485. Слово в день Святителя Алексия

(Said in the Chudov Monastery on May 20,968) And now I am bound in spirit, I am coming to Jerusalem. (Acts 20:22). If we take into account that from God we have being, life, strength, feelings, heart, mind, will, and from His providence the many different benefits that we use in the world; that God, and only God, can grant us eternal bliss, and actually grants it to His faithful servants, that the majority of people either know this by understanding, or believe this by the undoubted testimony of those who understand; But despite all this, not the majority of people are engaged in serving God faithfully, constantly, exclusively, or at least primarily before any other occupation, then one must ask with surprise how it is possible to go so directly against justice, against gratitude, against one’s own greatest benefit? The foolish have found this unfortunate opportunity in the fact that they do not completely renounce the service of God, they want to achieve bliss in it, and they think that this is enough. What about the narrow path? - It became wider due to the increased number of walkers. What about the narrow gate? - They were rebuilt more spacious than before by new artists of moral life. And the many sorrows with which one must enter into the kingdom of God? – This cup was drunk to the dregs by Christ’s Apostles, martyrs, confessors, during the times of persecution of Christianity, out of sheer necessity; - now there is no such need, and we can fill our cup of joy. Perhaps not many will admit that they think so; but many live in such a way that their life serves as a sign of such opinions. “Do not be conformed to this age” (Rom. 12:2), the Apostle wrote to Christians in the age of Judaism and paganism. Oh woe! It is necessary to repeat to Christians in Christian times: “Do not conform to this age.” Be like those true servants of God whose faithful service to God is not weakened by the temptation of worldly benefits and sensual pleasures, or by the fear of difficulties, obstacles, and sorrows. In order not to look for an example in the distance, look at this faithful servant of God, at this firm leader of this church, how he, without hesitation, walked not only against difficulties, but also at the obvious danger for the honor of faith, which is the honor of God, for the security of the church, which is the property of God. Twice he went to the kings of the Horde, whose power was not more often marked by anything other than cruelty and treachery. Once Zhanibek called on Alexy to heal the Queen, but Alexy studied the word of God and prayer, and not medical science; therefore, he could perform healing only by a miracle; it was impossible to know whether God would grant a miracle of healing, especially for a sick woman infected with evil faith; otherwise one could know almost for sure that the failure of healing would serve as a desecration of the faith of Christ, and that a joke on faith, according to the taste of the Horde, would be nothing other than the bitter death of its chosen servant. The saint dared in the Lord, and a miracle was accomplished, and faith was glorified. Another time, Grand Duke John convinced Alexy to go to the Horde in order to avert hostile intentions against Russia and introduce the new Tsar Berdebek, who began his reign by killing twelve brothers, into a peaceful disposition. Although the Grand Duke could in this case have some hope of respect for the name of Alexy, which, without a doubt, remained in the Horde from the healing of the queen: nevertheless, this embassy was as if a shepherd of sheep with one shepherd's rod was sent to tame an angry lion or tiger. But the shepherd of the verbal sheep decided to lay down his soul for the sheep: and the Almighty Chief Shepherd preserved his life, and through him bestowed peace on the verbal flock and the Russian land. But in order to show an extremely sacred example of unflagging service to God, contrary to the opinions of people who have not yet rejected the world and themselves, proving that the faithful servants of God struggle with difficulties and endure sorrows, not only out of inevitable necessity, but also with voluntary readiness, and even with some desire to suffer for God, stemming from strong love for God - let's look at the Divine Paul when he goes to Jerusalem into danger, not by guesses and conclusions obvious, but according to the testimony of the Holy Spirit, reliable, and, however, he goes and does not hesitate. Let us read the words that he spoke to the Elders of Ephesus on this journey, bidding them farewell. “And now I am bound by the spirit, I am coming to Jerusalem, even though there is something that wants to happen in it, unknown to me: just as the Holy Spirit throughout the whole city bears witness, saying that the bonds and sorrows await me. But I do not do a single thing, I am not honest with my soul, unless I end my course with joy, and the service that I have received from the Lord Jesus, testify to the Gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:22-24). Wonderful Pavle! But if you already know that bonds and sorrows await you in Jerusalem, (although you do not know from whom and for what, since you are innocent of anything before anyone), and if you know this not by guesses and conclusions, which, although deduced from circumstances, may turn out to be incorrect due to change, or from an inaccurate knowledge of the circumstances, but you know by the testimony of the Holy Spirit, spoken by His Prophets, in the infallibility of which you are not You can doubt: who is driving you to Jerusalem when you are still free? No one, he says, except that I am bound by the Spirit. “Bound in spirit, I am coming to Jerusalem.” What is “bound in spirit”? Is it really true that the Spirit draws one to Jerusalem to suffer, like a prisoner to prison? - No. For we see that when people devoted to him, with tears, “they say or” him “not to ascend to Jerusalem,” he answered not that he was doing this out of necessity, out of captivity, but asserted that he was doing what he wanted, and for what he was ready of his own free will. “Paul answered and said: What are you doing that weeps and breaks your heart? I am ready in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:12–13). How then was this - I don’t know what to call him - free, perhaps a slave, “bound” by the “spirit”, so that he went to Jerusalem to suffer, like a lamb to a sacrifice, and yet was so content in this state, like a lamb in fat pasture? Paul was bound and led by the spirit, just as “as Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness after his baptism” (Matthew 4:1). Under this powerful leadership and control of the spirit, Saint Paul came, actively following the same speculation and the same rules that he taught to others when he said to Christians: “The Spirit of God dwells in you” (1 Cor. 3:16) and therefore “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thess. 5:19); – “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit” (Gal.5:25); - “Walk in the Spirit, and do not commit carnal lusts” (Gal. 5:16), just as St. Peter taught to purify souls “in obedience to the truth through the Spirit” (1 Pet. 1:22). In proportion as the lusts of the flesh are denied, the flesh dies to sin and the spirit becomes alive to righteousness or virtue. The more willingly and more faithfully they follow the good impulses of the reviving spirit, or, in the words of St. Peter: “souls... are purified by obedience to the truth in the spirit” (1 Peter 1:22), the more the sacred fire of the spirit kindles, its light shines, it goes from strength to strength, so that sometimes, in moments of delight, not only all carnal lusts, but also every desire of the human will binds, leaves in inaction, as if in captivity, or in bonds, and only by pure spiritual wisdom, only by Divine love, only by devotion to the will of God, barely, so to speak, a person who touches the earth leads and carries where God calls, and the laws of His kingdom; at least for this it was necessary to go through fire and water, through suffering and death. O blessed captivity! O sweet bonds! Unlimited free bondage! High-dominant slavery! For what is captivity of the spirit but the all-conquering conviction of truth? What are the bonds of the spirit, is it strong all-encompassing love? Voluntary bondage of self-sacrifice is the perfect will of God, and the deepest enslavement to the law of the spirit is the high right of citizenship in the Kingdom of God, whose final goal is not to enslave the free, but to make slaves free, and even kings and priests to our God. Therefore, the captive and prisoner of the spirit will not want to break his bonds or come out of his captivity, not for any freedom of the flesh, not for any dominion in the world, not for any human impulse, no matter how plausible it may seem. Whether these concepts about the state of being bound by the spirit are similar to the truth, judge for yourself by the Apostle’s own words: “I do not care for one thing,” he says, “I make my soul honest to myself,” that is, I do not value my life, “unless I end my course with joy, and the service that I have received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). Note, Christians, in the examples now indicated an image, or at least an important distinguishing feature of faithful service to God, which is a decisive, unconditional, unrepentant readiness to do the will of God and the works of the Kingdom of God: and then, turning to yourself, test whether you retain in yourself such a disposition of the faithful servants of God, I do not say, in difficult and extraordinary cases, whether you retain it in the most ordinary and all common matters of serving God. We are not called to glorify our faith with miracles; they do not send unarmed people to subdue cruel enemies, they do not lead them in chains of the spirit into iron chains for the name of Christ. – Faith simply invites us to visit the sick, the helpless. It’s a good deed, we say: it is desirable that it be done; but with the current structure and customs of the hostel, it is inconvenient and subject to bickering and other troubles. The Gospel sends us to seek reconciliation with the enemy: preferably, we say; but according to the current way of thinking, this would humiliate us in the eyes of others, and would be taken either as an act of weakness of spirit, or as an admission of our guilt, which we do not know about ourselves. They call us to church for worship; It seems we are ready; however, during evening prayer we are still busy with worldly affairs or amusements; often prevents sleep until morning; We’re not in a hurry to get to the daytime service, but we’re in a hurry to leave church. Oh Lord! Your house of prayer is now like an inn, into which one enters and from which one leaves as it happens. Listen, you who, apparently, do not yet know the feeling for which David “only asked of the Lord ... to live in the house of the Lord, ... to behold ... the beauty of the Lord, and to visit His holy church” (Ps. 27:4): do you at least know the decency of your own homes? Would you like it if those invited to your dinner at a certain hour arrived one by one after the dinner had begun, and one by one left before the end of it? Think about how the Great Householder and Host, Who offers His Divine meal here, looks at you, when you, through your own negligence, have excluded yourself from among the participants in it, and have become only a spectator, enter and leave untimely, with the tramp of your feet you disturb the sacred silence, and steal from those listening the word of God, which you yourself do not want to listen to, finally, when you are still here On the throne, the King of glory appears in His mysterious body, do you shamelessly and fearlessly dare to turn your rear to him and leave? The Lord once complained about his slumbering disciples: “Is it so impossible to watch with Me for one hour” (Matthew 26:40). But they could be excused by an empty place, and the Lord’s separation from them, and the night, and the preceding day’s fatigue, just as He Himself testified that their “spirit” was “vigorous, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41; Mark 14:38). How great must be His indignation when we are here, in His mysterious presence, which we recognize, in the light of day, with the exciting voice of public prayer, we are not excited, we do not stand the hour appointed for worship, and this is not due to the weakness of the flesh, but because the lazy spirit slumbers and does not bind the flesh, willful, seeking vain distraction! Christians! Be your own judges before the judgment of God. No matter how partial one may be to oneself: is it possible to award ourselves an eternity of blessed reward when we do not want to diligently serve the King and Rewarder of eternity for one hour? Let us shake off sleep and laziness; let us be aroused to faithful, constant, and unflagging service before God, to fulfill His will, despite difficulties, without being entertained by vain opinions; and for this, let us strengthen ourselves to bind the flesh with the spirit, and not to commit its lusts, to stop its deeds, so that, led by the spirit of Divine love, we can end the course of this present life with joy, and enter into the endless joy of our Lord. Amen. Reprinted from the author's manuscript received from M. M. Evreinov. You might be interested in: