340. Беседа на обновление храма на месте погребения усопших

(Spoken in September 820, printed in Tv. St. Ot. 1857 and in collection 1861) The Lord said through the mouth of the Prophet: “My house... My house of prayer will be called” (Is. 56:7). What comforting thoughts about the church this saying of the Lord gives us! The church is a “house of prayer”. Prayer lives in him. In some places she wanders, in others she visits; others find it with difficulty; From others, even the called one is removed by worldly rumors and vanity: here in the church she lives; here everyone can find it; and if that prayer is desired, which reaches God, then prayer in the church is primarily desired, because here it primarily approaches God, since the “house of prayer” is also the “house of God.” If we think that God lives in the highest, above the heavens, then we will become perplexed as to whether it is possible for Him to have a home on this earth, humiliated before heaven. If we think about the greatness of the Creator of the world, and about His omnipresence, then we will find it incomprehensible how any house could be possible for Him anywhere. But there is no room for doubt when the Lord Himself says: “the house... is mine.” We believe, Lord, Your word: for “Your word is truth” (John 17:17). We believe that this church, consecrated according to the tradition and order of the Apostles and their successors instructed by You, and invisibly honored with Your entry and grace-filled presence, is truly Your house, Your dwelling, Your heaven on earth; and not only do we believe this, but we can also see this in part, because the Divine Body of Your only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, which is a living and life-giving body, with which, consequently, the spirit of God and the man Christ is present, is secretly active here. What should a believing soul feel during these reflections? Patriarch Jacob, when, while spending the night in a deserted place, saw in a dream the Lord standing at the top of the staircase connecting heaven with earth, he heard from Him a blessing and a promise of protection, and according to this epiphany he called this place “the house of God”: with this he felt fear. “I was afraid and said, because this place is terrible” (Gen. 28:17, 19). But the Prophet Psalmist, at the thought of visiting the tabernacle of God, or the church of God, felt joy. “We rejoiced at those who said to me: Let us go to the house of the Lord” (Ps. 122:1). Which of the two opposing feelings is correct? – Both are correct, although they are opposite. The church of God is terrible because of the greatness of God who is present in it: the church of God is joyful because of the grace of God who lives in it. A man who humbles himself before God enters the church with fear; A person joyfully enters the church, animated by love for God. Let a person burdened with sins be especially afraid when entering the church: since God, the righteous Judge, is present here; and who knows whether He will not strike the sinner instantly, as Nadab and Abihu, Dathan and Abiron once did? However, let fear not remove the sinner from the church; for this would mean going from salvation to destruction: but let him encourage him to repentance and correction of life, so that he can enter the church, with the hope of finding in it a merciful, forgiving and saving God. The church of God is a reliable refuge for a sinner who wants to avoid the destruction of sin. God is omnipresent, exalted above everything, what need would he have for an earthly home for Himself, if God’s condescension towards earthly beings did not require it? Out of goodness and condescension, God builds His house on earth and opens it to man, so that he may find in it a convenient ladder to God for his prayer; so that here he would receive blessings from God and instruction in His truth through His servants; so that he would use the Divine sacraments here as a means of spiritual rebirth, nutrition, growth 821, strengthening, healing, guidance to heavenly life. From this need for a church for people, it naturally follows that churches should be built and are built among the inhabitants who should use them. But why are some churches, like this one, erected not among the living, but among the dead? Will those who are sleeping in the sleep of death now arise, and will they say, with Patriarch Jacob, who arose from sleep in Bethel, and with us: “This is a terrible place”? “This is not but the house of God”? or with the Psalmist, and with us: “We rejoiced at those who said to me, Let us go to the house of the Lord”? In response to this, it must be said that churches built in the place of rest of the departed are beneficial and useful to the living, so that they come here not only to grieve and cry over those who rest here, but also to offer prayer for them, primarily grace-filled, in the church, during the mystery of the Body and Blood of the Lord, when the names and memory of the deceased are brought closer by the clergyman to the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, and immersed in life-giving Blood of Christ. (Initiates know that I am not saying this out of imagination, but am pointing to a deeply significant action.) Thus, for the departed, the church erected over them can be useful through the living. But only through the living? Can't the deceased themselves directly use the shrine of the church? The death of the body did not separate them from the Church of Christ, which, like the ladder seen by Jacob, stands between heaven and earth, stretches from the visible to the invisible, from the lower degrees on earth reaches to the lofty degree in heaven of the sight of God, calling for the desired ascent, and allowing for the blessed descent. Didn’t they, for example, see St. Sergius, after his ascension to the heavenly monastery, descending into his earthly monastery and standing in the church with the singers, no doubt, so that the brethren of the monastery, more than hearing by sight, would receive instructions about reverence for church services? But let's not limit ourselves to a select few. Where are now the souls of those who died in faith, perfect and imperfect? In what condition? Is it far away? – In accordance with what they prepared themselves for in earthly life, they, according to the word of God, “in the hand of God” (Wis. 3:1), - “in the bosom... Abraham" (Luke 16:23), - "at rest" (Wis. 4:7), - and others, not at peace, and in "lamentation", as Jacob once foretold to himself: "I will go down to my son lamenting into hell" (Gen. 37:35). We are not talking about those like the rich man in the Gospel parable, who lived and died without faith and virtue, and therefore was cast into the depths of hell, from where neither the heavenly abodes nor the shrines of this visible world are accessible. 822 Tradition and experience show that the souls of the departed, although released from the bonds of the flesh, however, after being separated from it, by a special arrangement of Providence, and others, perhaps, by the attraction of habit and earthly memories, often appear in the places where they were on earth, and in proximity to the bodies 823 with which they passed a temporary life, and which will receive packs for eternal life. For how do they work miracles, and especially how do the relics of the Saints have a beneficial effect on the state of mind, if not by the grace-filled power of the souls of the Saints, manifested through them? Let us remember the incident that happened to Saint Spyridon of Trimythous, when he needed to find out from his deceased daughter where the treasure entrusted to her was hidden, undiscovered before her death. He came to her grave, asked the deceased, and she heard and said the desired answer. Why shouldn’t we allow ourselves the comforting thought that the souls of those resting near this church, at least some, will directly hear the voice of local hymns and prayers, will feel the spiritual fragrance of the mysteries, and will receive either an increase in their “peace” or a relief from their “lamentation”? Blessed be the zeal, generosity, care, and labor shown in the improvement and beautification of this holy church, by which sacrifice was made to God, and 825 benefits were provided to the living and the dead. May the God of consolation and generosity measure them with His gifts, favorable to temporary and eternal life. Amen. This is also indicated in Creation. St. Ot. and in the author's manuscript. According to the index in Thu. General Love. Spirit. Enlightenment No. 546 reads: Conversation on the renovation of the Church of the Tikhvin Mother of God, which is at the burial place of the deceased, on September 8th in the mountains. Bogorodsk. Repeated during the renovation of the Church of the Ecumenical Councils, in the Danilovsky Monastery, on September 15th. This word had not previously appeared in the author's manuscript. In the author's manuscript these words are written after. In the author’s manuscript, instead of these words, there used to be: “not completely alienated from the bodies they left behind.” At first these words were not in the author's manuscript. Handwritten the author instead of this before it was: “And so the zeal, generosity, care that appeared in the beautification of this holy church not only brought a sacrifice to God, but also rendered...” You might be interested in: