3. Слово на Рождество Христово.

(Spoken by Archimandrite Philaret at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra; published separately and in collections of 1820, 1821, 1844 and 1848) Greatness is the mystery of piety, God appears in the flesh. (1 Timothy 3:16.) The new Adam comes from the virgin land. The woman, the source of the curse, wears out the dew of blessing. The true “Noah” appears, who “will give us rest from our deeds, and from the sorrow of our hands, and from the land whereby the Lord God has cursed” (Gen. 5:29). The rootless "Melchizedek" (Heb. 7:3), born without a mother, born without a father, comes to inherit the Kingdom and the eternal Priesthood. The long night of fear and worldwide expectation is finally over; - and the morning light penetrates the darkness of the Old Testament Sanctuary, open not so much to the daily as to the eternal East. Heavenly Manna pours out from the stash that hid it. The rod of Jesse vegetates instead of the withering rod of Aaron. Christ is born. Come, meek shepherds, and kiss the Lamb and the Shepherd, the Lamb who feeds the shepherds, and the Shepherd who has to gather the wolves with the lambs and the young men with the lions into one peaceful fold. Come, wise Magi, and worship the mysteries of the ancient child; learn from the silent Word, eat from the angel’s bread at the table of the dumb, and see that the Lord is good. The hosts of heavenly powers, “praising” the Lord, “when the stars were created!” (Job.38:7), double and triple your praises before your Sun, and for us, rising. Christ is born. Christ is born in Bethlehem: and is this all the true joy and all the glory in the highest to God? Glory to God: if He is born for us too 26, for, according to the intention of fate 27, “this Child was born to us, and given to us” (Is. 9:6). In the midst of the celebration of His birth, the Church suffers from the pain of birth, so that He might be “imagined” (Gal. 4:19) in us. Let us not despise the joyful sorrow of our Mother: let us at least remove some features from the image of the birth of Jesus and place them in our hearts. Bethlehem was the native city of the ancestors of Jesus: however, Joseph and Mary did not have in it less than a wretched hut, less than an inch of hereditary land, nor a permanent residence. Providence, by the hand of Caesar, brought them to this place, from which it was predetermined that “the Leader of Israel should come forth” (Matthew 2:6). Strangers in the land of their ancestors, strangers in their own fatherland, gave a fatherland to His Son, “from Him every fatherland in heaven and on earth is named” (Eph. 3:15). - Christians! As long as we live in the world with the carelessness of citizens and enjoy it with the autocracy of the possessors, until then Christ cannot be imagined in us. The world constantly strives to imprint its transitory images in our soul; Satisfied desires give birth to other desires, which imperceptibly grow into giants and build Babylon. “Blessed is he who has the faith and will smash against the stone the very “babes” (Ps. 137:9) of this Babylon and will alienate himself from the city that is here in order to seek what is to come! If Abraham, according to the voice of God, had not departed from his land and from his family, he would not have received the glorious covenant, promise and inheritance. Jesus, having taken nothing from the world in his birth, apparently did not want to show it anything of his own. The woodmaker received his father's name; who carried him in her womb, according to her confession, did not bring any other dignity to this service other than the feeling of her unworthiness: “look upon the humility of her servant” (Luke 1:48); He hid His immeasurable eternity behind the day of His birth; the throne of the King of kings became the manger, the utensils - swaddling clothes, the first servants of the Kingdom - the shepherds of the flock; God's power and God's wisdom are hidden in the weaknesses of infancy. But who can measure the distance from the height of His Divine Being to the depth of His humiliation? The finite mind cannot follow Him, either in its ascent above all heavens, or in its descent to the abysses of fallen nature. How should a heart that desires to be conformed to the image of Jesus feel when it sees such humility? - “Strength of mind, greatness of spirit, celebrity of deeds, advantages of titles! I am not seduced by you and do not envy those who are proud of you. There is no greater wisdom than to renounce wisdom for Jesus; There is no greater glory than to share dishonor with Jesus; There is no condition more abundant than the poverty of Jesus; “there is no other door to perfection and blessedness” 28 than the infancy of Jesus; There is no better decoration for the soul in which He must dwell than to see oneself as alien to all decorations, like His manger. – The current of grace, like river aspirations, pours into the valleys: cedars on the mountains are protected by thunder and lightning. God creates out of nothing: as long as we want and think to be something, He does not begin His work in us. Humility and self-denial are the foundation of His church in us: whoever deepens it more will build it higher and safer. One of the essential accessories of the birth of Jesus was the purity of His Mother, which was not violated by sight or thought. She had to have a betrothed, but only so that he would be a protector and witness of her chastity, and so that her sacred virginity would not seem like a condemnation of marriage 29. Meanwhile, she was, as the Church unanimously confesses, a Virgin before Christmas, at Christmas and after Christmas. Look at her example, soul striving for union with God, and see your duty in the mirror of her perfection. The Lord is a jealous God: while He, with the voice of fatherly goodness, says to man: “Give me, O son, your heart” (Prov. 23:26), His righteous jealousy, no less in the spiritual, as well as in the moral sense, commands: “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Ex. 20:14). He who gave us the heart is not content with more or less of it: it must all belong to the Lord of all. He does not recognize any love 30 as worthy of Himself, which is not based on love for Him; every pleasure in which we seek ourselves partially, every thought inclined towards creatures, every distraction is a distance from Him 31 . Strict vigilance over oneself can only lead to a blissful union with Him and maintain it in it: “guard your heart with all care: from these come life” (Proverbs 4:23). The Heavenly Bridegroom becomes engaged only to wise and immaculate virgins who do not sleep at his palace; a virgin soul turned to the one God conceives spiritual life and gives birth to the bliss of pure contemplation. “Blessed are those who are pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8); and where? - in your very heart. A pure soul, like pure water, receives living images of the sun and sky. Let us no longer keep our eyes on those features in the image of the birth of Jesus, which might frighten those who wish to inscribe it in their souls with the difficulty of imitation. But one more look at those features of him in which, through the very humiliation, His Divine glory shone, and which, after the first, grace reveals in our spiritual birth. At the birth of Christ, Angels sing the glory of God and peace on earth: they also sing at our rebirth the glory of grace and the peace of man with God. “There is joy in heaven for one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:7). Shepherds and wise men come to Christ with reverence, despite the poverty and uncertainty that apparently separated Him from the whole world: so he who is united with Christ is united in Him with all those faithful to Him, as much an inseparable as an incomprehensible union; that Spirit, which forms from them a single society, or, moreover, a single body, sometimes unexpectedly, always in good time, brings them closer to each other, in order to mutually instruct and learn, to console and accept consolation, to confess the mercy and glory of God. – Gifts are brought to Christ: gold, like a King; Lebanon, like God; myrrh, as to one who is dead for mortals: but does He not also promise us that “all things will be added to those who seek the Kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33)? Doesn’t he want to “make us Kings and Priests to his God and Father” (Rev. 1:6)? Doesn’t our spiritual birth involve that life-giving death, after which our “life” will be “hidden with Him in God” (Col. 3:3)? O God, who gave us Your Son! What are you not giving to us with Him? Let us only give birth to the spirit of Christ within ourselves and live his life. Then let “Herod and all Jerusalem with him rage against us, as once against Him”; let the prince of this age rage, and let the whole world arm itself: Thou hast covered us in the secret of Thy habitation; You raised us on the calm water and through the Angel of Your covenant led us to Your holy mountain. Amen. for us - In the department. ed.: “in us.” In collection 1820 and 1821 "with us". according to the intention of fate - These words are not in the department. ed. and in collection 1820 and 1821 In the department ed. and in collection 1820 and 1821 - “there is no perfect age.” condemnation of marriage - In the department. ed.: “The disgrace of marriage.” He does not recognize any love as worthy of Himself - In collection. 1820 and 1821: “He rejects all love.” In the department ed. and in collection 1820 and 1821: “every pleasure in which we seek ourselves is grief for Him; every thought inclined towards creatures is a betrayal of Him; all distraction is a distance from Him.” You might be interested in: