258. Слово в день Успения Божией Матери

(Said in the Assumption Cathedral on August 15; printed in the Works of the Holy Father of 1850 and in the collection of 1861) For I have to live, O Christ, and even if I die, I have gain (Phil. 1:21). Today, it seems, we are at a funeral: but we are not sad. How did these opposites meet and reconcile? The sacred image, placed here in order to instruct us about the meaning of the present day and the subject of the present meeting, presents to our eyes a funeral bed, on it is a holy and life-receiving, but already lifeless body, and around it is a cathedral of those carrying and accompanying it to the Gethsemane tomb. That's right, this is a burial. However, our cathedral, joining the funeral cathedral depicted and remembered, rejoices and celebrates. How did opposites meet and reconcile? And why are they united even by church law? The power of gracious holiness is visible here. She turns death into life, and therefore sadness into joy. The Most Holy Virgin, with greater right than Saint Paul himself, could appropriate his words: “For me to live, Christ, and even to die, there is gain.” The Mother of the Belly must not be restrained by death, although she must pass through its region. The Church looks at the “coffin” of the Mother of God as a “staircase to heaven” 714, where she goes in order, according to the prophetic contemplation, to appear as a “queen at the right hand” (Ps. 44:10) of Christ, the King of Heaven, and in order not only to bliss herself in the kingdom of heaven, but, through the action of Her prayerful intercession, to bring down rain on us from here on. blessings. Therefore, how can we not rejoice? how not to celebrate? And that the Church, in the midst of the joy of the holiday, did not hide from us the sad spectacle of the burial, this is, of course, because this is required by the simple truth of the event being remembered, but, I think, also because the Mother Church, as much as she wants to lead us to the contemplation of immortality and heaven, just as much finds it necessary to bring death and the grave to our attention and reflection. Walking the path of earthly life, we do not know for sure what, closer or further, will meet us, wealth or poverty, honor or humiliation, love or hatred, joy or sadness. Despite this uncertainty, we, although luckily, more or less, are concerned that the pleasant ones of these encounters should not pass us by, and how we might avoid the unpleasant ones. But there is one meeting that is certain, inevitable: this is a meeting with death. Shouldn't we think about it? Having encountered the unpleasantness of life, for example, poverty, you can continue the path with it, although not without difficulty, and hope for another better meeting: but, having met death, you will fall into its hands; and she, they say, does not treat everyone meekly and peacefully. “The death of His saints is honorable before the Lord” (Ps. 116:5). “The death of sinners is cruel” (Ps. 33:22). So, doesn’t prudence require that you take care in good time and without delay how best to position yourself for a safe meeting with death? Without delay, I say; because death did not promise us to tarry while we prepared to meet it. Shall we talk about those who think not to resolve the issue of preparation for death, but to destroy it with the thought of nothingness after death? I know from the wise one who denounces that “those who think wrongly in themselves think: we were born by chance, and therefore we will be as if we were not: the body will be ashes, and our spirit will be poured out like soft air” (Wis. 2:1-3). It would be difficult to believe that there are people of such a way of thinking if it were not known that evil requires lies and madness for its existence. It is noteworthy how the Wise One explains: “reconciling those who think wrongly within themselves”: these people speak not because they are convinced, but because their thoughts have deviated from truth and virtue; They strive to seductively express false thoughts in order to support their vicious rules with them: “Let the law of righteousness be our strength: let us catch the flattery of the righteous, so that we may be rebuked of our thoughts” (Wis. 2:11-14). I don't want to talk about them anymore. It is a shame for humanity that there are people who dream of being more intelligent than others, and who are wiser than the worm, who prepares for death by building himself a cobweb or silk coffin, not in order to disappear in it, but so that, having laid down the earthly life of the worm in it, he is resurrected into the airy life of a butterfly. Some, not being involved in the impudence and madness of reflecting the thought of death with thoughts of unbelief, nevertheless think little or do not think about death at all, because they are overly busy with other subjects. There are quite a few such people, and it’s not far to look for them. This is the world. – He who is addicted to sensual pleasures, then seeks pleasures, then immerses himself in them, then, tired of them, rests, then seeks them again; in this his days and nights pass; he has no time for that, and his soul is not in such a mood as to talk with the unsmiling thought of death. If by chance this thought comes to him, he hastens to drive it away, without considering that if it is difficult to bear the unexpected presence of the thought of death, then how much more difficult it will be to bear the unexpected presence of death itself, which can no longer be driven away! A person who is constantly engaged in business, by position, by desire, by duty of obedience, by need for food, by greed for profit and enrichment, usually lives in his business: it controls his time, abilities, strength, thoughts, desires. If he looks to the future; then in order to see what kind of work still lies ahead of him, and what new benefits can be achieved in the future. With the Gospel rich man, he builds “new granaries” in the future, draws up new plans for earthly well-being; and he has no time to think that, perhaps even without the preliminary that the rich man of the Gospel is awarded, “this very night his soul” will be “extracted” from him (Luke 12:20). A slave of habits and vain customs, even approaching death in years, does not want to notice its approach, although it is almost already in his eyes. Food and clothing, visits received and given, habitual amusements occupy him, like service and position; A child's playtime constitutes a daily lesson for him. In his leisure time from these active leisure activities, his mind wanders into dreamy memories of the past, so as not to touch the dreamless future and not meet death. What can such inattention to death lead to, if not to difficulties during death and beyond death? Even if we had not been told that there is a hellish abyss and hellish fire, threatening those who in earthly life did not build themselves ladders to heaven, then from the very properties of our soul and from experiences in earthly life, we could conclude how dangerous it is to come to the world of spirits, without spiritual preparation, with only habits and predilections for the earthly and sensual. The soul finds pleasure in that, and lives in that to which the mind and will are attached: deprivation of this is for it hunger, sorrow, suffering, death. The rejection of the mind and will from one object and attachment to another, according to the order of nature, does not occur instantly. Therefore, with every soul that, with only earthly habits and passions, without spiritual preparation, finds itself through death in the world of spirits, something similar should naturally happen to what happened to the rich man described in the Gospel, who, since before his death he was engaged only in delighting his tongue with food and drink, then even after death he did not find for himself a higher thought and a better desire than to cool his tongue, but also did not find desired drop of water. A soul arriving in an unfamiliar spiritual world dreams of familiar earthly activities, longs for familiar sensual pleasures: but they are not there. On the contrary, there are the most sublime objects of contemplation, the purest sources of joy and bliss: but they are alien to her mind and will. What remains for her? Her inner emptiness, hunger, sorrow, suffering, which constitutes her death. So it is obvious that in order to safely step over the coffin, you need to position yourself and prepare yourself for this on this side of the coffin. How? It is necessary, as far as possible, to renounce oneself and free oneself from attachment and addiction to earthly, carnal, sensual things; because “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 15:50). Because “the heavens are new and the earth is new according to His promise, in them righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13); then we must seek truth, so that it lives in us, and after death we can live with it in the kingdom of God; one must be inspired by the love of goodness; one must do good deeds. Maybe some will think: how will the good deeds that we did in earthly life be useful to us beyond the grave? Will they remain on earth, just like everything we have and do here? - No, brothers. Those who know the secrets and destinies of God do not think this way. They believe that good deeds go with us to the grave. A voice from heaven to the seer John called “blessed” “those who die in the Lord,” and promised them “rest,” and gave a reason for this: “for their works follow with them” (Rev. 14:13). If the substance of some good deeds, for example, given alms, belongs to the earth and remains on it: nevertheless, the spirit of good deeds belongs to the soul, heart, will, conscience; and therefore it is transferred into eternity, and is revealed by peace of conscience, holy willpower, joy of the heart, bliss of the soul. However, we would deceive ourselves if we said: let us do good deeds, and this is enough to prepare us for a trustworthy death and a blessed eternity. The Word of God speaks about the law of God and about good works according to it: “whoever does those things will live in them” (Gal. 3:12). But it also says: “Whoever keeps the whole law, yet sins in one point, he will be guilty of all” (James 2:10). Which of us has not sinned in something “one”, and more than in one? And consequently, who has not damaged, more or less, his good deeds? Who has not become guilty before the eternal justice of God? Guilt does not lead to peace and bliss, but to judgment and punishment. So, in our preparation for the future, we have another important concern, how to cleanse our good deeds from sinful admixture and free ourselves from guilt. But if our good deeds do not help us enough, and even require help themselves, then where will we find sufficient help? Can heaven and earth, and the Angels themselves, make the guilty right, and the sinner holy? Of course they can't. And what will happen to us? Is it necessary to admit that, due to the sinful damage to our nature, we are lost beings? In truth, we are lost creatures: only let this recognition be without despair, and not without hope; and from here a view of the true path of salvation opens. “For the Son of man came to seek and save the lost” (Matthew 18:11). The Son of God incarnate frees us from liability to eternal justice: since He is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29). He gives our good deeds strength, purity and perfection: because “God the Son of His ambassador may be fulfilled in us, walking not in the flesh, but in the Spirit” (Rom. 8:3-4). He tells us: and His “verbs” are “spirit and life” (John 6:63). He commands: and with the commandment he connects blessedness and the kingdom of heaven: “blessed are the poor in spirit, for of them is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). He commands us to believe: and promises: “Believe in Me, even if you die, you will live” (John 11:25). Calls to follow Him: and promises: “Where I am, there also will My servant be” (John 12:26). He suffers on the cross: and gives us the image and power to “crucify the flesh with its passions and lusts” (Gal.5:24). He dies, is resurrected: and makes for us an easy path through the area of ​​death to eternal life. Do you see now, Christian, what is most necessary for reliable preparation for death and for the future life? Believe in the Lord Jesus, and call on Him: follow His teaching and example; cleave to Him in memory, and in mind, and in heart: and you will be able, without hesitation, to say with Saint Paul: “For me to live, Christ, and even to die, there is gain.” Amen. Dormition, stichera on the Lord I cried. You might be interested in: