23. Слово Благовещения Пресвятыя Богородицы

(Spoken in the Annunciation Church of the Miracle Monastery; published in the collections of 1822, 1835, 1844 and 1848). And Miriam said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be unto me according to thy word. Luke 1:38. Not great words, apparently, but a great deed lies in them. And we all often call ourselves “slaves,” even slaves of men, though not always with the willingness to actually be what we call ourselves; but sometimes in fact, even without need or obligation, we subservient to people. Is it difficult, apparently, to call oneself a “slave” or “slave of the Lord,” to whom we are all, of necessity, slaves, whether we wish or do not wish to be and be called such? “By His word” everything was created in the beginning, and to this day, whenever He sends His word to the earth, this word cannot return to Him. Therefore, it seems that it is not difficult to respond to the verb sent from Him by expressing consent, “let it be done according to His word,” since this must already happen without fail. Arguing in this way, many would ignore, and perhaps some even ignore, the words of Mariami: but the deed that opens after her words should awaken the full attention of every thinker. In the days of the creation of the world, when God uttered His living and powerful: “let it be” (Gen. 1), the word of the Creator brought creatures into the world: but on this day, unprecedented in the existence of the world, when the Divine Mariam uttered her meek and obedient “wake,” - I barely dare to say what happened then - the word of the creature brings down the Creator into the world. And here God speaks His word: “conceive in your womb and give birth to a Son” (Luke 1:31); – “He will be great” (Luke 1:32); - “he will reign in the house of Jacob forever” (Luke 1:33): but, which is again marvelous and incomprehensible, the very word of God hesitates to act, held back by the word of Mary: “how will this be” (Luke 1:34)? She needed the humble: “Wake up”, so that God’s majestic: “Let there be” have an impact. What kind of hidden power lies in these simple words: “Behold the servant of the Lord: be unto Me according to Thy word,” and produces such an extraordinary effect? – This wonderful power is Mariami’s purest and perfect devotion to God, with will, thought, soul, whole being, every ability, every action, every hope and expectation. Christians! Oh, if each of us, at least little by little, would partake of this Divine power through the prayers of the Most Blessed Virgin! Behold the servants of the Lord, and Your servants, Mother of the Lord! Be us in Your image! Let the example of the Most Holy Virgin be our mentor in true devotion to God, brethren. Devotion to God is such a disposition of spirit, according to which a person leaves all of himself, everything that belongs to him, everything that can happen to him, to the will and providence of God, so that he himself remains only the guardian of his soul and body, as the acquisitions of God 146. A person is prepared for this disposition by careful observation of his own efforts to make himself perfect and prosperous. He wants to become wise; forms his abilities; strains the powers of the mind; strengthens itself with the strength of other chosen minds; composes a way of knowing: what then? While he tries to understand for himself one feature in this image, another in him is eclipsed, suppressed, disappears; to the extent that he expands the circle of his knowledge, beyond the boundaries of what is known, the area of ​​the unknown opens up even more extensively; a truth long recognized as reliable is cast into doubt by newly discovered truth; The end of amateur research, as the most impartial of the ancient sages admitted, is the discovery that man himself knows nothing. He wants to become good; tries to learn the law of justice; excites his heart to virtuous feelings; undertakes good deeds: what happens here? Experience proves that the desire to be good is often weaker than the passion that leads to vice, and is overcome by it; that the known law offers good, but does not give the power to do it; that virtuous feelings, from a hard heart, like fire from flint, are carved with difficulty and easily extinguished, while in a soft heart, although they quickly ignite, like fire in flax, they also smolder weakly and do not last long; that deeds that are good on the outside are often defiled on the inside by unclean motives: self-interest, self-indulgence, vanity; that human nature, as one of the most zealous admirers of the so-called moral reason was forced to admit in modern times, produces evil from its very roots. Based on such experiences, what can the efforts to make oneself prosper promise? – Where true good is lacking: there true well-being is of course impossible. The correct consequence of these experiments, carefully and impartially observed, should be that a person will lose hope in himself, and, if he does not want to perish - since outside of real well-being, and without hope, nothing can be found except destruction -, as if by necessity, he will lift up his desire and hope to God, and, not yet foreseeing or sensing how it can be accomplished, he will surrender himself to Him, like a ruined property, which the owner cannot dispose of. can. Having begun to surrender to God, a person encounters other experiences that are completely opposite to those that he had while governing himself. Previously, his own efforts to cognize the truth barely produced in him a weak, short-lived light, leaving behind deep darkness: now from the darkness itself, in which he is cast down before the Father of lights, a sudden light is born for him: and if he sometimes remains in darkness, then in it he recognizes the incomprehensible closeness of Him Who is the Light above light. Previously, efforts to do good were either completely suppressed in him by evil inclinations, or produced an imperfect effect: now, when he has placed his heart in the power of God, in his very weakness the power of God begins to be accomplished, destroying evil and creating good. Previously, his best-thought-out plans for the organization of his well-being either were not fulfilled, or in their execution turned out to be unsatisfactory: now he does not make any plans of his own, but from day to day he sees the great blueprint of Providence, according to which, in spite of any obstacles - except for the one obstacle that his stubbornness and unbelief previously imposed - his salvation is gradually being arranged. Previously, successes made him proud, failures plunged him into despondency, the past tormented him with repentance, the present worried him, the future frightened him: now he accepts favorable events with pure joy, because he sees in them the mercy and gift of God, and unfavorable ones with hope, because he sees in them a revelation of his unworthiness, instruction in humility, purification and preparation for the better; repentance is no longer a fire consuming his soul, but a quiet rain watering it, because he plunged his sins into the blood and water that flowed from the Savior’s side; there is no worry too heavy for such a person, because he has cast all his sorrow on the Lord; there is no fear, because he lives under the shelter of the Almighty; the past is not lost for him, the present is safe, the future is true - in the hands of the Eternal. Previously, in the very deeds of pleasing God, he fussed, like Martha depicted in the Gospel, and produced a lot of rumors, without thereby acquiring the perfect favor of God: now, like Mary, silent and motionless, he abides at the feet of his Savior, and, from minute to minute, filled with the life of His word, in the depths of his soul he gains evidence that he “has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from him” (Luke 10:42 ). Thus, devotion to God, conceived from the conviction of the mind, is reborn into a living feeling of the heart; the forced, so to speak, concession of what they could not save turns into a free gift of what they hope to preserve in this only way; a person casts himself irrevocably, like a poor mite, into the treasury of the Divine, not dreaming of increasing the treasure of God with it, but believing and hoping that there it will not be lost, and, no matter how insignificant, will be used, along with countless talents, to build a living church to the living God. They say that this means folding your hands forever, sitting down, and awaiting your salvation. Not at all! If anyone has actually formed such a concept for himself about devotion to God, and acts according to this concept, he is in error; he surrenders not to God, but to laziness. A person who is not devoted to God is distinguished not by the fact that he acts, but by the fact that he acts of his own will, relying on his own reason; similarly, one who is devoted to God is distinguished not by the fact that he does not act, but by the fact that he does not act according to his own will and reason. Just as someone who is not devoted to God can be inactive, so on the contrary, devotion to God does not exclude action - action according to the will of God and according to the Spirit of God. Placing your talent in the ground is, without a doubt, different from putting it in the hand of a trader 149 . You have given your treasure into skillful and faithful hands; You have provided for yourself: but beyond that, you can provide this very trader with your hands, so that he can use them according to his art to complete his turns; and then you will receive a great gain. Thus, whoever wants to acquire his soul, betrays this treasure to the Redeemer of souls, and rests in Him with faith, hope and love: but at the same time, to this universal Acquisitor he presents all his abilities and powers as active instruments for the accomplishment of a great turnover, through which, at the price of the earthly, corruptible, insignificant, the heavenly, incorruptible, Divine must be acquired. If after this someone else finds it necessary to ask, why is devotion to God actually required for the perfection and bliss of man? Here is the answer: because man lost perfection and bliss, stealing himself from God, Who not only, by the universal right of the Almighty, possessed it, but also especially appropriated it to Himself, putting His seal on it, His image. The creature's own will tore away a third of heaven and kindled hell in it; our own will infected human nature with sin and death, and the whole world with curse; and until then she will not cease to give birth to all types of evil, until she is completely devoted to God, Who alone is able to once again penetrate her with blessing, life, holiness and heavenly bliss. Therefore, the word of God often reminds us of this devotion, in relation to internal and external, to temporal and eternal. “Open your way to the Lord and trust in Him, and He will do it” (Psalm 36:5). “Bring your deeds closer to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established” (Prov. 16:3). “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that in time you may lift up all your sorrow, because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7). “Our Father! Thy will be done as it is in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 6:9–10). Everything great that the word of God presents to us was accomplished through great devotion to God. Who does not know Abraham and his great sacrifice? How could he raise a deadly hand against his son, about whom he had received hereditary promises? How did he not doubt? How did you not say to God: Didn’t you, Lord, promise that “Isaac will be called” my “seed” (Gen. 21:12)? Where will this seed be when the boy Isaac is burned on the altar? The Patriarch at this time had neither thoughts, nor desires, nor actions of his own; He committed everything to God, “believing more than hope for hope” (Rom. 4:18); and thus he made the desired sacrifice, and did not lose the desired son, and increased the blessing upon himself. “Truly,” he was told, “by blessing I will bless you, and by multiplying I will multiply your seed... and all the nations of the earth will be blessed because of your seed” (Gen. 22:17–18). Thus, devotion is the best sacrifice to God and the surest guarantee of His blessings. Who has not heard of Job, whose virtue was preached by God Himself before the assembly of heavenly powers? But what is the strength of his virtue, if not in devotion to God, to Whom to the incomprehensible destinies he gave himself, his children, his wealth, his health, with gratitude, and through this made all the efforts of the enemy of human virtue and bliss insignificant? “The Lord is given, the Lord is taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). Such devotion to God is a safe fence from all temptations. Look at Moses in that terrible moment, when the sea was in front of him, and the Egyptian army was behind him. The people cry out to God; grumbles at the leader: but what about the leader? He does not prepare the people for battle, does not look for a way to escape, does not erect a miraculous rod, does not even utter a single word of prayer to God. What does this mean? – He surrendered to God, and leads the people into this devotion: “The Lord will fight for you, but you will remain silent” (Ex. 14:14). Everything fell silent: but this silence resounded loudly in heaven and stirred up the miraculous power of God. “And the Lord said to Moses: Why do you cry to Me? the sons of Israel, and let them travel... and let the children of Israel come in through the middle of the sea on dry land” (Ex. 14:15–16). Here it is clear that devotion to God is the strongest and most effective prayer. But, to briefly say everything for the Christian, how does the highest work of Christ begin? – By the devotion of the Son of God to the will of God His Father. Behold, I go “to do Your will, O God” (Psalm 39:9), He says, descending to the incarnation. How does this matter end? - The same devotion. “Not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39). “Father, I commit My spirit into Your hands” (Luke 23:46). So devotion to God is both the beginning and the completion of Christianity and eternal salvation. Let us conclude this teaching with the exhortation with which the Church concludes most of her prayerful proclamations, in order to continually nourish in us the spirit of devotion that true Christianity breathes and lives: “let us commemorate our most holy, most pure, most blessed, glorious Lady Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary with all the Saints, ourselves, each other and our whole life to Christ our God.” Amen. To the collection. 1822 and 1835 further follows: only as an instrument of one’s own actions, only as a witness of one’s own adventures. In collection 1822, 1835 and 1844: left... In collection 1822 and 1835 these words do not exist. According to Jew. collection: skilled tradesman. You might be interested in: