216. Слово в день Успения Пресвятыя Богородицы

(Said in the Assumption Cathedral on August 15; printed in the Works of the Holy Father in 1847 and in the collection of 1861) The Queen appears at Your right hand. – All glory to the Tsar’s Daughter inside. ( Ps. 44:10, 14 ). Whom does the Prophet depict with such extraordinary features, in one of the highest and most mysterious psalms, called “the song of the beloved”? - At least we, to find out this, had no other means than to look in the entire human race for a face similar to this image: without much labor and without bewilderment, we could find the features of the prophetic image, shining with incomparable light in the face of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary. She is the “daughter of the Tsar”: namely, the daughter of King David and those who reigned after him in Jerusalem. She has “all the glory” that a created being can achieve: since she is the Mother of the King of glory, the Mother of God the Son, by this unparalleled dignity more honorable than the Cherubim and more glorious than the Seraphim. But “all the glory” of Her is “inside”: because it does not consist in external splendor and splendor, but in internal perfections and virtues, and therefore the Most Holy Virgin, throughout Her life on earth, humbly contained Her glory in Her heart and kept it from manifestation. How quickly did we recognize the Most Holy Virgin Mary in the prophetic image of the “king’s daughter,” to whom “all glory is within”? Then we must recognize Her in the same prophetic song, and in the image of the “Queen who appeared” at the right hand of the King, Who is “throne for ever and ever,” Who, being “God,” is anointed by “God with the oil of joy, more than a partaker” (Ps. 44:8), that is, God-man, our Lord Jesus Christ. When and where did She appear before Him so solemnly? - Without a doubt, after completing His earthly journey, in heaven, where He has with His Father “the glory which the world had not before” (John 17:5). She “stands” before Him, as servants stand before the Lord; because She too is a servant according to Her created being: but she stands together as a “Queen”, because she participates in His glory; because he has motherly boldness before Him. And is it possible to think that her presence before the King of glory is idle and inactive? If even on earth, during the concealment of Him and Her glory, She stood before Him with a petition for help in our needs, even unimportant ones, such as wine for innocent joy at a marriage, and “the hour that had not yet come” of His beneficial miracles could bring closer (John 2:1-9): then how much more now, in heaven, when Her love for mankind, and Her boldness before the Son and God, freed from earthly restrictions, She stands before Him not in oblivion of earthly beings, but actively intercedes for us, for gracious help in our needs, troubles and sorrows, for the peace of the whole world, for the salvation of every soul that sincerely desires salvation; and as a “Queen” (since in heaven there are no names without meaning, power and action), and She Herself has the power to intercede, protect and bestow favors on those who resort to Her sovereign protection. You see that in the prophetic word we have found what we have in church tradition, which we often read not in letters, but in faces, on holy icons, which we now joyfully honor with church celebrations - we have found the Most Holy Virgin Mother of God, who after her dormition on earth ascended to heaven as a Queen, presenting herself in glory to the King of Glory and intervening for us with grace and salvation. Rejoice, you virgins: virginity has already reigned in heaven, and from here on you will be royally protected. Do not be discouraged, those who give birth: the Mother of the Lord, although she did not experience the illnesses of birth in a sinless birth, nevertheless deeply knows from the experience of grief maternal love and care; and thus, like His Divine Son, “having been tempted” by His grace “is able”, and by His mercy He wants to help others “who are tempted” (Heb. 2:18). Rejoice, all you born of women: for if the Son of God, in his incarnation, “is not ashamed to call us brethren” (Heb. 2:11): then, of course, His Most Pure Mother is “not ashamed” to “call” us all children, and with her Mother’s heart to have mercy on us all. But it is not enough that we reassure and console you with the protection of the “Queen present at the right hand” of the King of glory in heaven. It is necessary for you to be raised, and for you to ascend, although not to this very height, but still quite close to it. The Prophet ordains this to happen without fail. “The King will bring virgins after Her,” he says (Ps. 44:15). What kind of maidens? – Without a doubt, not just virgins of the flesh; because “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 15:50): but virgins of the spirit, in particular, souls that have purified natural virginity and exalted it with grace, in general, souls that have preserved and increased spiritual virginity, with which they were born of the Spirit in the water of Baptism, or corrected what was damaged by perfect repentance and a penitential life. Christian souls! Aren't you jealous to go in the rank of wise virgins, in the footsteps of the Ever-Virgin? Is any of you really dooming himself voluntarily to the fate of the holy fools? Will not your heart long to draw closer to the heavenly Bridegroom, Whom the Heavenly Father Himself has more than once proclaimed “beloved”, not for any need to express Your love for Him, but in order to arouse our love for Him? Or are you weakened by an unlikely thought: is it possible to reach such a height? But there is no room for doubt about the possibility that the infallible prophetic word foreshadows and promises to come true: “The King will bring virgins after Her!” Or is the feeling of unworthiness overwhelming you and preventing the divine desire to take wing? Separate the feeling of unworthiness, which is fair, from the overwhelming hopelessness, which is unfair. Did the Son of God come to earth for the worthy? “I have not come,” he says, “to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Mark 2:17). “The Son of man came to seek and save the lost” (Matthew 18:11). If the Savior came not only to the unworthy and sinful, but also to the lost, then not only the unworthy and sinful, but also the lost have hope of drawing closer to their Savior; If only they would desire, move, strive to prepare themselves for this approach, not by their own strength, but by His gracious help. Souls who wish to be led in the footsteps of the Queen, who has appeared at the right hand of the King of glory, must prepare themselves for this with a beauty similar to the one with which She is adorned: “all glory to the daughter of the Queen within.” What does “glory within” mean? - Saint Basil the Great admonishes us about this: “Whoever adorns himself with beauty to the Father who sees in secret, and prays, and does everything, not so that he may appear to man, but may he appear to the only God: he has all the glory within, just as the Tsar’s daughter does.” And here is to you, Christians, today’s parting words on the path of the kingdom, in the footsteps of the heavenly Queen; Here is the current lesson of the school of Christ: have dignity and glory “inside”, piety and virtue in the heart, in the depths of the soul, before the eyes of the All-Seer, and not only in appearance, in words and external deeds, before the eyes of men. The lesson is always useful and saving, but it seems to especially require careful study in this age, which lives so much on the outside, and, as a natural consequence of entertainment, is, of course, no longer content to look inside! How much attention is absorbed by many, how much time is stolen, how many resources are depleted by the intensified passion for splendor and pleasures in external life, in housing, in clothing, in food, in drink, in entertainment! Many people think or even say: what’s the harm in that we seek our own pleasure? A pathetic excuse for the activity of a rational and moral being that there is no harm in it! Doesn’t this justify the accusation that there is no good, no benefit, no dignity in this activity? But if in order to correct your activities it is absolutely necessary to point out the rod of impending disaster: then look how, as luxury spreads, contentment decreases, and at the bottom of society the level of unclean and parasitious poverty increases to the point of excessiveness; how the addiction to brilliance, passing from the rich to the poor, produces indiscriminateness in the means to satisfy it, and damages private and public morality, and with it order and security; how the habit of being consoled by the beauties of external life creeps into spiritual life and damages the moral feeling; he who has done a good deed is left dissatisfied until it is published and proclaimed; he who has rendered merit is not allowed to rest in the consciousness of merit, but is tormented by a thirst for external distinction. Let us be careful not to make mistakes in determining the comparative price of external and internal, so as not to exchange gold for copper and silver for tin, so that, dwelling on the external, we do not get bogged down in vanity. It is not the internal that exists for the external, but the external for the internal, external visible goods for the body, the body for the soul, the soul for God and the kingdom of God: but “the kingdom of God,” according to the word of the Lord, “is within you” (Luke 17:21), if you have not enslaved yourself to the external and are not lost in it. Engage and use the external according to your needs, with moderation: but always hasten to turn to the internal. Tell the decorated church: you are not the palace of the heavenly Bridegroom. His palace is the immaculate heart. He indwells “hearts by faith” (Eph. 3:17). Tell the graceful garments: none of you is fit to “be a wedding garment” (Matthew 22:12), in which they enter the Royal Wedding, and without which they are cast out into utter darkness. This garment will not be woven in the camp, nor will it be brought from a foreign land: it is partly given from above, partly produced by each one’s own exploits, according to what was said: “Put on yourselves with our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 13:14); “Put on the belly of kindness, kindness, humility, meekness and long-suffering” (Col. 3:12). Tell the luxurious feast: this is not where the heavenly Guest will come, although He promised to “come in” and “supper” with everyone who “opens the door” to Him (Rev. 3:20). He has a different food: “man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). He must open the doors of the heart: prayer, love and observance of His word open them: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him” (John 14:23). Tell the thoughts of vanity and greed when they approach your good deeds: get away from the “foxes that destroy the grapes” ( Song 2:15 ); we want to preserve unto the Lord the fruit of the grape, untouched by anyone. With the help of the now indicated and similar spiritual reflections and exercises, “may the heavenly Father grant you, brethren, “according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power by His Spirit in the inner man” (Eph. 3:16), so that, having “glory within,” we may be worthy to be “brought” into eternal glory. Amen. You might be interested in: