203. Слово в день Святителя Алексия, на третий день недели воспоминания страшного суда

(Said in the cathedral church of the Chudov Monastery on February 12; printed in the Works of the Holy Father of 1846 and in the collection of 1848) And all the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them from one another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and He will set the sheep on His right hand, and the goats on His left. (Matthew 25:32–33). Now a large verbal flock has gathered to the shepherd, who does not visibly separate it on the right and left sides. He accepts those who come from the right hand of the country - from virtue, with humility; does not reject those who come from shuiya - from vice, with repentance. He doesn’t say to anyone reprimandingly: “Go away.” However, I know that for those worthy of the right hand of the country, he has greetings that are quite clearly audible to them. To others he simply gives peace in the heart, to others special consolation in special sorrow, to one healing from weakness, to another reinforcement in the fight against temptation, to others something else, to each according to his need, faith and prayer. Come closer, take advantage, while the shepherd collects, nourishes, protects, heals, while there is time to return from error, and move from the country to the right side. It won't always be like this. Indeed, the day will come, of which the foreshadowing image was recently shown to us by the Church in the Gospel, when this shepherd, silently resting among us and beneficent in peace, will leave us and go to seek his appointed place in the right hand land of the Great Shepherd, Who calls Himself “the One Shepherd” (John 10:16), because all other shepherds are only His pastoral instruments, and Who “will then sit on the throne of His glory” (Matthew 25:31), since He is not only a Shepherd, but also a King of kings and a Judge of the living and the dead. Then each of us will have to appear before this Great Shepherd, King and Judge: but it will no longer be in our power to choose a place that is pleasant for us. “All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them from one another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and He will set the sheep on the right hand and the goats on the left.” O my neighbor! Where will we be then? What if we are not called to the right hand land of the King, and then to the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world? What if we find ourselves in the middle of nowhere, among the goats? How shameful! And is it just shameful? No, it’s both terrible and disastrous. For to those who are in this land, the Judge will say: “Depart from Me, the curse, into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angel. “And these go into everlasting punishment” (Matthew 25:41, 46). While there is still time, while the throne of judgment has not yet been set, the Judge has not yet appeared, we have not yet appeared at the judgment seat, the word of judgment has not yet been spoken, the jaws of hell have not yet opened, let us think about where we are going: for we are already going either to the right hand or to the land of the Last Judgment. It is not arbitrary or accidental that the Judge will say to one: stand at the right hand, to another: stand at the left; but in accordance with the one who directed himself to which side. It is not then that the sheep will become sheep when they are placed on the right hand, and the goats will not become hens when they are placed on the left; but both will take their place according to the quality in which they were previously formed and which they brought with them. So, if you are prudent: and if you want to have a place at the last judgment on the right hand of the Judge, then strive on the path of life to develop in yourself such qualities that would lead you to this country. Firstly, the quality of the right leaders of the court of Christ is expressed in the Gospel by the likening name of sheep: “He will set the sheep at the right hand.” So, whoever wants to get a place on the right hand of the world Judge must acquire the properties and disposition of a sheep. What this property and disposition consists of, we can learn from the Shepherd-Judge himself, who says: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they will follow Me” (John 10:27). Listening to the voice of the Shepherd means learning from the dogmas and commandments of the Gospel. To follow the Shepherd means to follow the teachings of Christ the Savior in deed and life, and to imitate His example. But isn't it too much for the sheep to imitate the shepherd, to do what the shepherd does? – To eliminate this bewilderment, Christ the Savior is not only the Shepherd, but also the Lamb, as John the Baptist sees and indicates Him: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29). The excuse has been destroyed: sheep can and must unquestioningly imitate the co-natural actions of the Lamb, and people can and must imitate the virtues performed in the co-natural humanity of Christ. What are the most important virtues? We can learn this again from Him Himself. “Learn from Me,” he says, “for I am meek and lowly in heart!” (Matthew 11:29) I repeat: let’s think about where we are going. If you have sincere zeal to learn the truths of the holy faith and the commandments of the Gospel; if you try to fulfill this teaching in your deeds and life; if meekness and humility are your constant qualities: then you are a follower of the Lamb of God, you are a sheep of the Shepherd Christ; you are faithfully coming to Him on the right side. But if anyone is negligent in listening to the voice of Christ in the Gospel: he does not care about fulfilling the commandments of the Gospel; to form oneself in the qualities of lamb obedience, meekness and humility does not strive; on the contrary, it whimsically jumps from vanity to vanity; through carnal and worldly wisdom, he exalts himself to the dreamy heights that are depicted in the words of the prophet: “the he-goat, become great” (Dan.8:8); gives off the stench of unclean deeds: is it possible to doubt about such, where he is going, and where he will finally arrive, if he does not change his path? – It has already been indicated: “goat’s ears.” Secondly, the distinctive quality of the right leaders of the court of Christ is depicted in the Gospel by the name of the blessed sons of the Heavenly Father. “Come,” says the Judge, “blessings of My Father” (Matthew 25:32). The very name of the sons is silent here, but there is no doubt that it is implied; for this corresponds to the fact that, following this, the Son of God calls people His “lesser brethren” (Matthew 25:40). At the same time, we must remember that since the earth was cursed in the deeds of man who sinned, we are born into the world, and we live by nature, not as sons of God, because we are born and live in sins, and everyone who commits sin is not a son of God, but a slave of sin - and not as blessed by the Heavenly Father, because “cursed is everyone who does not abide in all those who are written in the book of the law, as I have done” (Gal.3:10). How can a person get rid of a curse? Through Christ, according to what was said: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, becoming a curse against us” (Gal. 3:13), in His suffering on the cross. How can you become a son of God? – Through Christ, according to what was said: “The little ones received Him, and gave them the province to become children of God” (John 1:12). How to become blessed by the Heavenly Father? – Through Christ, as it was said: “Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly things in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). And although this blessing is already ready for us from God’s side, it is not very easily acquired from our side. – Abraham received God’s blessing through Melchizedek not before defeating his enemies, and the highest direct blessing from God himself – not before giving Him his only begotten son as a sacrifice. Jacob received a blessing and a new name only when “his labors became stronger towards God, and stronger with the Angel, weeping and praying” (Hos. 12:3-4). One must be able to overcome passions and lusts; one must strive hard in faith, in prayer, in self-sacrifice in order to achieve the advantage of being blessed by the Heavenly Father. Now let's look again at what path we are on. If on the path of overcoming and mortifying passions and lusts, on the path of pious labors and tears, on the path of faith, prayer, self-denial and self-sacrifice out of love for God and Christ: - glory to God! there is hope that the calling voice will not pass us by: “Come, blessed of My Father!” But if someone does not conquer passions and lusts, but is overcome by them, captured and carried away; if someone loves not the labor of prayer and tears of tenderness, but the laughter of dispersion and the useless anxiety of games and amusements; If someone, like Esau, rushes into sensual pleasure with such greediness that he neglects the priceless advantage of the spiritual birthright in Christ, loses the desire for the blessing of the Heavenly Father: then where will such a disposition of the soul and such a direction of life lead? - “He does not desire blessing, and will withdraw from it” (Ps. 109:17). You can go to hell or fall, although you don’t want it, and you don’t think about it; you can’t ascend to heaven when you don’t want it, and you don’t think about it. Thirdly, the quality of the right ones, that is, those who are justified and appointed to the blessedness of the heads of the court of Christ, is signified in the Gospel by the name “righteous.” For those whom the Judge calls under the name of the blessed of His Father are subsequently called righteous: “the righteous women answer Him, the righteous women go into eternal life,” and no one else. The concept of a righteous person includes every virtue, excludes every untruth, every vice and every sin; and consequently represents such moral perfection that I don’t know whether anyone, except some self-deluded Pharisee, would dare to recognize himself as a righteous person. Who, therefore, can hope to be justified at the judgment of Christ, at which only the righteous will be justified? – He who, with the Apostle, “imputes all the wisdom of his being, may have hope, so that he may gain Christ, and in Him may be found, not having his own righteousness which is from the law, but through faith Jesus Christ, the righteousness which is from God in faith” (Phil. 3:8-9). “If we confess our sins,” says another Apostle, “he is faithful and righteous, that he may forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Active purification of oneself by repentance, a heartfelt striving of faith for the grace of Christ, zealous, with the help of grace, exercise in every virtue - such is the path of truth, during the course of which a humble Christian always finds himself without his own righteousness, and at the end of which grace reveals him to be a perfect righteous person. Perhaps it would not be convenient or even safe to demand from you, brothers, complete confidence that you are on this path: but we cannot help but demand that you carefully observe yourself whether the ordinary paths of our life lie outside this single saving path. He who has not repented sincerely and deeply has not taken the first step on the path of righteousness. He who does not seek his truth in Christ will not find it anywhere. Whoever does not practice truth, that is, virtue, which is accessible to him, does not, of course, follow the path along which those who walk are elevated to the dignity of the righteous. But so that no one is frightened and discouraged by the apparently immense demand for exercise in every virtue, let us point out in particular virtue, which represents, as it were, a shortcut, and a simple, but sure and safe procession to righteousness and to eternal justification at the judgment of Christ. What virtue appears with special brilliance at the judgment of Christ, and reveals its ascetics as righteous, blessed children of the Heavenly Father, worthy of the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world? – Mercy towards others, for Christ’s sake. “For you were hungry,” says Christ the Judge to those on the right hand, “and you gave Me food; you thirsted, and you gave Me a drink, you were strange, and you knew Me, naked, and you clothed Me, you were sick, and you visited Me, you were in prison, and you came to Me. Since you have made one of these least of my brethren, you have made one with me” (Matthew 25:35–36, 40). What a short path it is, and how far it reaches! What a quiet movement on foot, and how high it rises faster than a chariot! What a small sowing and what a abundant harvest it prepares! With the thought of Christ, which is necessary here because at the trial action is valued not just for people, but for people, as the least brothers of Christ, you give a piece of bread, and you are granted the right to the kingdom; you clothe the naked with perishable clothing, and grace bestows upon you the incorruptible robe of righteousness; you go to meet a stranger, to visit a sick person or a prisoner, and with the same steps you go to the right hand land of Christ the Judge coming in glory, to the cathedral of the blessed of the Heavenly Father. At the same time, the question naturally arises: will there really be people who will not be attracted by this easy and pleasant path, who will be too lazy to follow it? - Reason is ready to answer that this is incredible, but unfortunate experience says that this is almost common among quite a few people. O poor wanderers of the earth! Where are we going if we do not reach the mercy of Christ through the path of Christian mercy? After all, there are only two paths before us: the path of approaching Christ, and the path of moving away from Him; one to a blessing, the other to a curse; one into eternal belly, the other into everlasting torment. He who does not try to adhere faithfully to the first path inevitably strays onto the last. However, brethren, if any of us has strayed far from the saving path of Christ: let him be afraid to remain; but let him not despair of returning. The doors of mercy are not yet closed. The path to salvation is still open. The voice of the Great Shepherd is still heard, not separating, but gathering: “And other sheep are Imam, which are not of this court; and you must be brought to Me” (John 10:16). Let us hasten to this encouraging voice, both near and far, to respond with all the desires of our hearts: lead us to Yourself, Divine Shepherd and Visitor of souls; make us sheep of Your pasture; gather into the enclosure of Your law; cover with the protective shelter of Your grace; Yes, even on the terrible day of separation of the sheep from the goats, let us be worthy to stand at Your right hand, and we will receive the eternal blessing and inheritance of Your eternal kingdom! Amen. You might be interested in: