499. 979 Слово на освящение храма в честь иконы Божией Матери Казанской, что в Казенной 980

He spoke about the church of His body. (John 2:21). These few words of the Holy Evangelist John contain a lot of spiritual teaching and can lead us to reflections appropriate to the present occasion of the renewal of the church. Let us call on the Spirit of truth to open the door of the word for us. In order to better enter into the true understanding of the above saying, it will be useful to turn first of all to that incident and to the words of Jesus Christ Himself, to which this remark was made by the Evangelist. Jesus Christ once entered the temple of Jerusalem and, finding in it those selling sheep, oxen and doves for sacrifices, and money changers for alms in the treasure of the church, he drove out the sellers with a scourge from the ropes, threw out the items of trade, and said: “Take these things from here: and do not make my Father’s house a purchaser” (John 2:16). If we carefully consider this action and these words of Christ, then in them we will find high evidence of the dignity of the church. God said through the prophet: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool: what house will you build for me” (Is. 66:1)? Therefore, one might think that the church is not worthy to be called the house of God, since truly for the Omnipresent, every house is small, low, and unnecessary. Here the Son of God Himself calls the church the house of His Father; and the Son, without a doubt, knows what belongs to the Father and what is worthy of Him. So, the word of Christ confirms to us that the church, although earthly and limited in space, by grace and condescension is definitely the house of the Heavenly and Omnipresent God. Think about it, Christian! If you enter someone’s house with some respect for the one who lives in it, as is shown by the custom of entering the house with an open head, and you would enter the king’s house, without a doubt, both with joy that you are allowed into it, and with fear at the thought of the greatness of the one living in it: then with what reverence should you enter the house of the King of kings and Lord of lords, with what joy that He is opening a house to you His own, with what fear of His immediate presence here, before which the very Seraphim cover their faces! The closest presence I said: for if this were not there, then the name of the house of God would not matter. If the Son of God did not allow His Father’s house to be made into a house of such purchase, which on the one hand satisfied the needs of the church worshipers, and on the other was turned to the private gain of man; then think how disgusting to God are the activities that are completely alien to the church, which we sometimes allow ourselves here, such as: curious glances, idle words, worldly thoughts, inattention to Divine services. Whoever does not do here what he comes to the house of God for, the Son of God condemns him to expulsion from here. Do not secure yourself by the fact that I will not reprove you and command you to be driven out: the scourge is in the hand of Jesus over your head, His word drives you out. Let's return to the Gospel narrative. When the Jews saw that Jesus, still little known to them (because this was almost at the beginning of His preaching), was acting in the church with such extraordinary power, because He was expelling from it those whom the priests and the high priest himself had not expelled: they demanded that He, if He truly is the plenipotentiary messenger of God, should prove to them His Divine messenger by some miracle: “What sign do you show us, like this create" (John 2:18)? You need to know that such a demand is usually left unsatisfied by the Lord Jesus, because this popular demand for miracles comes more from curiosity, and even from secret unbelief, than from a sincere desire to know the truth, and, consequently, does not deserve satisfaction, and as something unclean in its beginning, does not lead to a good end. Moreover, the meek and humble-hearted Jesus does not like to do miracles for His glory, but He usually worked out of love for mankind, from which the glory of truth came by itself. And in order to completely satisfy the seekers of the unfeigned truth, and to make unrequited the stubbornness and cunning of unbelief, a miracle of miracles was intended for this - the three-day resurrection of Christ from the dead, without a visible Resurrector, gloriously accomplished after His entire composition, even before death, seemed irrevocably destroyed by countless and most severe sufferings. But also about this victorious sign of His divine power, applying as much as those who heard could accommodate, He spoke to the people most in parables and, as it were, in conjectures. For example: “An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. As Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights: so will the Son of man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights” (Matthew 12:39–40). Likewise, after expelling those selling from the church, who demanded a sign to the Jews, He said: “Destroy this church, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). That this was not said simply, the Jews could have guessed from what the Lord said: “destroy.” The Jews, without a doubt, would not want to destroy “this church” themselves, that is, the temple of Jerusalem. But people are carnal in life, in deeds, and usually understand everything in a carnal way. As it was about a church or church, the Jews understood this very church, thought that Jesus was foreshadowing the destruction and construction of the church in three days, and from this absurd concept they derived an even more absurd objection. How can you build a church in three days that took forty-six years to build? “In fourscore and six years was this church built, and in three days did you raise it up” (John 2:20)? As if miracles, for the Eternal and Almighty God, can be destroyed and made impossible by an insignificant deficiency of human years and days. When Saint John wrote into the Gospel the prophecy of the Lord about the three-day resurrection, spoken in a parable, and misunderstood by the Jews: then, in order to counter the false interpretation with the true one, and to eliminate any misunderstanding, He added the following remark: “He spoke about the church of His body,” that is, the words of Jesus Christ - “destroy this church, and in three days I will raise it up,” did not apply to the temple of Jerusalem, but to the church of His own body, and meant that the Jews would destroy the church of His body with suffering and death on the cross, but that He would rebuild the church of His body with a glorious three-day resurrection from the dead. It took us some time to achieve this understanding of the words of the Divine Teacher and His beloved disciple: but perhaps this will not be useless, so that the following reflections would be accepted not as our arbitrary wisdom, but as teaching drawn from the true mind of the words of Christ. “He spoke about the church of His body.” Jesus Christ speaks of His body, and called it the church or church of the Divine. Why? The answer to this is quite satisfactory in the saying of the Apostle Paul: “For in Him liveth all the fulfillment of the Divinity bodily” (Col. 2:9). Where God dwells in all the fullness of His Divinity, there, without a doubt, there is His church in the highest degree holy. But if the Lord called His body a church, because of its resemblance to it, and if this similarity consists in the dwelling of the fullness of the Divine, then what a lofty concept He gives us through this about the church! So, the church of God and the divine body of Christ are similar to each other. So, the fullness of the Divinity dwells in the church, just as in the body of Christ. Think, Christian, where you are now from that moment when, by the power of grace, called upon in prayers and coming in mysterious signs, “the Most High sanctified His village” (Ps. 45:5). You are still closer to God here than you are in a house to its lord; you are before the very fullness of the Divine. Just as everything in the body is filled with the power of the soul, so in the church everything is filled with the power of the Divine. God, having appeared in the flesh, here not only reveals, but also offers His divine flesh as food, which you do not often feed on. The Holy Spirit breathes here in the sacraments. The fulfillment of the Divinity in the body of Christ was so abundant that “all the people sought to touch Him: for power proceeded from Him, and healed all” (Luke 6:19), and that even touching the hem of His robe healed the bleeding. Similar to this in the church, with one touch of faith on the shrine, power can emanate from it, healing spiritually and physically. Everything visible and performed here, sacred signs, images, rituals constitute, as it were, the sacred robe of Christ, woven by the Church, imbued with His invisible power, producing a beneficial and saving effect on those who approach and touch with faith. Oh God! as marvelous in Your immeasurable condescension as in Your exalted greatness! You are unapproachable even to the powers above in Your greatness; and yet so accessible to earthly beings in Your condescension. The contemplation of pure spirits does not embrace Your light and glory; and yet You find means to give mortal man the touch and taste of Your goodness and power. How “beloved” is Thy earthly village, O Lord of hosts! ...My heart and my flesh rejoiced in the living God (Ps. 83:2–3). Blessed is the glory of the Lord from His place” (Ezek. 3:12). Brethren! And heaven has no treasure better than what we have here in the church, namely, the essential grace-filled presence of God, the active grace-filled power of God. Do we value this treasure enough? Do we use it enough for our bliss! It happens to notice with regret that while the festive bell calls to church, some go to the marketplace and other worldly affairs, it is clear that a penny of profit is more expensive for us than heavenly treasures. They say: need forces you to do this. Isn’t the kingdom of heaven necessary? Are prayer, sacraments, and spiritual teaching not necessary for the kingdom of heaven? Of the six days, God took one for Himself, and from this day the church appointed few hours for public worship, and people still need their time, and steal church time. Others, entering the church, hear condemnation pronounced against vices and iniquities, and, leaving, they turn carelessly to their vices and iniquities. What do they want? Is it possible to increase your condemnation? “A servant who knows the will of his master, and neither prepares nor does according to his will, will suffer many stripes” (Luke 12:47). But, in order not to darken the day of joy and gratitude with complaints, I will say with the Apostle: “We hope... for you, beloved, that you are the best, and that you hold to salvation, even if we say so. For God will not offend you, forget your deeds and labors of love, which you have shown in His name, serving and serving the saints” (Heb. 6:9-10). The labor of love is visible in the renovation of this church; and God will not forget it, and those who use this church will call upon us a blessing from above on the soul and on the house of those who served the house of God. May the grace of God overshadow all those who enter this church with faith and love, now and ever. Amen. According to the Index of words and speeches by M. Filaret, in Thu. General Love. Spirit. Enlightenment, follows the word (in manuscripts) on the day of the discovery of the relics of St. Alexis, on the eve of Pentecost, upon returning to the flock, on the 20th day of May (1833) from the text: “And let us encourage one another in encouraging love and good deeds,” etc. (Heb. 10:24–25). But we did not find the manuscripts that the compiler of the Index had. Borrowed from readings General. Love. Spirit. Enlightenment book XIII. You might be interested in: