477. Слово в день обновления храма Иерусалимского, и по случаю обновления храма великомученика Никиты, в Басманной

It is written: My house is a house of prayer. (Luke 19:46). Renewal is now in Jerusalem: here too there is a partial renewal. The place gave us a holiday: let the place give us the word. The place where we stand now, where God is served, is simply and usually called the church of God, as for example in the following words of the first martyr Stephen: “Solomon... built a church for Him” (Acts 7:47). But besides this, Scripture, namely the Prophet Isaiah, and according to him the living Hypostatic Word of God Himself, Jesus Christ, calls the church of God “the house of God and the house of prayer” (Is. 56:7; Luke 19:46). Two names for one thing, which can teach a lot about this thing if we consider them with some attention. “It is written: My house is a house of prayer.” It is obvious that Scripture says this on behalf of God. Thus, you hear God Himself declaring to you that the church is the house of God. If God Himself shows us His house, then there is no room for any controversy or doubt about this. We know for sure, and we must undoubtedly believe, that this is the house of God. So, we are definitely in the house of God here. Think about this “standing in the church of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God” (Ps. 134:1). When you enter a person's yard: you don't know if he's close because you don't know if he's home at that time. There is no place for this uncertainty in the house of God. Because God is omnipresent; and therefore He is present in every place that is not His house: is it possible that He should not be there, where He favored His house above other places? When you enter a man's house and hear from his servants that he is at home: then you know that he is near; then you can think that you will soon see him face to face, and that, perhaps, behind a light barrier, he can already hear your words and movements. So, when you entered the house of God, and when you are sure that it cannot be that He who lives in this house is not at home: then think how close the Omnipresent is! If your spirit is pure: then, perhaps, even without excitement or direction, “he already looks with an open face at the glory of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18). And if you still see here only a house, and not the One who lives in it: then know that everything you see here is only a light barrier that blocks from you the presence and vision of the great Lord of the Dweller of this house; that the very “air” through which you see is only the “veil” of the Invisible; that only the bodily eye, which your soul, according to the expression of Saint Macarius (Sk. 5, ch. 6), “puts on” itself in order to see the bodily world, like dull glass, prevents your spirit from seeing spiritual objects, however close. Well, what if we took away this barrier, removed this veil, exposed your subtle spiritual eye from the coarse physical eye? Truly, you yourself would see the vision that the Church Hymn portrays to you: you would see here “the King of all Angels, Dorinoshima Chinmi” 965. So God is here. He is near us. His glory covers us. Pure heavenly forces are around us and between us. How does the earth not shake? How does a person stand? How does a sinner not disappear? Here God is almighty. Let all the earth stand in awe before Him! May man humble himself! Let the sinner tremble! Here God is all-good. Let every breath praise Him! May he who finds no consolation in creatures be consoled! May the sinner not despair! In the same way, the name of the house of God, given in scripture to the church of God, can teach us a lot about the high dignity of this sacred place, and about the disposition with which we should enter it and remain in it. Further and more definite instruction about the dispositions that the church of God requires of us lies in its other name: a house of prayer. “My house,” it is said, “is a house of prayer.” God Himself makes the church His home when He sovereignly calls it by this name, and when He actually comes to dwell in it by His grace, through the mysterious sanctification of it. But it must become a house of prayer through man: since God has no need to perform any prayer in the church for Himself; and man has the duty and need to offer prayer to God. How should the church become a house of prayer through man? To this they may answer me that there is nothing to ask here; Of course, for this it is necessary for a person to offer his prayer; and just as a permanent dwelling belonging to a well-known owner is called a house: then, in order for a church to be rightly called a house, and not a crossroads, or only an inn of prayer, it is necessary that prayer be performed in it constantly, and be the dominant exercise of a person in it. Undoubtedly so. But that's what made me propose a question that might seem redundant to others. In the Temple of Jerusalem, established prayer was performed constantly, and Divine services were the dominant exercise; in it they sang the psalms of David and made sacrifices, according to the law of Moses, when our Lord appeared in it and said to those in that church: “It is written: My house is a house of prayer; But you will make his cave a thief” (Luke 19:46). Do you see how a church, even if the prayer order is observed, can be unlike a house of prayer: for what is less like a house of prayer than a cave, or some kind of dwelling of thieves? So, I think that not only is it not superfluous, but it is also very necessary, and requires a special solution to this question, how should a church be made through a person a house of prayer so that it not only does not resemble a cave of robbers, which would be very terrible for those entering it, but rather like a meeting of idle crowds or a place of spectacles; for this too is unworthy of a house of prayer and the house of God. In order to find an answer to this through the same example, which gives force to the question, I ask again: what made the temple of Jerusalem a cave of robbers? The Gospel story answers that this was done by those who sold and bought in it, those who sold sheep and oxen and doves for sacrifices, and the money changers, or money changers. But what is robber about them, when the Gospel does not say that they stole anything from the church, or did any damage to it by their selling and buying, but sold, as it should be concluded, each of his surplus, and each bought with his own money? The search for their own gain in the house of God made them so vile in the eyes of the Lord of this house, like robbers dividing the spoils; and since not only those who sell, but also those who buy, are condemned and expelled by the Lord, and since the Lord also “not giving, let someone carry a vessel past through the church” (Mark 11:16), engaging in a worldly and extraneous matter in the church made them violators and predators of its shrine; greed and worldly affairs in the church turned it into a cave of robbers. And just as any passion or inclination, sensual and vicious, is vile in the eyes of God; not only every worldly matter, but also worldly care, and vain thought, like an alien vessel, is unworthy of the holy house of God, then in order to preserve the dignity of the house of prayer, so as not to turn it into a cave of thieves, or into something else similar, one must drive out of it all passion, put aside all worldly care when entering it, and not bring into it any vain thought. Think, visitor to the holy church of God, how you visit it, and what you make of it by your visit! If the children and servants of the house of God sing songs and pray; but you do not pay attention and are distracted by thoughts: are you not destroying the house of prayer that they build and decorate? Are you not also imitating the penny-pinchers of the Jerusalem Temple, if you come here with the crafty intention of exchanging the priceless treasure of God’s grace for a small coin, as short and hasty prayers as possible? If, without selling and buying here, and without apparently bringing here alien household vessels, you bring here caring thoughts about your purchases and sales, and the desire for profit that possesses you, or other passions and lusts, equally alien to the house of God: then are you not transforming not this visible church, which is not in your power, but - which is just as criminal and disastrous for you - Are you not turning your heart, which should have been the inner living church of the living God, into a cave of thieves? But what should we do if desires, concerns and thoughts alien to the house of God unwittingly invade it with us? – Firstly, one should not slavishly indulge in such desires, cares and thoughts outside the church, but constantly strive to free one’s heart from them; secondly, upon entering the church, one must especially nail one’s flesh to the fear of God living in it, and follow with relentless attention every action and word of the Divine service performed; thirdly, if a thought accidentally deviates from the sacred subject of its occupation, it must be returned from this flight as soon as possible, and with inner repentance and contrition of heart, cast it before the Heavenly Father; fourthly, we must offer prayer to God, not just on our own, but always in the name of the Lord Jesus, that is, with faith and trust in His intercession, strength and help for us; finally, we must enter and delve deeper into the interior of our hearts, and in silence and humility, with love and desire, await the Spirit of His Son sent into our hearts by God, crying out: Abba Father! This is how it is arranged for each of us, and is inviolably observed, or the damaged one is restored, not only the external and educational, but the internal and essential house of God and the house of prayer, and we are accepted in it as children of God, which may the Heavenly Father vouchsafe to us, through His Only Begotten Son, in His Holy Spirit. Amen. Divine Liturgy. Cherubic song. You might be interested in: