253. Слово в неделю мытаря и фарисея и на память Святителя Алексия

(Said in the Chudov monastery on February 12; printed in the Works of the Holy Father in 1850 and in the collection in 1861) I tell you that this one is justified in his house more than this (Luke 18:14). Christ the Savior ends the parable of the publican and the Pharisee, which we have now heard in the Gospel reading, with the Pharisee going to his house as condemned, or unjustified, and the publican as justified. “This man is justified in his house more than onago.” But were they in court? Have they ever been tried? They were in church. They prayed. From here there is a view of the church and the prayer, which probably not everyone quite notices and takes into account. Entering church and standing for prayer, we most likely imagine ourselves as supplicants, and God as the giver of blessings. That's fair: but that's not all. The Word of Christ shows that the church, being a house of prayer, is at the same time the judgment seat of God. You pray: and the invisible Judge listens not only to your words, but also to the thoughts and feelings of your heart, and carries out righteous judgment on you. You will finish your prayer and you will leave here either justified or unjustified, or even condemned. The Prophet said about someone: “Let his prayer become sin” (Ps. 109:7). Apparently, there is someone over whom this word comes true: because Prophets do not speak words into the wind. So, prayer books, we need to take care how to avoid condemnation, how to achieve justification. For this purpose, let us see how the publican achieved justification, as the Pharisee did not. Skillful and strong prayer book, Saint Alexis! Autumn with your blessing the minds and hearts of those who learn prayer, so that our word does not deviate from the word of Christ; that those who hear inwardly may understand more than what he speaks outwardly is a weak word. “Becoming a Pharisee, praying within himself: God, I give You praise” (Luke 18:11). It seems that this is not a bad prayer. The Pharisee “prays within himself,” that is, internally, mentally, heartily: this is better than some of us, whose lips pronounce prayer, but the heart does not feel it, and the thought often deviates from it to extraneous objects, or who listen to church reading and singing with the physical ear, but do not open the inner ear with deep attention, and are not animated by the spirit of prayer. Due to such dispositions, we must be careful lest we remain more alien to justification than the unjustified Pharisee. The Pharisee “gives praise to God”: and this is better than some of us, who in prayer think more about what they need than about what is pleasing to God, who, like children hungry for the inheritance of their fathers, and not for love, come to the house of the Heavenly Father to ask for what is necessary and unnecessary, useful and unprofitable, and not in order to contemplate His perfections, in order to confess His wisdom, goodness, providence, help, good deeds, to partake of His love and grace, to bring Him our love, gratitude, praise and glory. A Pharisee is a man not without exploits and not without good deeds. “I fast,” he says, “twice on the Sabbath, I give tithes of everything, and I take in more” (Luke 18:12). The law of the Old Testament Church did not prescribe fasting two days a week; it was a fast introduced by private tradition, and voluntarily accepted by the Pharisee; from which we can conclude that he observed legal posts all the more unacceptably. To give tithes, that is, a tenth share of the herd, of the produce of the land, of the annual income, to the church, its ministers and the poor, was prescribed by the law, however, not carefully fulfilled in the last times of the Old Testament Church: the Pharisee, who gave tithes from every acquisition, of course, was a zealot of the law better than many - and, one must admit, better than some of us, who not only do not impose voluntary fasts on ourselves, but also the fasts established by the Church are either clearly violated, or are carried out carelessly, inventing a fast more luxurious than meat-eating - who not only do not allocate a tenth of their acquisitions to the church and its servants, and to the poor, but also give this meager share reluctantly, as if an involuntary tribute, and not with joy, as a sacrifice to God. I repeat: we must be careful lest we remain more alien to justification than the unjustified Pharisee. But how is he not justified? - You'll see right away. “Becoming a Pharisee, praying within himself: God, I give you praise, as I am not like other people.” Apparently he praises God: but in reality he praises himself. Praise to God serves only as a means of expressing how pleased he is with himself, that he is better than others. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand whether his prayer can be pleasing to God: it is a censer from which rises not the fragrance of reverence and tenderness, but the stench of pride and vanity. It is clear why he cannot be justified: declaring himself better than others and blameless, he not only speaks, without knowing what, if he is not a judge of the heart, but he is also obviously telling a lie; because the Apostle, who knows human virtue better than him, testifies: “if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). Let us learn from this, brethren, how not to think highly of ourselves at all, and especially not to be arrogant in prayer. Why should you look at your insignificant virtues when you need to contemplate the endless perfections of God? Why should you praise yourself when you need to glorify God? If you enjoy yourself, then of course your soul will not thirst for God; and therefore His grace will not come to intoxicate you from the fatness of His house with the flow of His sweetness. In prayer, the Pharisee not only praised himself, but also blamed others. “I am not like other men, predators, unrighteous, adulterers, or like this publican” (Luke 18:11). Even a gentle and meek person will not justify these words: how will the all-good, humane-loving God, Who is “generous in all His deeds” (Ps. 144:9) justify them? Before the face of God you reproach your neighbor as vicious, as a criminal: but God has him under his providence and has mercy; So, in your reproach of your neighbor, is not hidden the bold reproach of God Himself, Who has mercy on him? And what good is it for you to look out for your neighbor’s vices? You do not become a saint because you see him as a sinner; On the contrary, your eye, which God created and wants to make pure, you yourself make evil. You place “this publican” between the predators and the unrighteous; but perhaps this low Zacchaeus in your eyes, in an hour, in some way, will rise higher to see Christ, and in another hour Christ will say about him, “For this also is the son of Abraham” (Luke 19:9). “With what eyes then will you look at the one you now blame?” It is a dangerous temptation, brethren, to unnecessarily consider the shortcomings and sins of other people, and to deceive ourselves with the thought that we are not like them. - Exactly, it means deceiving ourselves. By mocking the vices of our neighbors, we violate the commandment of love for our neighbors; we insult God, who has mercy on them; we pollute our mind with impure ideas; we are in danger of being blamers of innocents and even future saints; with the stench of unclean memories we corrupt the fragrance of prayer; With an unpeaceful conscience we pierce our hearts from the ascent of grief; and, of course, we will not achieve justification from Him who said: “Judge not, lest ye be judged” (Matthew 7:1). Who will deliver us from this temptation? Who will show us a reliable way to achieve justification in prayer? - “This publican”, only despised by the Pharisee. Christ the Savior entrusted this to the publican in the word of the parable. “The publican, standing from afar, did not want to raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his heart, saying: God, be merciful to me a sinner.” This is the prayer, as a result of which the publican “was justified into his house” (Luke 18:13–14). Consequently, here is for us a model of prayer that is capable of achieving justification. The publican, having entered the church, stands at a distance, closer to the doors of the church than to its inner shrine. What will we do according to this model? Will we crowd into the vestibule, leaving the church empty? - This would not be in accordance with either convenience or church order. Whoever can, insofar as he can, imitate the visible example of a justified publican’s prayer: let everyone strive to comprehend the spirit of this image, and be inspired by it! What does the publican's standing in the distance mean? – Fear of God before the shrine of God, a feeling of one’s unworthiness. And may we acquire and preserve these feelings! - O God of holiness and glory! The one whom You justify does not dare to approach Your shrine: how can I, worthy of a thousandfold condemnation, dare to enter the interior of Your sanctuary, touch Your shrine, which the Angels serve with fear, approach Your sacraments, which the Angels desire to delve into? Grant me fear and trembling and self-condemnation, so that my boldness does not condemn me. The publican does not want to raise his eyes to heaven. What does this mean? - Humility. So, have humility in prayer: and you will have justifying prayer. The publican beats himself in the chest. What does this mean? – Contrition of the heart for sins and repentance. So, have these feelings too. – “God will not despise a contrite and humble heart” (Ps. 50:19). What was marked by the visible images of the publican’s prayer: the same is expressed by the words: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” The publican does not rely on his own works, like the Pharisee, but trusts in the mercy of God. Beating himself in the chest, calling himself a sinner, through this he confesses that God's justice requires virtue, and condemns sin; that he, as a sinner, recognizes himself as worthy of condemnation, and already feels his condemnation; that he wants to get rid of sin, and at the same time recognizes his powerlessness to get rid of it. When, at the same time, he asks God for mercy, without presenting either the right or the incentive, then he confesses faith in the infinite mercy of God and in grace, which by faith justifies and saves the sinner, restoring and building up a person for good deeds, so that he may walk in them. Thus, the prayer of the publican is a prayer of repentance and humility, and, together, a prayer of faith and hope. With this prayer, let us enter the church, and let us remain in it, so that the merciful Lord may also proclaim to us that we will go down to our home justified. Amen. You might be interested in: