197. Слово по освящении храма Господа нашего Иисуса Христа, в честь и память Гефсиманского моления Его

(Said July 8, printed separately, in the Works of St. Ot. 1845 and in the collection of 1848.) Then Jesus came with them to all that was called Gethsemane, and said to the disciple: Sit there, until I go and pray there. (Matthew 26:36). Those who build churches for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, for their naming and solemn remembrance in them, usually choose the glorious and joyful events of His earthly life. And it is good that in the very name of the church the glory of the Divine Savior should appear and illuminate those who enter it with the hope and joy of salvation. Let those who enter the church dedicated to the remembrance of the Nativity of Christ joyfully remember, “for a Son was born to us, and was given to us” (Is. 9:6), that He is “Immanuel, who can be said: God is with us” (Is. 7:14; Matt. 1:23), “the Ruler” of our “world, the Father of the age to come” (Is. 9:6), who accept Him by faith “giving scope to the children of God” (John 1:12). Let those entering the church dedicated to the glory of the Epiphany reverently remember that “the Trinity appeared in the Jordan”; and at the same time, to confirm hope, let them think what Divine power, even to life and piety, is granted to us in Baptism, which is sanctified not only by the example of the incarnate Only Begotten Son of God, but also by the influx of God the Father and the Holy Spirit, the presence and action of the entire Divine Consubstantial Trinity. Let those who enter the church of the luminous Transfiguration of the Lord rejoice over this initial glory of human nature in the Person of the God-Man, and be inspired by hope to achieve feat, so that He “transforms the body of our humility, so that it may be conformed to the body of His glory” (Phil. 3:21). Let those who enter the Church of the Resurrection of Christ look with a triumphant eye at the victory over death and hell, already ready for us (for only for us it was necessary “to be put to death in the flesh, but to be made alive in the Spirit” (1 Pet. 3:18) to the Immortal and Ever-living One); and in the hope of this victory, “let not their souls become cold and weakened,” even if they should “strive against sin to the point of blood” (Heb. 12:3-4). Let those who enter the church of the Ascension of the Lord follow with the gaze of faith the One who has passed through the heavens, and see the path of heaven open for us (for for this very solemnly “the Son of man ascended into heaven in heaven” (John 3:13); and let them cry out with their minds and hearts to “seek the highest, where Christ is at the right hand of God, seated on high, and not on earth" ( Col. 3:1, 2). But it should not be strange for anyone that the church, now consecrated, is dedicated to the reverent remembrance of the Gethsemane prayer of Jesus Christ, offered with sorrow and difficulty, and with feat stretched to the point of bloody sweat. For just as the joyful and solemn events of the earthly life of our Savior have a real relationship to our salvation, so do the sorrowful and suffering ones, associated with a state of complete exhaustion or humiliation, which He deigned to accept upon Himself. It is beneficial and absolutely necessary for our salvation to meditate with the Apostle on Christ Jesus, that He, “in the form of God, was not equal to God by admiration” (Phil. 2:6): for, without the Divine nature and the Creative power, how could the salvation of mankind be accomplished, lost by sin, cast down into insignificance? But it is just as beneficial and absolutely necessary to meditate on the one and the same Christ Jesus and the fact that He “made Himself humble, taking on the form of a servant, and being found like a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:7-8): for how would cast down, weak and unworthy humanity arise and achieve communion with By divine saving power, if the Son of God had not descended into the depths of our weakness and unworthiness by His incarnation, cleansed our deadly infection of sin, did not atone for our mortal guilt, by His incorruptible suffering in our natural but sinless body, and by His death and resurrection had not opened for us the closed gates of grace and Divine life? The Apostle, setting the goal of striving for himself, without any doubt also for us, “the truth that is from God in faith,” refers to this Christian perfection two images of the knowledge of Jesus Christ - one more solemn: “to understand Him and the power of His resurrection”; the other is more passive: “understand the communication of His passion, being conformed to His death” (Phil. 3:9-10). May this last understanding of Jesus Christ be promoted, may He Himself, who bless and sanctify everything, grant grace to the now consecrated church, Christ our God! We cannot promise ourselves a complete comprehension of the mystery of the Gethsemane event, to which the Lord Himself marked the inviolability of our trial by bringing only a few of the Apostles to it, and only just brought it closer. But since in Gethsemane, as well as on Golgotha, “Christ suffered for us, leave us an image, that we may follow His footsteps” (1 Peter 2:21): then what special thoughts and dispositions should the image of the long-suffering prayer of Gethsemane of Jesus Christ lead us into? Firstly, he gives us guiding thoughts about solitary prayer. When the Lord speaks to His disciples: “For if two of you speak on earth concerning every thing that anyone asks, it will be done from My Father who is in heaven: for where there are two or three assembled in My name, I am in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:19-20): then He shows the need and benefit of public prayer, in which the union of many strengthens everyone But when He Himself, in the midst of His great service to human salvation, interrupted His preaching and His miracles, “without going into the wilderness and praying” (Luke 5:16); and when, finally, approaching the limit of His earthly career, in order to bring to God the Father a prayer, no matter how important and mysterious in subject, just as difficult in circumstances, he withdrew first with three chosen disciples from the council of others, and then from the three chosen ones, into complete solitude, reeksha: “Sit there, until I go there and pray there”: then he showed us the need and importance of solitary prayer, in every possible separation from all created things, immersing the soul in the single presence of God. Brothers! Let us enter into public prayer with hope; inasmuch as she is blessed by the word of Christ’s promise: let us enter into solitary prayer with love; because it is sanctified by the example of Christ. Secondly, the Gethsemane prayer of Christ should lead us into touching thoughts about the deeply humble manner of Christ’s prayer. “Bow your knees when you pray” (Luke 22:41). “Fall on His face while He prayed” (Matthew 26:39). “Fall to the ground and pray” (Mark 14:35). When you think that this is the Only Begotten Son of God, who has reigned from eternity with the Father and the Holy Spirit on the heavenly throne, and now has not left this throne - that He, clothed in our poverty, weakness, baseness, casts Himself down in prayer to the ground, in order to intercede for our salvation through prayer, and through humility to expose, smooth over and heal our pride: then the thought is stricken. is he looking for whether there is a rather humiliated place or position in the world into which a person could humiliatingly plunge himself, so that he would not be too ashamed before this Divine humiliation? With such reflection, how light and sweet our prayerful genuflections and prostrations should be for us, which sometimes seem so difficult for our weakness and, perhaps, for our laziness! Thirdly, Gethsemane, filled with the spirit of Christ’s supplication, watered with the bloody sweat of His Theanthropic prayerful feat on the eve of the day of His crucifixion, represents the most favorable and most reliable mental place of prayer for a contrite sinner, for one outraged by sorrow, oppression, despondency, fear, for the one who struggles with any temptation. For there the power of all possible temptations is defeated by the power of Christ’s prayer: and this victorious power has not passed away, but abides and will endure; because “Jesus Christ is yesterday and today, the same and forever” (Heb. 13:8). Why did He, having entered the field of Gethsemane, “begin to grieve and anguish” (Matthew 26:37), “begin to be horrified and torment” (Mark 14:33)? Is it because of the anticipation of approaching insults and bodily suffering in Jerusalem and on Golgotha? But He endured these very insults and sufferings, not in the imagination, but in their very action, for many hours of that same night and the next day, before the Synagogue and before Pilate, from Jews and from pagans, in Jerusalem and on Golgotha, without expressing any fear, with victorious firmness, with high calm, now with the greatness of silence, now with words of love and prayer for others, and do not grieve for yourself. And if in one new mysterious moment I allowed the cry to be heard: “My God, My God, have you forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46): then he immediately covered it with a solemn voice: “It is finished” (John 19:30). What else, before visible suffering, causes sorrow, pain, horror, sorrow of the soul even to the point of death? What bitterness, what burden did this mysterious cup contain within itself, for which He prayed “to pass by,” thereby revealing the true perceived humanity, not alien to weakness, although alien to sin, and which at the same time He accepted according to the eternal will of His Father, saying: “Not as I will, but as You” (Matthew 26:39)? Alas! this is the bitterness of our sins, this is the burden of our guilt before God, and the executions we deserve, which the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29); and thus He grieved, grieved, was horrified, and was grieved in soul even to the point of death, not because His patience was exhausted, but because with His inner suffering He cleansed our inner impurities, atone for our guilt, satisfied the Justice of God irritated with us, and at the same time prayed for our pardon, forgiveness and salvation - and was heard. This is how the Apostle Paul explains the Gethsemane prayer of Jesus Christ when he writes to the Hebrews that He, “in the days of His flesh, made supplications and supplications to Him who was able to save Him from death, with a strong cry and with tears, and was heard with reverence” (Heb. 5:7). How is one heard when one is not delivered from the death of the cross? He was heard in that it was granted to Him by His death on the cross and resurrection to deliver us from the dominion of sin and eternal death. And so, isn’t it true that in Gethsemane the power of all possible temptations was defeated by the prayer of Christ? And therefore, no matter who you are, my brother who is weak and in misery with me, if you are wounded by the sorrow of sin; if you are embarrassed by a tight soul, not comfortably exalted by faith, not comfortably expanded by love, not invigorated by virtue; if you are struck by the fear of God's judgment; if you are tempted by the sorrow of the soul, which apparently extends even to death: do not give in to hopeless despondency; do not let grief, tension and fear completely overcome you; gather up the remains of your exhausting strength, run mentally to the victorious Gethsemane field of Jesus - and there, where the Son of the Father’s favor and love “fell on His face, praying”; where the sweat of His prayerful labor drips onto the ground like drops of blood; where an Angel strengthens Him in a feat exceeding the strength of mankind, and twelve legions of other Angels await command for Him, and from Him; from where the devil flees, amazed 665 by the manifold Divine power of obedience to God the Father, love of mankind, humility, prayer, self-sacrifice 666 - there, not far from the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, plunge with your sins, sorrow, tight, fear from the open jaws of death and hell; and remember that the bitterness of your cup has already been consumed for the most part in the great cup of Christ’s suffering; that the strong Ascetic of Gethsemane has already placed His lightening hand under the burden weighing on you; that your Savior, who has completed for you the entire work of your salvation, expects from you only “the communication of His passion”, which is possible for your, although weak, faith, love and gratitude. Surrender yourself to this blessed communication and do not cease to devote yourself with all your heart. If you approach this with even a little faith, hope and love, from this very exercise you will receive an increase in faith, hope and love, and with them victory over temptations; because “faith is the victory that overcomes the world” (1 John 5:4); because “hope does not put you to shame” (Rom. 5:5); because “neither the height”, apparently, is inaccessible to us, “nor the depth,” apparently, absorbing us, “not any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:39). With a grateful heart to Christ the Lord, let us remember, brethren, that “He was wounded for our sins, and tormented for our iniquities,” that “the punishment of our peace was upon Him” (Is. 53:5). And therefore, let us be careful not to violate our peace in Him, and not to inflict new wounds on Him, by deeds that wound our conscience, but by attentive keeping of the commandments and fidelity to grace, so that we establish ourselves in peace and communion with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Amen. In addition to Creation St. Ot. "stricken". In addition to Creation St. Ot. "self-sacrifice". You might be interested in: