218. Слово читанное в московских церквах пред молебствием об охранении от губительной болезни

(Read on September 14th; printed separately in the Works of the Holy Ot. 1847 and in the collection 1861) And God saw their deeds, as if they had turned from their evil ways: and God repented of the evil that He said He would do to them, and He did not do it. (John 3:10). These comforting words are written in the book of the Prophet Jonah, and refer to the inhabitants of the great city of Nineveh. The prophet Jonah was sent by God to tell them that for their sins their entire city must perish. The Ninevites feared God's judgment; admitted their sins: they turned to God in repentance, in fasting, in prayer: and the merciful God accepted their repentance and prayer, and delivered them from the destruction to which they had already been condemned. This incident reveals truths that we must preserve in memory and use for the benefit of our lives. The first truth is that great social disasters are not the actions of chance, or some completely incomprehensible fate, but the essence of the actions of God's Providence, governed by justice and mercy. “Arise,” God says to Jonah, “and go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach in it, for the cry of its malice has risen up against me.” What does it mean: “cry of anger”? This means the multiplication of vices, untruths and iniquities, from which those oppressed by untruths cry out, “and the creation that obeyed vanity unwillingly,” no longer only groans (Rom. 8:20, 22), but, due to the excessiveness of the abuses, cries out to God for justice. God sees even small sins, and hears the word of sin, and the sinful thought is not hidden from Him: however, He endures for a long time, waiting for the sinner’s correction. But when “the cry of malice rises up to him”: He tames it with his formidable judgments, so that it does not destroy good. This is how social disasters are generally tolerated, although for special cases there are special destinies of God, as for example, in public disasters, among sinners, sometimes the righteous suffer and die, without insulting their dignity, because with their patience they edify others, and multiply their crowns, and through death they acquire eternal life. Another, immediately following the first, instructive truth is that public disasters should be met with repentance and prayer, and the more timely, the better. When Jonah foretold the destruction of the Ninevites: “The men of Nineveh believed in God and commanded fasting. And each one shall return from his evil way, and from the unrighteousness that is in their hands, saying: Who knows, if God repents and prays, and turns from the wrath of His wrath, we shall not perish.” They did not hesitate in turning to God; They did not say that it is still unknown whether the prophecy will come true, there are still no signs of a threatening disaster, there is no extraordinary movement of the elements, no clouds, no lightning, no whirlwind, no earthquake, and not a single house in the city has collapsed: but “the believing men of Nineveh,” not expecting the onset of troubles, according to one word of the Prophet, admitted their guilt, believed the threatening judgment of God, and hastened to appease God repentance, fasting and prayer. And prudently. Because now they can bring repentance to God freely, but if trouble comes, it would not be so free, and therefore would not be so propitiatory: now they can pray with a tender, but not completely constrained heart; and the horror of already approaching death could suppress the feeling of prayer. This course of action of the Ninevites is completely justified by the consequences. The third comforting truth is that repentance and prayer are valid means against the greatest threatening or already impending disasters. God had already revealed to the Prophet that “the cry of malice arose” from the Ninevites, that their sins were ripe for punishment. Already the Prophet of God’s testimony against the criminal city: “the cry of his malice has gone up to Me,” turning it into a decisive definition, “Nineveh will turn,” he publicly announced this to the Ninevites. It seemed that both the immutability of God’s judgment and the dignity of the prophetic word, which must be inviolable, demanded that the announced determination be fulfilled without change. But nothing stood in the way of God’s mercy and grace, as soon as the path was opened for them through repentance and prayer. “And God repented of the evil that He said He would do to them, and He would not do it.” That is, in the repentance of the Ninevites, which stops the evil of sin, He found a means to stop the advancing evil of punishment. How sometimes the wise and merciful King, wanting not so much to punish a criminal by the action of punishment, but to correct him through the fear of punishment, commands to draw up and announce to him a strict condemning definition, but before doing this, grants him forgiveness: God acted in a similar way with the Ninevites. The truths now offered can always be useful to guide our lives. May God save us from having our sins multiply to the point of the Nineveh cry to heaven. But, as the Prophet says, “who understands the fall” (Ps. 18:13)? We often reassure ourselves with the thought that our sins are not very serious: but perhaps we are only seducing ourselves. Perhaps the all-pure eye of God sees them differently, and God’s judgment is approaching us with quiet, inconspicuous feet. But at the present time there is an unhidden visitation of God that has come to some countries of our fatherland, to which we should not be inattentive. The destructive disease, in which seventeen years before this we experienced partly the judgment, partly the pardon of God, entered the borders of our fatherland, coming from the same foreign country as before. There is no Prophet who could foretell us whether it would reach us, and who, although not without fear, would deliver us from it. But there is already God’s mercy in the fact that she herself announces herself to us from afar, and awakens us to caution. What should we do? - Without a doubt, it will be prudent and trustworthy to use, as a precaution against a disaster that is more or less threatening, those tried and tested means that were sufficient for the Ninevites to avert complete destruction. And so, is there a sorrowful visitation from God that threatens us: let us recognize in it the justice of God, partly punishing sins, partly encouraging correction: and let us motivate ourselves to improve our lives, in relation to piety, good morals, abstinence, love of mankind. Let us immediately resort to God with prayer, partly for the deliverance of our brethren, the children of the one Church and one Fatherland, who have already suffered a sorrowful visit, partly for ourselves, so that the Angel of Death does not approach us, or may he not burden his hand; May our guardian angels not fail us with their protection, reinforcement and admonition, may we always obey the Father of Spirits, and may we do His will, and may we find mercy and grace from Him. Let us not be lazy in using natural remedies and precautions to preserve health and to prevent harmful influences. How can we demand that God protect us, if we ourselves do not take care of ourselves, and give ourselves over to destructive forces, cowardice and lack of hope in God, immoderation and intemperance and other negligence? Carefully guard yourself with the smallest possible guarding for you: and God will guard you with great, all-good and all-powerful guarding. Amen. In Add. to Creation St. Ot. 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