468. Слово в день рождения Благочестивейшего Государя Императора Александра Павловича

(Spoken in the Mariinsky Church of the Imperial Widow's House, December 12). He will spare the poor and the needy, and save the souls of the needy (Ps. 71:13). One of the Psalms of David, partly in the form of a prayer, partly in the form of a prophecy, depicts a king blessed by God. The first feature of this image is the gift of reasoning or wisdom, which is needed by the king. “O God,” exclaims David, “give Thy judgment to the king” (Ps. 72:1)! Another feature of this image is justice: “he judges the poor of men, and saves the sons of the poor, and humbles the slanderer” (Ps. 72:4). Further in the image of this king is the spread of virtue and prosperity among his subjects: “in his days righteousness and abundance of peace will shine” (Ps. 72:7); extraordinary expansion of the limits of his dominion: “he has control from sea to sea, and from rivers to the end of the world” (Ps. 71:8), the overthrow of his enemies: “the enemies will lick his dust” (Ps. 71:9); submission to him from distant kingdoms, respect from all kings; “The kings of Tharsia and the islands will bring gifts; All the kings of the earth will worship him” (Ps. 71:10–11). Now, it seems, the entire measure of royal greatness has already been filled by the image of David; it seems that there is still no feature that could join the brilliant features hitherto established, or get lost between them: but the Psalmist continues: “he will spare the poor and the wretched, and save the souls of the wretched.” Do you understand what the Prophet wants to say through this? He wants to say that even with high, actually royal virtues, and with the power of the kingdom, and after the glory of victories, and among world-wide celebrity, compassion for the poor, deliverance of the needy can still exalt, further decorate, still glorify the king - “to spare the poor and the wretched, and save the souls of the wretched.” Note, Russians, how the same all-active Spirit of God, Who in the song of David drew the image of the blessed king with a reed and in writing, in the same form, the same image traces the events and deeds in the life of the blessed Alexander. Accepting from him the judgment and truth given to him from God, seeing his distant hereditary borders of his power extending even further, his enemies cast into the dust before him, kings and peoples bowing before his valor, we could already think that there was still no virtue left that could shine in his life with a new, hitherto extraordinary light; but an invisible artist came and imposed on this image a new, deep line, which reflects the aggravated light from the darkness. The sudden visit of God to the new capital spreads the sacred shadow of compassionate sorrow over the forehead of the Sovereign Father; from the darkness and waves of general disaster, the illuminating, warming and revitalizing sun of his love for mankind rises in a new, living radiance. He pours out treasures, saving the souls of many in need; with his own feet he measures all traces of the general disaster; mingles his tears with those of the last of his subjects; publicly before God mourns the victims of the deadly day, which, even under the most favorable circumstances of death, would have had many mourners; changing mutually with his august matter with the feelings of humane compassion inherited from her, he spares with her the tenderness of family love, pities the poor and the wretched, and saves the souls of the wretched, establishing and facilitating the very details of their food, clothing and housing. A strong, and at the same time pleasant, instruction in philanthropy for all of us, unless it is strange and shameful for us to still need to learn philanthropy, and especially the rudiments of philanthropy. In fact, to still need to learn the rudiments of philanthropy seems strange to me for a person. Wouldn't it be strange to imagine a larynx and a lung that would say: teach us to breathe; or imagine an eye and an ear that would say: teach us to see and hear? If you are an eye; then you naturally see: if you are an ear; then even without science you hear: if you are a heart; then you love: the closest thing to a person’s heart is to love a person, and moreover, it is more natural to extend love to other people than to return it to oneself, just as the eye does not tend to see itself and the ear does not hear itself, but other objects are compatible with the nature of these sensual instruments. Just as for a person, according to the very concept of man, it is strange to have a need to teach the rudiments of love for mankind, so for a Christian, according to the concept of a Christian, it is shameful even if he knows and has no more than the rudiments of love for mankind, and if it has not yet been created in him, in the words of the ancient sage, “the spirit of reason... loving mankind” (Wis. 7:22-23), or, according to the saying of the Apostle, “wisdom from above, ... full of mercy and good fruits” (James 3:17). How shameful it would be for someone who calls himself a sage not to be able to do more than put two or three letters in a book into syllables; since it is common for a sage to combine thoughts and feelings in the mind and in the heart, and from this combination to give birth to new thoughts and feelings, and to comprehend the most extensive objects with the understanding: it is shameful for a so-called Christian not to be able to do anything better than to put two or three hearts together in love, brought together by unanimity, or habit, or similarity of inclinations, or reciprocity of benefits; since it is common for a Christian in spiritual contemplation to see the entire human race as one clan and one tribe, and the Christian race even as one body: “For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews, Greeks, or slaves, or free: and we were all imbued with one spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13); and this contemplation should produce in a Christian all-encompassing thoughts of love for mankind, such as this thought of the beloved Paul: “if one soul,” one member of the body, one person, “all people suffer with him,” all people suffer out of love for mankind: “if one soul,” one person, “all people rejoice with him,” all people rejoice with love ( 1 Cor.12:26); spiritual, I repeat, contemplation of humanity should produce in a Christian comprehensive and feelings of love for mankind, which is the same feeling of the same Apostle: “our heart is expanded, you are not too crowded to fit in us” (2 Cor. 6:11-12), that is, our heart is so expanded with love that it accommodates all of you, and moreover, it accommodates you so much that not one of you is cramped in it, we do not love any of you a little, but we love everyone Let us embrace free, full and perfect love. If you call yourself a Christian, but you love only your family, friends, acquaintances, in a word, those who love you; then in vain you are called a Christian: in this case you bear a foreign name that does not belong to you; people who love only those who love are rightly called sinners, publicans, pagans, and not Christians. This is what the Word of God calls them, which, without a doubt, does not err in its names: “sinners,” it says, “those who love them love them” (Luke 6:32): “Do not tax collectors do the same things? Do not even the pagans do the same things” (Matthew 5:46–47)? Justify yourself, if you wish, prove your right to the name of a Christian even in the case when you do not have this all-encompassing love for mankind, which, in the name of humanity and Christianity, accepts the unknown as if it were known, is kind to enemies as if it were friends, and sympathizes with the misfortunes of strangers as if it were its own. Tell me, why do you think to be a Christian? According to the right faith? Know that Christianity knows no other right faith than the faith that loves mankind. “For,” says the Apostle James, “this faith is pure and undefiled before God and the Father, which can visit the orphans and widows in their affliction” (James 1:27). Why are you a Christian? By law, if you will? And Christianity has no other law than the love of mankind: “if slaughter,” says the same Apostle, “you keep the royal law, according to the scripture: love your sincere ones as you love yourself, and do what is good” (James 2:8). Why do you still want to take on the name of a Christian? Is it not out of love for God? But there is no love for God if there is no love for people. Just as one cannot reach the top level of a high ladder if one does not go through the lower levels, so no one can say that he has achieved high Christian love for God if he has not walked towards it through the degrees of love for people; and if someone says this about himself, then true Christianity will call him not a Christian, but a liar; “If anyone says that I love God,” writes the Apostle John, “but hates his brother, it is a lie: for you do not love your brother, but he is in his presence, God, who is not seen, how can he love” (1 John 4:20)? If you are a truly Christian, a worshiper and follower of God, who out of love for people became a man and suffered and died for them, then you should not be unfamiliar with this highest law of love for mankind: “Greater love has no one, but whoever lays down his life for his friends” (John 15:13); and to sacrifice your wealth for poor people, for the weak and sick with your strength and strength, for the needy with your heartfelt participation in their misfortunes, in a word, for everyone with your abilities and labors, as long as anyone has a need for it - this should be for you the food and delight of your life; otherwise you are called a Christian no better than an idol is called a god. I wish that there would be no one among us, Christians, on whom this reproof could fall, not my unworthy word, but the very truth of the Gospel, and that you truly have no need for human teaching of what, if you are truly Christians, God teaches, or has already taught you: “for you yourselves,” according to the Apostle, “are taught by God, to love one another” (1 Thess. 4:9). However, may I be allowed to say a few more words, inspired by an event that is not alien to us, calling for philanthropy, and by some of the actions that this event produced among us. I see and hear that many, with visible and invisible hands, are filling the deprivation with which the Righteous in punishment, and the Merciful in righteousness, God visited our brethren, in order to remind us of our sins, and to awaken us to repentance and to deeds of righteousness and goodness. I say to the visible charitable hand, may the All-Fulfilling One fulfill you, and bless you with an example of beneficence; Most of all, I say to the invisible hand of charity: “Those who see in secret, let him reward you in reality” (Matthew 6:4). I notice and hear that some, recognizing for themselves the visitation of God in others, and having compassion for many who through one disaster fell into many, would like to see this contrition before God and this compassion for people more general and more solemn. Why, they ask, don’t the authorities stop the fun? Why won't the spectacle be closed? Truly, it is desirable that during times of public disaster, the spirit of contrition before God and compassion for people should act not only in the private dispositions of people, but also in the public orders of the authorities and in the direction of the people's activities. This is how he acted now, and especially where he was excited and directed directly by the spirit of the Most Pious and Humane Monarch. But if the established power did not act in this way, what would it matter to you, who are nevertheless given power over your own passions and inclinations? Stop your own amusement, close the spectacle from your own eyes, or, which will achieve the same goal for you, close your eyes from the spectacle. Do children need to complain, for which they will not be prohibited from playing: stop playing yourself, your parents will be happy if you turn to better exercises; I think that a wise government tolerates and patronizes folk amusements, just as indulgent parents allow children's games. Decide to spend your hours of fun on honest work, on useful teaching, on innocent and edifying conversations, on acts of charity or prayer: the government will no doubt be happy if this makes the houses of spectacle empty, and will willingly close them; and the Church will even more joyfully open the gates of the Lord for you, so that the righteous may enter into them. Another word to you, dedicated and dedicated sisters of philanthropic compassion. After the law of God, may I set an example of crowned love for mankind as a lamp in your paths. May God bless what you are beginning, and may He complete your continued service to the weak, to their consolation and relief, and to your eternal reward. Amen. You might be interested in: