335. Беседа в день рождения Благочестивейшего Государя Императора Александра Николаевича

(Said on April 17th; printed in the Works of the Holy Father, 1857 and in the collection of 1861) We welcome the new year in the life of our Most Pious Sovereign, Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich. The years of the Tsar belong not only to Him, but to the entire kingdom: and therefore, a faithful Tsar who desires the good of the Fatherland cannot look at their movement without participation. With what views, with what thoughts and feelings do we spend the year of the King, which now passes 800 to the earth - into the region of historical events, and above the earth - into the region of God’s hidden destinies? – Without a doubt, we can spend it with pleasant memories, feelings of gratitude to God. Like a quiet morning after a stormy night, with the beginning of this year, the 801 world shone, longed for by the philanthropic heart of Tsarev, beneficial for the Empire, after a strong 802 feat of defense from numerous enemies, almost on all its borders from the west to the far east, from the south to the deep north. Like the midday sun, this year was illuminated by the high light of the solemn wedding and sacred anointing of our Most Pious Autocrat and His Most Pious Spouse. That was the light of the Tsar’s piety and grace from above, - the light of the people’s love for the Tsar and joy in Him, - the light of the Tsar’s bounty and mercy, which illuminated not only cities and villages, but also prisons, and resurrected those who had long ago lost civil life into it, and into the titles they had lost. And with what views and thoughts should we greet the coming year of the King? “Our gaze does not need to penetrate into the future: we can only extend our desires, our prayers, our hopes into it. “Thou art ruler over all, O Lord, the beginning of every beginning, and in Thy hand is strength and power, and in Thy hand is mercy, the Almighty, magnified and strengthened all things” (1 Chronicles 29:12). “Bless” the beginning, and the course and the “crown of summer” of Tsarev. “You will add days upon days of the King, His years to the day of generation and generation” (Ps. 60:7). “Let us wait” for Your “strength for our King and lift up the horn of Your Anointed One” (1 Samuel 2:10). Sharpen and deepen the gaze of His wisdom, so that the hidden, often good and useful, can be revealed, and brought to light, so that the sneaking evil from afar can be seen, and return to the heads of the spirits of wickedness. Restore abundantly in power 803 His “strong, ... and watchful, ... and wondrous adviser, ... and understanding listener” (Is. 3: 2-3), for “salvation ... is in much counsel” (Prov. 11:14). These and similar desires, of course, are what each of us, Russians, cherishes in our hearts and now unites with the common prayer of the Church. The culmination of this should be that desires turn into hope, so that prayer can rest in the expectation of the fulfillment of what is desired and requested. How can this be achieved? – This is a subject of special attention, labor, and heroism for us. On the part of the Giver of all blessings, God, there can be no obstacle to the fact that our desires and prayers, if only the object is good and not contrary to the wisdom, truth and goodness of God, turn into hopes, and that hopes are accompanied by the fulfillment of what we expect. The All-Good One desires to bestow blessings on us; His omnipotence is not lacking in strength, and His wisdom is in the means to fulfill our good desires. “Your heavenly Father will give good things to those who ask Him” (Matthew 7:11), assures His Only Begotten Son. Christ the Savior, promising us the gift of blessings from the Heavenly Father, does not limit this promise to any condition on the part of the Giver. Therefore, on His part, the giving of blessings to those who ask is ready to be everlasting, universal, without derogation 805, without exceptions: because “not like a man, God hesitates, but like a son of man he changes: He says, will He not do it” (Num. 23:19)? So, if we sometimes see “asking for something” from God and not receiving what we asked, and prayers unheard: then the reasons for this should be sought not in God, faithful and unchangeable in His promises, but in the person asking, who “waves” and “changes,” and often himself sanctifies the prayer that he extends to God. And therefore we need to carefully observe what promotes prayer and what hinders it, not to deprive it of its inherent accessories and supporting benefits, and to free it from obstacles. “The prayer of the humble passes through the clouds” (Sir.35:17), says the insightful observer of the ways of God and man. So pray with humility; and your “prayer... will pass through the clouds,” and the generous hand of the Heavenly Father will open to it. The Apostle, teaching the Christian about prayer, commands, “let him ask...by faith, without doubting; for if you doubt, you will become like the turbulence of the sea, tossed and tossed by the winds” (James 1:6). So, pray with simple-hearted faith, with sincere recognition of your unworthiness, but do not disturb yourself, and do not weaken your prayer with doubt about the merciful care of God: and it will be according to your faith; and the prayer of faith will be your salvation. The following instruction of the Wise One also belongs to the aids for success in prayer: “pray before the face” of the Lord; and “they have taken away stumbling blocks” (Sir.17:22). That is: at the same time as you want to open the path to God for yourself, and with hope to stand in prayer before His face, actively remove 806 the stumbling blocks that are on your path, punctuating your desire for God. What stumbling blocks? – Passions, vices, love of the world, addiction to sensual pleasures. If you cannot suddenly stop and reject all this: at least use the efforts possible for you to resist passions, not indulge in vicious deeds, cool down your love for earthly things, break the bonds of addictions. "Cut away the stumblings." He who does not try to clear his path to God from moral stumbling blocks reduces his hope of achieving what he wants. Habitual thoughts of passions and vices follow his prayer, and confuse it, weaken it, and sanctify it; an unpacified conscience deprives prayer of freedom and boldness before God; an unclean heart asks for blessings from the Heavenly Father not in order to use them according to His will, but in order to more freely satisfy its passionate and partial desires. The prayer books of this kind and the fate of their prayer are depicted with strict features by the apostolic word: “Ask and do not receive; Brethren! Recently there was a time when God’s Providence, more concerned than we are about our salvation, sent us especially strong and even sorrowful impulses to multiply prayers for the Tsar and the Fatherland, with the prosperity of which the well-being of each of us is connected. And the prayers were multiplied. And - blessed be God! - God’s wondrous help also appeared, especially where prayer was more aroused. Have we taken sufficient advantage of the instructions of Providence? After the excited prayer for deliverance from troubles, is the prayer also excited that the delivered may be preserved? Have the stumbling blocks on our path to God been diminished? Are there fewer passions, unrighteous deeds, greed, wastefulness, idleness, vanity, greed for sensual and dreamy pleasures? Is there more zeal for the public good? Is there more zeal to please God the Deliverer and Savior? - Let everyone test himself on these issues, and be confirmed in good hope, or give himself prudent advice to confirm good hope. We, with the Apostle, all 808 “we pray to them... to make prayers, supplications, petitions, thanksgivings, for all people, for the Tsar and for all who are in power” - not in order to be safe from troubles 809, to live in fruitless self-indulgence 810, in absent-mindedness, in carelessness, in oblivion of God, but - “yes, a quiet and silent life Let us live in all godliness and purity" (1 Tim. 2:1-2). Amen. Handwritten the author came before: “passed over.” Handwritten the author used to say: “with the beginning of this year it began to shine, and then it began to shine”... Handwritten the author added: “and lasting.” Handwritten The author's name used to be: “kingdom”. This word has never existed before. Handwritten the author first said: “restrictions”... Handwritten the author used to say: “reduce”... Handwritten the author's first word was: “connected.” Handwritten there were no words from the author before. Previously it stood here: “in self-interest.” You might be interested in: