306. Беседа в день памяти Святителя Алексия

(Spoken in the Miracle Monastery on February 12; printed in the Works of the Holy Father of 1855 and in the collection of 1861) I praise you, brethren, because you remember all my things, and because I gave them to you, you keep the traditions (1 Cor. 11:2). The fifth century passes as the blessed Shepherd, Saint Alexy, rested and rests from visible pastoral affairs: and the flock, in urgent and non-urgent days, does not cease to flow to him, with reverence, with faith, with requests for help in sorrows, in needs, in illnesses, in troubles, in temptations, with the hope of invisible, but nevertheless real, confirmed by experiences benefits from him. This shows, on the one hand, the power of grace abiding in the Saints, and on the other, the constancy of pious tradition. If the Saint had favored the opening of his mouth, would he not have honored your present meeting with the same praise that the Apostle Paul awarded to the Corinthian Christians: “I praise... you, brethren, for you remember everything that is mine, and keep the traditions”? “We would be happy if we turned out to be completely worthy of such approval.” The traditions, the observance of which the Apostle approves, and through this affirms, and proposes for further fulfillment, are not of the same kind. There are traditions of dogmas, that is, the most important truths of faith and piety. There are traditions of church rules and regulations for the performance of Divine services, and especially the sacraments of faith. The observance of these traditions lies in the care especially of those in charge and teaching in the Church: and as evidence of the constant preservation of these traditions in the Orthodox Church, it is sufficient to present the unchangeable Creed, from the Apostles to the Council of Nicea, the most oral, from the time of this Council to the present day, written, and the rite of the Divine Liturgy, from the Apostle James to Basil the Great, partly written, partly imitated successive, and from the times of Basil the Great and John Chrysostom protected by unchanging scripture. Among the traditions that the Apostle calls his own, there are also those that, starting from Christian principles, extend from the Church into the ordinary home and social life of Christians, and constitute their customs. So he commanded Christians to “separation... from every brother who walks disorderly, and not according to tradition” (2 Thess. 3:6) of the Apostle, that is, to withdraw from communication with a person who leads an idle and distracted life, or disfigured by imitation of pagan customs. Thus, he prescribed that Christian “wives” should walk “in fine jewelry, with shame and chastity, ... not with braided hair” (1 Tim. 2:9), in the likeness of pagan wives. Since traditions of this kind are more instructions and advice about what is decent and useful than strict commandments about what is necessary: ​​the preservation of them most depends on the attention, prudence, obedience and diligence of those who received the traditions. Bringing the Apostolic instructions closer to ourselves and to our circumstances, we will not err, I think if we say that those who honor, preserve and use for the better direction of their affairs and life the good traditions of good ancestors, and, especially, those that came from the spirit of piety and are conducive to the preservation of piety and purity of life, and who are not carried away by alien news that give a deceptive shine to life, are worthy of Apostolic praise. sensual, and imperceptibly extending darkness and gloom to moral and spiritual life. The formation of abilities and the direction of life that someone has or can have is obtained through teaching and tradition. But the teaching, especially the correct and solid one, is used by few of the entire number of people; And yet, of these few, almost the majority use acquired knowledge only as a tool for some special tasks and activities, and live according to tradition and imitation. By this we can judge how much tradition means for the life and well-being of a person and a people. So, if, by misfortune, a bad tradition has reached us, unfavorable for true piety and good morals: we should not yield or hesitate; It is necessary, through sound teaching and a strong counterexample, to stop the hereditary infection, to heal the present race, and to protect the health of future generations. But if our good ancestors left us a good tradition, derived from true faith and piety, and promoting piety, favorable to the good behavior and well-being of family and society: is this inheritance of souls less valuable than the inheritance of houses and lands? Is this treasure of hearts less worthy of saving than the treasure of chests? In the word of God we see how God Himself establishes and confirms the tribal and national pious tradition. He says to Abraham: “Abraham... will become a great and plentiful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed because of him; For we know that they will command their children and their households to do justice and justice in the ways of the Lord” (Gen. 18:18-19). The descendants of Abraham will form a numerous people, having great significance among the nations. But how and why will this happen? – Abraham will leave a pious tradition to his descendants; and they will preserve the pious tradition. It is worthy of surprise that God uses human tradition not only for His chosen people, but in some way for Himself. Isn’t it enough to pronounce one name of God for a person to feel reverence, love, and submission? This is what the Lord sometimes does: “Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God; I am the Lord” (Lev. 19:14). But sometimes, as if not content with His name, He adds to it the tradition of human names. “God spoke... to Moses: thus spoke the sons of Israel: The Lord God our father, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you” (Ex. 3:15). Of course, it is foreseen that the reminder of the pious tradition of pious ancestors will more conveniently open the hearts of the people to God, and arouse faith in order to receive miracles and salvation from Him. Sons of Russia! The God of Vladimir, the God of Alexander Nevsky, the God of Peter, Alexy, Jonah, Philip, Sergius, through generations and centuries, betrayed and preserved for us the pure, holy, Orthodox faith of Christ, and through faith sowed and grew in the lives of our ancestors good seeds capable of mutually nourishing faith and extending its action in posterity. Are we using this heritage carefully? Do we guard this treasure vigilantly? Our ancestors, in good conscience, could speak to the Prophet: “Lord, I have loved the beauty of Your house” (Ps. 25:8). Can we all, how many of us can say this word about ourselves without fear of being exposed by deeds? Our pious ancestors, on holidays and fasts, reverently offered sacrifice to God by participating in church evening, morning and afternoon services; and found their own pleasure in it. We recognize the blessed legacy of these dispositions in those whom we saw with consolation filling this church during all the days of this week of fasting. But aren’t there many among us who devote the hours of the pre-holiday evening to spectacles and amusements, and the hours of the holiday morning to sleep, after a night turned into a day unworthy of the sun? Our ancestors may not have always feasted moderately on holiday; but on a non-holiday day they were usually abstinent and hardworking, and strictly observed fasting: now you can often meet people who glorify luxury as a virtue; working days are spent in play and idleness, and they insult the sanctity of fasting, some by covering a slightly modified form of luxury with the name of fasting, others, often completely forgetting about fasting. It would be difficult to finish if one decided to count how much of the pious, kind, innocent, modest of the traditions and customs of the fathers was neglected and lost, and how much alien, obviously unhelpful, and imperceptibly tending to harm news was accepted by many. Should I point out servility to someone else's inconstancy and immodesty in dress? Should I point out Herodias’s passion for the art, which has become almost a law for many? Should I point out a delicacy unknown to nature with the ashes and smoke of a rare potion? Should I point out the custom of many to use an alien language unnecessarily, as if some difference of higher rank and education? Maybe I'll be accused of paying attention to little things? - Accuse, if you like: it will not benefit you; It’s more useful for you to think about whether you can justify yourself when you collect little things from someone else’s land, of course not indicated by wisdom, and fill your bowels with them, spewing out of it the good things laid down by your good ancestors? At the same time, one must take into account that what seems to be of little importance is sometimes of no small importance. If you heard the reproof: “the daughter of Zion was lifted up, and walked with her neck high, and with the treading of her hair, and with the treading of her feet, dragging her garments together, and her feet playing with her feet”: wouldn’t it seem to you that unimportant things are being scrupulously pursued? But the Prophet, through these light features of vanity, of course, discerns a deep damage to morals; and therefore he adds the threat to the reproof: “The Lord will humble... the daughters of Zion” (Is. 3:16–17). Another Prophet said in denunciation of the ancient Israelites: “Mixing among the nations, and becoming accustomed to their deeds; and servitude with their graven images, and they were offended” (Ps. 105:35-36). Shouldn't we, pious Russians, take some instruction from this for our caution? Or is it a different matter for us, when we borrow some alien thoughts, some alien customs, which seem to be not pagan, not from pagan peoples? This question can be answered with another question: what in the ancient pagan peoples was so dangerous for the people of God as an imitator, is there truly nothing like it in the modern peoples called Christian; meanwhile, as we know that in one of them, anti-Christian unbelief and atheism appeared with insolence in some minds and in books, and passed on to the other; and with this other, not very long ago, state law reigned; and now we see that these same nations have launched a fierce war against Christians in defense of the enemies of Christianity? But let us refrain from pronouncing judgment on others. Let us condemn our mistakes and sins. Let us bring repentance to the One who takes away the sins of the world. Let us establish ourselves in the faith of our fathers. “Humble us...under the mighty hand of God, that in due time he may exalt us” (1 Peter 5:6). Amen. You might be interested in: