480. Слово в день Святителя Алексия, Митрополита Московского и всея России чудотворца

(Said in the Chudov Monastery on February 12th) Have an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches: To the one who overcomes I will give food from the hidden manna. (Rev.2:17). There is ordinary food, about which the Apostle speaks: “meat is meat to the belly, and the belly is meat; God will destroy both this and this” (1 Cor. 6:13), that is, he will give it over to decay, and he will stop their gross actions. There was once an extraordinary food - wonderful manna, apparently descending from heaven, about which the Savior spoke to the Jews: “your fathers ate manna in the desert, and died” (John 6:49). The Holy Spirit proclaims and promises another kind of food, completely unknown to ordinary people, and therefore called “hidden manna”: “to him who overcomes, he says..., I will give food from the hidden manna.” Who knows what this new food is, undoubtedly better than other kinds, because it is not given to everyone, but is saved for treating the winner? - As an example, I can tell you that this one who is now blessed, the conqueror of sin, crowned with incorruptibility, knows this. For just as those who accept perishable food are themselves given over to corruption: so, on the contrary, the “Reverend” of God, who “has never seen corruption” (Ps. 15:10), is without a doubt prepared for the state of incorruption by incorruptible food, and, consequently, in advance, “let him eat from the hidden manna.” Therefore, his tomb itself became a meal, from which believers, with one reverent approach, or touch of the lips, in some way also partake of the “hidden manna,” that is, spiritual power, strengthening, delighting, calming and replenishing. Because the Spirit, as the Seer of Mysteries writes, “speaks” to the Churches about the hidden manna, and consequently this “manna,” although “hidden,” is promised not to just any people, but to all those who strive faithfully and courageously in the militant Church of Christ: then we too, although perhaps more conquered than those who conquer, dare to guess something about the “hidden manna,” and sow with the reward of those who overcome, encourage themselves to feat and victory. We all know that the body is subject to hunger and thirst, and has a need for food and drink, which quench the unpleasant feelings of hunger and thirst, delight the taste, strengthen strength, and replenish the damage to substances in the bodily composition. But isn’t the spirit also subject to hunger and thirst? Does it need nutrition? What can nourish him in his own way? Do we know this about the spirit as clearly as about the body? God alone is a self-satisfied being, in Himself always complete and abounding in every good thing, never lacking in anything from the outside, and, consequently, having no need for any nutrition. The human spirit, as created and constantly dependent on God, is not self-satisfied, because it is not God; and not being self-satisfied, he has the need to acquire the contentment he needs, or to eat in his own way. His will, like food, hungers for good; his mind, like drink, thirsts for truth. But the root of good is not in him, the source of truth is not in him: consequently, he does not have food and drink in himself; it is necessary that they be given to him. In God is the root of good, in God is the source of truth: consequently, to nourish the spirit, it is not what comes up from the earth that is required, but what comes down from heaven—“manna.” “Bread,” not only in origin, but also in nature, is purely “heavenly” (Ps. 77:24), cannot be laid on the ground openly before the eyes of the body, the water of life cannot be poured into a vessel made of dead matter; therefore, the true food of the spirit, of necessity, is “hidden” for the flesh. The Word of God often speaks about this food, allowing us to know and feel our essential hunger and gain saving nutrition. The prophet David tells how he himself ate this food: “The Lord feeds me, and will deprive me of nothing. Thou hast prepared a table before me to resist those who are cold against me: ... Thy cup maketh me drunken, as if it were mighty” (Ps. 22:1, 5). Sometimes he depicts the divine abundance of this food for all people: “Thou hast multiplied Thy mercy, O God: but the sons of mankind have hope in Thy wing's blood. They will be drunk with the fatness of Thy house, and I will give Thy stream of sweetness to drink. For you have a fountain of life” (Ps. 35:8–10). Sometimes, as a host, he invites you to begin this divine feast: “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps. 33:9). “Come,” divine Wisdom also calls, “eat my bread and drink the wine that I have poured for you” (Prov. 9:5). And sometimes she turns herself into food and drink: “those who eat me,” she says, “will still hunger, and those who drink me will still thirst” (Sir. 24:23). Likewise, the Incarnate Wisdom says: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven: if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” (John 6:51). And to the Samaritan he says: “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst; but the water that I will give him will be in him a fountain of water flowing into an everlasting belly” (John 4:14). And again: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). And the Apostle describes true Christians as “having tasted the heavenly gift, and having been partakers of the Holy Spirit, and having tasted the good word of God, and the power of the age to come” (Heb. 6:4–5). Will they say that this is just an allegory? Let us suppose, if you like, that something is true. But be that as it may: since the spiritual, by its nature, contains more essentiality and power than the physical: then these, if you want to call it that, allegories and similes must contain more essentiality and power than those things from which they are borrowed. If the thought of bodily food and its need is not a dream, then how much more the thought of spiritual food and its need is the truth. Will they ask: how can one imagine the nourishment of the spirit, which, as a simple being, knows neither loss nor gain? I answer: in the spirit everything must be represented spiritually. The body, deprived of its natural food, finally collapses; but the spirit cannot be destroyed. But just as the body, from continued excessive hunger, yearns and weakens, so the spirit, without the food characteristic of it, yearns and weakens. And these states relate even more to the spirit than to the body, which only through the action of the spirit can have living force and a feeling of pleasure. Just as bodily food and drink delight, strengthen, make a sensual person calm and contented, so spiritual food brings inner, heartfelt and mental delight, reinforcement, peace and contentment to a spiritual person. Will some also ask: how come we do not feel imaginary spiritual hunger or thirst within ourselves? Let them add another question to this: how is it that when we hear the word of God, which is called the bread or water of life, we do not notice in our soul living sensations of pleasure or inner nourishment, and when the word falls silent, we soon remain as empty as before? – To answer this, ask a person whose illness or severe impossibility has damaged his taste and natural disposition to eat: why does food taste bad to him? Why does he not want to accept it, or, having accepted it, but not being nourished, does he randomly spew it out? Untamed sensuality and earthly passions weaken the spirit, drown out its inner sensations, and damage its heavenly desires. That is why not everyone is promised “hidden manna.” What is the benefit and how can one give food to someone in whom illness has caused an aversion to it and an inability to eat? When the body overcomes the disease fighting it: then it can take advantage of food. When the spirit conquers sensuality and passions, then it will be able to eat 967 from the hidden manna for spiritual health. “Have an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches: To him who overcomes I will give food from the hidden manna.” Strive courageously, Christian! Conquer the devil, the world, the flesh, yourself. Conquer pride, as the hostile force of the devil, lust, or envy and covetousness, as the enslaved force of the world, lust of the flesh, or sensual desire for pleasure, as the rebellious force of the flesh; finally, since it is not only external forces that wage war against your spirit and the Spirit of God in you, but in yourself, in your unmortified desires of the heart, in your uncleaned thoughts, there is a force favorable to your enemies - conquer yourself. Crucify “the flesh... with its passions and lusts” (Gal.5:24). Put down the “thoughts... and every charge brought against the mind of God" (2 Cor. 10:4-5). Then the ear will hear the sounds of the word of God; and the mind and heart will find in them with delight the hidden manna or living water. The lips will receive the visible gifts of the Sacrament; and the love of the spirit will receive with a living sensation the Lord coming to dine with you. Holy soul! Grant us an ear to hear and a mind to understand what you say to the Churches, and by Your grace-filled power, let us “conquer” and taste “of the hidden manna,” which You alone “eat” to those who overcome. Amen. On Thu. General L.D.P. book. 9.: live. You might be interested in: