309. Беседа в день тезоименитства Благочестивейшей Государыни Императрицы Марии Александровны

(Spoken in the Chudov monastery on July 22nd; printed in the Works of the Holy Father in 1855 and in the collection of 1861) Saints who live in heavenly glory, in high and eternal glory, even from God, without a doubt, have no need for earthly glory, for insignificant glory from men. Why did the Holy Church legitimize the ecclesiastical remembrances of the Saints and the celebration of their memory? – The solution to this question can be gleaned from the very ecclesiastical regulations for these commemorations and celebrations. The composition of these rites is filled mainly by two subjects: firstly, the recollection of the lives, exploits and virtues of the saints, and secondly, the invocation of their prayers for us to God. It is obvious that the Mother Church, by remembering their lives, deeds and virtues, wants to give us instruction and encouragement to live a life pleasing to God and to soul-saving deeds; and by invoking their prayers for us, he places their heavenly prayer as a ladder, for the most convenient ascent of our earthly, weak, unworthy prayers to the heavenly mental altar of God. Let us, children of the Church, follow her mother’s call and take advantage of the commemoration of St. Equal to the Apostles Mary Magdalene, collecting instructive features of her life from the Gospel stories. From the first part of the life of Mary Magdalene, nothing is known to us, except that she was subject to a serious and terrible illness, in which ordinary doctors are less able to provide help, the less they understand its beginning. And if someone, as the Apostles once did about the man born blind, asked about her: “Have she sinned, or her parents,” but she suffers like this: we don’t know whether it would be possible, like about him, to say about her: “Neither this one sinned, nor her parents, but let the works of God be revealed in her” (John 9:2-3). But, be that as it may, whether for sins or not for sins she underwent suffering, we can without hesitation affirm that this was allowed by the Providence of God in order for God’s saving work to be accomplished over her. If she had not been subjected to suffering, and had not experienced helplessness in it; then, probably, she would have lived in her native country of Magdala, in ignorance of the miracles of Jesus Christ and of His teaching; or I would have accepted rumors about them only with curiosity, surprise, and distrust; and would not have risen to living faith and to “strong as death” (Song. 8:6), love for the Savior. But suffering and helpless in suffering, she could not be indifferent to hearing about the Wonderworker, “who heals every disease and every disease among people” (Matthew 9:35); She hastened to find Him, became a witness of His miracles, believed in His Divine power: by faith she received healing, and from enslavement to the power of darkness she passed into the freedom of light: thus, at the inexpensive price of a temporary disaster, she bought an eternally blissful life. Brethren! Who among us has not experienced any troubles, suffering, or sorrow in life? Who has not suffered at heart, seeing those suffering, relatives, friends, benefactors, and sometimes the whole society? From the example now presented, let us learn to look at all this from a true point of view, to see in this path of God’s Providence good and saving, and through the narrow, sad path to achieve true good and salvation. Would it have been better for Mary Magdalene if she had not undergone suffering, but had spent an ordinary worldly life in the country of Magdala, and passed on to the afterlife, without knowing Christ the Savior and without partaking of His grace? - Of course, not better, but worse. So believe that it would not be better for us, but worse, if we could evade the troubles and sorrows with which we are visited by the incomprehensible, but surely wise and good fate of God. The Heavenly Father wants to form His grace-filled son in you, and for this he assigns you difficult lessons, strict tests, strongly admonishing punishments: and according to the assurance of the Apostle, “if you endure punishment, as God is found to you as a son; For any punishment at the present time does not seem to be a joy to be, but sorrow; after all, the fruit of peace in righteousness rewards those who have learned” (Heb. 12:7, 11). The lessons, trials, punishments are hard for you: but would it be better for you to be relieved from them, and remain without the fruits of righteousness, and not achieve the dignity of the gracious son of God? The Heavenly Physician gives you bitter medicine against a disease, perhaps not noticed by you yourself, but not hidden from His all-pervading omniscience. You don’t want bitterness: but is it better for you not to taste bitterness, and carry in your soul illness and the seed of eternal death? The Heavenly Hero leads you into the field of moral and spiritual deeds, so that you oppose visible and invisible evil with faith, courage, patience, and so that you “are not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good things” (Rom. 12:21), and receive an imperishable crown. Do you think this means pitting you like David against Goliath, like Job against the devil? Well? Didn't David overthrow Goliath? Didn't Job defeat the devil? But you, retreating before the difficulty of achievement, what do you want? Do you really want to give up both victory and the crown? It happens from someone who has fallen into misfortune to hear a complaint: why am I suffering so much? – The answer is close: you are suffering for this very question. For the question is: why am I suffering so much? - the decisive thought is: I don’t deserve to suffer like this, or, what’s the same, I’m suffering unfairly. But who sent or allowed suffering to happen to you? Is it not God and His Providence? So, don’t you see that by your question you are magnifying yourself in your heart and reproaching God, if you do not openly murmur against Him? Don't you think you can justify yourself by saying that this unfortunate thought was born after the misfortune and from the misfortune itself? - No. You are the same in misfortune as you were before the misfortune. An unhumble and disobedient thought to God slept in your heart before the misfortune, but did not have the opportunity to awaken; misfortune awakened her and called her out. So, hasten to answer yourself righteously to an unrighteous question: I suffer for my sins; because “if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8), and if I do not see obvious sins that clearly attract punishment, “cleanse me from my secret ones,” O God (Ps. 19:13)! Can you also propose a more reasonable question on the same subject: why do I suffer? And to this you can have a comforting answer: according to God’s intention, you suffer for your salvation. The Lord said: “He who endures... to the end will be saved” (Matthew 26:13). Where would there be a place for patience if there was nothing unpleasant, if there was nothing to grieve and suffer from? But “tribulation makes patience perfect, and patience is a skill, and a skill is hope” (Rom. 5:3-4); and thus the promise of the Lord is fulfilled: “he who endures... to the end will not be saved.” Let us return to the life of Mary Magdalene, and see how the punishment, suffered with humble submission to the fate of God in the first part of it, in the second part brought “the peaceful fruit of righteousness” (Heb. 12:11). When Christ the Savior freed her from the torment of dark forces and healed her from a serious illness: then in her soul the power of gratitude and love for the Savior joined the power of faith in order to give her life a new strong direction. Mary completely dedicated her life, renewed by Christ, to the service of Christ. When He “passed through cities and towns, preaching and preaching the kingdom of God,” then, after the Apostles, many wives followed Him, “even serving Him from their possessions”; and among them the first one is named by the holy Evangelist Luke “Mary Magdalene” (Luke 8:1-3). Therefore, it must be assumed that either she was the first to enter into this ministry and set an example for others; or was superior to others in her zeal and activity in this service. In the terrible hours of the suffering and death of Christ the Savior, when almost all the Apostles, after promising to die with Him, were overcome by fear and hid, Magdalene conquered fear through love; she stood at the cross of Jesus; she was at His burial. Most of all, like lightning in the night, Magdalene’s love, strong as death, shone in that feat that gave her, along with some other wives, the name “Myrrh-Bearer.” And here the two Evangelists place her first between them; and Saint John only names her: “in one... from the Sabbath Mary Magdalene came... while still in darkness to the tomb of Jesus,” with fragrant myrrh (John 20:1). This means that the enterprise belonged to her; and others followed her leadership. Consider this enterprise. The Lord Jesus died on the cross and was buried. Those close to Him are in danger: because the enemies of Him and Lazarus, whom He resurrected, decided to kill, and were ready to lay hands on the Apostles, if the sovereign word in the very suffering had not prevented them: “Let these go” (John 18:8). It is highly probable that Jesus’ prediction of His resurrection was known to Magdalene, if not directly, then through the Apostles: but it is clear that this ray of light faded in her mind amid the gloomy events. For, in the hope of the resurrection, she would not have found it necessary to anoint the body of Jesus with myrrh, as if it were an ordinary dead one; and she would not have uttered these, by no means resurrection words: “Having taken the Lord from the tomb, we do not know where he laid Him” (John 20:13). So, threatened by danger, not supported by hope, as Magdalene dared to go, are they still “in the darkness upon the tomb” of Jesus? On the way, an insurmountable obstacle presented itself to her thoughts. She remembered that the tomb of Jesus was covered with such a heavy stone that neither she nor her companions could roll away. How could an insurmountable obstacle not stop her? What all-overpowering force animated and attracted her? – The power of love and gratitude to the Divine Savior, the power of holy compassion for the Holy One who suffered innocently. And what a high reward for a great feat! Magdalene was the first to see the risen Lord, and became Christ's Apostle for the Apostles themselves; for she was the first to announce to them the resurrection of Christ. Christian soul! Understand from this example the power, life-giving, beneficial, blessedness of love for the Lord Jesus, your Savior and God. Consider the high dignity, even in the eyes of God, of love for mankind and compassion for the poor and suffering, and especially for those who suffer innocently, for the truth of God, for righteousness, for virtue. And if sorrow, danger, disaster, private or public, call you to the work of philanthropy: do not hesitate, do not weaken in the face of difficulties, do not delay, awaken yourself early, rush with the help possible from you to where it is needed, whether in the house you need to look for the object of your philanthropy, or in a hut, or in a hospital, or in a dungeon, or on the edge of a tomb. He who said: “Before you have made the least of these brothers of mine, you have made one for me” (Matthew 25:40), in the most difficult moments for you, will allow you to hear the voice of His Divine consolation, and will crown your temporary feat of Christian love with the eternal reward of His goodness. Turning my thoughts from the church to the domestic meaning of the present day, I see with consolation a new touching spectacle of Christian and domestic love for mankind. The now namesake, Most Pious Empress Maria Alexandrovna, even earlier, in the rank of Tsesarevna, took upon herself the constant feat of love for mankind, bestowing Her protection and maternal care on many humble daughters of the altar servers, in order by their improved upbringing to improve the internal structure of clergy families and through this have a beneficial effect on the family life of the people. Then, already from the height of the throne, She stretched out a compassionate gaze on those who are now struggling in the battle for the faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland, on their special needs, during difficult feats, on their wounds, on their families, and in her own home she opened for them a source of beneficence, at the same time giving the right direction to the influxes of people's philanthropy. At the same time, it is impossible not to remember the exploits of the Most Pious Queen-Mother, as well as the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, who, through the servants of humanity chosen, prepared, equipped and sent by them, daily and hourly visit the ascetics of the Fatherland suffering from wounds and illnesses, and give them all necessary help and Christian consolation. Christ God, who blessed those who served You with faith and love in the days of Your exhaustion! Bless those who now serve You in the person of Your lesser brethren, who in Your name and for Your name strive! Christ the King! Look upon Your property. Blessed are you who “visit our iniquity with the rod” (Ps. 89:33). Blessed are you, “do not destroy your mercy from us” (Ps. 89:34), “give strength to our King” (1 Samuel 2:10), and to His faithful army. But “how long will sinners, O Lord, how long will sinners extol themselves, preach and speak unrighteousness” (Ps. 94:3-4)? “How long will the enemy be exalted” ( Ps. 12:3 ) the grave? It is no longer through the infidels that He rebels against Your faithful: but He has made those who bear Your name friends to Your enemies and enemies to Your Orthodox people: and while the unusually intense actions of military art and military forces do not bring them triumph, He inspired them to count among military means - robbery, robbery, incendiary, murder of the unarmed, destruction of peaceful property of citizens and villagers, sacrilege, desecration of a shrine. “Arise, O God, judge the earth; for You are an inheritor among all nations” (Ps. 82:8). But, “Lord, do not rebuke us with Your wrath; let us not be punished with Your wrath” (Ps. 6:2). Amen. You might be interested in: