392. Слово пред приведением к присяге Санкт-Петербургского дворянства и граждан для избрания судей

(Said in the Kazan Cathedral, January 20, 1818, by Philaret, Bishop of Revel, Vicar of St. Petersburg; printed separately) 938. And I say to the judges: you see what you are doing, for you are not creating human judgment, but the Lord’s, and he is with you in word and judgment. And now let the fear of the Lord be upon you. ( 2 Chronicles 19:6-7 ). The pious king said this to the judges: wouldn’t he have said this even earlier to the electors of the judges, if he had not himself carried out the work of election, but had entrusted it to the nobles and citizens? Don't voters of judges need to know and feel the importance of the court just as much as the judges themselves? The assembly of judges is the sowing of that which is to bear fruit in judgment; and judgment is the harvest of what is sown in election: can one hope for a good harvest after a bad sowing, and can there be a good sowing when the sower does not think about what he sows? Sowers of truth and peace! Wouldn't you want to sow untruth and discord, slander and bribery? - Noble men and citizens, now clothed in the rank of voters and thus appointed as judges of future judges! When preparing to take a solemn oath of fidelity to this extraordinary service of your throne and Fatherland, first consider carefully what important task is before you. “See what you are doing.” Inattentive examiners see in the court case only a human matter. They don’t see everything here, which can and should be seen. But even if you look only through their eyes, then it is not difficult to see that the organization of court through the election of guardians of public order and justice is one of the most important human affairs. The good or evil of many people, the improvement or disorder of society, the perfection or imperfection of the union between the head and the body, that is, between the sovereign and the state, largely depends on it. The court is a fence of property and personal safety, and the judge is the guardian of the fence. Without judgment, every land would be, like the land of Canaan once was, “a land... consuming those who live on it” (Num. 13:33); there would be no other property except the prey of a predator, which the hand of another predator has not yet reached; there would be no other security than the security of an armed and awake warrior, or the security of a strong oppressor, until he meets the strongest. The court, being the repository of property rights for everyone, ensures that the property appropriated by the predator is not yet lost to the owner; and through this he ensures the possession of that which could have been stolen. Being a refuge for the offended or oppressed, reflecting and defeating the oppressors, through this it protects the safety of those who might have been offended or oppressed. But what is a strong fence if its guardian is unreliable? What is a court strengthened by laws if an unworthy judge acts in it? True, the law was established not only for the defendants, but also for the judge, in order to admonish him and govern him; but the wisdom and justice of the law are hidden treasures, unless they are opened by the wisdom and justice of the judge. The law is subject to necessity and cannot be moved to keep the judge with itself; but the judge is free and can evade the law. Just as a skillful hunter catches cunning animals, defeats the strong, and brings the gentle flock to safety: so a skillful judge, stretching out a wise net of legal research and acting by the power of laws, catches the treacherous, and overthrows daring criminals, and brings good citizens to safety; But with the unskillful, either the innocent get caught in the net laid out for the guilty, or the guilty break it apart. A just judge, explaining the law with his conscience, does good to both the innocent, whom he justifies, and the guilty, whom he condemns, stopping for one the evil that he suffered, in the other - the even more significant evil that he did: and the unjust judge in the most disastrous way multiplies the evil that he should have destroyed, or at least reduced, for the court itself fills with that which should not have left room even outside the courtyard; makes unsettled grievances and unpunished crimes seem endless; transforms the law itself into an instrument of lawlessness, the prey of a predator into legal property, the grievances of the oppressor into just actions - and through this leads the good into despondency, the cowardly into despair, and the tempted into temptation to seek the happiness of evildoers. These types of court, bright or dark, according to the quality of the judge acting in it, must first be before the eyes of everyone participating in the election of judges. “See what you are doing.” You provide guards to the property and safety of everyone, and consequently to your property and safety. Not limiting itself to the good of private people, which cannot exist without the general, the court is also an instrument of public improvement and welfare. Society, being a single multi-membered body, differs from natural bodies in that its composition is formed and preserved not so much by the force of natural necessity as by the force of reason and freedom. And if the human body, governed by the necessity of nature, for its well-being, has a need for a court that would determine the type and measure of activity and rest for its members, contain its general and particular demands within the limits of justice and benefit, monitor its health and, discovering its illness, use medicine, or completely separate out the whole that is alien to life: how much more does the artificial body of human society, for its improvement and well-being, constantly require a court that would determine and keep in balance certain rights and obligations its members, so that duties do not constrain rights, and rights do not destroy duties; would contribute to the satisfaction of the needs of society, inseparable from its existence, and the benefits of its members, which do not violate the public good; would use rewards and punishments not only as accessories to private justice, but also as means of protection for public health, which consists in the prevailing love of order and virtue, and as remedies for social diseases, which are the prevailing inclinations to vices. From this it is clear that the judge, as the guardian of public order, must embrace and penetrate with thought the entire composition of society; must comprehend the unity of this multi-membered body at the very basis of it, and its needs in all their diversity, so that he can be a reliable guardian of his life and a doctor of his illnesses. If we are prudent in choosing a doctor even for a minor illness, even the smallest member of our body, what prudence is required for you, voters, in choosing a doctor to whom the health and life of the great body of society will be more or less entrusted. “See what you are doing.” An instrument of welfare for the whole body of society and its members is in a special way an instrument of the supreme power, which is the head and heart of this body. And all the members of the body are connected to the head and are subordinate to it; But aren’t the most important, by the way, those who, by submitting to her, contribute to her beneficial dominion over others? They all draw the power of life from the source of the heart; But aren’t the most important ones those who, being its closest receivers, must spread it throughout the entire composition? The judge is the eye of the supreme power, in order to oversee the welfare of the entire body of the state and each of its members; her muscle, in order to bring them into the correct movement; her hand to stretch out to protect them; he is the receiver and accompaniment of the life-giving force flowing from the heart into the entire body of the state - the love of the sovereign for his subjects. But what will be the union of the head or heart with the whole composition of the body - the supreme power with society, if the dull or darkened eye does not represent to the head either the state in which the members are, or the dangers that threaten them? - if a relaxed muscle does not lift the weights of the members that should be set in motion through it, or will only produce random tremors? - If the hand, by the will of the head, should cover and protect the members, will expose them or torment them? – If the instruments of wisdom and goodness of the sovereign block their beneficial influences, and not spread throughout the entire state? You, voters, are required, through election, to present worthy instruments to the supreme power, presenting them as such even before yourself, in the election itself; your cause should, if not strengthen the already closest union of the sovereign with the state, at least contribute to its preservation perfect and inviolable - a union that is always desired, but all the more precious in our Fatherland, the more obviously it is based on love and is adorned by the sovereign’s trust to his subjects, as evidenced by the very right of election granted to you; for is it not love that prompts autocratic power to leave its subjects so much freedom and, so to speak, independence that they can give control to themselves? Isn't the power of attorney expressed in the fact that autocratic power accepts the instruments of its influence on the subjects from the hands of its subjects? You, voters, must justify this high trust and not upset this sovereign love. “See what you are doing.” Hitherto we have discovered some, only human, types of judgment and its only earthly structure. But in earthly court, as in everything earthly, there is something heavenly; or, according to the saying of the pious king, judgment is not simply a human matter, but a matter of God, in which God is constantly present. “It is not human... you are creating judgment, but the Lord’s, and He is with you in word and judgment.” The Divine in human court is seen from the origin of the court. In the beginning God was directly the king and lawgiver of man; gave him the right to own all the land; He set a limit to this right and a prohibitive law in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The first crime on earth was committed, and God appeared as the first judge on earth. He himself found the criminals and the crime: “Where are you? “What have you done?” (Genesis 3:9, 13) He himself pronounced the definition of judgment on the tempter and the seduced: “Cursed are you; - I will multiply your sorrows; “Cursed is the earth in your deeds” (Gen. 3:14, 16–17), etc. God Himself also judged the first murder and made the shed blood and His omniscience witnesses against the unconfessed criminal: “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me from the earth” (Gen. 4:10). God directly judged the corrupted first world and determined for it the execution of the flood; judged the proud Babylonians and punished them with confusion of tongues; the corrupted Sodomites and, like a perspicacious physician of souls and bodies, burned out their entire cities, like incurable and infectious scabs on the face of the earth, with fire and a bogeyman. Since the guilty evaded his judgment, He sometimes brought him, so to speak, to the scene of the crime. “The Lord came down to see the city and the pillar” (Gen. 11:5) of Babylon and when the cry of the iniquities of Sodom and Gomorrah increased to Him: “When I come down,” He said, “I will see if according to the cry of them coming to me they are done” (Gen. 18:21). When all nations forgot the true God and His judgment: this judgment was revealed in Israel, now through leaders and judges erected by God himself, now through the Prophets sent by Him, now through the Kings sanctified by Him. The work of God cannot be destroyed; Therefore, the matter of judgment, passing from God’s chosen ones to humanly chosen judges, does not lose its Divine importance in their hands. So Moses ordered the people to elect judges; but he said to the elect that “there is a judgment of God” (Deut. 1:17). Jehoshaphat appointed them himself, but also said to them: “It is not man’s judgment that you are executing, but the Lord’s.” But God cannot abandon his work; consequently, in every judgment that is His, He is present and active. “And that one with you in words and judgment.” Why, it may be asked, did the Lord appropriate ordinary human judgment in such a special way? - Because He adopted man in the same special way, so that there is neither power nor love to which man belongs as much as the power and love of God; and also because there is no one to whom this matter could be completely entrusted. Earthly judges require a witness, a defender, a law; and very often they lack either a witness, or a defender, or a law; the guilty do not bring their crimes before their eyes; the innocent come to them with their innocence, but it is also invisible; who has found the fixed point of balance between zeal for righteousness and mercy for the guilty? But God, and God alone, is everything for himself. And therefore there is one all-permissive law of judgment - the wisdom of God; there is only one faithful and true witness - the omniscience of God; there is one indispensable intercessor - God’s mercy; there is one judge of the whole earth - the eternal and omnipotent justice of God. So, of necessity, the Lord is with the judges in the word of judgment: blessed are the judges if they are with the Lord in the word of judgment! “Do you see”, finally, “what you are doing”, electing judges and arranging the court. You are preparing instruments for God himself; for Him you are building a sanctuary. And since the dispensation of the court, as well as the court itself, is His, then you yourself become His instruments; your class is the assembly of the Lord; The Lord is with you in the word of election, just as he is in the word of judgment. Behold, you who have eyes to see, behold this omnipresent Judge, standing invisibly in the host of the mighty of the earth, judging the judges and choosing or rejecting voters. “God is one in the company of gods: in the midst the gods will judge” (Ps. 82:1). He will hear not only every unrighteous word, but also unrighteous silence; Neither lawless seeking nor selfish deviation will be hidden from Him; He will not justify careless inactivity, just like self-willed activity. And if He wants to reprove, who will be against His reproof? If he remains silent, who will bear the weight of His wrath when it increases along with the continuation of the permission, and the sins of the unworthy judge will be cast upon the head of the biased voter. Save yourself, organizers of earthly judgment, from this fear of heavenly judgment, and may this very fear be your savior. And now “let the fear of the Lord be upon you.” He is the “beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 1:7) and will help you discern the truth; he is “pure” (Ps. 18:10) and will save you from unrighteousness, and just as he will make you pure instruments of Providence, so he will make you pure instruments of the sacred work of judgment. With this fear and faith, now take a vow of fidelity in choosing worthy guardians of the private and public good. God, “give his judgment to the king and his righteousness to the king’s son,” may he not take away his righteousness and his mercy from the sons of the Russian kingdom forever, for “the Lord is our righteousness” (Jer. 33:16). Amen. This word was definitely brought to us by E.V. Barsov from his own collection. You might be interested in: