42. Слово на Рождество Христово 222

(Printed in the 1844 and 1848 collections) All this happened, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying: Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and give birth to a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel: as it is said, God is with us. Matthew 1:22–23. The Holy Evangelist Matthew repeatedly notes that all the circumstances and incidents that marked the birth on earth of the incarnate God and our Savior Jesus Christ were not just coincidental circumstances and incidents, but exact events of prophetic predictions. A remark that is important not only for the Jews, who wanted to look at what can be seen with simple eyes in no other way than through the viewing glass of the Prophets, but also for everyone who wants to discover the traces of Providence in the paths of men confused by chance, and to discern the works of God in the events of the world. Isn’t it obvious that God works when what was predicted for several centuries definitely comes true, and especially when something that, according to ordinary concepts and considerations, seemed impossible, comes true? 224 As if standing before the eyes of 225, Isaiah points to the most blessed Virgin Mary: “behold a virgin,” while not only this virgin, but also her parents and ancestors had not yet come into the world. “Behold, a virgin,” He says, “will conceive and give birth to a son.” What are you saying, Prophet? Can a virgin conceive? Can the one who gave birth be a virgin? If this comes true, how will this come true among the people to whom you predict this event? Even if it comes true, how can this be a “sign”, obvious, certifying, which you foretell: “The Lord Himself will give you a sign” (Is. 7:14)? If 226? You truly see this daughter of David, to whom you point: “Behold a virgin”; if you see her in a place far from the homeland of David, and in the despised “Nazareth”, in orphanhood, in poverty, without any signs of her royal race, betrothed to a treemaker: tell me how “the Lord will give” this “sign” so that she will appear as a virgin of the family of David, giving birth in the house and fatherland of David, precisely according to the appointment of another prophet, in "Bethlehem" (Micah 5:2)? See how truly “the Lord Himself” is responsible for the faithfulness of the prophetic word. “The Holy Spirit came” upon Mary, “and the power of the Highest fell” upon her (Luke 1:35): and she received in her womb, remaining a virgin, and having become the matter of the Son, nevertheless remained a virgin. So that those who do not know the secrets of this conception cannot offend the 227 woman who conceived, she was betrothed to her husband before this conception: and so that this sign of the Lord would be clear to everyone who is sane, that a virgin conceived without a husband, conception followed the betrothal “before I had even dreamed of it” (Matthew 1:18), before Joseph “received his wife” (Matthew 1:24). ) to your house. To Joseph, so that he would not remain in bewilderment 228, to reveal this secret and indicate this sign, an Angel was sent: and for others who could not see and hear the Angels, no less than the Angel, the faithful witness of the sign and the messenger of the secret was Joseph himself, known to everyone as “the righteous” (Matthew 1:19), who therefore could not deceive people, and even more so could not slander God and the Holy One Spirit. But how can we ensure that the sign, already revealed in the almost pagan “Nazareth”, is given, as Isaiah predicted, to the “house of David” (Is. 7:13); so that the virgin, who, after receiving in the womb from the Holy Spirit, and after a three-month stay in the house of one relative, until the last time of pregnancy, remained living in “Nazareth”, without thinking about any journey, or about any relocation, - so that She would give birth to the Leader of Israel, according to the prophecy of Micah, “in Bethlehem” (Mic. 5: 2)? Truly here, as Isaiah again hints, “work was given to the Lord” (Is. 7:13), that is, it was necessary to carry out difficult, according to human understanding, and immense works in order for the predicted sign to be accomplished. In order for Mary, on the advice of an Angel, finally accepted into the house of Joseph, to be brought from Nazareth to Bethlehem, and to reliably and solemnly show the origin of her Son from David, a nationwide census was chosen as a means of this, but since such a census was not in use among the people of God, and was even prohibited by law, it was necessary for the people of God to be handed over to the authority of another people. And so God shook almost all the kingdoms of the world, and subjected them to Rome; raised Augustus over Rome; He gave worldwide peace to Augustus, so that authority and convenience would give him thought 229, and so that from him would come “a command to write the whole universe” (Luke 2:1), before the time when the Son of the Virgin was to be born; This census, as much by chance as by necessity, drew Joseph to his native city of Bethlehem; Mary was to follow Joseph; the earthly race of Immanuel was revealed at the very time when His birth arrived; and - which not many days earlier seemed unrealistic - He was born exactly, according to the prophetic prediction, in Bethlehem. Truly, everything has been done so that the prediction is fulfilled, and so that through the small and great deeds of man one can see the one great sign of the work of God dominating them. “All this happened, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying: Behold, the Virgin shall be with child, and give birth to a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, as it is said: God is with us.” In this discussion about the exact fulfillment of the prophetic words relating to the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, someone may ask: why, apparently, the prediction about His name was not so accurately fulfilled? Because the prophet Isaiah predicted for Him the name “Immanuel”: but instead the Angel commanded that you call His name: “Jesus”. To this, firstly, I answer that if other predicted details about the Son of the Virgin, and among them less significant ones, such as, for example, the purpose of the place of His birth, came true exactly: is it possible that the Creator of Prophecy, the Holy Spirit, allowed him to be inaccurate in what constitutes the essence, spirit and purpose of all the predicted details, namely, that in the Son of the Virgin “God is drawn closer to us,” or in other words, that we They “let us be saved!” Secondly, I admit that when comparing the Prophecy about the name of Emmanuel with the event, something inaccurate, in appearance 230, is seen in the words: but without hesitation, I affirm that this visible inaccuracy is not only not a flaw or imperfection in the prophecy, or in the event, but even belongs to perfection, and in a new way reveals the Divine origin of both. Bring to your mind the fact that Emmanuel was both predicted and came to earth according to predictions, for believers; and where there is faith, not everything should be clearly visible, but something must presuppose the hidden, since “faith,” according to the Apostle, “is ... the conviction of the invisible” (Heb. XI, 1), but an open and complete vision would leave no room for faith. Therefore, you will agree that Emmanuel, in His coming to earth, had to be so visible that He could be recognized, and so hidden that He could be believed, and so that unbelievers could not penetrate His secrets and harm the work of God 231 that He was about to accomplish. Therefore, what the Prophet revealed to the believers in the extraordinary name of Emmanuel, the Angel presented the same thing to the world under the veil of the name of Jesus, which was not so unusual for the ears of the Jews, which they had previously had one Judge and one High Priest, also not without a sacrament for the believers, and also hidden from the unbelievers. Thirdly, if, without stopping at only the visible, with the help of faith, or insight into the invisible, we compare the name “Immanuel” appointed in the prophecy and the name “Jesus” that appeared in the event: then it is not difficult to see in them not only an exact, mutual internal conformity, but also unity. What hinders us humans from “God being with us?” – “Your sins,” says the Prophet, “are dividing between you and God” (Is. 59:2). And so separation from God and the state of sin are one and the same. Consequently, approaching God and salvation from sins are again the same thing. Consequently, “Immanuel is God with us” and “Jesus is the Savior from sins” are also one and the same. Consequently, the prophecy is accurate, and the event is true to the prophecy 232. "Immanuel" is "Savior"; “Jesus” is “God with us.” Let us recognize, Christians, the deep wisdom of this prophecy, and let us feel the high bliss of this event! God is with us in Jesus, by His very Incarnation: because in Him the “Divine” and “our” human natures are not only brought together, but united inseparably, however, unmerged, into the single person of the God-man; and therefore He is “not ashamed,” as the Apostle says, “to call us brethren” (Heb. 2:11). God is with us in Jesus, by redemption: because without Jesus sin was with us, which we inherited from Adam, and which we ourselves did not stop doing; and “everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin” (John 8:34); the devil was with us, for “it is the devil who commits sin” (1 John 3:8); but Jesus, having come to earth, with His life fulfilled the law of God, which we violated; with His suffering He atoned for the sin that we committed; By His death He put to death the death to which we were condemned for sin; by His descent into hell He freed us from the dark power of the devil; By His resurrection He again acquired for us the “life of God,” from which we were “alienated by sin” (Eph. 4:18). God is with us in Jesus, by the gift of the Holy Spirit: because the Son of God, who came to earth to redeem us, returned to heaven, “let him pray the Father, and give us another Comforter, that the Spirit of truth may be with us forever” (John 14:16). God is with us through Jesus, in our mind and knowledge: since “God is nowhere to be seen; The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, is the one who confesses” (John I, 18). God is with us through Jesus, in our hearts and feelings: because “Christ dwells in our hearts by faith” (Eph. 3:17), and at the same time “the love of God is poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom. 5:5). God is with us through Jesus, in all our lives and deeds, if only we completely surrender ourselves to Him: for then “we live not as one, but Christ lives in us” (Gal. 2:20); and “God works in us to will and to do good” (Phil. 2:13). God is with us through Jesus, if we so desire, in all states and adventures of our life; so that even if we suffer, we can suffer with Him, “that we may also be glorified with Him” (Rom. 8:17); Whether we die, we can “die to the Lord” (Rom. 14:8). In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, God is with us, Christians, always and in everything; only let us not cease to be with God, through remembrance of Him, through prayer to Him, through faith and love, through constant exercise in what pleases God and what brings us closer to God. Amen. According to Euro collection spoken in the Assumption Cathedral. According to the European collection: in the dark paths of chance... According to European collection: unrealizable? According to the European collection: on the pre... According to the Hebrew collection: If a virgin conceives in her womb without being given to her husband, she will be considered stolen from marriage and stoned. And if she conceives, having been given to her husband, how will they know that it is not the wife who conceives and gives birth, but the virgin? If... According to the European collection: pursue... According to the European collection: I did not remain ignorant and did not come into doubt... According to the European collection: in his spare time the thought came to him... According to the European collection: apparently, in appearance,... According to the Hebrew collection: to destroy the work of God,... According to the Hebrew collection: prophecy does not err, and the event does not deviate from prophecy. You might be interested in: