502. Слово в день Успения Пресвятой Богородицы

(Said August 15th.) But Mariam kept all these words that she wrote in her heart. (Luke 2:19). If the death, or remembrance of the death of an ordinary virtuous person, leads us to remember his virtues, and on this occasion we reflect on them, talk with each other, and thus give justice and glory to the departed, and give ourselves consolation and encouragement for good: is it not more fitting for us to act in this way now, when we celebrate the solemn memory of the blessed Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos? In Her, without a doubt, we can contemplate the fulfillment of every virtue, because He lived in Her according to Her dignity, and, of course, He whose virtue covers the heavens and fills the earth did not leave Her in poverty. But just as all the virtues of the Blessed Virgin could now be followed neither by our word nor by our thoughts: then for the subject of this reflection I take one of Her virtues, which the holy Evangelist Luke depicted in the following words: “Mariam kept all these words, composing them in her heart.” This is heartfelt attention to the words of God and to the works of God’s providence. Consideration of this virtue in the person and life of the Blessed Virgin Mary can pave the way for the teaching of this virtue for our lives. Saint Luke, at the beginning of his Gospel, described miracles that marked the incarnation of the Son of God, angelic foreshadowings about the birth of the Forerunner of Christ from a barren woman, and about the birth of Christ from the Virgin, the prophetic delights of the righteous Elizabeth, the Most Holy Virgin, and Zechariah, the father of the Baptist, the appearance of an army of glorifying angels to the Bethlehem shepherds and the indication of the born Savior in an unprecedented, without a doubt, sign, “the baby is midwifed, lying in a manger” (Luke 2:12), mentioning the surprise of everyone who heard about this from the shepherds, finally concludes: “Mariam kept all these words in her heart”: and further, retelling the prophecy of Simeon the God-Receiver, depicting the manifestation of divine wisdom in twelve-year-old boy Jesus, citing his incomprehensible at that time divine saying: “Do you not know that we are worthy of being in those who are My Father?” (Luke 2:49) The Evangelist again turns to his previous remark: “And His Mother kept all these sayings in her heart” (Luke 2:51). This repetition of the same remark shows that it was not a light, casual remark, but an important thought that greatly occupied the sacred writer, and which he wanted to deeply impress on the readers and listeners of the Gospel. What did the sacred narrator want to inspire us with? Didn’t he perhaps want to warn and resolve the question of where he got his information about the initial events of Christ’s earthly life, which, although they were public at one time in Bethlehem and Jerusalem, naturally should have lost most of their witnesses and fallen into oblivion during the long, unknown life of the Lord Jesus in distant and inglorious Nazareth? Didn’t he want to indicate in the person of Mariama the source of his legends and a witness to their authenticity? Don't think. The Holy Spirit was an inexhaustible source and faithful witness of the Gospel truth; Therefore, the Evangelists do not bother to indicate the source of their stories and protect their reliability with outside witnesses. So, what thought and purpose did the Evangelist have when he twice pointed to Mariam, who kept in her heart the words of the destinies and life of Christ? I think his thought and purpose was to open for us the door into Her soul, which is the door of heaven, to open “the glory of the Tsar’s daughter,” the hidden “inside” (Ps. 45:14), to lead us into the sanctuary of the heart of the Most Holy One, to show how the one who dwelt in Her womb for a short time, even otherwise dwelt in Her hopelessly. How? Through heartfelt attention to the words of God, through heartfelt attention to the works of God. “Mariam... kept all these words that she wrote in her heart.” Verbs, by the nature of the sacred language, mean here both predictions and legends about Christ and the Savior, and the very events relating to His earthly life, arranged by the special providence of God: because God often speaks to man in deeds, just as man speaks to man in words. Mariam heard the words of destinies about His Son as the Savior of the world, read the words of His glory in miraculous events, His own words and deeds were presented to Her attention, demonstrating divine wisdom and power. These verbs were numerous and varied, often incomprehensible in their height or unusualness, sometimes heavy, mournful and threatening. When the verbs fall silent: how easily many things are forgotten! How difficult it is to preserve precisely unforgettable the varied and incomprehensible! How often they even try to forget the unpleasant or terrible! How sometimes the memory and tradition of lofty verbs and events are damaged by untamed curiosity and the daring effort to experience the secrets of Providence and explain the works of God’s wisdom, according to the ordinary concepts of the human mind. The considerate Mariam preserved herself from all this: without loss, without change, faithfully “keeping... these verbs.” How? Didn't She write them down in a book? Was she keeping it in a treasury inaccessible to anyone? No, She knew how to find a repository that was incomparably more reliable. The first book in which the Gospel was written was the heart of the Most Blessed Mary, it was the treasury of the wealth of Christ, “keeping all the verbs... in her heart.” In a heart that believed God, in a heart that loved the Only Begotten Son of God and Her own, she composed the words of the mystery and glory of Christ: and oblivion could not steal anything from here, because love does not allow oblivion; curiosity and one’s own wisdom could not creep in here, because faith does not pry. The verbs of Christ were living verbs in the heart of Mariama; because their subject is Christ, who is the light and the beginning of life, because the “believing heart” is the “issue of life” (Prov. 4:23); because love is life. Thus, before Paul, Mariam could say: “Christ lives in me.” And after the one who dwelt in Her by incarnation moved from Her by birth, she could nevertheless say: “Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). After the words of the Evangelist we have examined, his silence is also worthy of reflection. During the initial events of Christ’s earthly life, he noted twice that the Mother of the Lord “kept all these words... in her heart”: but then, throughout the continuation of his Gospel, he does not resume such remarks and does not bother to explain what effect the life of the Lord Jesus had on the life of His Mother. What does this mean, after some excess in the word, as if stingy silence? In order not to present the sacred writer as disagreeing with himself, it seems that we must assume from him the idea that with the above two-fold remark He gave the key to the entire life of the Blessed Virgin, and acknowledged this with satisfaction. In fact, if you ask, what did the Mother of the Lord do when the Lord Jesus preached, worked miracles, suffered, died, rose again, and ascended into heaven? To all this, one answer can be given: “keep all these verbs... in your heart.” This also explains what is especially incomprehensible in Her life, which is unparalleled for the rest of humanity. For example, how could She, both without distrust and without exaltation, accept the highest annunciation about the seedless and God-received conception? She could because even then she kept in her heart the prophetic verbs about Christ. How did she go through the difficulties, disasters, fears that surrounded the birth and infancy of Her Son? Without a doubt, with unshakable firmness and hope, because she kept in her heart the words of the promises about Him. How did you endure His removal when He went out to preach the salvation of men and at the same time to face His own dangers? Without a doubt, with devotion, because I kept in my heart His preliminary verb: “In those who are My Father, I am worthy to be” (Luke 2:49). How did the weapon of grief that passed through Her soul not kill Her during the hours of suffering and death of Her Son and God? It did not kill, because She had previously tested this weapon that came from the mouth of Simeon the God-Receiver and prepared Her heart to accept the wound of the verb of death and to heal it with the verb of resurrection. How did She remain alive when, with the Ascension of the Lord into heaven, that by which She alone lived was hidden from the earth? Christ and His words continued to live in Her heart, and She lived a life of faith, love and hope, until through the path that we call death, She could pass to Him into a life of love, bliss and glory. I called the life of the Most Holy Theotokos unparalleled for the rest of humanity, because the sacrament of the Mother of the Lord is not repeatable and cannot be communicated; but can we conclude from this that it cannot be imitated? That we talked about Her only for Her glory, which was unnecessary for Her, and not for our edification, not for our good? - Yes, it won’t. Good cannot be useless. Virtue cannot be unfruitful. Will an example of holiness cease to be a guide to holiness from that which rises above another? Observance in the heart of the words of God, heartfelt pious attention is presented to us by the Gospel in the Blessed Virgin, not only for our reverence and wonder, but also for our edification and imitation. God, who seeks our salvation, is not silent to us, brothers. How abundantly does He extend to us the words of salvation? How, one might say, does He pursue us with them through His Gospel, through His Church and the examples of the saints and righteous: through the admonishing works of His providence? - When you stand in church, the verbs of psalmody, verbs of prayer, verbs of the sacrament, verbs of divine scripture, verbs of spiritual teaching constantly announce to you: all the verbs of God, verbs calling, instructing, urging to salvation. But when you are sitting at home, you can have a sacred book near you, and then just open it, and the words of salvation will rush to your heart. When you see someone earnestly praying or doing good to people, know that from their deeds the word of God comes to you: pray, you too, do good. If you are dissatisfied with this, God speaks to you through the lips of heaven and earth, and makes the very vanity of the world speak important words to your soul. The beneficial actions of nature, favorable events in life tell you: know the merciful God, and gratefully please Him; threatening, destructive, punitive events call to you: know the just God, and do not hesitate to propitiate Him. After this, the thought comes to ask: are there really few who listen to the words of God and are saved? I don’t know, but the One who knows said that “many... the essence of the calling, but few are chosen” (Matthew 20:16). The incarnate verb of God often concluded His saving verbs with the proclamation: “If you have ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 11:15). Apparently, there are quite a few listeners who not only do not hear, but also do not have ears, that is, their hearts have no ears. So, let us take care to have ears and hear, and learn heartfelt pious attention. There is nothing to speak of complete inattention; if I speak, and you do not listen, and pay attention to something completely different: it goes without saying that you will not learn anything from me, and you will not do anything according to my words. And the omnipotent word of God is ineffective for the inattentive and, as it were, does not exist for him; but there are kinds and degrees of inattention. You apply your ear to a word, turn your gaze to an object - this is sensual attention; but this is only the beginning, and the lowest level of attention. It is sometimes necessary to step on it to ascend to higher degrees; but in relation to the words of God, those who stop at this level of attention are still far from attention, still far from saving attention. The conviction of Christ falls on such people: “You have eyes you do not see, and ears you have do not hear” (Mark 8:18). You see with your eye, but do not contemplate with your spirit; you listen to the outer word of hearing, but do not yet listen to the inner power of the word. So others listen or read a lot of prayers, but they pray little; often encounter teaching, but do not rise to the understanding of the truth and do not introduce it into life. There is rational attention, when one goes deeper into a visible object by reflection, and seeks the understood truth in an audible word; It is not difficult to see that this kind of attention is beneficial for the words of God: but this too is unsatisfactory. Faith is not philosophy, piety is not science, although there is philosophy of faith, there is the teaching of piety. Whoever shines a few lights in the head has not yet made the whole person a son of light. Reason is puffed up, and a humble admission of ignorance is sometimes better than knowledge. Moreover, truly saving knowledge is acquired not through the efforts of the mind alone, but even more so through fervent prayer and a pure desire for enlightenment from above. The Lord in the parable, likening the word of God to a seed, and those who hear it to the ground being sown, in the explanation of the parable says: “These are the ones who are on the good earth, who have heard it with a good heart and are kind, they keep the word and produce fruit with patience” (Luke 8:15). So, the attention of a kind and good heart is a truly beneficial and saving kind of pious attention. And therefore, do not be content with opening your ears to the word of God: try to open the ears of your heart for it. Listen with your mind, do not overextend your inquisitive mind, but most of all excite your heart with love for God and His words, and calm it in faith, devotion and humility. Do this with the verbs of prayer; do this with the word of doctrine; So pay attention to the works of admonishing Providence. And when the gracious verbs allow themselves to be felt by your heart with inner peace and consolation: then vigilantly and faithfully observe these verbs in your heart: keep the secret of faith in a clear conscience, and at a distance from distraction and vanity, beware so as not to fall into ancient inattention, in which “the eyes of those who have... do not see and the ears of those who have... do not hear” (Ezek. 12:2), in which only They come close to God with their lips, but are far away from him - with their hearts. God-gracious Mother of the Word incarnate and faithful guardian of the verbs of salvation! Ask from Him for us the grace of both heartily attentive hearing and faithful storage of the word of God in our hearts and lives, so that the proclaimed bliss of those who hear the word of God and keep it will not be alien to us. Amen. In Readings General. East. and ancient Ross. for 1877, II, 89, the memoirs of Bishop Nicodemus speak of the speech of the late Saint Philaret to the newly ordained Bishop Nicholas, delivered on April 27, 1841; according to the index on Thurs. General Love. Spirit. Enlightenment listed under No. 337 is the Speech for the consecration of the St. Nicholas Church at the Losinnaya Factory, September 14, 1844 from the text: “I tell... you, brethren, the gospel” (1 Cor. 15:1), and under No. 357 – Speech to the Sovereign Heir in the Assumption Cathedral on September 27, 1845, but we do not have these words and speeches found. In addition, according to the memoirs of the late Ugreshsky Archimandrite Pimen (see Reading in the General History and Ancient Russia, 1876, book 4, p. 109), a word was spoken on September 3, 1844 on the consecration of St. Nicholas Cathedral in the Ugreshsky monastery, also not found by us. You might be interested in: