282. Слово в день обретения мощей Святителя Алексия

(Said on May 20; printed in the Works of the Holy Father, 1853 and in the collection, 1861) All the people sought to touch Him: for power came from Him, and He healed all (Luke 6:19). What a happy time! What happy people! The incarnate Son of God walks among people; and all the people can approach Him, and touch, and draw the all-healing power emanating from Him! Do you want to envy the contemporaries of the earthly life of our Lord Jesus Christ? - This would be sinful, - because the feeling of envy is contrary to love for our neighbor, and is useless, - because envy will not give us what we envy, but only torments us: but this is unnecessary, - because God, the all-wise and all-good, of course, did not put us in such a position that we could rightfully envy other people and other times, as if offended by Providence. Well? Does “power” still “come from” our Lord Jesus Christ to “heal all things”? - Yes, without a doubt. But why don’t we always see its action when we want? – If this is not because His power has hidden or withdrawn, then of course it is because we do not know how to “seek to touch Him.” What is this “power” that “proceeded from” the Lord Jesus “and healed all things”? – None other than the power of His Divine nature, united with human nature, and His deified humanity. The power of the Divine is infinitely great, since all His properties are infinite, and eternally active, since all His properties are eternal and imperishable. So, the power of the Divine not only actively emanated from His hiddenness during the six-day creation, but also actively emanates after it, according to what the Lord said: “My Father is working hitherto, and I am working” (John 5:17). It emanates into the invisible world, and acts as the primary light, enlightening the second lights, pure minds, - as the original life, reviving and blissing the immortal existence of spirits. It comes into the visible world and acts as a “light” that “glows in the darkness” (John 1:5), which “enlightens every person who comes into the world” (John 1:9), like life that quickens the mortal and resurrects the dead. The Holy Apostle Paul sees and testifies that the Son of God “has His nose and... all things by the word of His power” (Heb. 1:3), that in God we “live and move and are”, that He draws near to us in a wondrous way, “that we may grasp Him and find Him, for He is not far from the one who exists for us” (Acts 17:27-28). But since the experience of centuries has shown that the human spirit did not know how to find and spiritually perceive the Divinity approaching it, and, contrary to its purpose for blissful communion with God, it was mired in creatures, in corruption, in death: then God, inexhaustible in the means of mercy, invented a new extraordinary way of teaching His life-giving and saving power to man. This is no longer the approach of only the Divinity to man, but the union of the Divinity with humanity in the person of the God-man Jesus Christ, in whom, according to the Apostle, “lives every fulfillment of the bodily Divinity” (Col. 2:9). His humanity is filled and watered with Divine power, according to the hypostatic, or individual, union of the divine and human natures in Him; and since the humanity perceived and deified by him, like humanity 742, is one in nature with the entire human race, then it is open to all people and an inexhaustible source of Divine, gracious, life-giving, all-healing, saving power. This is the “power” that “proceeded from” the Lord Jesus, “and healed all things.” Will anyone else ask: does it come from Him even now? - Before the question, the Apostle had already answered this: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, the same and forever” (Heb. 13:8), - the same and today, with the same power that comes from Him and heals everything; because this is Divine power, and therefore not temporary, not transitory, but eternal and eternally acting, and mainly on those who want and “and feel to touch Him.” Here a new, apparently difficult question arises: how can we touch Christ when He no longer walks on earth as a man among men, but, like God, sits in heaven at the right hand of God the Father? Who among us can reach out to touch Him? – If we are careful; There will be, to this bewilderment, a favorable solution for us in the events of that time when Christ apparently walked among people. Many thought then that the beneficial power in Christ was limited to His body, and that in order to receive a beneficial effect from it, it was necessary to touch His body with the body; and therefore, without even asking for healing from Him, they simply rushed to touch His body, and, apparently, had success, as this can be noted from the words of the Holy Evangelist Mark: “Heal many... as if they attacked Him, that they might touch Him” (Mark 3:10). The bleeding woman mentioned in the Gospel did not think so. She believed that the power of Christ is not limited to His body, but extends further, that His vestments are also watered with it, that to touch His vestments means to already touch Him and His healing power, and that, consequently, by touching His vestments one can receive healing. And this opinion was justified by experience. “I will touch His robe, and the fountain of its blood will dry up, and you will feel with your body that you are healed from the wound” (Mark 5:27, 29). The ten lepers thought even differently. The strict law did not allow them to touch Christ, or even His robe, which removed lepers, as unclean, from communication with the clean. What were they supposed to do? It is desirable to receive healing, but it is impermissible to touch the Healer. Need forced them to rise above the sensual way of thinking. They reasoned that the power in Christ is not physical, but spiritual, Divine, and that consequently it is possible to touch it not only with the body, but also in addition to the body with spirit, thought, desire, and the word of prayer. So, they “stood from afar, and... lifted up a voice, saying: Jesus, teacher, have mercy on us” (Luke 17:12-13). And that through this they touched Christ spiritually, and attracted His all-healing power, this, like over the bleeding one, was shown by experience. “And those who followed were cleansed” (Luke 17:14). From these examples, three types of saving touch to Christ are revealed to us: direct bodily touch, touch through some visible medium or sign, and spiritual touch. Now let them ask: is it possible to touch Christ, who has already ascended to heaven? – I hope the answer will be clear and convincing: you can touch Christ spiritually, not with your hand or lips, but with your spirit, thought, desire, prayer, faith, contemplating mind, loving heart; because the spirit and its movements are not as constrained by space and time as the body and its movements. If, however, for a spirit clothed with flesh, a medium or a visible sign is needed to approach and touch Christ: He, who poured out His grace-filled power even on His material clothing, did not he even more pour it out into the souls of His Saints, who, having been baptized into Christ, put on Christ, and, according to the measure of faith and purity, themselves became the vestment and receptacle of His grace-filled power? And from the souls of the saints did not it pour out onto their garments not made with hands, - onto their holy bodies and incorruptible relics; Has it not manifested itself, and does it not manifest itself through sacred images? Does not the power of Christ proceed through these means and signs to heal everything? Don’t believers often experience this, although not everyone knows how to see and accept it? Do you want even more - do you want to physically, directly touch Christ? What can I say to this? – It must be said that He gave you more than you could wish for and imagine possible. He said: “Take, eat, this is My body” (Matthew 26:26; Mark 14:22); “Drink, ... this I ... am My blood” (Matthew 26:27–28); and, through the minister of the sacrament, he says this even now; and gives us believers always and everywhere His life-giving body and His life-giving blood, not only for touching, but also for tasting, so that we, having tasted them with faith, could from the depths of our inner feeling cry out to Him with Saint Basil the Great: “Let us be filled with Your endless life!” What else do you need, Christian of the universal Church? Can you envy a Jew who, hearing about Jesus, rushed from Jerusalem, or from somewhere, to Galilee, “seeking to touch Him, because power came from Him, and healed everything”? Will you complain that, although you are looking to “touch Him” in the very ways that I pointed out, you do not feel the life-giving touch and do not find healing for your passions, sorrows and ailments? Let us consider this complaint, also on the basis of the experiences that are presented in the Gospel narratives. In the Gospel we do not see that Christ the Savior denied anyone the life-giving touch of His power. For what He said to the Canaanite wife: “Leave it, so that the children may be satisfied first” (Mark 7:27) was not a complete refusal to heal her daughter, but only this was a denunciation of paganism and an appeal to the pagan woman to pure faith in the one true God. On the contrary, the Gospel says that the power from the Lord Jesus, as if by itself, ceaselessly emanated, and extended everywhere to everything, like the power of light from the sun. “Strength came from Him, and He healed all things” (Luke 6:19). And He himself testifies about Himself that the power came from Him as if spontaneously, at the will of those seeking to touch Him, without first asking His permission: “I will touch someone; I sensed the power that came from Mene” (Luke 8:46). Isn't this how it should be? If the life-giving power of light constantly emanates from the visible sun and extends to everything, shouldn’t the power of the Divine sun of truth be even more powerful and constantly and unlimitedly active? So, if you complain that, even when using certain means of approaching and touching Christ, you do not feel the life-giving and all-healing effect of His power: then understand that your complaint should not fall on anyone else, but on yourself. Just as no one can truly complain about the sun, as if it does not give him its beneficial light and power, so no one can truly complain about Christ, as if He does not give him His beneficial light and power; with the difference that clouds and night can hinder the light and power of the sun, but no dark and nasty forces can hinder the light and power of Christ. If you do not see the joyful light of Christ, it is, of course, because you cannot or do not want to open your spiritual eye. If you do not feel the gracious power of Christ, then of course it is because your inner feeling is not excited, or is clouded by the impressions of external senses, which, through your inattention and negligence, dominate over you; or, perhaps, the gracious power prudently retains its obvious influence, so as not to destroy your weak vessel, when you have not yet strengthened, but are only strengthened by its hidden action. If your spirit does not find the strength to ascend to heavenly things and to touch Christ in a vital way through faith, is it not because it is being held back by earthly attachments, which you have allowed to become too strong? If the means given to you for approaching Christ and for communicating with Him do not have the desired effect on you, is it because you are using them incorrectly or carelessly? Is it not because your thoughts are scattered, desires are fickle, prayer is not diligent, faith is dead by not doing good deeds, love for God is suppressed by love for creatures? “Holy brethren,” I appeal to you with the Apostolic Appeal, “of the title of heavenly partaker, understand the messenger and saint of our confession, Jesus Christ” (Heb. 3:1). Understand that in Him is our life, in Him is our light and strength, in Him is our all-healing medicine for soul and body, in Him is our present good and future bliss, that outside of Him and at a distance from Him are only transitory ghosts of good and happiness, and behind them is evil, corruption, and death. And therefore, let us not be less attentive to our own good than this Jewish people, who from everywhere in multitudes, forgetting their homes and deeds, flocked to Him to hear His teachings, and for healing from Him, and with uncontrollable efforts “seeking to touch Him.” Let us flow and draw near to the Lord Jesus in His holy church, and in our hearts, which should also be His church. Let us gather our thoughts to Him from being scattered in the world. Let us direct our desires to Him from addiction to creatures. Let us be diligent in prayer, so that it can finally turn into an unceasing conversation of the heart with God. By active faith let us acquire contemplative faith. Let us not only not allow ourselves to love vanity, but let us also set limits to natural, lawful earthly love, and lift the love of God above it. And, according to the measure of faithfulness and diligent effort, according to the gift of Christ God, may everyone be granted a true, living and life-giving touch, not only the touch, but also the “infusion” of the grace-filled “power” (2 Cor. 12:9), from “who proceeds from Him and heals all things.” Amen. In the author's manuscript: “His deified humanity.” You might be interested in: