261. Слово в день восшествия на Всероссийский Престол Благочестивейшаго Государя Императора Николая Павловича

(Said in the Chudov monastery on November 22; printed in the Provincial Gazette of 1850, in the Works of the Holy Father of 1851 and in the collection of 1861) The present day, before the preacher, itself speaks a word that reverberates deep in the Russian heart, and arouses thoughts: - Twenty-five years have passed since the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich has reigned over us. Times could not be calculated 718 if they were not divided into circles limited by known limits. Therefore, God created the luminaries, with this purpose, among other things, “that they may be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years” (Gen. 1:14). Not content with the natural division of times, He gave them different combinations, adapted to higher, mainly moral and spiritual goals. Thus He formed a week of days, and in the Law of Moses both a week of years and a week of seven years; and he paid special attention to the seventh day, the seventh year, and, according to seven seventh years, the fiftieth year: so that a person, having passed a certain field of time, especially not a short one, would stop, as it were, at the border, look around, examine the paths of Providence over his paths, give glory to the Heavenly Guide and Guardian, and from the experiences of the past, draw for himself instructions in relation to the future. The fifty-year circle of time, which among the Jews was legal, church and state, among Christians, along with other Old Testament ritual institutions, lost the force of law: however, it was not completely destroyed, but passed into the realm of customs; and when, having been adapted to man personally, it seemed 719 too long for the naturally short human life, then it was necessary to divide the fifty-year circle into two, and form a twenty-five-year circle. For even twenty-five years of stay, activity, exploits, in a certain state of life represents such a field that to pass means to win no small victory over the all-changing power of time. What can we say about the successful completion of a twenty-five-year career of such high activity, such difficult feats as reigning over a vast Kingdom, during especially difficult times for Kings and Kingdoms? - Not by application to custom only, but by reflection on the true basis for the custom, we say that the day that marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the successfully continued reign, the present day, is especially worthy of reverent attention, memorable, and auspicious. When examining the Royal deeds that marked this twenty-five-year anniversary, one can verify by close experience that ancient wisdom and Royal experience inspired the wise King to write: “When a righteous King sits on the throne, he will not resist anything wicked before His eyes” (Proverbs 20:8). Note that there is “evil” in the Kingdom of the righteous King; because in the heavenly Kingdom alone there is no evil, no vice, no misfortune: but the “evil one” does not have the power to “resist” the righteous King. The “evil one” appeared with insolence at the very time when Nicholas the First was supposed to sit on the ancestral throne; and a sudden storm threatened public order and safety. But the Tsar, firm in the truth of his calling and trust in God, did not waver for a moment; with the strength of His spirit He rebuked the storm; established the Throne at the very time when he sat on it, on the first day of the Reign he became the deliverer of the Kingdom. Soon afterwards, two non-Christian powers, one after the other, challenged Him to heroic deeds: and although the open power of the enemies was reinforced by the no less significant secret power of those who envied Russia; however, the truth and strength of our King in battle and confidence in victory overthrew the open and disarmed the hidden confrontation so that the fulfillment of His intentions could not be “resisted by anything crafty.” So it was when the people, not entirely foreign, having received the dignity of the kingdom they had lost only by the grace of the Russian Tsar, and brought to an unparalleled level of improvement and well-being in the previous history, repaid benefits with ingratitude, and for the good management of rebellion. The thunderclap of the Tsar's truth was menacing and inevitable, striking sedition and self-will: but after that, like a thundercloud with beneficial rain, the Tsar's truth was resolved by the Tsar's mercy, extended to the whole country, and especially to the unfortunate, and even to the guilty, in so far as it was possible to have mercy harmlessly. Do you want to see Tsarev’s truth in the internal affairs of the State, not sullied by difficulties? – Look at the legislation. The century passed before Nicholas the First in unconfirmed assumptions and in unsuccessful efforts to give improvement to Russian Legislation. He accomplished this in a few years. It would be out of character for a speaker in a church not to touch somewhat on church affairs in relation to the affairs of the State. The unity of faith is an important reinforcement of the unity of the people, and both of these unities together have an important relationship to the strength of the State. About two million of the Russian people, formerly of the same faith, in the past three centuries, were torn away from the Orthodox Church by alien cunning and violence, and prolonged and all kinds of efforts were made to attach them to the Western Church. The Russian government dealt with them according to the rules of religious tolerance. Therefore, as much as one could wish for, one could just as little hope for their reunification with the Orthodox Church. But suddenly, by their own movement, under the leadership of all their senior shepherds, and almost all the clergy, they quietly and freely came to the Orthodox Church, just like sheep returning to the sheepfold from which they had recently left. How did this happen? If you look at human means: action turns out to be stronger than means. This is how it should be in the work of God. This is a gift of Providence to the Tsar’s pious truth, for the good of the Kingdom. But I am not reaping the harvest, I am only plucking some crops from the abundant field of the Tsar’s twenty-fifth anniversary. Is it possible, however, not to mention recent events when the truth of our Tsar was moved to defend the insulted truth of the Tsar-Ally? “It was impossible for the Sovereign Defender of Truth to “resist anything wickedly,” although almost entirely an entire people was raised to resist, deceived and possessed by the sons of wickedness, from many nations united in the unanimity of wickedness. It is pleasant for the faithful sons of Russia to hear that in the kingdoms in which they were accustomed to look at Russia only with fear of her strength, and with fear of her strengthening, and through the fog of their own dreams they could not clearly see the truly high spirit of Her Autocrat, at last at the present time there are loud recognitions of the rightness, firmness, moderation of the rules of the All-Russian Autocrat in relation to other powers, and the beneficial power of His word to put an end to dangerous disagreements between some of them. Let us glorify, Russians, the Lord, “in the hand” of Whom is “the power of the earth”, and Who “raises in time what is necessary upon it” (Sir.10:4). Truly, He raised up our Most Pious Autocrat Nikolai Pavlovich, who was beneficial for Russia, so that with a firm hand he could hold the reins of government of the vast Kingdom, in order to protect the purity of the Russian spirit from alien influences with his love for everything domestic, - beneficial for the Orthodox Church, so that through zeal for Orthodoxy he would promote the spread of its borders, in order to, through unflagging care, elevate the well-being of the ranks of those serving the Church, in order to impart vital force through piety to the mental and moral education of the people, beneficial for many kingdoms and nations, so that by the power of truth and the truth of power, and beyond the borders of one’s dominion, to maintain legal authority, order, mutual truth and peace between kingdoms and peoples, while “a generation that is obstinate and grieving, a generation that did not straighten its heart, and do not trust your spirit with God" (Ps. 77:8), worries peoples when "kingdoms divided into one" (Matthew 12:25), waver, when unrighteousness seeks to seize power, and power does not sufficiently honor the truth, when they dream of establishing legality on rebellion, in national strife to find a source of public harmony, to have free governance through an enslaved Government, when anarchy wants to be the beginning, obviously not creative, but destructive. Because the consideration of the events that took place in a certain circle of time, revealing to us the paths of Providence, should, as we said, give us an instruction: let us hear. The example of the King, victorious and glorious in righteousness, preaches the truth to the people. And our views on all of modernity, the more we expand and deepen them, the more we encourage them to cry out with the Prophet and with the King Prophet: “You who dwell on the earth will learn righteousness” (Is. 25:9). “Truth elevates language; but the tribes belittle sins” (Proverbs 14:34). “The righteousness of upright men will deliver them; but iniquity is caught by lack of advice” (Proverbs 11:6). Is it necessary to explain how the truth is needed? – Imagine that you are surrounded by people who do not tell the truth, do not do the truth; that, therefore, assurances of goodwill cannot be trusted; that promises cannot be relied upon; that the one called by you, or the one sent to the task, will say: I will go 720, and will not go; that the debtor will say: I will pay, and he will not pay; that the one who listens to your request for protection will say: I will protect, but he will not protect. Is it possible to spend even a day calmly and safely between such people? Don't you see that you can't live without truth? Will you say: I allow myself only a small lie, from which there will be no great disaster? - the Wise One answers you: “Those who despise, little by little, will fall” (Sir.19:1). If today you allow yourself to be untruthful in a small word, tomorrow in a small deed; if others, noticing this, respond to you in the same way; if the superior does not observe the truth in the order, the subordinate will fulfill the command; If one who comes to court allows himself to bring unjust requests and seduce the judge with gifts, and the judge succumbs to deception, then untruth can imperceptibly grow into such a mountain that, having collapsed, will bury many under the ruins. However, the truth would not be perfect if it were observed only out of fear of misfortune and destruction. Let us love and let us do the truth: because it is lovable in itself; because it is akin to our soul, and even more so because “the Lord loves the righteous” (Ps. 146:8). Amen. In the author's manuscript and in the Works. St. Ot. "and count." According to Jewish collection: introduced... In the author’s manuscript, first there was “I’ll go,” and then the first syllable of the word was crossed out with a pencil; in Creation St. Ot. and in Hebrew. collection it says “I’m going” directly. You might be interested in: