachings, and without falling into sin and vice. The warrior puts on “armor” so that the enemy’s weapons cannot wound him, even if they attack him. Let your armor be “truth”, honesty, virtue. A right conscience will keep you internally unharmed, even if outwardly slander or injustice strikes you. The warrior, “putting on his shoes,” becomes ready to go against the enemy with his unharmed foot. Instead of putting on shoes, let you be “ready” to go, not to attack and destroy, for this is not what your warfare consists of, but to “preach peace” - the peace of Christ, conquering all hostility and warfare. The warrior takes a “shield” to prevent the enemy’s arrows from reaching his body. And the invisible enemy directs arrows at you, sharp and wounding, kindled and scorching - then the more invisible arrows of God-fighting wisdom and doubts, inflamed passions and lusts, then the more visible arrows of slander, reproach and persecution from the enemies of truth and virtue, but if your heart is covered with the “shield of faith”: then there are no sharp arrows They will pierce him, and the burning ones will go out without harming him. A warrior uses a “helmet” to protect his head from wounds, especially dangerous ones in this part of the body. Guard your mind with the “helmet of salvation,” or, as the Apostle more fully explained in another letter, “the helmet of the hope of salvation” (1 Thess. 5:8). No matter what difficulties or dangers you encounter, trust in God should not allow a spirit of despondency to enter your soul, which could be followed by deadly despair. A warrior, striking an enemy with a “sword,” renders both his strength and the strength of his weapon inactive. Thus, the “sword of the Spirit,” which is the “word of God,” acts even more victoriously. With this weapon the Beginning, our Lord Jesus himself, withstood an exemplary battle for us, and won a victory that was beneficial for us over the leader of evil. “It is written,” He said, “man will not live on bread alone” (Matthew 4:4). – “It is written: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” (Matthew 4:7). – “It is written: Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and serve Him alone” (Matthew 4:10). And the enemy, pierced three times with the spiritual sword, left the place of battle exhausted. Arm yourself, Christian, with the sword of the Spirit, the word of God; keep it in your memory and in your heart; train yourself to turn its edge against every word of iniquity: and no evil will be invincible for you, no power of the enemy is terrible, no cunning of him is impenetrable, and all his weapons will be crushed and abolished. But let us return to the commandment of the mentor of Christ’s soldiers, which gave us the opportunity to examine their weapons. “Suffer evil,” he says, “for the warrior of Jesus Christ is a good one.” What does it mean: mischief? Does it mean: force yourself to suffer, as some do in excess of jealousy with scourging, or other unnatural exhaustion and even distortion of the body? – But it is known that the Apostle did not approve of “not sparing the body” (Col. 2:23). Does it mean: become a martyr? “But this cannot be decisively prescribed, since he is not a soldier of Christ. The idea contained by the Apostle in the word: “suffer evil” should be explained by his likening thought “about a warrior.” How does the rank of soldiers differ and acquire a priority right to respect and honor over other ranks? - Special labors, hardships, exploits, combined with a willingness to sacrifice one’s life for the fulfillment of one’s duty. The Apostle calls something like this in the soldier of Christ “suffering.” Amidst the peace of others, the warrior stands vigil on guard. He sacrifices his peace in order to protect safety, so that the attack planned by the enemy does not succumb to accident, which would increase the danger many times over. It is also necessary for you, warrior of Christ, to watch with difficulty, guarding your faith and good conscience, guarding your and others’ salvation. Indulging in the slumber of carelessness and the dreams of sensuality, even the chosen ascetics of faith and virtue fell, suddenly wounded by the arrows of the evil one. You must constantly have in your thoughts and in action the commands of your Chief Leader: “watch and pray, so that you do not fall into misfortune” (Matthew 26:41). A warrior, sometimes in difficult campaigns, sometimes in long battles, must endure cold, bad weather, heat, hunger, thirst, fatigue, pain, and overcome all this with the strength of spirit, without which he would not have accomplished the feat and would not have defeated the enemy. Likewise, a Christian must be able to endure difficulties, hardships, and sorrows in order to accomplish spiritual achievements in order to gain victories over passions. He must not so much satisfy the hunger and thirst of sensual desires as overcome and mortify. He must reject pleasures that entertain and weaken the spirit, and even more decisively those that offend moral sense and conscience. He must willingly endure sorrows, starting from the sorrow of repentance, in order to overcome temptations in order to acquire virtues. Only a perfect readiness to sacrifice his life for his King makes a warrior fearless and unshakable in battle, capable of victory, worthy of a crown; only a perfect readiness to sacrifice everything, when necessary, and his very life for the King-Christ, for maintaining faith in him, for keeping his commandments, makes a Christian “a good warrior of Jesus-Christ”, capable of standing unshakably against enemies visible and invisible, defeat everything that resists, achieve an incorruptible crown. This is what Christ’s words mean: “Whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39). If anyone were to complain that the rules of Christian self-sacrifice are strict and difficult; then, continuing to follow the similar reasoning of the Apostle, I would tell him: how are the warriors of the Earthly King not burdened to be guided by similar rules of self-sacrifice? It is wonderful and pleasant to sacrifice everything to the Tsar and the Fatherland: but are the heavenly Tsar and the heavenly Fatherland less worthy of our donations? On the contrary, self-sacrifice for the sake of the earthly king is not made easier or supported by anything better than self-sacrifice for the sake of the heavenly King, who has the immutable promise of eternal life and an immortal crown. “Whoever loses his soul for My sake will find it.” If the rules of self-sacrifice for faith and virtue are difficult: invent for me others - easy ones, give me an easy virtue, and I will give you its dignity for judgment. If a warrior did not endure the difficulties of battle, if he did not stand in the battle of eye against eye with death: will you praise his firmness and courage? If a Christian did not stand against temptations with a readiness to endure everything, just so as not to betray his title: how can you attribute to him strong and high Christian virtue? Whoever has not endured sorrows and troubles, how will you find patience? And so let us understand that difficulties, hardships, self-sacrifice constitute an advantage and a certain need for virtue, partly so that it can have dignity, sublimity, the right to honor and reward, partly even so that it can exist. This is how, without a doubt, the Apostle thought about faith, when he recognized as a special “manifestation of salvation” in some Christians that they were “given, in Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him” (Phil. 1:29). Brethren! The gift of completely suffering and dying for Christ and His faith is a high gift for high souls. Let us be jealous that even the lower degrees of this gift are not alien to us! When we are faced with a feat of faith, it is a matter of truth, but for this we must use difficult efforts, or suffer hardships, or be exposed to the danger of bickering from people cold to the faith, persecution from those hostile to the truth: let us unwaveringly choose the difficult sublimity of the spirit, preferably over the easy baseness. Let us arouse ourselves with the Apostolic exhortation: “You must therefore suffer evil, for you are a good warrior of Jesus Christ.” With the sacrifice of our own peace, benefit, pleasure, security, let us accomplish the feat of faith, truth, virtue - and he will faithfully keep us the crown of righteousness, and the Lord, the righteous Judge, will reward him to all who love Him! Amen. You might be interested in: