20. Слово в день Алексия Митрополита, и в неделю сыропустную

(Spoken in the Cathedral Miracle Monastery, February 12th; printed in collections of 1822, 1835, 1844 and 1848) My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them: and they will come after Me, and I will give them eternal life. John 10:27–28. In these words, Jesus Christ, the true Shepherd and Visitor of souls, and the Image of all spiritual shepherds, depicting Himself and His sheep, gives instruction to all of us what a Shepherd should be to his sheep, and in what union the sheep should be with their Shepherd. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them: they will also come after Me, and I will give them eternal life.” How joyful it is to see now both the Shepherd in this image and the sheep in this union with the Shepherd! The Christ-like Shepherd, Saint Alexy, of course, knew and knows the sheep of this verbal flock, and its spiritual need, and the fidelity of its obedience, when he provided and continues to provide him with this priceless pledge - his sacred remains; Of course, he wanted and still wants eternal life for us, when in his very grave he opened and never ceases to open the source of grace-filled healings and the hope of eternal life. Behold, even the new sheep of his ancient flock, no matter how long he has been silent, still listen to his voice; although he is here, resting on his bed, and there, walking far in the heavens, they still come to kiss his traces. Oh, if all the sheep of this great flock were like those who stand before their Shepherd in this sacred enclosure! Oh, if those who stand here, as they are at this solemn hour, would be such throughout their entire lives, firstly to the Chief Shepherd Jesus Christ, and after Him to every Shepherd appointed by Him! Maybe they will say to this: “to the doctor, heal yourself” (Luke 4:23)! I accept the advice; I admit weakness; I wish you healing; I seek healing in the medical repository of the word of Christ, and, as it is known that even those appointed to heal others cannot heal themselves, I choose God-bearing Alexy as a physician, so that by his hand, that is, through his intercession and his example, I may draw from the word of Christ the spirit and power of the Shepherd. “I know them,” says Jesus Christ about His sheep. And so the property of a true Shepherd is to know his sheep; or, if perfect knowledge belongs only to the one who searches the hearts of Jesus, [Who is therefore the “one Shepherd” (John 10:16), whose shepherding all shepherds partake of], at least the true Shepherd, in the image of Christ, must make every possible effort to know his sheep and their inner state. Truly, this is necessary. If the Shepherd does not know his sheep, he may decide to pursue strangers - vain work, and abandon his own - destruction! If he does not know the special state of some of them: it may happen that instead of “verbal unflattering milk from which they would grow unto salvation” (1 Pet. 2:2), he will offer “solid food” (Heb. 5:14) to newborns, and he will want to feed the strong with milk; He will remove those who are thirsty from the water; He will stretch out the rod on the weak; will give no rest to those with child. It seems that the parable is clear, the truth is obvious; There is no need to explain more about this for those who should understand all parables. To Shepherd Alexie! How you knew the given sheep, and even from afar understood those given to you from the Chief Shepherd, it was revealed in a particularly wondrous way in the healing you accomplished of the Queen of Hagar. Having undertaken for this purpose the path to a country darkened by evil, you truly were the Gospel Shepherd, leaving ninety and nine sheep and going to look for the lost ones. Who could have thought that this search would not be in vain? Who, besides the Spirit of God living in you, could foretell to you that this new Syrophoenician, by faith, unexpected from her, is able to receive from Christ what she wants? He truly foretold this to you; and we can think that, having miraculously opened her bodily eyes, you threw some sparks of spiritual light into her heart, and turned the goat into a lamb. But we, who shepherd where you rest after your pastoral deed, are so little jealous of the spiritual gift of clairvoyance! So little that some of us, perhaps, do not consider it a necessity of our rank. Some of us, unfortunately, do not have, and, to our condemnation, do not try to have even ordinary knowledge about the internal state of the sheep entrusted to them. Due to a weak concept of their calling, some limit almost the entire work of a shepherd to playing the flute tuned by their ancestors; others extol the art of voice and speech; others rely on the strength of the rod: or, to put it without a parable, some think that the whole work of a priest consists of priestly service according to the ancient order; others place artificial preaching above all else; others hope to save their spiritual flock by the power alone to bind and decide, no matter how it is used. Everything is necessary and salvific, both priesthood, preaching, and the power to knit and decide: but all this requires wise hands and judicious use, and not this or that by chance, but all together and in order leads to salvation. What if we just whistle, and the sheep demand food; if we want to give them food in our word, but only dry chaff or flowers fall from our table, entertaining but not nourishing; if we threaten with a rod, where we should have consoled, or allow, where we should have frightened with eternal bonds? - True Shepherd! accept this confession of our shortcomings; teach us by Your example to “understand wisely the souls of our flock” (Prov. 27:23), and intercede for us before the Chief Shepherd, that He may grant us zeal and skill to know the sheep entrusted to us by Him, so that we may be able to “lift up the weak, and heal the sick, and bind the broken, and convert the erring, and seek the lost” ( Ezek.34:4), by His saving grace. “I will give them eternal life,” says the Chief Shepherd about His sheep. It is obvious that no one can say this except Him: for He alone has “the keys of hell and death” (Rev. 1:18). But just as He, in every deed that He did and in every word that He uttered on earth, “gives us an image, that as He created, we also create” (John 13:15), according to the measure of the grace given from Him and the service entrusted to us: so in this case, when He reveals in Himself the property of the good Shepherd, giving eternal life to His sheep, through this very thing He teaches us and commands us to have no other intention for the verbal sheep entrusted to Him than to acquire eternal life. This thought should ignite our prayers, animate our words, and guide our actions. We must keep this goal in mind in all our relationships with the verbal sheep, whether we teach in the church, whether we converse in the house, whether we console in sorrow, whether we absolve from sins, whether we even bind - and in this last case, threatening eternal death, we must have eternal life in mind, so that even those who stand on the brink of destruction “through fear will be saved from the fire admirably” (Jude 1:23). Is this how we walk in pastoral ministry? Is this exactly where all our thoughts and desires are directed? Have we, as Solomon said, “set our heart on our flock” (Prov. 27:23)? Do we constantly try to increase the strength of the spirit in order to tear away from ourselves and others the dust of vanity, swept up by the whirlwind of frivolity, and to disperse the cloud of worldly worries, with which the light of spiritual and eternal life is closed from the eyes of the world? Does it not happen, on the contrary, that some of us, busy with less important matters of pastoral service, and even then not with contented attention, lose sight of the great final goal of this? Securing themselves with the thought that the Giver of eternal life is the only Chief Shepherd, they look indifferently at whether the sheep entrusted to them live a life of grace, are infected with the disease of sin, or die completely spiritually. There were once such shepherds who, in search of their own self-interest, instead of saving the sheep, were denounced by the Chief Shepherd Himself: “Behold, you eat milk, and clothe yourself with the wool, and slaughter the fat, but you do not feed My sheep. The shepherds are their own shepherds, but My sheep are not shepherds. Behold Az are shepherds” (Ezek.34:3, 8, 10)! Oh, if we could be sure that we would no longer meet such unfaithful shepherds, “who do not eat the gain of godliness” (1 Tim. 6:5), condemned by the Chief Shepherd! Good and faithful Shepherd Alexie! Save us with your prayers from dangerous negligence and destructive infidelity before the Chief Shepherd. “Let us fight,” according to the Apostle, “the good fight of faith, so that we may pursue eternal life, for here we are called” (1 Tim. 6:12). “No one,” and especially none of the shepherds, “seeks his own, but every one of his neighbors” (1 Cor. 10:24). “Let us treasure up for ourselves” and others “a foundation of good things for the future, so that we may all receive eternal life” (1 Tim. 6:19). But then, as I heal myself, when at the feet of the God-bearing Shepherd I learn the duties of a Shepherd, at this very hour I will remain guilty of this duty if I do not seek the words of healing and life for this verbal flock. Bless our Shepherd, and for your sheep to receive the word of the Chief Shepherd; through you may the power of the gospel go out to them. “My sheep listen to my voice,” says Jesus Christ. And so the property of true sheep is to listen to their Shepherd. Truly, if the sheep do not listen to the Shepherd, this will also happen as if there were no Shepherd over them at all. Whether he announces with the sound of a flute, or calls with the voice of his mouth, or lifts up a staff, all this will not bring benefit and salvation to the sheep if, moving away, they do not see and hear, or, stubbornly, do not listen, or, not being accustomed, do not heed. A sheep that does not listen to the Shepherd is sure prey for a predatory beast. Let's resolve the parable. Christians are sheep of Christ's pasture; The shepherd whom they must listen to is initially and essentially Jesus Christ Himself, and according to Him those, whoever they are, who visibly represent His invisible shepherd, and act with the authority entrusted from Him; for He, as the Apostle says, “has given” to the Church “shepherds and teachers, for equipping the saints for the work of ministry” (Eph. 4:11-12); and so that they would recognize the data from Him, He set a sign: “He who enters through the doors is the shepherd of the sheep” (John 10:2), that is, he who enters into this ministry through grace-filled election; and so that these ministering shepherds would be listened to as if they were the Supreme One, He declared that listening to them and Him is one thing: “He who listens to you listens to Me” (Luke 10:16). The sheepfold and spiritual pasture, where we hear the voice of the Shepherd, where there is food and salvation for the sheep, is the Church. The voice of the Shepherd is prayer, teaching, secret action, management, and soul-helping advice. If people who call themselves Christians, having left the Church, wander through the wilds of schisms, “lost and tossed about by every wind of doctrine, in the lies of men, in the deceit of the wiles of flattery” (Eph. 4:14); if instead of the true Shepherd who enters through the doors, they listen to “those who transgress abroad” (John 10:1), who, according to the judgment of the Chief Shepherd, “are thieves and robbers”; or if, without explicitly excommunicating from the Church, they nevertheless do not cleave to it with a sincere, obedient heart; they are not happy to listen to the Shepherd who prays, teaches, and works in secret; do not seek spiritual advice; They dream, out of ignorance and pride, that they can shepherd and save themselves: such and others like them, since they do not listen to the true Shepherd, are not true sheep; avoiding obedience to the saving voice of the Chief Shepherd, they quietly go to meet the lion, which “goes roaring, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). For this sake, you who stand here in the sacred enclosure of the Chief Shepherd Christ and His chosen Shepherd Alexy! if, as your very presence testifies, you are saving yourself from the disease of inattention and disobedience; As a preventative medical remedy, accept the word of the Chief Shepherd: “My sheep listen to My voice,” so that by remembering this word your heartfelt attention and obedience to Him will always be renewed and strengthened, and so that the noise and temptations of the world will not carry away the rest of your heart and thoughts. And to those whose spiritual attention is distracted from Christ by temptations, drowned out by the noise of vanities, removed by delusions, scattered by the delights of the world and the flesh, take from here, as a cure against this illness of the spirit, this word of Christ: “My sheep hear my voice.” May they recognize the voice of their true Shepherd, and may they return to Him with repentance and a firm intention to listen to Him unwaveringly. Listen steadily! For, says the Chief Shepherd, “My sheep not only listen to My voice,” but “they will follow Me.” Why else should the sheep listen to the shepherd, if not in order to unswervingly follow his leadership? Listening to the Shepherd is the beginning of obedience, but even then not always; for sometimes shepherds and wild beasts hear, but this does not make them sheep: perfect obedience is faithfully following what is heard. The saving voice indicates salvation; Having heard it, we are not yet saved: only when we follow this voice with firm feet do we achieve salvation. And therefore, do you hear the Shepherd praying: do not just listen, but pray too; from the house of prayer, bring the spirit of prayer into your home and consecrate your secret church with it. Do you hear the Shepherd teaching: do not only listen, but also compose his verbs in your heart; and as sheep, after they have taken their food, regurgitate it from the inside, and by repeated chewing prepare it more perfectly, so that it becomes their flesh and blood; so you, after you have taken the food of the audible word, regurgitate it again from your heart, and by diligent meditation on what you have heard, transform it into your own flesh and blood, or better said, into spirit and life, and, in the strength of this spiritual food, do deeds that are not dead and carnal, but living and spiritual. This was also commanded by the ancient strict law, which Israel was shepherded by when it proclaimed the commandments: “Whoever does these things shall live in them” (Lev. 18:5). The free law of the Gospel also calls for this: “he who has entered into the law is perfect in freedom, and having remained, he is not a hearer and has forgotten, but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:25). And for this reason, listeners, it is necessary for us, who pretend to be obedient, to diligently test ourselves to see if we are forgetful listeners, in the words of the Apostle, “deceiving ourselves” (James 1:22). What in this case cannot we, unworthy servants of the word, fear, when, directly guided by God in the word, the Prophet experienced this inconstancy of his listeners? The Israelites spoke about Ezekiel at the gates and at the gates of the houses: “Let us gather together and hear what proceeds from the mouth of the Lord” (Ezek. 33:30). But at this very time, the Knower of the Heart revealed to the Prophet that they would listen to him, as they listen to a skillful singer, out of curiosity, without benefit: “And you will be like the voice of a sweet-voiced singer, blessed, and they will hear your words, and will not do them” (Ezek. 33:32). Think too, are you not only going to listen to what comes from the mouth of the Lord, so that you can hear and judge how we speak, without caring about the fulfillment of what we propose? - Woe to us, the Word of God! what You call Yourself, what You are, what You created the universe with, what You exalted man with, what wisdom is, what life is given - the word, the sacred, Divine word, we have made a spectacular play! I repeat: we must diligently test to see if we are just curious, if we are not forgetful listeners of words that deceive ourselves. And in order to give you a brief method of this test for this very day, I will add a short word: on this day, sacred in itself, and worthy of special attention, in preparation for the days of abstinence and repentance, listen to Christ, and not the vanity of the world, follow Christ, and not the slaves of the flesh. Whoever now remains faithful to this word: we hope for this, and we pray with hope, that in the future he will be “not a forgetful hearer,” but a doer of deeds, and finally, he will be completely “blessed in his work.” Amen. You might be interested in: