29. Слово в неделю всех Святых, при посещении города Коломны

(Spoken in the local Assumption Cathedral, May 28; printed in meetings of 1822, 1835, 1844 and 1848) Whoever loves his father or mother more than Me is worthy of Me; and whoever loves a son or daughter more than Me is worthy of Me. Matthew 10:37. According to the inscrutable destinies of God, seeing myself again in the midst of this city, in which I was destined to see the light for the first time, and from which I was so carried away by the course of events that I never expected to see it again - beyond my aspirations, again being among my brothers and neighbors, in whose community I received the first pleasant sensations of life - I would like to completely surrender to the strong attraction of love for the fatherland - love, for which, as one of the Jerusalemites explains, the children of Jerusalem “will delight in its stone, and its dust will spoil it” (Psalm 101:15), that is, the very stones of the native city are dear to them, even the dust of its paths is sweet. My heart is now ready to sing to this city the song that they sang to their Jerusalem: “Ask about the peace of Jerusalem: and abundance for those who love you! May there be peace in your strength, and abundance in your pillars. For the sake of my brothers and my neighbors, I will give peace to you” (Psalm 122:6–8). But what do I hear? This sweet song is interrupted by the menacing voice of the commandment of Christ, which, as if by special intention, now resounds to me in the midst of this church. “Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37). What will I do? Let me hear another song from the singer of Israel: “Does not my soul submit to God” (Psalm 61:2)? I will conquer love for neighbors and brothers, I will conquer love for God and Christ; “I will forget my people and my father’s house” (Ps. 44:11), and I will strive to remember only the people of the Lord and the house of the heavenly Father. In this state of mind, I am allowed to continue the interrupted Jerusalem hymn: “for the sake of our God, the house has sought your good” (Psalm 121:9), God-loving city! For the sake of the holy Church, which is the house of God, for the sake of her Orthodox children, who are close to God, I wish you good things; and since I wish for God, I also wish for Divine blessings, “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, the faith of God,” which is “God’s gift, the love of God poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.” But am I not insulting my brothers and neighbors by such a quick renunciation of our love? “You will see immediately, brothers, that there is no injustice in this.” For I do not require any other disposition from you than the same one in which I wish to place myself. If you want to be worthy of the love of God and Christ: love God and Christ more than father and mother, more than brothers and sisters, more than everything that is dear to you. “Whoever loves a father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and whoever loves a son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” When, following the Gospel, I proclaim to you the sacred obligation to love God and Christ above all: this does not mean that I am afraid of finding in any of those who hear this direct enmity against God and Christ. There are also people of this disposition, about whom the Apostle “speaks weeping,” about whom I remember with horror, “enemies of the cross of Christ” (Phil. 3:18), who do not want to subdue either their minds to His faith or their hearts to His law, and speak with the rebels depicted in the parable: “We do not want this, let him reign over us” (Luke 19:14)! But I have no doubt that each of the true believers will perceive the Apostle’s zeal against such people, and will not hesitate, together with him, to reject them with all the strength of their spirit. “If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be cursed, Maran-atha” (1 Cor. 16:22). There is another kind of people, among the very believers in Christ, and those who recognize the power of the law of God over themselves, who are horrified by the thought of making themselves enemies against God and Christ, but who do not quite clearly recognize, do not feel quite deeply, their obligation to love God and Christ, and therefore do not achieve all the bliss contained in this love. Isn’t it true that for some, and perhaps for many Christians, this is the whole image of their piety, so that it doesn’t even occur to them that there would be more to it. No, this is not all, brethren; there is still a lot left behind this - so much that without what remains, everything else will not lead you to your true goal, that is, to your eternal salvation. No matter how high the ladder of your virtues ascends, it will not lead you to heaven, and, beyond fear, it may fall upon you in disaster if at the top there is not the last degree, which alone touches heaven firmly and unshakably. Ask your heart whether it loves the One who accepts faith and law, to whom he brings repentance and prayer; Do you really feel that this “love has been poured out into your heart by the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 5:5), just as you definitely feel the love of a child, parent, brother, pouring into your heart, at the sight of parents, children and brothers? If your conscience and spirit do not testify to you that you accurately and vividly feel internally this Divine outpouring of Divine love, then you need to diligently learn this love from the only Divine Teacher Jesus Christ. “Whoever loves a father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; whoever loves a son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” You believe and hope to be saved by faith. I do not dispute this hope. The Savior Himself provides salvation to faith. “Your faith will save you” (Matthew 9:22), He often spoke to those on whom He performed miraculous healings. And he promised everyone, without exception: “Whoever has faith and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16). But is every faith the same? Is there no difference between faith and faith? What, for example, is that faith that the Apostle praises with such terrible praise when he says: “You believe that there is one God; do good; and the demons believe and tremble” (James 2:19). Who can be satisfied with such faith? What kind of faith is that that could save a person? – “Faith hastened by love” (Gal. 5:6), defines the Apostle. If there is no love, then faith has no strength and success, and does not achieve salvation. Faith without love is an image without life: love, like the breath of the Holy Spirit, animates faith and makes it active and saving. If you want to be saved by faith, love Him in whom you believe. You live by the law. In this, it seems, there is already love: for the great Mentor Himself in Divine love said: “If you have My commandments and keep them, that is you who love Me” (John 14:21). But delve deeply and truly understand what the Truth says. Just as love is actually a feeling of the heart; and as a heart-searching Teacher foresees that some weak disciples will think that this feeling can be preserved without the help of activity consistent with this feeling: then, preventing this transformation of true love into imaginary love, and teaching to love “in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18), He says that “he who loves Him is the one who has His commandments and keeps them.” And this the teacher, filled with love, could not say at all, as if for His disciples it was enough only to outwardly fulfill the works of His commandments, and as if this would be imputed to them instead of love for Him, even if they did not feel it: just as it is not typical for a parent who loves children to say to his children that he allows them not to love themselves, as long as they do what he commands. And what does keeping the commandments mean without love? Who is so ignorant of himself, or so insincere, as not to admit that he sometimes sins in some way against the commandments? If, in this way, the building of one’s own truth, built on the basis of the commandments, has weak points: then the thunder of the legal curse will find 169, and with one blow will destroy the entire building: “Cursed is everyone who does not abide in all that is written in the book of the law, even as I have done” (Gal. 3:10). And even stronger: “Whoever keeps the whole law will sin in one thing: he will be guilty of all” (James 2:10). Where is salvation now in fulfilling the commandments? It is there; but for those who fulfill the commandments not by writing, but by the spirit: the spirit of the law is love. Do you want to avoid the lawful curse? Do you want to have a short and sure way to fulfill the whole law? This short and sure way is love. “Love,” says the Apostle, “fulfill the law; the fulfillment of the law is love" (Rom. 13:8-10). This is not said in that sense, as if love allows the law to be left unfulfilled; No! She is the fulfillment of the law because she is the soul of the law; and the soul and the whole body animate and move: so love gives strength to the one who keeps the law, and makes the commandments easy to fulfill. Does the son who runs to see his beloved parent feel tired of the journey? So the sons of God, people who love God, are not tired of any exploits on the path of life, hastening to the eternal abodes, where they hope to see the Father, from Whose birth gave them such a high region - “to be children of God” (John 1:12), and Whose love in them is stronger than any love, earthly and heavenly. You repent. And in this case you are on a good path; and this path is paved for salvation, according to what is said: “repentance without repentance leads to salvation” (2 Cor. 7:10). But note here, too, the deep meaning of Pavlov’s words: “repentance is unrepentant,” he says, that is, repentance, after which a person does not change the best thoughts he has perceived to the worst, does not return to previous sins, does not weaken in zeal to live according to the will of God - such repentance happens “for salvation.” Here again, brethren, I demand testimony for you from yourselves. Don’t we notice that the good intentions we accept in repentance sometimes waver and fall over time, and we, partly out of carelessness, and partly with some concern for our correction, fall into sins for which we have repented many times? What is the hope of salvation in repentance in this case, if “unrepentant” only “repentance” happens “for salvation”? And what should we do with our spiritual illnesses, when the very medicine, with their frequent renewal, is often used, as if dulled in its effect? - And to help healing, and against the resumption of illness, - and to help repentance, and against the resumption of sins, the most effective remedy is true love for the One “who does not want the death of the sinner,” and who even died for the salvation of the sinner; true, I say; for it is not love when an indecent son squanders the property of his parent, in the hope of his condescension; but that is love when a gentle son prudently uses what is allowed to him, preserving the favor of his beloved parent. The Gospel Story gives us a striking example of the saving power that true love gives to repentance. The woman, known throughout the city as a sinner, comes to Jesus Christ, anoints His feet with myrrh, washes them with tears, wipes them with her hair, in a word, shows signs of repentance, although no words of repentance are heard from her lips; and He, whom the Jews reproachfully called, and Christians joyfully 170 should call “friend of sinners” (Matthew 11: 19), allows her, despite the multitude of her sins: “her many sins are forgiven.” But how did repentance have such a complete effect, which was not even resolved by open confession of sins? It acted through perfect love for the Solver of sins: “they are forgiven,” He says, “her sins are many, for they loved them much” (Luke 7:47). You are praying. Who would not praise this spiritual exercise? But I also ask about this: what prayer do you pray? For there is also a vain prayer, about which it is said: “These people draw near to Me with their lips, and with their lips they honor Me; but their heart is far from Me; but they worship Me in vain” (Matthew 15:8–9). What does it mean to “approach” God “with your lips”, but “with your heart” to “stand” far from Him? - To pronounce with your lips, or receive by ear from the lips of others, words of prayer to God, but do not combine with them heartfelt attention and spiritual warmth, in short, pray without love. It is not difficult to discover the vanity of such a prayer even with simple, natural reasoning and the impulse of nature. What does a child, just beginning to think, do in order to get the thing he wants from his father or mother? For this reason, does it not combine with its petitions all the expressions of childish love and tenderness it knows? And so, shouldn’t we admit that we are more senseless than children, when we think with our cold, unheeded, unloved, heartless petitions, we receive something from the Heavenly Father, Who “looks on the heart”, instead of what “man sees on the face” (1 Samuel 16:7)? Shall we say that the heavenly Father is better than earthly parents, and therefore “will give good things to those who ask Him” (Matthew 7:11)? Is it true; but He is more righteous than them, and therefore cannot give to the unworthy; and even, out of goodness itself, cannot give good to those who ask evil, so that they do not desecrate the good itself; but of course we ask evil when we ask without love from the All-Good and All-Loving. But what else does the spiritual law say? “He shows that not only the fulfillment of prayer, but also prayer itself, true and pure, is not possible without true and pure love. “Let us pray for many things,” the Apostle teaches, “as we ought, not knowing, but the Spirit Himself interceding for us with groanings that cannot be uttered: try our hearts to know that this is the wisdom of the Spirit, as God makes intercession for the saints” (Rom. 8:26-27). And so that anyone, hearing this, would not remain at a loss as to how this lofty intercession can be acquired, the Apostle immediately adds: “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God” (Rom. 8:26-28). Love for God turns everything into a means to our salvation and bliss; without it, all means do not achieve this goal. A lamp will not shine without oil; and prayer will not illuminate the spirit without love. Without fire, incense will not rise; and prayer without love will not rise to God. What can we say about the incentives to virtue that replace love by those who have not known its power - about the fear of judgment and the hope of reward? – The supports are necessary for those who build a spiritual house: but the height and beauty of the spiritual building does not lie on them. He who works out of fear is a slave; he who labors for recompense is a mercenary. A slave, says Jesus Christ, “does not remain in the house forever” - one can add: and a hired hand; - for only “the son abides forever” (John 8:35). “Fear is torment,” says the beloved disciple; “Be afraid of not being perfect in love”: for this reason, “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). Another Apostle to Christians, in contrast to the Jews, says: “Do not receive the spirit of slavery or fear, but the Spirit of sonhood, for whom we cry: Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15). And so the spirit of slavery - but also of spiritual mercenaryism - is the lot of the Jews: and the lot of true Christians is the spirit of filial love for God and the Savior. One can even say, without contradicting the Apostle, that the true spirit of the Old Testament was the spirit of love, if the stiff-necked Jews had not clothed it with slavery. I bear witness to this by the very commandments of the Law of Moses. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,” he writes. I am especially amazed at this commandment when I compare it with the commandment about parents: “Honor your father and your mother.” How? “Honour” the Father and “love” God? We usually love what is closer to us and similar to us; and what is above us, we honor. Therefore, it seems that it would be more typical to demand “love for the father” and “reverence for God.” No, says the Divine Law: “Honor your father; love God." As if it were said: it is natural for you to love your father even without a commandment, and also to honor the Great God; the commandment teaches you something that would be difficult for you to understand without it; and so not only love your father by nature, but also honor your father according to the will of the Heavenly Father; Do not only honor God according to the inspiration of nature and conscience; but dare to come closer to Him, which you would not have dared to do without the gracious commandment; love God as a Father; call Him “your God, the God of your heart, and your portion forever” (Psalm 73:26). O beloved commandment of love! How worthy of regret is that for so long they did not understand your strength, crushed their teeth on the hard bark of writing, and did not know how to taste the sweet grain contained in it! - So long that when Love itself appeared on earth, She found the commandment of love completely forgotten, and preached it as new: “I give you a new commandment, that you love” (John 13:34); – “As the Father has loved Me, and I have loved you, remain in My love” (John 15:9). Christians! God draws us into His love more than by one commandment, by one commanding expression of His will: He knows better than us that love is not acquired by commands alone. He seeks the love of us, sinners and unworthy, with His holy and highest love. “God so loved the world, as He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Is it necessary to command or teach that we love Him who died to gain us eternal life? If we feel that we would offend our father if we loved his servants more than him, how can we not feel that we are offending the Heavenly Father, when our heart opens more conveniently to people who are all barely worthy of being called His servants and cleaves more closely than to Him? Let us strive to be worthy of Him. Let us tell our hearts: we do not take you away from your parents, relatives and neighbors; but we give you and them together, our hearts 171 to God forever. Amen. In collection 1822: will find them... In collection 1822 and 1835: Jews were called with contempt, and Christians with admiration... In collection 1822, 1835 and 1844: our hearts... You might be interested in: