458. Слово в день Рождества Христова

(Said at the Chudov Monastery on December 25). I spoke about the verb spoken by him about this youth. And all who heard marveled at the words that were spoken from the shepherds to them. (Luke 2:17–18). Who else is not now amazed at the verb about the birth of Jesus Christ, although for so many centuries, almost every day, not only simple shepherds of the wordless flock, but also simple and wise shepherds of verbal sheep have spoken about this Child? For what do the shepherds of the country of Bethlehem say about Him? They retell the heavenly verb, the Angel's message, “for today a Savior is born to you, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11); and if with this news comes to you a desire to find Him, and a concern about how to recognize Him, the narrators warn you: “This is a sign for you: you will find a baby with a midwife lying in a manger” (Luke 2:12). O sign, which, having acquired, I am lost, and, having recognized, I do not comprehend! Christ is the real, perfect Anointed of God: but His sign is not a crown and purple, or the holy robe faded 952 for honor and glory, but swaddling clothes! Lord: but instead of a throne in a manger! Savior of men: but men do not give Him the last corner among themselves to save His infant life, and send Him to the dumb! Do you still want to hear something of what the shepherds say about Him, who, instead of a rod and a club, shepherd with reason and teaching? Newborn - and existing before all ages; the child is also the Father of the future age; The Son of Man, but the Son of the Virgin, now and hereafter the true Son of the Virgin, and now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages also the true Son of God; recently in the rank of earthly creatures, but He is the One by whom in the beginning everything was created, both heavenly and earthly; Today he is silent among the wordless, but ever speaking and bearing all kinds of words of His power; as the Word that is with God, the man Christ Jesus, and together He is above all, blessed God forever! But it would be in vain for us to multiply words without number, so that if we utter His only Word, after the verbs that have gone out about Him to the ends of the universe, It still remains unspoken; after the glory that has passed about Him from the highest to the lowest, It still remains a mystery. Blessed is the mind that, having purified the senses and quelled the passions, can rise above the word in order to hear the Word, which then speaks Himself to him in the silence of contemplation! No longer daring to talk inarticulately with the wise about what the Child is in Itself, I will touch upon once again, for the simplest, an intelligible legend about what this Child is for us humans. The angel preaches “great joy,” the shepherds retell that “to you be born this day a Savior. “He,” the Angel also explains, “will save His people from their sins” (Luke 2:10–11; Matt. 1:21). Oh, the news is as joyful as it is wonderful! What could be more disastrous than sin, from which all other disasters arise? He separates man from God, puts him at enmity with other people and with every creature, and separates himself from himself. Sin deprives the soul of peace, the mind of light, the body of incorruption, the earth of blessings, and every creature of all kindness. He begins by putting hell into a person, and ends by putting a person into hell. So, great is the joy indeed that at last He appears who will “save His people from their sins.” And what does He do to save sinners? Is born! From immortal, Divine life, is born into human life - mortal. He puts aside glory, abandons bliss, hides what is sacred, and takes upon himself all the disasters of sin, except sin itself. “For God the Father, who knew no sin, made sin for us,” His Father, “that we might be the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). Because we did not want to remain the blessed children of God in paradise, now He is a miserable infant on earth; because we used all our strengths and abilities for evil, He now appears without any strength or ability. Because our feet have flowed toward evil, and our hands have done the deeds of iniquity, the feet of him who walks on the wing of the wind, and the hands of the Almighty are bound in swaddling clothes. Because our lips so often speak vanity, and our tongue weaves flattery, that we “blessing with our tongues” the name of “God and the Father” and by it “by mankind” were created “in the likeness of God” (James 3:9); for our reckless curses and idle talk, the blessing Word is silent. Because “man, being in honor without understanding, was likened to foolish cattle, and became like them” ( Ps. 49:21 ) with brutal passions and bestial lusts, “He who was in the form of God” not only “made himself humble, but took on the form of a servant in the likeness of mankind, and was found in the likeness of man” ( Phil. 2:6–7 ), but also with the dumb he was charged with a dwelling and a place of rest. And what else? “That we may be the righteousness of God in Him,” He fulfills “all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15), all the law of God; does not even violate any human law, and with all this “count with the lawless” (Is. 53:12) in order to “redeemer us... from the curse of the law,” which condemns our deeds to hell and destruction. He who is blessed forever will be made a curse for us (Gal. 3:13) to lead us from destruction. Our Savior Himself will descend into destruction; He is born on earth not in order to live: for for this He did not need an earthly birth, but in order to die, in order to bring down the heavenly birth to hell itself, and finally, in order to give birth to life from death, from hell to the sons of heaven, from destruction to bring those saved. Thus He will save “His people from their sins.” Christians! How do you hear, how do you accept such stories about the Child Christ, no matter who offers them? Is it not the same as those spoken by the shepherds of Bethlehem about this Childhood were received by all who heard? “And all who heard were amazed at those things which were spoken from the shepherds to them.” Truly, it would be too terrible and unworthy if we listened more indifferently to the loud and clear broadcasts of the Apostles and teachers of the Church about our Savior, rather than, like others, listening to the dark speeches of the Prophets and fortune-telling; If only we looked with less sympathy at the very work of our salvation than how others heard one rumor about it. “Lord, I heard thy hearing, and was afraid: Lord, I understood thy works, and was terrified. You came forth for the salvation of Your people,” for salvation with Your Christ (Hab. 3:1, 2, 13). “Let us confess to You that You were terribly surprised: Your works are wonderful, and my soul knows well” (Ps. 139:14). “Why don’t we marvel,” the Church sings, “at Your Divine Nativity, Most Holy One?” 953 But may we be allowed to ask how we marvel at the great work of the incarnation of the Son of God? Everyone who heard from the shepherds of Bethlehem about the midwife lying in the manger marveled. The shepherds withdrew; the wonderful baby disappeared; the surprise is over; and those who heard about the baby Savior before others, but did not penetrate into this mystery and did not follow Him, soon experienced the destructive hand of the persecutor in the destruction of their babies. Take note of this, all you who hear, and “take heed...as you hear” (Luke 8:18). I know that your shepherds will not move away from you, but on the contrary, they will pursue you everywhere with the glory of the Baby of Bethlehem: but the world will make a louder noise than usual in order to drown out their voice, and in order to distract you from the reverent surprise of the miracle of the Baby Christ to distraction, to sensual amusements and vain spectacles, and to deeds displeasing to Christ. Beware lest Christ, whom you have come to know not only by hearing His teachings, but also by communicating His mysteries, hides from you again in His inaccessible incomprehensibility, so that His Word, sown in your heart, is stolen by the enemy, and with weapons, although not cruel as before, but as dangerous as they are subtle, destroys the heavenly birth in you. Try to always be not forgetful listeners of the Word of Christ, but creators of the work of salvation. In this, imitate the shepherds who, having heard the angel’s word, were not content with mere surprise, but “came with haste, and found Miriam and Joseph, and the Child lying in a manger” (Luke 2:16). Imitate Miriam herself, who “kept all these words in her heart” (Luke 2:19). Place the word of the child Jesus in your heart; and just as one who is in the womb carefully walks and acts, preserving the conceived fetus: so you, walking and acting in the world between people, carefully touch and communicate, so that nothing could erase from your heart the sweet memory and love of the child Jesus given to us, and from Him the spirit of salvation conceived in you, which may He accomplish in all of us by His grace, instilling faith in our hearts, and dwelling in them forever. Amen. You might be interested in: