233. Слово в день тезоименитства Благочестивейшаго Государя Императора Николая Павловича

(Said in the Chudov Monastery on December 6th; printed in the Works of the Holy Father, 1849 and in the collection of 1861) Wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceful, meek, submissive, full of mercy and good fruits, foolish and unhypocritical. (James 3:17). In this saying, the holy Apostle James outlined some of the properties of true wisdom, finally, so that by these distinctive features one could infallibly recognize it and reliably cleave to it. Now, sons of Russia, we rejoice in our Tsar: and naturally, our thoughts and hearts go to the sources of our joy - to the royal virtues, especially open to everyone, and understandable to everyone in their blessings and mercies. How fatherly our Most Pious Sovereign cares for his subjects, in general and individually, according to their titles and various circumstances of life! How actively he spreads the benefits of upbringing and education from the highest to the lowest classes of the people! How he patronizes and oversees with his own eye institutions for the care of the orphaned, the helpless, the elderly, and for the healing of the sick! How he loves to illuminate with his blessing a merit not even rendered to His throne! How he does not alienate from his mercy even those to whom punitive justice has declared indisputable rights! How quickly he extends his lifting hand to those struck by a sudden disaster! With such thoughts about royal activity, full of mercy and beneficence, how pleasant it is to meet with the apostolic thought that mercy and charity belong to the distinctive features of “wisdom from above.” So, the deeds and monuments of royal mercy provide obvious proof that the Great Sovereign on the All-Russian Throne is co-present with “wisdom from above”: and if it is co-present with Him in deeds of mercy, then, of course, it does not leave Him in deeds of righteousness and, in general, in matters of care for the good of the kingdom. Let us give thanks for this and glorify the Most High Wisdom, “by whom kings reign”: and with great boldness and hope, let us ask Her for our Most Pious Sovereign and another gift - the one that Solomon sees in Her right hand, as if ready to give: “The length of life and the years of life are in Her right hand” (Prov. 3:16). It is not without benefit for us to enter into some reflection for ourselves about the properties of true wisdom. I don’t think that any of the people who are more or less reflective would refuse to listen to reflection on wisdom, as if about an object that belongs to a special circle of people and is not included in the general needs of life. This, it seems, cannot be feared from an age that cares about enlightenment almost more than about virtue, and which, I don’t know if it’s quite thorough, only quite unashamedly proclaims itself to be enlightened. The opposite of ignorance is enlightenment. The opposite of ignorance is wisdom. So enlightenment and wisdom converge. He who does not condemn himself to ignorance should not be indifferent to wisdom. Whoever thinks about enlightenment, let him think whether it can shine with any other light other than wisdom. If any Christian thought that he could rest in a feeling of humility, as in the shadows, without caring about the light of wisdom; I would ask such a person: do you still want to know Christ? If you don’t want to, then you stop being a Christian. And if you want to know Christ, then you must remember that the Gospel preaches “Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:24); that Christ is wisdom, not only in Himself, but also actually for us: “Wisdom came to us from God” (1 Cor. 1:30). So, if you want to know Christ, you cannot avoid acquaintance with wisdom. It should illuminate the understanding of a Christian, protect his faith and govern his life. “Take heed,” the Apostle teaches, “how you walk dangerously, not as unwise, but as wise” (Eph. 5:15). But just as not everything that glitters with the brilliance of the sun is gold; and therefore, whoever does not want to be deceived must study the distinctive signs of the noble metal: so not everything that has the appearance of wisdom is truly wisdom; and therefore, whoever does not want to be deceived by false wisdom must delve into the distinctive properties of true wisdom. This is what Saint James teaches in the saying that we have taken as the basis for this reflection. “For wisdom from above is first pure.” The first distinguishing property of true wisdom is that it is pure. In order to determine according to the Apostle’s own understanding what he wanted to mean here by the name “purity,” one must take into account that “wisdom from above,” he contrasts with “earthly, spiritual, demonic” (James 3:15). So, the first distinctive property of true wisdom is that it is removed from impurities “earthly, spiritual, demonic,” or, in the words of another Apostle, “from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit” (2 Cor. 7:1). A follower of true wisdom does not defile his hands with unrighteous self-interest, his heart with lust, or his spirit with pride and ill-intention. He does his best to keep himself morally pure in thoughts, intentions, feelings, and actions. By the name “purity”, signifying the education that true wisdom gives to a person primarily in himself, the word apostolic further represents the features with which it marks him more in relations to others. “Then be peaceful, meek.” Other features of true wisdom are: a peaceful disposition of spirit, meekness, as opposed to “bitter envy and zeal” (James 3:14), posited by the Apostle in the image of false wisdom. That envy is a trait of false wisdom is not difficult to verify. They envy what they do not have: consequently, one who envyes another in wisdom is thereby convicted of not having wisdom. Zeal, that is, a biased effort to give predominance to one’s opinion, is the fruit of envy: consequently, this trait also belongs to the image of false wisdom. True wisdom does not envy, because it has; does not break, because he does not have an opinion, but the truth, which has internal, irresistible power. The follower of true wisdom peacefully offers the truth, and acts for the truth; He meekly admonishes the ignorant and corrects the wrongdoers. If strife and enmity arise against truth and justice: he will stand for truth and justice with firmness, but without irritation, and having fulfilled the duty of fair defense, he will not hesitate to return to his inner world, if not with joy about the triumph of peace, then at least with peaceful prayer and for those who are not peaceful. This is how one can and should understand the one who said about himself: “Be at peace with those who hate peace” (Ps. 119:6). Further, according to the Apostle, “wisdom from above is submissive.” Being herself from above, from God, nevertheless, she willingly submits to earthly legal authority and superiors, as if they were also appointed by God, and not only to the authorities, but also simply to her neighbor, she is ready to submit obedience to a fair and well-intentioned demand. Only in response to an ungodly demand will she not hesitate to say: “It is fitting to obey God rather than man” (Acts 5:29): and she will say this only in order to suffer for obeying God without violating obedience to authority. Even wisdom from above, “fill with mercy and good fruits.” This is her attitude towards the needy and towards her neighbors in general. She does every possible good to everyone, out of a sense of duty to God, out of an attraction of love and mercy for others. Finally, true wisdom is “without doubt,” or not inclined to judge and re-judge, “and not hypocritical.” She does not seek out doubts against established truths in order to have the vanity of pointing out new paths to knowledge. He does not judge, without a calling, people whom God has granted judgment to Himself. It does not bind people into separate bundles with newly invented opinions and co-intentions, to the weakening and dissolution of the entire social connection and unity. He does not cover up his opinions, rules and intentions in order to attract with external appearance to something that is not capable of attracting with internal dignity. He does not feed with words, mixing the wine of truth with the water of vanity and counterfeit solutions, which arouse not noble vigor, but the frantic fury of passions. In this spirit of unfeigned sincerity, the Apostle Paul says: “Let us renounce the shame of secret things, not walking in wickedness, nor deceiving the flattering word of God, but presenting the truth to every conscience of mankind, before God” (2 Cor. 4:2). These, according to the apostolic teaching, are the properties of true wisdom. Having examined several of them, what use can we make from this consideration? We can do the very thing for which the Apostle outlined the properties of true wisdom - to protect ourselves from the deception of false wisdom. In our time, a new wisdom has arisen among some peoples, which, through the centuries-old works of state wisdom, finds the state institutions processed and improved not only in need of correction, but completely unsuitable, and wants to break and rebuild everything. Judging by the enormity of the enterprise, one might think that this must be enormous wisdom: and here is a case of deception. So, perhaps, it is not superfluous to test this new wisdom on the apostolic touchstone. Is it “clean”? - No. She does not speak at all about reverence for God, which is the only source of purity, and therefore has no thought about what Christianity calls purity. Is she “Myrna”? - No. It lives and breathes strife not only between its followers and non-followers, but also between followers. Is it “Meek”? - No. Haughty and daring. Is it “well-behaved”? - No. Rebellious. “Is she full of mercy and good fruits”? No: cruel and bloodthirsty. “Is there no doubt”? “On the contrary, it produced nothing but doubts, suspicions, complaints and mistrust. Is it “unhypocritical”? - She changes disguise after disguise, depending on which one can best seduce. Therefore, what kind of wisdom is this? – Obviously not the one from above. Which one? I don’t take it upon myself to give her a name. I leave your insight and impartiality to choose from the names proposed by the Apostle: “earthly, spiritual, demonic.” But even closer knowledge of the properties of true wisdom can and should be used to acquire true wisdom. Acquire the properties of wisdom from above: and you will gradually acquire the very wisdom to which they belong. Strive to be “pure, peaceful, meek, submissive, filled with mercy and good fruits, without doubt, without hypocrisy”: only by succeeding in these struggles will you truly succeed in wisdom. Passionate lovers of knowledge may object that this is a confusion of concepts: one thing is knowledge, and another is activity; one is wisdom, and another is virtue. – We don’t argue that we are divided in concept: but is it so in life? You can take the head and heart separately - they are dead; but in a living person they are in unity, and the head does not live without the heart. So you can take wisdom and virtue separately in a dead concept: but in true life they are in unity; the mind does not live without the heart, and wisdom without virtue. The Apostle pointed, among other things, to demonic wisdom. What is she? The devil can have no less knowledge of the natural and even, perhaps, more than a person: because, due to the subtlety of his being, he sees much in nature that the spirit of man, imprisoned in the body, does not see. What is missing in the wisdom of the devil? - Kindness. So, according to the Apostle, knowledge without kindness is the wisdom of the devil: and consequently, by contrast, knowledge with kindness is the wisdom of Angels, or human, depending on whether it is clothed in flesh. So, lovers of knowledge, show me virtue: and I will rejoice at this proof that you have wisdom. You know the Gospel parable about the wise and foolish virgins. It arouses to wisdom not just some selected ascetics of knowledge, but all of us. Both the wise and the foolish virgins had lamps and light. What were the differences and advantages of the wise? Because, in addition, they had oil in vessels to maintain light. The light of the lamp is the knowledge of the mind; oil in a vessel - love for goodness in the heart. When, after the exhaustion of time, the doors of eternity open and the heavenly Bridegroom appears: the light of earthly knowledge will fade away along with earthly life, and with the decay of the lamp, that is, the transitory objects of knowledge. But the wise soul, which in good time has filled its spiritual vessel with living and active love, firstly, for the supreme good, for God and Christ, and subsequently for all good, with the help of this spiritual oil is ignited and decorates its lamp with heavenly, unquenchable light, with which it goes with unfailing and faithful footsteps to meet the Divine Bridegroom Christ, and is accepted into palace of eternal joy. Love the light: but do not forget the oil with which it feeds. Love knowledge and wisdom: but do not forget the virtue by which wisdom lives, and which is even wisdom itself, as the much-experienced sage Job teaches: “Godliness is wisdom, and to shun evil is knowledge” (Job 28:28). Amen. You might be interested in: